Bait can again be used in the entire Rogue from the mouth upstream to Fishers Ferry.  Wild steelhead cannot be retained above Hog Creek until Feb. 1. Wild steelhead must be 24 inches in length to harvest, with a limit of 1 per day/3 per year zone wide in aggregate with other SW rivers where wild steelhead are allowed to be harvested (consult regulations). 

Anglers may still find a few summer steelhead in the middle Rogue area and will likely start to encounter down-running spawned out fish (also known as kelts). Handle these fish with care if you encounter them.

With the recent high water, winter steelhead are starting to be caught in the Galice and Robertson Bridge areas. Reports indicate plugs out of a boat have worked best, but color is improving with the water dropping and drifting roe or yarn balls may start producing. There also have been rumors of winter fish being caught recently as high as Grants Pass. The bulk of the winter steelhead in the middle Rogue don’t typically show until February and peak in March into April. However, the high water so far is a welcome change from the past few years. 

Local tackle and fly shops in the Grants Pass area have all the gear you may need, and very fresh bait. Check them out and offer them your support.

Expect the river to continue dropping for the foreseeable future – there’s not much precipitation in the 10-day forecast.  As of Wednesday morning the flow in Grants Pass was 2,530 cfs/2.41 ft and should remain above 2,000 cfs at least through the weekend. The water clarity was 6 NTU and 42 degrees. Current flow, temp and turbidity conditions for the Rogue can be found at the USGS stream gauges here, or checking the City of Grants Pass water page’s river data here.