Upper Rogue River

[Frank Pipgras]

Heading up to Shady Cove on Thursday. I have heard the steelies are in and the river is being dropped about 100 cfs per day. Any one have a current fishing report?

[gonefirefighting]

havent heard from the buddies on the rogue...used to live there, although they say the n. umpqua is off the hook right now

[Charlie S]

Have a friend who lives where you are going. He's a died in the wool spey flinger. He says a bit slow but fish are there.

[burl51]

caught 2 last thur one 8 lbr other 3 lbs. Was over cast really helped kinda slow would wait abbout 2 to 3 weeks

Burl

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Just was chatting with Al Perryman who lives up on the Rogue River and he said that there was a fairly good run of medium size Steelhead in the river now.

I think a big part of Al's success this time of year is the fact that he goes out extremely early and does know the water "like the back of his hand".

Al said the "Half-pounder" run in the lower river has not been very good this fall but there are a good number of medium size adult fish in the river that are 24 to 27 inches.


Most of us down here in California would be better off going sometime in October if we can only go once this fall.


*If you can average a fish a day that is 4 to 6 pounds swinging flies that is pretty good Steelheading.

**If you are into high numbers you want to get a guide and indicator nymph for them.

[Frank Pipgras]

I did fish last Friday and Saturday from Touvelle down to a private take out. I like to go in late September after the flows have been dropped and the river is relatively warm for swinging. The river was at perfect temp about 51 degrees each day. I swung a single handed rod about one third of the time as did my buddy. We worked it hard and did not touch a fish. The rest of the time we were nymphing and over two days we hooked 17 adult steelhead and landed 12. I will not post a picture of the 32-33 inch hatchery fish I landed that was about 12 pounds because the last time I posted a picture here I was immediately flamed.

The river had a fair amount of fishing pressure, everyone we saw and talked to over two days was swinging. No one we talked to hooked even one fish. So there you have it, I will continue to swing but I have never seen such a vivid display of the different techniques and success rate as the past two days.

If you want an excellent veteran guide for the Rogue, call Dave Carney at 541-821-2329. He enjoys swinging single handed and Spey plus nymphing so he can cover all bases. I have fished with Dave over 15 years and he can smell steelhead.

[jbird]

Dave Carney is the best guide in the area. One of the last really "high moral" guides around. You fished the same stretch I used to consider my home stretch.

Swinging is very effective on the rogue in the right conditions. 51* is way too cold for good swinging conditions for september steelhead. and is certainly the explanation for the success with nymphs.

Please post the photos and tell the flamers to stick it up their arse!

[golfish]

Drifted down to Touvelle and landed 3 swinging traditional patterns a couple of weeks ago. One at first light and the rest after lunch, threw scandi heads in the morning, switched to skagit in the afternoon. 24-26" range, there was also talk of a HUGE steelhead that made it up to the hatchery.

[Al Baltz]

We are going first week of Oct. Any advice on fly patterns and sizes would be appreciated. We will fish with a guide the first day, but trying to diy for a few days.

Frank- do you still have Pippin? We still have Shasta the 10 year old puppy.

[Frank Pipgras]

We are going first week of Oct. Any advice on fly patterns and sizes would be appreciated. We will fish with a guide the first day, but trying to diy for a few days.

Frank- do you still have Pippin? We still have Shasta the 10 year old puppy.

Hi Al, we still have Pippin "the wonder poodle" all 60 pounds of him. He likes to go on the Upper Sac with me.

As to flies right now, no weight is allowed on your line until November 1st I believe so if you are nymphing you need a top fly with weight. I was using an Agent Orange, size 6 on top and the best point fly was a Dave Schaefer 3-D size 8

[Frank Pipgras]

Dave Carney is the best guide in the area. One of the last really "high moral" guides around. You fished the same stretch I used to consider my home stretch.

Swinging is very effective on the rogue in the right conditions. 51* is way too cold for good swinging conditions for september steelhead. and is certainly the explanation for the success with nymphs.

Please post the photos and tell the flamers to stick it up their arse!

Dave Carney always refers to you as one of the good guys. Sorry you are in Michigan. I have said hello a couple of times when you were hanging out in the run just before "Last Chance" which is now gone with the removal of Gold Ray Dam.

[jbird]

We are going first week of Oct. Any advice on fly patterns and sizes would be appreciated. We will fish with a guide the first day, but trying to diy for a few days.

Frank- do you still have Pippin? We still have Shasta the 10 year old puppy.

Al
Like Frank said a big heavy nymph to get down is very helpful. Agent orange is essentially a egg sucking stone fly nymph. Any big, rubber leg stone immitation is effective. With your point fly think trout. Prince, hares ear, copper john, pheasant tail, etc... rogue steelhead exhibit classic trout behavior. of coarse egg patterns will produce in oct.

If you want to swing it can be effective early in the morning in shallow riffles where salmon are staging. Just be careful and try not to hook them. A small egg sucking leech can be really deadly fished this way before light or on really dark days. When its bright, you can still get them this way but youll need sinking lines to present it deep and slow.

