The upper Rogue is in good shape and expect flows to hold around this level for the foreseeable feature. The higher flows from the last couple weeks have brought more winter steelhead and a few spring Chinook into the upper Rogue. Trout fishing is closed and will reopen May 22.

There is good public access for bank fishing and boat access at Cole Rivers Hatchery, McGregor Park, Casey Park, Rogue Elk, Shady Cove, Takelma, Dodge Bridge, Modoc, Denman Wildlife Area, Touvelle State Park, Gold Ray and Fishers Ferry. Most floats in the upper Rogue have been from the hatchery or Rogue Elk downstream to Shady Cove. Dodge Bridge to Touvelle is an excellent float but anglers should be aware that they will encounter Rattlesnake Rapids. If you are not ready for Rattlesnake, many floats will start at the ODFW Modoc Access Site and float to Touvelle or Fishers Ferry.

Fly anglers that nymph will want to use prince nymphs or copperswans, steelhead brassies, stone flies, ugly bugs, or will want to fish large dark flies if swinging. Don’t be afraid of color such as black and chartreuse, black and blue, black and purple, black and pink, or black and red. If tying your own flies, don’t be afraid to add a little bit of flash dubbing or tinsel in the body of your fly. Also, covering lots of water when working through a run is a good technique when swinging flies. Trying moving 4-5 feet down every cast or two.

At the time of this writing, the hatchery report has not been sent out for the last week so as of April 16, 3,645 summer steelhead had entered Cole Rivers Hatchery, with no new fish for the last 2 weeks which indicates the end of the summer steelhead run. 68 new winter steelhead were collected last week, bringing the total to 1,349 fish for the season. As of April 16, no spring Chinook have entered the hatchery yet.

The McLeod gage is currently reading  3,290 cfs. The Dodge Bridge gage is at 4,170 cfs. For the most current releases of water out of Lost Creek Reservoir, call 1-800-472-2434. For real time streamflow from USGS gauges on the Rogue click here.