Rogue River Summer Steelhead is an anomaly among steelhead runs. Rogue River Summer Steelhead return from sea at 2 distinct level or age groups the first referred to as the Half Pounder is very numerous over 300,000 per year driven by the need to feed. Making these fish very aggressive to a fly. These Steelhead have been to sea and returned to the river with as little as 6 months at sea. Sizes run from 13 inches to 20 inches or 1 to 3 pounds. It is not uncommon for fly fishermen to hook 50 fish a day with a high percentage of these lost, as they are extremely acrobatic when hooked. 4 to 6 wt. Rods in 8.5 to 9ft in length are used. These fish are accessed in the Siskiyou National Forest area of the Lower Rogue and your guide must be a permit holder to access this area, which we are. We use our 22ft. Jetcraft powerboat to access this area, we can set fishermen out to wade and cast beautiful holding areas or fish from the boat if uncomfortable wading.
Best time late Sept. to first 10 days of November.

Adult Summer Steelhead are found in the Upper Rogue in best numbers. Upper Rogue Summer Steelhead run 4 to 10 pounds and require a bit more skill than the half-pounders. In 2001 35,000 Summer Steelhead adults were estimated. Over 12,000 arrived above Gold Rey Dam near Medford our fishing area for these fish. These trips must be booked in advance and timed with our other bookings, success is great and time frame limited. We provide rods, lines and flies or you may bring your own. No Cleats or spikes please as it damages the boat.

The Rogue River could make a case for having the largest native run of Coho or Silver Salmon in the lower 48 states. In 2001 the Rogue River received a return of over 80,000 Silvers. 65,000 of these fish were wild stocks. We had so many Silvers the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife increased the limit to 4 fish per angler per day. We caught Large Silvers trolling, casting lures and Flyfishing. Many days we hooked over 20 Silvers for the boat. Silvers were large running 12 to 19 pounds. These are mint bright Silvers very aggressive to bite and active fighters. The best time is September and October.