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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend August 18, 2005 Fishing and Hunting Report River Outlook ROGUE — The upper Rogue’s summer steelhead fishery continues its fair to good at times and the upper river is filled with fish for mid-August, but catches aren’t living up to its potential. Ditto to the lower Rogue, where more fish are starting to show but catches have remained light. The middle Rogue also is waiting for a decent showing among the early fall chinook, which are virtual no-shows so far. That leaves the upper Rogue the weekend’s best bet, but only by default. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has counted 4,168 summer steelhead over Gold Ray Dam as of Aug. 13, but catches haven’t lived up to the billing. The fish are relatively scattered, and seasoned anglers are having good days and awful days fishing roe, worms or plugs. August still makes for nice evening floats, especially with flows continuing to hover at 1,800 cubic feet per second and at 54 degrees. The first retread steelhead of the season are now in the upper Rogue. About 500 fish were recycled last week from Cole Rivers Fish Hatchery, with half going to TouVelle State Park and the other half going to the Modoc Unit of the Denman Wildlife Area. Chinook fishing is banned now upstream of Gold Ray Dam, with even catch-and-release fishing illegal if anglers are targeting the salmon. The middle Rogue is horrifically slow for steelhead and chinook, but a few steelhead are getting caught early in the morning and right at dusk. Water temperatures around 68 degrees are plaguing steelheaders there. Advertisement In the lower Rogue, trolling the bay has picked up some the past two days, but the action remains slow for mid-August. About one salmon for every three boats was reported this week, with about 70 boats trolling the bay during weekdays. Fresh fish are starting to move into the bay with the tides. Catches should improve soon. For daily flow reports out of Lost Creek Lake, call 800-472-2434. The upper Rogue reaches upstream of Lost Creek Lake are now open to angling, with catches good amid now-normal stream flows. APPLEGATE — Open to angling, the river is home to out-migrating smolts and some resident cutthroat. Some summer steelhead have moved into the lower area, but they must be released unharmed. The river is only open for steelhead January through March. Fishing pressure remains light. CHETCO — The river is open to fishing, and a handful of chinook have been caught off the jetty so far. However, the chinook don’t seem to be moving into the bay in force. UMPQUA — Summer steelhead fishing continues to improve on the North Umpqua as more steelhead cross the dam. There’s excellent bank access near Idleyld Park. Summer steelhead also are being caught in the fly water in early mornings and late evenings in the shade. Smallmouth bass fishing remains excellent on the South Umpqua, with top-water lures and flies working best in the mornings and evenings. COOS/COQUILLE — Chinook salmon have entered the lower stretches of both river estuaries now. Sea-run cutthroat also have hit the Coos system, while striped bass are working the waters of the Coquille around Riverton and they can be caught early in the morning on large Rebel lures. Lake Outlook HOWARD PRAIRIE — The bass fishermen are working the shallows and rock piles on the west side of the lake, with the best catches coming in waters at Red Rock Cove and off the end of the jetty at the resort. Nightcrawlers, rubber worms and crawfish lures are working best. Some of the smallmouth have hit the 5-pound range. Trout have gone deep during the hot weather, with wind-drifting nightcrawlers or slow trolling of them the best bet. The daily limit remains five trout per day, with an 8-inch minimum length. Only one of those trout per day can be more than 20 inches. HYATT — Catches of small bass are out-numbering trout now, but trout remain the target of choice for anglers there. Catches are fair early in the morning and at dusk. Trollers can do well, provided they troll large Needlefish or Tasmanian Devil lures slowly in search of the bigger, predatory trout. The daily limit remains five trout per day, with an 8-inch minimum length. Only one of those trout per day can be more than 20 inches. DIAMOND — The lake continues to be fair for stocked rainbow trout, with the last batch of mid-summer fish placed in the lake two weeks ago. Trolling for trout should remain decent through the weekend, but catches will drop off once the latest batch of trout are caught. The daily limit remains five trout per day, with an 8-inch minimum length. Only one of those trout per day can be more than 20 inches. LOST CREEK — The lake is down about 38 feet from full and the surface temperature has hovered around 74 degrees all week, marking good conditions for smallmouth bass fishing. Casting jigs along the northern shoreline has been good for smallmouth, with a good group of 1-2 pound fish in the mix. Trollers are doing fair for trout near the dam and the marina, while wind-drifting for trout is good near the lake water sources upstream of Peyton Bridge. The lake is open year-round for trout and bass fishing, with trout anglers out-numbering bass anglers throughout the cold-weather months. EMIGRANT — Fishing for smallmouth bass remains good early in the morning and late evenings around rock out-crops and brush. The yellow perch remain dominant in the willows along the lake’s upper reaches. Trolling for trout is fair, while bank-fishing for trout has been good near the dam’s face. Crappie fishing remains poor. No excess adult winter steelhead will be stocked into the lake this year. APPLEGATE — The lake has dipped slightly to 19 feet from full Wednesday, pushing the trout farther out of the Seattle Bar area toward deeper water. Smallmouth bass fishing is good near the dam. A mix of trout and stocked spring chinook salmon are available year-round, and the Hart-Tish Park boat ramp is operational. No excess hatchery winter steelhead will be recycled into the lake this season. Anglers can keep up to five rainbow trout, stocked salmon or recycled winter steelhead a day, but only one fish can be more than 20 inches long. Also, no bass between 12 and 15 inches can be kept, and only one bass larger than 15 inches can be kept. WILLOW — Fishing in the lake is good for stocked rainbow trout, bass and bluegill. EXPO POND — The pond has been stocked with rainbow trout. FISH — Lake fishing is fair to good for rainbow trout. Ocean Outlook Bottomfishing was still very good this week and the ocean has settled down to provide excellent fishing opportunities. The new limit on groundfish is five instead of eight in aggregate per day. Also, all cabezon caught while fishing from boats must be released unharmed. The ocean salmon season resumed Sunday off Southern Oregon and Northern California, and catches have been very light. The chinook are well-scattered and about a dozen fish were checked Wednesday by state creel checkers at the docks in Harbor. The ocean remains a bit too rough to run far offshore in search of tuna. Some large perch were caught earlier this week along the beaches around Gold Beach, with mussels and clam necks working best. Sandshrimp also work well for perch. The peak perch catches usually come in July. The beaches coastwide are now closed to razor clam digging. To check for updates on the closure, call the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Shellfish Hotline at 800-448-2474. Hunting Outlook ROGUE — General-season bear hunting began Aug. 1, and good bear populations are present. Early harvest has been light, with a few hunters focusing on bears near orchards. Cougar hunters can expect an average year. Cougars are abundant throughout with indicators pointing to stable or increasing numbers and distribution. Hunting cougar is a challenge because these animals are very secretive, but harvest success is greatest adjacent to private land with high deer populations using a predator call. Watchable Wildlife ROGUE — A covered viewing station on the Denman Wildlife Area provides a good opportunity to view waterfowl, egrets, raptors and songbirds. The structure was built by the Oregon Hunters Association and is reached by a paved, wheelchair-accessible pathway. It is on Whetstone Pond, just north of the ODFW office. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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