Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Forecasts call for winds up to 10 knots and northwest swells up to 4 feet. Saturday looks even better, with winds up to 10 knots but swells down to 2 or 3 feet. Sunday’s looking the best, with winds down to 5 knots and swells dropping to 2 feet or less. The marine aggregate rockfish daily limit for bottomfishers is five fish. Anglers are allowed to fish for midwater rockfish species outside 40 fathoms using 30-foot leaders and floats to stay off the bottom. The mi
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: A small-craft advisory is in effect from Cape Blanco on south through Sunday evening, which puts the kibosh on what little ocean angling opportunities are now afforded the sport fleet. Swells as high as 13 feet are forecast through the weekend, and that's a buzz-killer for the fleet. Halibut fishing is closed off the South Coast. That leaves only ocean bottomfishing outside the 40-fathom line. Thirty-foot leaders and floats are required to keep baits off the bottom and f
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Forecasts have the weekend starting out today with a small-craft advisory until nightfall, with 5-knot winds and 6-foot swells. Saturday looks similar, with winds up to 20 knots and 7-foot swells. Sunday is the best, with 15-knot winds and 6-foot swells.   The Chetco Bubble fishery off the mouth of the Chetco River reopens Saturday and Sunday, and that will be it for the year for offshore salmon fishing. Last week anglers battled winds and came out with an average o
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Gale watch, small-craft advisories and hazardous seas warnings are in effect today amid 20-knot winds and 14-foot swells. Saturday is forecast to bring winds up to 30 knots and 13-foot wind waves, with things calming down a bit Sunday with 15-knot winds and 9-foot swells. There's a five-fish marine aggregate rockfish daily limit for bottomfishers. Lingcod fishing is in full swing. When conditions improve, anglers may still fish for midwater rockfish species outside 40 fa
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Today's forecast calls for a gale watch through late tonight, with winds up to 25 knot, swells up to 7 feet and rain. The wind will die down to 5 knots Saturday, but 9-foot swells will keep most anglers off the water. Sunday looks like winds back up to 15 knots and swells running 5 to 8 feet. Bottomfishers are back in business coast-wide with the new five-fish marine aggregate rockfish daily limit. Lingcod fishing is also in full swing, with some good early catches this
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Forecasts call for 5-knot winds and wind waves of 2 feet or less today, followed Saturday by winds up to 15 knots and swells building to 5 feet. Sunday's forecast calls for winds of 15 knots and wind waves up to 2 feet, with 11-foot swells — officially a bad combination. Lingcod fishing has been excellent on days when anglers can get out, particularly out of Brookings. Surfperch fishing has been rock-solid at times off the Rogue River sand spit off the South Jetty
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
TRAIL — To Cole Rivers Hatchery workers over the years, a small pool at the base of the hatchery's outflow to the Rogue River is known as the Grate Hole for the metal grates cloaking the water pipe. To the occasional poacher over the years, it's been the Great Hole unless they get busted for illegally pulling spring chinook salmon out of this Rogue side-channel. This year, however, that hole could very well be dubbed Saving Grace, because it may be the last chance for this year's dro
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
State fish and wildlife managers are mulling whether to drop a scheduled fee increase for fishing and hunting licenses in 2021 and possibly even roll back some fees next year, thanks to what they call better-than-expected revenues and a leaner budget. And that’s not an early April Fool’s joke. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is rolling out its 2019-21 draft budget, which includes the potential fee rollback, as well as an option to enact the raises as planned and put the
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
The spring chinook season was so flaky in the Columbia Basin this year — with high streamflows by mid-March and low Bonneville Dam counts — that I only made one trip for the premier fish of the Columbia River. I opted instead to chase walleyes in the Columbia Gorge, and that turned out to be a fantastic choice. My neighbor and I fished the stretch of the Columbia between Miller Island and Rufus repeatedly this spring. We got lucky with multiple days of no wind. By the end of May, w
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Forecasts are a little sketchy for weekend ocean angling, including yet another gale warning that runs through Saturday. Today's forecast calls for winds up to 20 knots and 5- to 8-foot wind waves, followed Saturday by winds of about 10 knots near Brookings and wind waves up to 6 feet. Sunday is expected to be a repeat of Saturday. Very good to excellent lingcod and black rockfish catches have occurred out of Brookings when the weather has allowed. Blue rockfish catches
