Anglers are picking up winter steelhead fairly regulary. The river is running high and off-color, so it's always a good idea to check flow conditions before heading out. ODFW creel surveyors are seeing a mix of wild and hatchery fish. This is somewhat unusual, as normally hatchery fish don't start showing up until late January.

All steelhead anglers will need to buy a Rogue South Coast Steelhead Validation to fish for steelhead, but winter steelhead anglers will also want to check current wild steelhead bag limit reductions before purchasing the wild steelhead harvest tag. Anglers will only be able to retain 1 wild steelhead for the period of Dec. 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025 from the mouth of the Rogue upstream to the mouth of the Illinois.