January is a very good month for steelhead fishing in the lower river. The river continues to have pretty good color and flow for both bank and boat anglers. Boat anglers that anchor up and run plugs have been consistently picking up fish.

All steelhead anglers will need to buy a Rogue South Coast Steelhead Validation to fish for steelhead, but winter steelhead anglers will also want to check current wild steelhead bag limit reductions before purchasing the wild steelhead harvest tag. Anglers will only be able to retain 1 wild steelhead for the period of Dec. 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025 from the mouth of the Rogue upstream to the mouth of the Illinois.