For the majority of the year Rogue River fishing is our guides' main focus, namely the Upper and Middle Rogue River,  just outside of  Southern Oregon's biggest towns, Medford, Grants Pass and Ashland. Now when I say "biggest," it's all relative, and if you've ever been here you know that Southern Oregon maintains a small town feel, surrounded by natural resources, and offers endless experiences to escape into the wild. 

From spring through fall Southern Oregon transforms with activity as locals and out of town guests alike enjoy the outdoors; fishing, rafting, hiking, as well as, cultural events like the Shakespeare Festival, music, restaurants and wine trails to name a few.  

Here at Fishing The Rogue we offer guided fishing trips year-round on the Rogue with the most popular times being April through November, guided fishing for winter steelhead, king salmon, summer steelhead and rafting trips all summer long.  

As we all look forward to the busy Rogue River season, we wanted to let you know that there is still time, although short, to fish the South Umpqua and Applegate Rivers.  

This year the South Umpqua season has been productive and the river has been busy! We have caught a lot of steelhead, with many, if not most being hatchery keepers.  In February we got a decent amount of rain and snow in the area and in the past week it has been particularly warm and sunny. This has caused snow melt and the Umpqua to rise, but the river is currently on the drop and winter steelhead fishing should continue to be good for at least the next few weeks.  Currently, steelhead are concentrated in the Canyonville and Tiller sections.

Our guides have also been taking advantage of the beautiful spring weather and have been fishing the Applegate River near Grants Pass.  The Applegate, a tributary of the Rogue, is dam controlled which keeps the river level steady and gets a nice run of both hatchery and native winter steelhead.  Sometimes it's hard on the Applegate, with such a short season, January through March, to line things up just right, but this year everything has fallen into place with the weather, river flow and plenty of fish present in the system. Our guides and guests have been catching multiple, mostly hatchery steelhead, each trip without another boat in sight.  Check out our most recent video.

As for the Rogue River,  winter steelhead fishing it is now picking up in both the upper and middle sections of the river.  For the past week there have been reports of good catch rates from the Grants Pass area and for the past few days the winter steelhead fishing has been good in the Dodge to Fishers Ferry stretch, just outside of Medford, just downstream of Shady Cove.  

For more information about guided fishing trips  check out our Fishing Trip Details or Frequently Asked Questions.

If you are looking to plan a spring or summer fishing trip here's a quick guide.

During winter months, when temperatures are cooler, we primarily side drift yarn for steelhead.  With the recent warming of air and river temperatures, into the high 40's and often 50's, which will encourage steelhead movement, we will have more options in fishing techniques including bobber dogging soft beads and back trolling plugs.  With warmer temperatures we are also seeing an increase in bug hatches which opens up options, beyond egg patterns, for fly fishing.    -Charlie