Idaho Fish Report

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. 

Bait can again be used in the entire Rogue mainstem. All tributaries are closed unless noted in the exceptions of the SW Zone regulations.

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

With some great bumps in river discharge, the middle Rogue may start seeing some winter steelhead finally show up. It’s still a bit early for the Middle Rogue, but plunkers in the lower river have been catching fish. Plunking or running a side planner downstream of Galice would be the best shot of catching an early winter run fish given the current highwater. The bulk of the winter steelhead in the middle Rogue don’t typically show until February and peaking in March into April. However, the high water so far is a welcome change from the past few years. 

Expect the river to be dropping into Friday, then a small bump for the weekend, then dropping into next week as the region is forecast for a drying period. As of Wednesday morning the flow in Grants Pass was 7610 cfs/5.15 feet and dropping. The water clarity was a muddy 29 NTU with a temperature of 40.8 degrees F. Water 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.