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49 °F 5 Day Forecast Saturday, November 29, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental 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 Email Story to a Friend October 30, 2003 FISHING AND HUNTING REPORT River Outlook ROGUE — Parts of the upper Rogue return to bait and/or lure fishing Saturday, and the large quantities of summer steelhead available there should make for some excellent fishing as soon as the roe hits the water. Elsewhere, the lower Rogue has slowed for fall chinook, but coho are starting to show in good numbers. The middle Rogue is good for steelhead, most of which are lingering near tributaries and feeding off salmon eggs laid in riffles. The best bet, however, is summer steelhead fishing in the upper Rogue, which should be excellent now that more than 12,000 steelhead have been counted over Gold Ray Dam. The far upper Rogue is open to bait fishing from the hatchery hole down to the Rogue Elk boat ramp. Small clusters of roe are the ticket, but Wee Warts and Rapala lures also work very well from boats. This stretch of the Rogue is expected to be crowded since it’s the only bait stretch open upstream of Gold Ray Dam, where bait fishing has been banned since Sept. 1. From Rogue Elk down to the dam, fishing is open to flies and lures, but not bait. Drift-fishing single-egg flies with spinning rods and lead works well, and plugs also work very well, particularly as the water warms during the day. Advertisement Fall chinook salmon can be caught or fished for in the upper Rogue beginning Saturday, but these fish are of exceedingly poor quality, if not dead already, and should not be kept. The water flows of 902 cubic feet per second of water out of Lost Creek Lake make the upper Rogue a bouncing drift, and the 42-degree water is very cool. Only four coho have been counted over Gold Ray Dam as of Oct. 15. In the Grants Pass area, steelhead fishing is good with roe or flies when downstream of spawning beds. Try to avoid the redds, and fishing out of a boat is better than wading. The Lower Rogue Canyon is fishing well for summer steelhead adults and halfpounders. The water re-opens to bait fishing Saturday, and look for catches to improve. In the lower Rogue, summer steelhead fishing is good in the Agness area, while trolling for late-run fall chinook has slowed as anglers look elsewhere for fresher fish. Coho are starting to show up regularly in the catches, and anglers fishing in the Lobster Creek area are catching them on spinners and flies, especially at dusk. In the lower Rogue, only a handful of boats are working the bay, but they are catching late-run fall chinook. Others are camped out near the mouth of Indian Creek targeting fall chinook returning to the small hatchery there. Farther upstream, fishing for fall chinook downstream of Agness is good, but most of the fish are dark. Anglers can keep just one chinook a day downstream of the Illinois River, plus an extra fin-clipped coho. All wild coho and wild steelhead must be released unharmed. For daily flow reports out of Lost Creek Lake, call 800-472-2434. APPLEGATE RIVER — The river is loaded with spawning fall chinook, and there are some summer steelhead feeding on eggs in the lower section of river. Use single-egg flies or very small clusters of eggs. The chinook are completely off-limits to any angling effort, including catch-and-release fishing. Some fly-fishing and bait-fishing for juvenile wild steelhead is available. All wild steelhead and all cutthroat trout must be released unharmed. Water releases are holding steady at 270 cubic feet per second. The river is open to angling downstream of the deadline below Applegate Dam. While the river is open to trout fishing, anglers cannot target any summer steelhead in the system. The limit is two adipose fin-clipped trout per day, 8 inch minimum length, downstream from the Applegate Dam. UMPQUA — Coho fishing is good in the Scottsburg area, while fall chinook catches are waning in the Roseburg area. Only fin-clipped coho may be kept. Summer steelhead fishing is good in the North Umpqua, where cooler water temperatures have the fish more active. Fishing is good in both the flies-only and bait sections. The South Umpqua is closed until Nov. 15 to all angling. ELK/SIXES — Both rivers have fall chinook salmon in their lower stretches, with some decent fishing in the deeper holes. A series of high tides over the next week should draw more salmon over the sea wall and into the rivers, and any raise will help. The fish are remaining in tidal-influenced water. Lake Outlook HOWARD PRAIRIE — The lake closes to trout fishing Friday evening, and there is little activity on the lakes with hunting seasons in full swing and cold weather. Try fishing the shallows for the larger rainbows out patrolling for food before the winter malaise sets in. Late-season fly-fishing with leeches or woolly bugger patterns could be good at times. Fish deeper as the day goes on, with mid-day catches sometimes very good during cooler days. This year’s planted fish are ranging up around 7 to 9 inches and the older fish from 13 inches to 19 inches. The smaller fish make up the lion’s share of the catch. The limit is five trout over 8 inches a