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.