Southwest Oregon Fishing Reports
No update from Pete this week.
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. As of Sept. 8, ocean salmon anglers harvested 51.7 percent of the nonselective coho salmon quota. The non-selective ocean coho season will be open again on Sept. 13-15. Chinook must be a minimum of 24-inches long and coho must be at least 16-inches.
Tuna are still being caught 20-35 miles off shore 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 1, there is 71 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 Aug. 31, there is 49 percent of the All-Depth quota remaining.
Fishing for rockfish inside the Coos River 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 was very good late last week from the Chip Pile to California Street Boat Ramp. Catch rates have slowed down this week and some of the Chinook have moved upstream into the Coos River.
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. 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.
A few smaller striped bass have been caught on the lower end of the Coquille River. Most anglers are using cut bait or nightcrawlers fished with sliding sinkers on the river bottom.
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.
A few salmon anglers have been trolling for fall Chinook around Bullards Beach and Rocky Point but 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 and 2 wild Chinook for the season in aggregate from all waters from Coos Basin, Coquille Basin, Sixes River, and Elk River. 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 is 46 percent full. Trout fishing should be good, especially in deeper water and in the upper reservoir above the Hwy 62 bridge, where water is cooler and anglers can avoid recreational boaters. As the water cools, trout fishing will continue to get better. Trolling a wedding ring and worm combination behind an oval egg sinker is always a good bet.
After a late arrival of fall Chinook, the Rogue Bay has really heated up, with the majority of fish are being caught downstream of Hwy101. Recent rainfall dropped the water temperature a couple of degrees, which may encourage some fish to move upriver.
Anglers reported catching a lot of jacks along with many adults. Most anglers are trolling some type of inline flasher with an anchovy. Anglers can expect fishing to only get better through the month of September. Coho should start entering the bay anytime.
Steelhead fishing picked up in the lower river as good numbers of adult and half-pounder steelhead have pushed into the 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.
Above Fishers Ferry, Chinook fishing is now closed until Dec. 31, as well as it being artificial fly only. Anglers may keep hatchery summer steelhead and hatchery trout throughout the river and hatchery or wild Chinook downstream of Fishers Ferry.
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/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 as the “Galice area.”
A reminder that anglers can keep 5 hatchery trout a day on the Rogue River. 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.
As of September 4, 121 new summer steelhead had entered the trap at Cole Rivers, for a total of 2,388 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 by drifting eggs.
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 last week. Anglers will still find plenty of trout available for the next couple of weeks, especially away from the most popular campgrounds. This is a great section of the river to fish to avoid the valley heat as water remains cold in this area throughout the summer and trout are still biting.
In addition to stocked rainbow trout in the mainstem, the tributaries also support naturally produced trout.
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 fishing continues to be decent with anglers catching yellow perch along the edges of weedlines. 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.
Umpqua River – Some fall Chinook have been caught in the bay, and hopefully the end of August and September bring more fish. 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.
Half-pounder fishing has been good in the Rogue canyon, especially below Blossom. Keep an eye out for adult steelhead moving upriver, as well.