Local lakes:

This week, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will stock Arizona Pond with a combination of legal-size and trophy rainbow trout. Located halfway between Gold Beach and Port Orford, Arizona Pond is an excellent place to take the kids trout fishing. Angling at the pond is limited to youths aged 17 and under. Last week, ODFW sampled Garrison Lake in Port Orford, netting good numbers of large cutthroat trout and holdover rainbow trout. Anglers can expect fishing to improve as water temperatures start to rise and trout become more active.

Bradley Lake near Bandon is scheduled to receive 3,000 legal-size rainbow trout this week. By this weekend, the stocked trout should start to become acclimated to their new home. Anglers trolling the lake should do better near the surface with wedding-ring spinners or their favorite fly. Empire Lakes in Coos Bay/ North Bend are scheduled to receive 3,000 legal-size trout in each lake this week. Another 3,000 fish will be stocked in each lake again next week. Located in the heart of the Coos Bay area, these lakes are perfect for a family outing and a safe place for kids of all ages. If you would like a copy of the trout stocking schedule, stop by Port O’ Call in Old Town Bandon.

Local rivers: The Chetco River in Brookings was high over the weekend, but according to Roland at the Chetco Outdoor Store, it should have been back in shape by Tuesday. There are still plenty of winter steelhead around in the river, with the lower river from Ice Box downstream to the Social Security Bar producing the best. Larry from the Rogue Outdoor Store in Gold Beach told me that last Sunday was a banner day for plunkers fishing winter steelhead on the lower Rogue River. Huntley Bar and Canfield Riffle were the two hot spots, and plunkers did best using a brown trout pattern Spin Glo. Larry told me they received reports of 25 to 30 nice bright steelhead taken that day.

The Elk and Sixes rivers were both high and murky over the weekend. By Monday morning, the Elk River was fishable again with the river level at 4.6 feet and falling slowly with a nice emerald green color. Both the Elk and Sixes rivers have a few nice, bright winter steelhead still entering the system this time of year. We haven’t received any recent reports from the South Fork Coquille River. We know it was running high over the weekend. During high river conditions, anglers will fish the North and East forks of the Coquille first. Reports coming from the South Fork of the Coos River near Dellwood weren’t good last weekend. Steelhead anglers were reporting a slowdown in numbers and a larger percentage of spawned-out fish being taken. Fishing for steelhead in Tenmile and Eel creeks has been decent, but has slowed down recently.

Area shellfish: Crabbing in the bay at Bandon is very slow due to high freshwater levels. Recently, a large snag lodged itself near Weber’s Pier, and crabbers have been getting their crab rings hung up. Reports out of the Coos Bay and Charleston areas are still very good. Boaters still report getting limits of Dungeness crab, and the quality of the crab has been excellent.

Kids Fish Free update: First, we would like to thank everyone for their generous donations of rods and reels to the program last weekend. We have some great rebuilt rod-and-reel combinations that Earl Rankin just finished. These are available free for parents with children under 14. We also would like to thank Tami Harveil, the sports manager from the North Bend Bi-Mart. Tami has volunteered the store to be a drop-off station for the program for anyone wanting to donate used fishing gear in the Coos Bay/North Bend area. You can call her at 541-756-7526 or drop by the Bi-Mart store at 2131 Newmark Ave. in North Bend.