The river opened to trout fishing May 22.

The upper Rogue is in good shape and expect flows to hold around this level for the foreseeable feature. Spring Chinook continue to be caught in the upper river as the run progresses. More summer steelhead are around as well and reports indicate good catch rates in the Tou Velle area for the summers.  

Approximately 148 hatchery adult spring Chinook and 95 hatchery adult summer steelhead from Cole River Hatchery were recycled into the upper Rogue on July 3. The summer steelhead have red tags (spaghetti like) extending from the top of the fish near the dorsal fin. ODFW encourages anglers that catch these fish to call the upper Rogue office at 541-826-8774. More fish may be recycled this week but that is not known at the time of this writing.   

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.

Hatchery staff have not sorted the collection pond as of this writing but they estimate a couple hundred new spring Chinook have arrived for the week. As of July 3, a total of 94 summer steelhead have entered Cole Rivers Hatchery with 50 new fish two weeks ago. Winter steelhead are finished for the year with a total of 2,835 fish collected. A total of 2,204 spring Chinook have entered the hatchery this season, including 202 two weeks weeks ago.

The McLeod gage is currently reading 1,870 cfs. The Dodge Bridge gage is at 1,850 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.