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41 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, December 16, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 28, 2004 Fishing and Hunting Report River Outlook ROGUE — More rains are moving fish on the Rogue, where a good mix of salmon and steelhead are getting caught in the Agness area. Summer steelhead fishing remains very good in the Grants Pass area. It has slowed a bit in the upper Rogue but should take off when the bait-fishing season resumes Monday upstream of the Rogue Elk boat ramp. The best bet, however, remains the Grants Pass area, where lots of wild summer steelhead are staging in riffles, feeding aggressively on salmon eggs. Steelhead anglers in driftboats are finding fish everywhere, but most concentrations are around salmon redds. Small clusters of roe or egg flies are working best. In the upper Rogue, the flies-only season ends Sunday night. Until then, fishing is fair to good with egg flies and nymphs near salmon redds, but the 42-degree water released from Lost Creek Lake has left the fish less aggressive. Smaller egg patterns are working best. As of Oct. 19, 9,200 summer steelhead had crossed the dam, according to the most recent report available from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. When bait-fishing opens Monday upstream of Rogue Elk Park, look for good to very good catches of steelhead on small clusters of eggs. The area has the highest concentration of hatchery fish. The area downstream of the Rogue Elk ramp is open to flies and lures, so side-drifting egg fly patterns with scent on them will work well. Lures like crayfish patterns also are legal and effective in the no-bait zone. Catches of adult steelhead, coho salmon and some late-run chinook are all happening in the Agness area, while halfpounder fishing remains very good in the lower portion of the Wild and Scenic Section. Advertisement All wild coho and all wild steelhead must be released unharmed. Chinook fishing upstream of Hog Creek remains closed, so anglers still after fall chinook are hitting the canyons downstream of Galice. Outflows from Lost Creek Lake remain at 900 cubic feet per second to help ensure chinook salmon spawn in the main channel. It also represents the amount of water flowing into the reservoir. Bans on keeping more than one wild chinook are now off for the remainder of the year downstream of Gold Ray Dam when angling is allowed. Remember, all wild steelhead must be released unharmed for the remainder of the year. For daily flow reports out of Lost Creek Lake, call (800)472-2434. CHETCO — Fishing for fall chinook was very good this week, with the rains keeping the river in good fishing shape. Chinook are scattered throughout the system, with good catches coming from driftboats using Kwikfish. Lots of 30-pounders in the mix, and a few 50-plus pounders caught last week in Morris Hole. ELK/SIXES — Recent rains drew good schools of salmon into both systems, with fishing good in the Elk estuary with flies and anchovies. UMPQUA — Chinook fishing is fair around Elkton, but steelhead fishing is slow in the main-stem and fair to good in the North Umpqua. The South Umpqua is closed to all angling until Nov. 15. Coho fishing is good in the main stem, and all wild coho must be released unharmed. COOS/COQUILLE — Chinook fishing remains good in Coos Bay and the Coquille, with recent rains distributing fish throughout both systems. Lake Outlook HOWARD PRAIRIE — The season ends Sunday evening. Effort has been light, but the fish are aggressive and taking flies or lures near the surface. The limit remains five trout a day, with only one over 20 inches allowed. HYATT — The lake remains good for rainbow trout, with most catches in the 12-16 inch range. Fishing has been good with bait off and on all day, while trollers are doing best in the evenings. The limit remains five trout a day, with only one over 20 inches a day allowed. Fishing closes Halloween night. DIAMOND — Fishing is fair to good for stocked rainbows along the south end of the lake, with fish congregating near Silent and Short creeks. Cooler weather has the trout more active and the chubs less active. The limit is five trout a day, with only one over 20 inches a day allowed. Fishing ends Sunday night. LOST CREEK — Trout fishing remains good with bait for shallow trollers. The lake is at its winter low for flood control. The lake is open year-round for trout and bass fishing, with trout anglers out-numbering bass anglers throughout the cold-weather months. APPLEGATE — Fishing for stocked chinook and rainbow trout around 12 inches long is good in the mornings and evenings. Bass fishing is good near the dam. All boat ramps remain open. 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. No bass between 12 inches and 15 inches can be kept, and only one bass larger than 15 inches can be kept. Ocean Outlook The chinook salmon season is over off the mouth of the Chetco. Anglers are banned from fishing for black rockfish, lingcod, greenling and cabezon, leaving surfperch and a few other species open. Tuna fishing remains slow. Yellowtail rockfish fishing is open outside the 40-fathom line. Crabbing remains slow. Shellfish harvest is open for all species except razor clams on the south and central coast. Hunting Outlook ROGUE — Excellent weather conditions have helped rifle hunters during the second half of the general deer season. Deer are headed out of the high-elevation summer range and can be ambushed along migration routes early and late in the day. Blue and ruffed grouse hunting is good as is mountain quail. Look for quail near high-elevation water sources. Local duck and goose hunting is fair, with the best waterfowl shooting along uninhabited stretches of the Rogue River. 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. DOUGLAS — Rifle hunters are doing better than average this year for blacktail bucks, taking advantage of good weather conditions. The deer are migrating in force toward low- elevation winter range. Blue and ruffed grouse hunters can expect a better than average year thanks to above-average production county-wide. Same with mountain quail. KLAMATH — Weather fronts have helped early season waterfowl hunters hunting over decoys along the marshy areas. 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 accessed by a paved, wheelchair-accessible pathway. It is on Whetstone Pond, just north of the ODFW office. 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