Expect plenty of company!

[jbird]

Dave Carney always refers to you as one of the good guys. Sorry you are in Michigan. I have said hello a couple of times when you were hanging out in the run just before "Last Chance" which is now gone with the removal of Gold Ray Dam.


This is my first steelhead season in 25 years I havent lived in the PNW. I have to be honest, I dont miss them. Over the past few years the whole steelhead "scene" really started wreaking of eliteism. The attraction is quite weak for me these days....

I do have steelhead here in wisconsin and will eventually chase them i suppose. The lake run browns get big here and will definitly be a more serious target for me. Musky, pike, smallies, etc... will more than keep me busy i hope.

the rogue river is a great place to catch a steelhead all year long. Not many places where guys can catch steelhead with trout tactics.

If you talk to Dave again, please say hello for me. Hes a great guy!

[Frank Pipgras]

This is my first steelhead season in 25 years I havent lived in the PNW. I have to be honest, I dont miss them. Over the past few years the whole steelhead "scene" really started wreaking of eliteism. The attraction is quite weak for me these days....

I do have steelhead here in wisconsin and will eventually chase them i suppose. The lake run browns get big here and will definitly be a more serious target for me. Musky, pike, smallies, etc... will more than keep me busy i hope.

the rogue river is a great place to catch a steelhead all year long. Not many places where guys can catch steelhead with trout tactics.

If you talk to Dave again, please say hello for me. Hes a great guy!

Dave will see your post, he "lurks" here. OK Dave, I am outing you.

[Al Baltz]

Thanks guys- this will be my first trip to the Rouge. Wish the forecast was better for swinging, but will try it early and late, can nymph in between. Frank, glad you have a fishing buddy. Shasta has never gotten the feel for water. He still likes the camping trips to McCloud.

[bubzilla]

No message........

[jbird]

i have to respectfully disagree, hopefully without spurring a debate. There is no denying that nymphing is going to be far more effective on the rogue. But when the salmon are on their redds, the dynamics of fish in the river get a bit skewed. Everything seems to get a bit more "snappy" during this period and swinging can certainly trigger success. Ive been outfished during this time by a buddy swinging...in fact it happened twice with a third time we were even steven with 6 apeice. I have had 100s of steelhead grab a nymph swung out at the end of a drift. Ive also experienced scenarios where the fish would only respond to my fly once it started to swing out. Yet completely ignored a dead drift. If I was nymphing without hooking up and fish were present, I would switch to swinging my nymph rig thru the run. It didnt always produce but it did enough for me to try it every time.

Something goes a little haywire with these fish when active spawning is present, despite cold water/metabolism "rules"

My point is, if swinging is your thing, youre definity in the game for october steelhead on the rogue. But I would never be out there without my nymph rig handy.

[bubzilla]

No message......

[jbird]

Well that was an exhaustive read. As you know, I prefer to nymph because catching fish is why I fish. But I fished with a few hardcore swingers (yes, taditional swingers not "hangers or danglers") the last couple years on the rogue (the upper rogue) and the guys that knew the river caught fish regularly. They didnt come close to matching nymph results, but they caught enough fish to prove it works. I dont care what kind of hydrolics or gradient the UPPER rogue does or doesnt have, there are places where a swung fly can be delivered to a willing fish and it will bite. I can think of like 10 runs off the top of my head ABOVE gold rays resting place that are perfect swing runs. With it being a tail water there are temperature issues you should pay attention to for best results.

My point is, if you want to swing the upper rogue, do it. Is it ideal swing water? no. Can you catch steelhead on a traditional swing? Absolutely. Guys do it all the time.

****My point in the previous post was simple: if someone wants to catch fish on the swing on the Rogue, they should go to Gold Beach and drive up the river, not head to the Hatchery and drive down.****

Sorry, this is just completely bogus information. I would love to know how many steelhead were caught today on the upper rogue by traditional swinging. I absolutley guarantee it wasnt 0. And was more than likely a pretty hefty number considering the resurgence in popularity of spey techniques and traditional swinging.

[bubzilla]

You have a PM.

[Al Baltz]

Thank you guys for the thoughtful input. Everyone seems to experience a fishery on an personal level. What a great resource this board is for a guy like me to collect diverse opinions on new water. Awesome.

I will go finish packing, as we leave tomorrow morning, but will have nymph and swing rigs and flies, including patterns mentioned here.

Thank you all.
Al

[Al Baltz]

Well, fishing buddy Mark and I are back from a few days on the Rouge. We fished the upper section from Shady Cove to the hatchery area. Had a couple of good days and a couple of slow days. Weather changed mid week-
Mt. Shasta was black when we drove up, white on the way back. Dont know if the cooler weather/ water was the key, but fishing was on the slow side.
I can recomend Jack Germain from the Fishing Hole Fly Shop in Shady Cove OR as an excellent guide who knows the river and fish.
Nothing on the swing. Most action on large, dark stonefly patterns with egg patterns and then smaller stones 2nd and 3rd.
Beautiful scenery and some fresh fish entering the system, so go if you can.
Al