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| July 13, 2012, 7:16 pm |
SPRING AND FALL CHINOOK HITTING LINES IN LOWER ROGUE Southern Oregon fishing reportThe temperatures in the Rogue Valley have reached boiling the past week and are expected to continue into the weekend.With that in mind, a few anglers have headed out to the coast for cooler weather and the chance to catch a surprising amount of late-arriving spring chinook in the lower Rogue River, as well as some early-arriving fall chinook in the Rogue Estuary.Fishing guides have been landing both species, according to Larry Cody of the Rogue Outdoor Store in Gold Beach.“We started seeing the (fall chinook) last week,” Cody said. “Guys are brining in about eight to 10 fish per day, but there haven’t been a ton of boats on the river.“We usually expect them to start arriving in July, and the season tends to peak in August.”While the arrival of the fall fish has been nice for anglers downstream, there still — amazingly — are some spring chinook being caught upriver as well.“The guides fishing up to about 10 miles upstream have been catching springers daily,” Cody said. “Pretty much everyone is catching them from a boat, however. There aren’t many guys getting them from the banks.”The best bet for both fish has been the classic Rogue Bait Rig with an anchovy, although earlier in the season, Brad’s Cut Plug was working well.Beyond salmon, Cody said lingcod were fairly hot offshore.UPPER ROGUEThere still are spring chinook being caught in decent numbers in the upper Rogue River, although the bite has slowed some because of the hot weather.Anglers fishing salmon from boats in the upper river have used roe, roe and shrimp or K-15 Kwikfish with sardine wraps.Bank anglers can find success drifting bait and drift-bobbers through the popular holes.The summer steelhead bite has improved.According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, more summer steelhead have returned to Cole Rivers Hatchery as of early July than any time since the year 2000.Jigs, nightcrawlers, flies and Little Cleos have all proven effective for catching steelhead.MIDDLE ROGUEThere have been a few salmon reported in the Grants Pass area — a rareity recently — though the overall bite has been generally slow.A few summer steelhead have been caught in the middle Rogue. Good early returns to Cole Rivers Hatchery mean that fish are available.Back-trolling small plugs or casting Panther Martins with black bodies and gold blades have worked well for trout and summer steelhead.Fishing for spring chinook salmon has been slow.APPLEGATE RESERVOIRThe trout fishing at the reservoir has stayed pretty strong considering the increasingly hot temperatures.Trolling has been the primary technique for trout.Fishing for smallmouth bass should be good on rubber worms.The reservoir is 90 percent full at this time.LAKE SELMACThe trout fishing has slowed, but fishing for bass, bluegill, crappie, and other warmwater species has been good.The bluegill and crappie can be found around the willows, docks, and other types of structure.DIAMOND LAKEAnglers using worms or flashy jigs and PowerBait have been successful at the high Cascade Mountain lake.Fly anglers have been landing fish on trolled wooly buggers and drifted nymphs.This year's daily limit has remained at eight fish per angler (eight-inch minimum and only one fish longer than 20 inches).Contact the Forest Service for information on camping at 541-498-2531.FISH LAKEWater clarity is improving at the Cascade Mountain reservoir, and fishing is fair to good on stocked rainbow trout. Trollers fishing on Monday caught trout close along the north and south shorelines.Some spring chinook salmon, stocked for the trout fishery, are being caught while trolling.o o oPast blogsTHIRD PERSON OF SUMMER DROWNS IN ROGUE RIVERHIGH PRESSURE, CALIFORNIA FIRES TO BLAME FOR HAZY SKIESTHOUGHTS ON BIGFOOT AND THE STATE OF JEFFERSONLOCAL RIVERS AND LOCAL MUSIC COMBINE IN VIDEO PROJECTGUEST OPINION: ENVIRO’S SPOTTED OWL HAS DESTROYED JOBS AND PROSPERITY IN SOUTHERN OREGONFEWER ALGAE PROBLEMS REPORTED AT LOCAL LAKES |
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