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. The non-selective coho season is now closed. Chinook must be a minimum of 24-inches long.
Tuna are still being caught 20-35 miles offshore when conditions allow anglers to get on the ocean.
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. 22, there is 69 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. 22, there is 32 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.
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. Find more information about which lakes in this area are stocked.
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 slack tide. 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.
Chinook salmon are very spread out in tidewater from the last couple of 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. The water is fairly dirty from last week’s rain near the forks of the Millicoma and South Fork Coos rivers.
Anglers have been catching wild coho downstream of California Street Boat Ramp. There is no harvest of wild coho this year in Coos Bay.
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.
A few striped bass have been caught on the lower Coquille River by anglers trolling for salmon.
The smallmouth bass bite is also good at this time in the mainstem and South Fork Coquille rivers. Smallmouth bass will bite on worms, jigs with a twister tail, crankbaits, and small spinners.
Salmon anglers had decent catches of Chinook salmon trolling around Bullards Beach and Riverton Boat Ramp this past week. 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.
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
Lost Creek Reservoir was stocked this week 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 44 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 encouraged to keep fish that have copepods while staying within the daily limit since release simply allows the parasite to expand to other hosts.
With the recent rainfall and a shift in weather, the water temperature has dropped a couple of degrees in the lower Rogue and the water has colored up a bit, which has encouraged some fish to move upriver. 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 inline 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. The recent rain and cooler temperatures have pushed some fresh fall chinook upriver. Keep in mind Chinook fishing is now closed upstream of Hog Creek.
Boaters floating from Hog Creek to Graves Creek should be familiar with the rapids in this section of the river, and know their takeouts. Experienced oarsmen/women 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.
Some summer steelhead have red tags extending from the top of the fish near the dorsal fin. ODFW encourages anglers that catch these fish to call the upper Rogue office at 541-826-8774.
The Rogue above Lost Creek Reservoir was stocked for the final time of the summer a few weeks ago. Some stocked fish will still be present, and naturally-produced trout will still be biting.
Anglers can cast flies or smaller lures like a Panther Martin or rooster tail. Often tipping the lure with bait helps to produce. In slower holes, fishing straight bait such as nightcrawler, Pautzke eggs or even PowerBait will produce.
Bass fishing has been good on Tenmile Lakes. Anglers are catching most of the bass along the deeper weedlines and submerged trees. Topwater lures have been catching bass in the low light periods or even in the shade during the middle of the day.
Yellow perch will start transitioning from the weedlines to the deepwater mudflats in the next few weeks. Most of the fish are under 10-inches long but there are a few 12-inch plus fish being caught.
Trout anglers continue to troll for trout. A few trout have been caught on bait by anglers targeting yellow perch.
Chinook fishing is winding down in the lower Umpqua River, but there are often some fall Chinook caught in the 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.
The North is closed to all fishing for Chinook. There have been some reports of anglers catching summer steelhead, but it has been slow.