Mailtribune.com - Oregon Outdoors Sections

Perch boom spurs a derby

ASHLAND — Luke Amuchastegui can't help but recognize the yin and yang of the yellow perch in Emigrant Lake. On the one hand, he enjoys catching them, on the other, he wishes they were never there.

Weighty catch nets derby winner $1,000

Dan Runyon picked the right day to hook the biggest rainbow trout he's ever scratched at Diamond Lake.

Trout derby anticipates 1,000 eager anglers

The most popular fishing accessory during this weekend's Rainbow $5,000 trout derby at Diamond Lake might not be PowerBait, night crawlers or Triple Teaser lures.

Hyatt largemouth trucked to Lost Creek Lake

Lost Creek Lake received another fat dose of largemouth bass Saturday when anglers and a state fish biologist pulled unwanted largemouth from Hyatt Lake and transferred them into Jackson County's largest reservoir.

Holy Hatch

TRAIL — A 14-inch trout rolls on the surface of the upper Rogue, and fly-fisher Chuck Campana is prepared to see whether this fish wants one more serving of the bug world's equivalent of a T-bone steak.

Cast Away

Teens teach middle schoolers at Diamond Lake fly-fishing camp.

Rogue, Coos only rivers with two-fish daily limit

The Rogue River again will be one of only two Western Oregon rivers where anglers can keep up to two wild fall chinook salmon per day. The word comes amid a coastwide review by the state of ways to curb fishing pressure on depressed chinook stocks elsewhere.

Kids can fish Lake of the Woods' 'trout pond'

Kids who saw last week's Free Fishing Weekend pass by without catching their first trout will have another good shot at it at this weekend atop Southern Oregon's Cascades.

Diamond Lake shiner origins still a mystery

Initial tests reveal that golden shiners discovered last summer in Diamond Lake don't match those of three other known sources, muddying a police investigation into how the illegal baitfish made it into the High Cascades lake.

Pre-derby event offers Diamond Lake tips

Participants in the upcoming Rainbow $5,000 trout-fishing derby at Diamond Lake can get a leg up on other participants — and not lag behind others — by participating in an upcoming seminar in Medford on how to fish the popular eastern Douglas County lake.

Free Fishing Weekend geared toward all ages

City slickers of any age have the easiest and least expensive opportunity possible this weekend test-drive fishing — with plenty of equipment and help from seasoned anglers.

Chinook ban continues

Rogue River anglers again will be banned from killing and keeping wild spring chinook salmon this season to ensure as many of this depressed run as possible can spawn, state fish biologists said.

Lunker largemouth roam Lost Creek Lake

TRAIL — Catfish Cove is the new fishing hot spot at Lost Creek Reservoir, and Lonnie Johnson hopes extensive catch-and-release fishing there will allow it to remain that way.

Blue-green algae triggers advisory at Hills Creek Reservoir

High levels of blue-green algae at Hills Creek Reservoir have triggered a public-health advisory against contact with water or fish in that Douglas County waterway.

Sniffing out sturgeon takes skill

PORTLAND — Bill Monroe is meticulous in how he "tunes" an anchovy in a manner that makes it perfect bait for white sturgeon, this city's ultimate urban denizen.

Reservoir water-release plan up for public review

Thanks to late storms that inched the Rogue River Basin snowpack slightly above average, state fishery managers expect to spill enough water from Lost Creek and Applegate reservoirs at critical times to minimize losses from two runs of Rogue chinook salmon this summer.

'No live fish in, No live fish out'

Dan VanDyke continues to live out the fish biologists' nightmare of seeing aliens appear in Southern Oregon water bodies — transported by nitwits who think they know what's best for public waters.

Casting call

It's not true that you need a rubber boat capable of bending around corners to float the Wood River.

Savage fish ladder reopens — for the last time

Rogue River salmon and steelhead are again migrating over the Savage Rapids Dam fish ladder — but it will be the last time — as construction crews prepare for removal of the 88-year-old dam.

Opening Day was 'good' for anglers

ASHLAND — Anglers had a glimpse of the good ol' days at Howard Prairie Lake, where a new stocking regimen paid dividends for anglers hitting the high-mountain reservoir during Saturday's Opening Day of trout-fishing there.

April 30, 2009