Upper Rogue, Lost Creek Dam to Gold Hill
The Rogue rises near Crater Lake and is regulated by Lost Creek Dam above Shady Cove; Cole Rivers Hatchery sits at the base of the dam. From the hatchery down through Shady Cove, Dodge Bridge and Gold Hill the upper river is classic spey water and where the Medford and Ashland shops guide summer steelhead from July into December. Half-pounders are scarce this far up; the upper river's draw is adult summer fish, the September and October flies-only season, and a mid May to mid June salmonfly hatch fished from boats for wild rainbows and cutthroat.
Middle Rogue, Grants Pass to Grave Creek
Below Gold Hill the river runs through Grants Pass, Hellgate Canyon and Galice. City and county parks around Grants Pass give the easiest wading on the river, and Hellgate is jet boat country. Half-pounders reach this reach in fall and mix with adult summer steelhead. Galice is the last road-side settlement; the Wild and Scenic section begins at Grave Creek, a few miles below Galice, not at Galice itself.
Wild section and lower river, Grave Creek to Gold Beach
From Grave Creek to Foster Bar near Agness the Rogue is a 34 mile roadless canyon run by permit from May 15 to October 15, with historic lodges along the way. Below Agness, where the Illinois River joins, the river opens toward Gold Beach and the jet boat fleet. This is the water where half-pounders show up in numbers from late summer, and the Agness gauge on this page sits at the bottom of the Wild section.
Rainie Falls, at river mile 66, is closed to angling from ODFW markers 400 feet below the falls up to the falls.
Half-pounders and summer steelhead
Half-pounders are immature steelhead that spend only a few months at sea and come back the same year, a run almost unique to the Rogue and Klamath systems. ODFW tracks them separately in its reports, and they spread through the lower river from August with the peak in September and October. They take swung wet flies and skated dries readily. Adult summer steelhead enter from June and are in the upper river by July; both hatchery and wild fish are present.
Salmon and winter steelhead
Spring chinook enter from March and fall chinook from late summer, and coho follow in autumn; wild coho must be released. Winter steelhead run December through April and are the fish of the middle and lower river when the weather allows. Wild rainbow and cutthroat trout must be released below the hatchery, and the short reach between Cole Rivers Hatchery Dam and Lost Creek Dam is fly-only, barbless, catch and release.
Season and regulations
The Rogue fishes for something all year. The lower river is low and clear from late summer through fall; guide and report sites put good swinging flows around 800 to 2,500 cfs at the Agness gauge, and this page compares the gauge to that range. Winter rain pushes Agness well past 10,000 cfs and the river goes out for days at a time.
From the mouth to Cole Rivers Hatchery Dam: open all year for hatchery steelhead, wild steelhead over 24 inches may be kept February 1 to April 30 (1 per day, 3 per season; mouth to Hog Creek adds January and December), 5 hatchery trout per day and wild trout released. From September 1 to October 31 the river is restricted to artificial flies (no added weight beyond a bubble) from Fishers Ferry boat ramp up to the hatchery, and to flies and lures from Foster Creek to Whisky Creek in the Wild section. Chinook seasons close by reach through the fall. Check the current ODFW Southwest Zone regulations before you fish.