Fly Fishing the Upper Rogue River. Todd Ostenson

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      Upper Rogue River (Southern Oregon)

       Location: Southern Oregon, equidistant between Portland and San Francisco. Ten minutes from Medford International Airport (MFR). Historic Crater Lake National Park is 83 miles from the airport.

      The world-famous Rogue River is not a tributary, but a combination of its upper forks and a variety of feeders. The

      150+ free-flowing miles of tailwater are regulated by William L. Jess Dam. Tributaries of note are the Applegate and the Illinois. The mileage and temperatures below William L. Jess Dam make it among the tops in tailwater length and cool temperatures for the State of Oregon. It is one of the original rivers included in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. This remote section begins about 7 miles below Grants Pass, and ends about 11 miles east of Gold Beach.

      The Upper Rogue fishery begins at the dam at the base of the Cascade Mountains. It flows through urban areas and ranchland. Public access is plentiful. Regulations governing steelhead, Chinook salmon, coho salmon, cutthroat, and resident rainbows are extensive, and change with great frequency. Request a

      copy of the regulations with your license purchase, and read about your targeted species and fishing area.

      Even though the fly-caught world-record Chinook salmon was brought to net on the Rogue River, this fishery is wildly hit or miss. A steelhead angler using steelhead gear caught the record fish. Fly anglers actually targeting Chinook on the Upper Rogue are virtually nonexistent. Gear anglers crowd the well-known pools by the thousands, it seems.