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Forecasts call for a mix of ocean conditions over Free Fishing weekend, starting today with winds growing from 5 knots to 15 knots to go along with 5-foot swells. Saturday looks a little rougher, with forecasts calling for 15-knot winds and 6-foot swells. Sunday will see a forecast that bumps winds to 20 knots but the swells cap out at 6 feet. Very good to excellent lingcod and black rockfish catches have occurred recently out of Brookings when the weather has allowed. B
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Forecasts call for ocean conditions to be nice today but get progressively worse through the weekend. Today calls for 5- to 10-knot winds and 2-foot swells, followed Saturday by winds of 15 to 20 knots and waves up to 8 feet. Sunday's forecast calls for winds up to 25 knots and waves up to 10 feet. Not good. Very good to excellent lingcod and black rockfish catches have occurred out of Brookings when the weather has allowed. Blue rockfish catches have been good to very g
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Forecasts call for a mix of ocean conditions over Memorial Day weekend, starting today with winds of up to 20 knots and wind waves as high as 9 feet. Saturday looks the best, with 5-knot winds and 5-foot swells, followed Sunday by 15-knot winds and 4-foot mixed swells — and those are the kind of waves that can separate a boater from his breakfast rather easily. Very good to excellent lingcod and black rockfish catches have occurred recently out of Brookings when t
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Today's forecast calls for winds up to 15 knots and swells of up to 8 feet, followed Saturday by 20-knot winds and 5-foot swells. Sunday doesn't look much better, with a forecast of 15-knot winds and swells up to 7 feet. Halibut fishing is closed off the South Coast. That leaves only ocean bottomfishing outside the 40-fathom line. Thirty-foot leaders and floats are required to keep baits off the bottom and focused on midwater rockfish species. No lingcod, cabezon or othe
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Coastal weather for the weekend starts with a small-craft advisory for hazardous seas through Sunday night. Expect 20-knot winds and swells up to 15 feet today, followed Saturday by 15-knot winds and swells dropping to 10 feet. Sunday sees the winds eventually backing down to 5 knots, but the swells will still be close to 10 feet. Good weekend to stay inland. The marine aggregate rockfish daily limit for bottomfishers is five fish. Anglers are allowed to fish for midwate
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: For the first time in several weeks, part of the weekend looks fishable on the ocean, and that bodes well for those after lingcod and other bottomfish. Winds to 15 knots today will kick up swells to 5 feet with rain, but that could be doable for early jigging. Saturday will bring 20-knot winds and wind waves of 3 to 5 feet. On Sunday conditions will start to fall apart, with 20-knot winds and swells to 8 feet. There's a five-fish marine aggregate rockfish daily limit for
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
Cole Rivers Hatchery technicians went from fearing they wouldn't have enough adult Rogue River spring chinook salmon to make their spawning goals to having enough excess fish to help feed some of Oregon's hungry. Hatchery workers last week killed and donated 624 excess hatchery chinook to the Oregon Food Bank, a tradition that stretches back more than a decade here. The Oregon Food Bank is a nonprofit organization at the hub of a network of 20 regional food banks serving Oregon and Clark County,
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
The CAST For Kids organization is looking for some help in creating a special day on Emigrant Lake next month for a bunch of special kids. After a two-year hiatus, the organization, whose acronym stands for Catch A Special Thrill, is returning to the Rogue Valley by holding a fishing and boating event for 40 special-needs kids July 15 on Emigrant Lake. Event leaders, however, are in need of volunteer boat captains to take at least one kid and one parent or guardian on a morning fishing and boati
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Forecasts call for some calm summer fishing days this weekend, with 5-knot winds and 4-foot swells today, 5-knot winds and 4-foot wells Saturday and 10-knot winds with 3-foot swells Sunday. Very good to excellent lingcod and black rockfish catches have occurred out of Brookings when the weather has allowed. Blue rockfish catches have been good to very good. The South Coast halibut season is open through Oct. 31, and some very nice fish have been caught when the weather c
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2019-03-05
OCEAN OUTLOOK COASTWIDE: Today's forecast calls for 15-knot winds and swells up to 16 feet, followed Saturday by 25-knot winds and 13-foot swells. Sunday calls for 25-knot winds and 12-foot swells with 6-foot wind waves.   The Chetco Bubble fishery off the mouth of the Chetco River is over, but anglers are still catching fish trolling the last 150 yards or so of the river up to the mouth. Use herring with spinner blades, mostly brass and chartreuse. Ocean bottomfishing is open outside the 4