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Fishing report: Friday, June 24 By Mark Freeman Jun 24, 2022 12:00 PM A A OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Friday’s forecast calls for winds to 20 knots and wind waves to 8 feet. Saturday’s forecast call for winds to drop to 15 knots and wind waves to drop a hair to 7 feet. Sunday’s forecast looks to be the best of the lot, with winds dropping to 5 knots and wind waves dipping to 2 feet or less. Surfperch fishing is likely to be much improved throughout this weekend as perch move toward rivermouths to spawn and the ocean seems to be laying down. Sandshrimp and mussels are the best baits, with plastic sand worms and shrimp as secondary choices. Bay clamming should be good despite an absence of minus tides like those of last week. Should be classic bay clamming time, as long as rain and winds cooperate. Razor clam digging is closed from Cape Blanco to the California border because of elevated levels of domoic acid in clams. However, the rest of the state, including bays, is open for clamming. Look for good bay clamming on the south coast, especially around Charleston in Coos Bay. Before digging, call the shellfish hotline at 1-800-448-2474. Recreational crabbing is open in the ocean, and catches have been excellent in the ocean and bays such as lower Coos Bay at Charleston. Many Dungeness are starting to get soft shells from molting. Make sure to cull the soft ones because meat amounts are not ideal. LAKE OUTLOOK AGATE: The lake got 4,000 legal-sized trout within the past month. Fishing around the ramp should be good through the weekend on Power Bait, worms or anything that smells like a hatchery food pellet. The lake was listed a 98% full Thursday, with turbid water. Electric trolling motors are OK. The park closes at dusk. APPLEGATE: The Hart Tish Park boat ramp and dock are open, and there is plenty of water for the boat ramps. The lake was most recently stocked with rainbow trout a month ago. Fish for rainbows with PowerBait or worms from the bank or slowly troll Tasmanian Devil lures spiced with a piece of worm. Bass fishing has been good with plastic worms and grubs fished slowly off the bottom along rocky points and flats on warm days. The lake is filling quickly and is less than 5 feet below full and still filling. Outflows have been holding steady at 225 cfs. DIAMOND: The lake is fishing very well for rainbow trout, with catches best on the south end or on the lake’s far side near the Scout camp. Most of the action remains in shallow water in the mornings and evenings when the trout are looking for bugs in warmer water. The lake’s insect populations are getting very active. PowerBait and small leech flies fished slowly will work best. All tiger trout must be released unharmed. EMIGRANT: The lake is up, but it’s still at just 40% full, buoyed largely by water siphoned from Hyatt and Howard Prairie lakes. Very little angling activity continues. Some bank fishing for catfish with chicken livers has been reported, as well as some casting with grubs or plastic worms for bass off rocky points on nice days. More boat fishing for bass has occurred during warmer days. Look for catches to improves as water conditions warm. Legal-sized trout were set to be released there late last month and fishing for them has been fair to good. EXPO: State wildlife biologists stocked 1,500 legal-sized rainbow trout here again earlier this month. Catch them with Panther Martin lures, single salmon eggs or worms under bobbers. Parking fees are required. FISH: Fishing for rainbow trout has been fair near springs with PowerBait. The water is cold. The lake was listed Thursday at 51% full and rising about 2% a week. That’s good news for anglers for later this summer. HOWARD PRAIRIE: The lake is open to angling and is ice-free, but few are taking advantage of it. The lake level was down a hair to 14% as water is diverted to Emigrant Lake for irrigation use. Most action is near the dam access. The lake was stocked with 50,000 fingerling rainbows Oct. 8, and catches of them should be very good with worms and PowerBait as well as small streamers for fly-fishers. Anglers can keep five trout a day, with only one longer than 20 inches. HYATT: The lake was down to 7% full as it is being drawn down to feed Emigrant Lake for irrigation purposes. Some fishing remains in the dam area for trout. The limit is five trout a day, with just one over 20 inches. No fingerling trout were stocked last year, so trout numbers are very low. Some warmwater fish, such as black crappie, are showing up in the catch. LAKE OF THE WOODS: The lake continues to fish well for holdover rainbow trout in shallower water. These fish are cruising looking for meals in warmer water. Try PowerBait or small lures that look like minnows. LOST CREEK: The lake got a new complement of catchable, legal-sized rainbow trout again late last month at the Takelma ramp. High inflows mean the lake is less than a foot under full. Bank fish with PowerBait near the Takelma ramp, or at the Medco access point off Highway 62. Wind-drifting worms above Peyton Bridge has been good. Outflows were holding steady at 3,000 cfs and are expected to remain at that level through June. MEDCO: The lake is ice-free and was stocked last month with 2,000 legal-sized trout. Catch them on PowerBait or worms. SELMAC: The lake was stocked with 1,000 legal-sized trout again three weeks ago. Fish for them with worms or PowerBait. WILLOW: The lake received another 2,000 legal-sized rainbow trout late last month. Catch them with worms or PowerBait near the county boat ramp, where the fish were released. RIVER OUTLOOK ROGUE: The upper Rogue is seeing a decent mix of spring chinook and early summer steelhead fishing. The middle Rogue is a little less of a fly-over state now as some summer steelhead are getting caught as they whiz by Grants Pass toward the upper Rogue. And the lower Rogue has slowed for spring chinook amid dropping and warming flows. That makes the upper Rogue the best bet as high out-flows from Lost Creek Lake are helping chinook and steelhead move into the area. Boat anglers are running into some spring chinook in the upper Rogue, mostly back-bouncing roe and sandshrimp or running plugs from driftboats. Flows at Dodge Bridge were down to 3,312 cfs Thursday and are set to be quite stable through the weekend. Flows at the former Gold Ray Dam site were up to 3,435 cfs Thursday and also set to hold pretty steady. In the middle Rogue, a few summer steelhead are getting caught on worms and corkies as they work their way to the upper Rogue. Some of these early fish can be in the 10-pound range. The Hatchery Hole is closed to all angling from April 1 to July 31. The Hatchery Hole is permanently closed to all chinook fishing. Lower Rogue fishing for springers has tapered off. Most of the action is farther upstream toward Agness. Dredging has begun in the lower Rogue Bay, and that should help upcoming fall chinook fishing. APPLEGATE: The river is closed to trout and steelhead fishing. CHETCO: The river is now closed to fishing.