Southwest Oregon Fishing Reports
From ODF&W
Bottomfishing is now open to fish at all depths. Fishing for lingcod and rockfish has been good when the ocean is calm enough to fish. The daily bag limit for marine fish is 5 plus 2 lingcod.
The harvest of cabezon along with copper, quillback, and China rockfish are now all closed to boat anglers. Shore anglers will still be able to harvest these rockfish species (but are encouraged to release them) and 1 cabezon a day.
Anglers may also choose to fish the offshore longleader fishery outside of the 40-fathom regulatory line, which is open year round. The longleader fishery has a daily bag limit of 10 fish made of yellowtail, widow, canary, blue, deacon, redstripe, greenstripe, silvergray, and bocaccio rockfish. No other groundfish are allowed and offshore longleader fishing trips cannot be combined with traditional bottomfish, flatfish or halibut trips. Find information about a longleader setup here.
Ocean salmon fishing for Chinook salmon from Cape Falcon to Humbug Mt is open 7 days a week through Oct. 31. The non-selective coho season is now closed. Chinook must be a minimum of 24-inches long.
Halibut anglers may now keep two halibut per day as of Aug. 23. The Nearshore Halibut season is open Monday through Thursday each week in the Central Coast Subarea. As of Sept. 29, there is 68 percent of the Nearshore quota remaining. The summer All-Depth season for the Central Coast Subarea is open every Friday through Sunday through October 26 or attaining the quota of 67,898 lbs. As of Sept. 29 there is 31 percent of the All-Depth quota remaining.
The Southern Oregon Subarea is open seven days a week for halibut. There is still 70 percent of the quota remaining for the Southern Oregon Coast halibut season.
Temporary wild fall Chinook salmon regulations started on Aug. 1. Salmon anglers in Coos Bay will only be able to harvest 1 wild Chinook per day and 5 wild Chinook for the season in aggregate from all waters from Coos Basin, Coquille Basin, Sixes River, and Elk River, but no more than 2 adult Chinook salmon may be harvested from the Coquille Basin.
The South Fork Coos River will be closed to salmon fishing upstream of Myrtle Tree Boat Ramp, and the Millicoma River will be closed to salmon fishing upstream of Rooke Higgins Boat Ramp.
Trout fishing in streams and rivers remain open through Oct. 31. Anglers may now use bait through the end of the trout season. Some anglers have had success catching sea-run cutthroat trout in the upper reaches of tidewater.
Fishing for rockfish inside the bay has been good near the submerged rock piles. Fishing is typically best near slacktide. Boat anglers are no longer able to harvest copper, quillback, or China rockfish for the remainder of the year because we reached our catch limit on these species. A jig with a twister tail can be a great bait for catching rockfish.
Salmon fishing in Coos Bay continues to be decent one day and very slow the next day. Chinook salmon are very spread out in tidewater from the last couple rain storms. Most Chinook anglers have been fishing from the Marshfield Channel to the forks of the Millicoma and South Fork Coos rivers. A few anglers are still fishing downstream of California Street Boat Ramp.
Anglers have been catching wild coho downstream of California Street Boat Ramp. There is no harvest of wild coho this year in Coos Bay.
A few striped bass have been caught on the lower Coquille River by anglers trolling for salmon.
As river temperatures drop the smallmouth bass will move into deeper holes on the mainstem and South Fork Coquille rivers. Smallmouth bass will bite on worms, jigs with a twister tail, crankbaits, and small spinners.
Salmon are spread throughout the river from Bandon to Coquille. Overall, salmon fishing has been slow.
Temporary wild fall Chinook salmon regulations started on Aug. 1. Salmon anglers in the Coquille Basin will only be able to harvest 1 wild Chinook per day. There is a season aggregate of 5 wild Chinook from all waters from Coos Basin, Coquille Basin, Sixes River, and Elk River, but no more than 2 adult Chinook salmon may be harvested from the Coquille Basin. The Coquille River will be closed to salmon fishing upstream of Sturdivant Park Bridge (Highway 42S Bridge).
Trout fishing in streams and rivers remain open through Oct. 31. Anglers may now use bait through the end of the trout season.