day, with only one of them allowed to be more than 20 inches. HYATT — The lake closes to trout fishing Friday evening, and only a few locals are fishing the lake. Trolling and still-fishing could be good, and some large fish are known to migrate into the flats at the lake’s upper end at this time of year. Cool temperatures and cold water make still-fishing with PowerBait a good choice. The limit remains five trout more than 8 inches long, with only one of them allowed to be more than 20 inches long. DIAMOND — What few trout anglers there are are doing well in the lake’s south end, where they are finding rainbows and stocked chinook salmon near the weed lines and creek mouths. The fish can get very active in late October, but the shallow lake can be rough in the afternoons when the winds can kick up. The lake closes to angling Friday evening, and effort is very light. Try PowerBait near Silent Creek and around the pizza parlor. The limit remains five trout more than 8 inches long, with only one of them allowed to be more than 20 inches long. No swimming, wading or water-quality contact restrictions are in place. The lake is open to angling through Oct. 31. LOST CREEK — Trout anglers are primarily still working the Takelma Ramp area for the remnants of the trophy rainbow stocking last month are still milling around near the dam, and trollers are catching them with worms, Triple Teasers or Tasmanian Devils. For bass, the limit is five a day with no more than three over 15 inches long, but most bass fishing is catch and release. Angling is open year-round, but only the Takelma Boat Ramp is operable. APPLEGATE — Few people are fishing for rainbow trout or bass, but good smallmouth fishing can be had on calm days near the dam. Worms, small crankbaits and grubs all work. Trolling for stocked coho is slow. EMIGRANT — Trout fishing in the lower sections of the lake is fair from the bank or wind-drifting worms off the bottom. Ocean Outlook The offshore salmon seasons are closed for the year off Southern Oregon, and bottomfishing remains good when weather conditions allow for crossing the bar. Rains on Wednesday brought lumpy seas to the south coast. Jigging for black and blue rockfish has been very good on calm days. Ocean beaches and bays north of Tillamook Head are open to razor clamming because recent testing showed domoic acid levels to be in the safe zone. Ocean beaches south of Tillamook Head remain closed to the harvest of clams due to the continuing presence of domoic acid along the central coast and paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP/red tide) along the south coast. Mussel harvest is allowed from ocean beaches between Tillamook Head and Coos Bay. Bay clamming between Tillamook Head and the California border is open for all clam and mussel species, except razor clams. Hunting Outlook ROGUE — Wednesday’s storm front should create a boost for late-season deer hunters, who may finally be getting the weather necessary to get the black-tailed bucks moving in earnest from high-elevation summer range. Focus on game trails or bedding areas near them when the blacktail season re-opens Saturday for rifle hunters. The Green-Dot Road Closure is no longer in effect now that the general elk season is over. However, hunting is best away from the roads. Bears are starting to move toward the valley floor, and most bears are taken by deer or elk hunters who carry a bear tag. General-season bear tags can no longer be bought for this year. Good hunting for quail is expected after a good hatch of upland game birds this year. Mountain quail as well as ruffed and blue grouse seasons are open, and the California quail and pheasant seasons also are open, but most activity is on private land. The fee-pheasant hunt is over at the Denman Wildlife Area, but some hold-over birds can be flushed during the current regular pheasant season. Waterfowl hunting is good on private lands with farm ponds, but hunters must get permission before entering private lands. Some goose hunting is occurring on ponds and along the Rogue River in Josephine County, but hunters should be cautious of river-users and residences. APPLEGATE — Hunting conditions are improving as cold weather, continued leaf drop and storm fronts are getting the bucks on the go. Buck ratios remain good and success should improve as the season progresses. Buck hunting should improve with cold and damp weather. The deer will be migrating now out of high-elevation summer range. KLAMATH — Waterfowl seasons have been good early for resident birds. If the storm front continues over the Cascades, look for good resident bird hunting over the weekend. 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. SUMMER LAKE — Viewing opportunities remain very good because of the increased activity of fall migrants and post-breeding dispersal. Waterfowl are staging in good numbers now, but are difficult to identify due to being in the eclipse plumage. The molt into the breeding plumage is occurring and some drakes are becoming very colorful. Canada geese are dispersed throughout the wildlife area, and their use of recently hayed and re-flooded meadows will afford excellent viewing opportunities along Highway 31. 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