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34 °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 September 30, 2004 Fishing and Hunting Report River Outlook ROGUE — The fall coho fishery has really taken off in the lower Rogue bay, while summer steelhead and halfpounder fishing is very good in the Agness area. The middle Rogue remains awash in late-run fall chinook and the upper Rogue has a good showing for summer steelhead, but cooler water has made the bite a little more difficult. The best bet for the weekend is Gold Beach, where coho fishing from the bank or boats is very good in tidewater. Trollers using anchovies and small spinner blades are finding cohos throughout the mouth, with more wild cohos than hatchery fish. All wild coho must be released unharmed. Even bank anglers casting silver-bladed spinners with red beads from the bank are hitting cohos consistently. A few fall chinook remain in the mix, and fresh fall chinook will trickle into the lower Rogue into December, with many of them large fish bound for lower Rogue spawning tributaries. The Agness area remains very good for summer steelhead adults and halfpounders, with bait, flies and lures are working well in the Cougar Lane area. Evenings are best with streamer flies, while the fish are hitting bait all day. All wild steelhead and halfpounders must be released unharmed. Chinook fishing upstream of Hog Creek closes Friday, so today is the last day for most of the popular haunts around Grants Pass. But fall chinook fishing remains open downstream of Hog Creek, though most of the fish in the area are dark and of poor quality. In the upper Rogue, the early run of summer steelhead has slowed during the flies-only season, but the numbers of fish holding upstream of Gold Ray Dam remains very strong. Through Sept. 20 the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has logged 6,793 steelhead past the counting station. Less than 30 a day are moving through now, but those upstream fish remain fresh and aggressive biters. However, outflows from Lost Creek Lake are down to just under 1,000 cubic feet per second to help ensure chinook salmon spawn in the main channel. The release temperatures also have dropped to 45 degrees — down 5 degrees from the past week. That has curbed the steelhead bite, but look for increased catches when the water temperature stabilizes. When it does, red ants, tiger paws and silver Hiltons are traditional favorites. 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. Advertisement For daily flow reports out of Lost Creek Lake, call (800)472-2434. UMPQUA — Steelhead fishing is slow in the main-stem and fair in the North Umpqua. Catches are fair in the all-angling and flies-only sections of the North Umpqua. Smallmouth bass fishing remains good in the main-stem, while sturgeon fishing remains slow in tidewater. Fishing for coho is good in the bay. All wild coho must be released unharmed. COOS/COQUILLE — Chinook fishing has slowed a bit between the jetties in Coos Bay, with anchovies mooched off the bottom triggering the best catches. Chinook are also present in the lower Coquille, with trolling large spinners fair in tidewater. Sea-run cutthroat trout are also present in tidewater. Striped bass fishing is fair to good up to Johnson Mill Pond. Lake Outlook HOWARD PRAIRIE — The fall trout fishing is good during the day, with this year’s stocked fingerlings showing up well in the catches. Morning trollers continue to focus on natural-colored lures, with Tasmanian Devils working best. Despite mid-August weather, good catches of 16-inch trout have been seen. Fish as deep as possible. Velveeta cheese and light colored PowerBait are the most productive baits, although a lot of people are picking fish up on red eggs. The limit remains five trout a day, with only one longer than 20 inches allowed. HYATT — The lake remains good for rainbow trout, with most catches in the 12- to 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. DIAMOND — Fishing is fair to good for stocked rainbows along the south end of the lake, with fish congregating near Silent and Short creeks. Early morning is good in the shallows, but the fish are going to 30-35 feet deep and near the middle of the lake during the day. Trollers are still catching trout with red Needlefish or No. 5 Rapalas. The limit is five trout a day, with only one over 20 inches a day allowed. LOST CREEK — Bass fishing is good along the shorelines as surface temperatures have increased to 63 degrees, and the yo-yoing of water temperatures has the fish moving up and down in the water column. Trout fishing remains good with bait near freshwater sources and trolling is best around the marina and near the face of the dam, with mornings and evenings best. The lake is at its winter low for flood control. Remember, the waters upstream of Peyton Bridge are a no-wake zone, so it’s a good mid-day refuge from water-skiers. 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. Both boat ramps remain operational. 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. FISH — Trolling and still-fishing for trout remains good near the resort and the boat ramp, while fly-fishing is good in the evenings with woolly buggers and leeches. WILLOW — Fishing for bass remains good, and trout catches have improved. SELMAC — The lake remains closed to public access due to an outbreak of toxic algae. Ocean Outlook The summer’s chinook salmon season resumes Friday off the mouth of the Chetco River. Slow trolling of large sardines or anchovies with banana sinkers is a typical plan of attack, with anglers bouncing the bait along the sandy bottom near the river mouth. Anglers are banned from fishing for black rockfish, lingcod, greenling and cabezon, leaving surfperch and a few other species open. Tuna fishing remains slow. Crabbing remains slow. Shellfish harvest is open for all species except razor clams on the south and central coast. Hunting Outlook ROGUE — General rifle season opens Saturday, and opening weekend success should be better than in the past. Some black-tails are moving out of high-elevation summer range, but the action likely will be above 4,000 feet. Also, valley floor herds will get interest. Blue and ruffed grouse hunting is good, as is mountain quail. Look for quail near high-elevation water sources. The October fee-pheasant hunt opens Friday at the Denman Wildlife Area, with birds planted freshly each night. Bear hunters are in the midst of what is expected to be an average year throughout most of southwest Oregon. Hunters should concentrate their efforts in the berry patches in early morning and late afternoon. Bear numbers are good with the highest numbers at moderate to low elevations in the coast range, and with smaller populations in the Cascades. Successful bear hunters are reminded to turn in a bear tooth for the ongoing bear population study in southwest Oregon. 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 using a predator call adjacent to private land with high deer populations. DOUGLAS — Rifle hunters can expect an average or below-average general season for black-tail bucks. Deer populations are down and the deer remain in high-elevation forest land. Blue and ruffed grouse hunters can expect a better than average year thanks to above-average production county-wide. Same with mountain quail. 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. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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