Rogue

[greenhead]

Any word on any metalheads in the upper river,And what about springers at gold beach?
HERE FISHY FISHY

[ 03-04-2004, 07:47 AM: Message edited by: STGRule ]

[grog3]

Steelhead around GP has been good when water levels are right, not sure how they are doing up river, but I imagine good. I also want to know any word about springers in the lower Rouge and Umpqua ???

[ 03-04-2004, 07:18 AM: Message edited by: grog3 ]

[Fishing freak]

Greenhead, This is from todays Medford mail Tribune. Good luck!

Fishing and Hunting report
River Outlook
ROGUE — Winter steelhead fishing remains spotty along the Rogue after this week’s rains pushed the river too high and dirty for effective fishing in the middle Rogue, while the upper Rogue was starting to kick in as a very viable alternative for early-run winter steelhead that already have crossed Gold Ray Dam. The lower Rogue has been good for steelhead, but most anglers there are trying to catch the first spring chinook of the season.
The best bet for the weekend is the upper Rogue, which could be the only game in town if the rains forecast for the immediate future end up materializing.

The upper Rogue was in good shape for winter steelhead fishing this week, and catches were good for anglers fishing rubber-legged flies under bobbers. Effort has been light, mainly because most anglers were hammering the winter steelhead on the South Umpqua or the middle Rogue, but effort started to pick up Wednesday when high waters elsewhere sent anglers to Shady Cove.

Conditions were great. The out-flows from Lost Creek dam were 1,819 cubic feet per second of 41-degree water. That’s perfect for winter steelheading. Other than flies, good catches have come from anglers drift-fishing with yarn pieces soaked in roe juice. Roe still works.

Through Feb. 20, 2,541 winter steelhead have crossed Gold Ray Dam — excellent for early March. More telling, 239 bonafide winter steelhead have already hit Cole Rivers Hatchery, so the fish are well distributed.

In the middle Rogue, things don’t look as well. After a few really good winter steelheading days, the river rose and the turbidity levels jumped to 14 NTUs on Wednesday. Generally, 11 NTUs is about as high as you can get for decent fish visibility. When it clears, look for excellent catches throughout the middle Rogue, and anglers won’t necessarily have to focus on waters downstream of the Applegate now. The steelhead are everywhere. However, it might not clear until the weekend.

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Bank fishing with roe and corkies has been good in the waters downstream of Savage Rapids Dam prior to the rains.

Some plunkers continue to work the near-shore waters of the lower Rogue, and catches have been good in the high, but relatively green water through Wednesday.

No spring chinook had been caught and verified as of Wednesday afternoon, though several boats of anglers are trying and several have reported hooking and losing spring chinook.

The entire Rogue is open to the harvest of up to one wild steelhead over 24 inches a day, and no more than five a year. The total daily limit is two adult steelhead fish.

For daily flow reports out of Lost Creek Lake, call 800-472-243

[Straydog]

The upper Rogue was producing steelhead before the latest high water. I worked the Medford area yesterday and the word I got was few if any were fishing due to high water. When the river falls there should be tons of fish to be caught and with the weather we are having right now, the river should be dropping well unless they keep it high to keep the Reservoir down for spring run off.

I worked in Roseburg on Tuesday and was told the first Springer was caught in the "lower river", without specifics but I am guessing the Sawyers Rapid area. The person that caught it was fishing a Spin N Glo and eggs for steelhead. It is early for any large numbers of fish but they will continue to trickle in until the first big wave of fish hits in the next few weeks.

I have not heard of any Springers in the lower Rogue but you can bet there are a few around.

Here is a site I use a lot for Rogue water level info. I personally like to fish the river from 2 to 3 feet but I doubt we will get much of that this year. The Corp will likely be keeping the flows high to keep enough room in Lost Creek for spring run off. As of this week our snow pack is about 143% of normal so I expect a high flow Springer season as well as the remainder of the Steelhead season.

Rogue Flow at Grants Pass

[ 03-04-2004, 07:55 AM: Message edited by: Straydog ]

[SlimPickens]

There are winters in the Upper Rogue and more to come.

Springers have crossed Winchester Dam (NU) but these are the forerunners. I think you'd have a chance down lower. It will only get better....

[Sakana]

I was in Gold Beach last weekend to pick up my Sea People sled, that I had some work done on by Wayne Adams. Fished up above Quosatna boat ramp got one wild steelhead; there were no reports of any springers caught.