With recent rainfall and a shift in weather, the water temperature has dropped a couple degrees in the lower Rogue River and the water has colored up a bit, which has encouraged some fish to move up river. Bay fishing has slowed, but should pick up again when the weather clears up.
Anglers reported catching a lot of jacks along with many adults downstream of Hwy 101. Most boating anglers are trolling some type of in line flasher with an anchovy. With rising water levels, some people have considered switching tactics to anchoring up and back-bouncing eggs. Anglers can expect fishing to only get better this fall. Coho have just started showing up.
Steelhead fishing has been pretty consistent in the lower river. Anglers swinging flies or tossing spinners are having the best luck.
Half-pounder fishing has been good in the Rogue Canyon, especially below Blossom Bar. Keep in mind it is now artificial fly and lures only from Foster Creek to Whisky Creek until Oct. 31. Adult steelhead fishing continues to be good throughout the river, spinners and flies are bringing in some nice large fish and they will continue to move upstream as the water cools.
Some good fall chinook fishing has also been reported upstream of Rainy Falls, but keep in mind Chinook is now closed above Hog Creek.
Boaters floating from Hog Creek to Graves Creek should be familiar with the rapids in this section of river, and know their takeouts. Experienced oarsmen/woman are recommended here. There are many BLM public access points to bank fish from Hog Creek to Graves Creek. This is often referred to the “Galice area.”
Above Hog Creek, Chinook fishing is now closed, as well as it being artificial fly only above Fishers Ferry. Summer steelhead and trout remain open in the upper Rogue, and summer steelhead fishing has been good.
This has been a great run of summer steelhead with not only many fish available, but larger fish as well. With the Chinook fishing now closed in this area, it’s a great time to fly-fish while there is less pressure.
A good number of hatchery trout have also been reported in the upper river and these can make for fun bank fishing, especially on a fly. A reminder that anglers can keep 5 hatchery trout a day on the Rogue River.
As of Oct 1, 104 new summer steelhead had entered the trap at Cole Rivers, for a total of 2,862 steelhead to date. Excess hatchery adult summer steelhead from Cole River Hatchery are being recycled back into the fishery and anglers are reporting success in catching these fish.
Hyatt Lake is 35 percent full and the paved boat ramp is unusable for launching trailered boats, but inflatables or kayaks can launch from the banks.
Hyatt Lake has been stocked with our annual “fall fingerlings.” These trout are not of legal size, but should be by the spring, please be cognizant of the size of fish you are catching and gently release these smaller fish to grow until next year.
Fishing was reported to be good from inflatables and smaller watercraft, or from shore near the dam. Trout are biting on bait fished from the bottom, especially near the dam. Bass fishing should be okay for a few more weeks, try lures near the submerged tree trucks.
Fall is a good time to plan a trip to one of the high Cascades hike-in lakes — brook trout are hungry and active this time of year, and fishing will be good until the snow flies.
Lost Creek Reservoir was stocked the week of Oct. 2 with legal-size and larger trout and both Tekelma and the Marina boat ramps are accessible. This is probably the best bet for launching trailered boats and fishing for trout in the area at this time.
Trout fishing should be good as water temperatures are cooling. Trolling a wedding ring and worm combination behind an oval egg sinker is always a good bet. Some bass may still be biting, especially near the dam or near any submerged structures.
Lost Creek Reservoir is 43 percent full.
Some of the trout have external parasites called copepods. Fish parasites generally do not pose a threat to humans when fish are cooked, and copepods can be scraped off prior to cooking. Anglers are encourage to keep fish that have copepods while staying within the daily limit, since release simply allows the parasite to expand to other hosts.
Diamond Lake has been decent. Recent reports indicate most successful anglers are using flies with a quick retrieve or trolling. Others are having good success with floating bait off the bottom. If one technique isn’t working switch to something else
Chinook fishing is winding down in the lower river, but there are often some fall Chinook caught in the lower Umpqua river through October. Please note there is no retention of unclipped coho salmon in the river, but fin-clipped coho is open in the river as part of your two adult salmon daily limit. The river regulations start at the tips of the jetties.
Bass fishing has still been good in most of the main.
Trout fishing reopened on May 22, 2019, but tributaries close to all fishing Sept. 16. The mainstem is catch-and-release only