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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Woman says she found snake head in can of Western Family green beans ... Searchers scour Grants Pass area for missing man ... RCC to seek $20 million from taxpayers ... Woman says she found snake head in can of Western Family green beans ... Searchers scour Grants Pass area for missing man ... RCC to seek $20 million from taxpayers ... FISHING REPORT Fishing Report: Friday, Feb. 19 Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Feb. 19, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Feb. 19, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Though a gale warning is forecast to dissipate this morning, South Coast anglers will still see 35-knot winds and 17-foot swells on the water today, and that will have everyone looking inland for their fishing pleasures. Saturday is better, with five-knot winds expected, but the swells are forecast to be 13-footers. Sunday calls for light winds and 12-foot swells, and that might entice a few to head out after lingcod that are very aggressive at this time of year and near shore. Cabezon are off the table for ocean anglers through June. Lingcod are spawning and aggressiven. Anglers can keep up to one canary rockfish as part of the seven-fish bottomfishing aggregate limit. The ocean and bays are open to crabbing coastwide. Catches were good this week in the bays, but that started to dissipate Wednesday as another Pineapple Express hit the South Coast. Razor clamming is closed south of Tillamook Head, while bay clams and butter clams are available coastwide. Mussels can be taken coastwide. Before digging, check the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474. LAKE OUTLOOK AGATE: The lake was listed Thursday at 89 percent full and holding steady, but it's quite turbid. The boat ramp is usable. No trout stockings are planned, and bass fishing is slow. APPLEGATE: The lake is fishing poorly for smallmouth bass and trout amid fluctuating water conditions. Few anglers are venturing off the steep bank for trout. Trolling out of boats has been the best bet. The lake is at 1,917 feet above sea level, up 17 feet in the past week as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins its filling schedule. The outflow is 375 cubic feet per second and the inflow is 1,150 cfs. If you go, troll for trout up to 16 inches with Wedding Ring lures spiced with a piece of worm and small flashers, especially on warmer and cloudy days. The Forest Service has improved conditions at the French Gulch ramp, adding gravel to make the ramp usable for small boats. However, the approach can get slippery, so four-wheel-drive vehicles are encouraged. The Copper ramp is usable. DIAMOND: Lake ice has thinned dramatically and is suspect, but a storm front that brought near white-out conditions to the lake Thursday should improve conditions next week. When it either hardens or melts, look for decent trout catches near the resort and the Cheese Hole. The fish are not very active in the cold water. Use small pieces of worm a few reel cranks off the bottom, and use a very sensitive rod. Fingerlings stocked in spring are eclipsing the 8-inch minimum size and should be around 12 inches or more by spring. EMIGRANT: The lake rose and muddied this week, which has pushed most angling effort away. The lake was at 57 percent full and rising. FISH: The lake was holding steady at 38 percent full, and the ice has turned suspect. When the ice hardens, look for rainbows in the cove off the Forest Service ramp, where a sno-park permit is required to park. The parking lot is plowed, but the ramp is closed. The resort is open on weekends. HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake's ice is breaking up quickly amid increased inflows and the past week of warm weather. Anglers can bank-fish around the dam or other access points, but effort is extremely light. PowerBait or worms about five feet under a bobber are good ideas. The lake is up slightly to 31 percent full, and the rising water can cause weak spots in the ice. If ice conditions improve, the best access is near the dam. HYATT: The lake is open, and the ice has melted along the shoreline. The lake is 28 percent full. The best access is near the dam. LOST CREEK: Water conditions settled down after rain raised and dirtied the reservoir late last month, but inflows are back up. Bank anglers using everything from PowerBait and worms to Kastmaster lures have been picking up trout near the Takelma ramp, which is open. Trollers using green Wedding Ring lures with a piece of worm have done well at times this winter for landlocked chinook salmon in 40 to 50 feet of water. The lake is on the rise despite a slight increase of outflows Wednesday to 1,600 cfs, but inflows of 3,900 cfs have the lake rising. The lake was listed Thursday at 1,841.3 feet above sea level. LAKE OF THE WOODS: Ice conditions have deteriorated to a point where anglers are not risking entry to fish for trout and perch. WILLOW: Trout fishing is very slow. The boat ramp remains usable, and the lake is open year-round. The lake is 89 percent full. RIVER OUTLOOK ROGUE: Rogue River anglers can expect a good weekend of winter steelhead fishing river-wide this weekend and into next week as water levels that spiked today will drop and get steelhead moving and biting. The best bet, however, should be the middle Rogue, which typically is best this time of year for winter steelhead. The most action along the middle Rogue will be from the mouth of the Applegate River on down. Side-drifting roe with a small piece of cocktail shrimp added to it has been the most popular offering for driftboaters, while bankies casting worms and corkies or side-planing with plugs have done well. Flows Thursday were on the rise and not very steelhead-friendly, and they are forecast to peak today at about 5,500 cfs at Grants Pass, but they will drop through next week. A little color in the water should make Saturday and Sunday excellent for steelheading. Fishing is best at traditional holes and the heads of canyons. The upper Rogue is a mix of early winter steelhead and late summer steelhead, with more spawned-out "downers" than fresh winters. Don't let the steelheads' color fool you. A lot of spawned-out summer steelhead can look bright, but their bellies will feel mushy. They should all be released. Anglers river-wide can keep one wild winter steelhead 24 inches or longer per day and five per year. Flows at Dodge Bridge should peak today at about 3,500 cfs early then drop consistently until they bottom out at about 2,600 cfs Thursday. That's good news for steelheaders, who can use anything from roe and worms to yarn balls and plugs. Outflows from Lost Creek Lake are up a bit to 1,600 cfs now and forecast to stay that way until Monday. In the lower Rogue, plunkers and boat anglers were struggling for fish amid rising conditions, but flows at Agness are forecast to peak at about 9,500 cfs early Saturday and then drop consistently to about 5,500 cfs Friday. Bankies have done best using pink-pearl Spin-Glo's fished right against the bank in four to six feet of water. Boaters fishing black and white Hot Shots, gold and red Wee Warts and pink and blue Mag Lip 3.5 lures. The fish are averaging 8 to 12 pounds. CHETCO: Look for good winter steelhead fishing this weekend as the water drops and clears. Plenty of fresh fish remain in the mix, but some dark fish are starting to show up in the catches. Bait is out-producing plugs. ELK: The river should improve for winter steelhead this weekend after more than a week of low and clear conditions. APPLEGATE: Water conditions have improved, and winter steelhead remain in the lower river. Most of the action is on bait downstream of the Highway 199 bridge. No winter steelhead have made it yet to the fish trap at the base of Applegate Dam. Watermelon corkies with worms are early-season favorites for winter steelhead, particularly after a rain. All wild steelhead must be released unharmed. There is no fishing from floating devices. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Feb. 19, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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