Rogue River Middle Fishing Report

Rogue River - Middle - Grants Pass, OR (Josephine County)


by OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Staff
12-19-2018
Website

Fishing for summer steelhead has slowed as many of these fish will be entering seasonal tributaries to spawn soon. Wild steelhead must be released unharmed. The river remains open for hatchery summer steelhead, and the 2018 run still has some hatchery fish moving through the system. Running plugs from a drift boat is not a bad option as the river is higher, but drifting nightcrawlers and even throwing blue fox or mepps spinners have been producing. 

Gold Hill to Rogue River, Baker to Lathrop or Ferry Hole, or Griffin Park to Robertson Bridge are all good floats this time of year. Remember, upstream in the Fishers Ferry to Shady Cove reach, anglers can still only fish artificial flies and lures, no bait.

Half-pounders are worth targeting this time of year from Lathrop downstream to Graves Creek. Fishing for these from Hog Creek boat ramp to Graves Creek has been good, however only experienced driftboaters should be floating these floats as you will encounter Galice Chute and Argo Rapid; know where your take outs are if you don’t want to run these rapids. There are many BLM public access points to bank fish for these from Hog Creek to Graves Creek.

The Rogue River is also open for trout fishing. Only hatchery rainbow trout may be retained. All wild rainbow and cutthroat trout must be released.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the flow in Grants Pass was 1,580 and rising cfs, the river temperature averaged about 42oF, and the clarity was 2 NTU. For those interested in checking conditions before getting on the river, the City of Grants Pass Water Division’s website offers information on river conditions at Grants Pass as well as a link to a river camera.

 




More Reports

OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Reports
for Wednesday, December 19th, 2018

Coos River: Steelhead Should be Entering the Rivers with the Next Big Rain
Galesville Reservoir: Fishing for Bass and Other Panfish Should be Decent
Howard Prairie Reservoir: Howard Prairie Reservoir Fishing Report
Lost Creek Lake: Large Rainbows Have Been Stocked
Rogue River- Lower: Lower Rogue River Fishing Report

Excess algae and aging infrastructure likely cause of fish egg loss at Cole Rivers Hatchery

12-15-2018
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hatchery staff are reporting an unusual level of loss among spring Chinook eggs and...... Read More