Fishing Applegate Lake - Southern Oregon
Fishing Applegate Lake, Oregon Applegate Lake is a reservoir about 23 miles southwest of Medford, Oregon. Completed in 1980 for flood protection Applegate Lake provides a good year-round flow of water to the Applegate River. Speed limit on the lake is 10 miles per hour. This eliminates the problem of skiers throwing wakes every few minutes, enhancing the fishery.
Applegate Lake has several campgrounds offering fishing, hiking, horse trailer parking, boat ramps, and overnight self contained RV camping. From Spring till just after Labor day, Hart-tish Park offers a small store with food, fishing supplies, beach, a nice boat ramp, and a campground host. There is a small fee. For those of you who like to hike, there are several trails, including one that goes most of the way around the lake, approximately 18 miles.
During the right time of the year, you can fish nearby Applegate River below the dam for Steelhead and Trout. The river opens in late May and closes in September. The lake is open all year, although you will not be able to put a boat in, in the winter, if it is a low water year.
At full pool, Applegate Lake covers 988 acres and is over 4.5 miles long. Providing there is normal rain fall, the lake reaches full pool in May or June. Full pool, or close to it, is maintained until late August. Just after Labor day the level of the lake is dropped steadily until it reaches low pool, 205 acres. The lake is over 200 feet deep in the main section by the dam when it is at full pool. I have seen over a 100 foot drop when the lake dropped to low pool.
When the lake is full, the boat ramp at Hart-tish Park and the boat ramp at Copper are both open. The French Gulch ramp is underwater. At low water, Copper is normally OK and French Gulch is good, but Hart-tish Park is high and dry. The ramp at Hart-tish is the only one with a boat dock, a good thing to keep in mind if you have someone that has a hard time getting in and out of the boat.
Applegate Lake has Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Catfish, Crappie, and once in a while they will put in Steelhead or Coho Salmon.
As might be expected, fishing for Trout, Steelhead, and Salmon is best in Fall and Spring. The trout in Applegate do not seem to get to upset about rising water levels in the Spring, unless we have a large snow melt. If we have a large snow melt, the flow in and out can go from 150cps to over 4000cps in one or two days. The lake will have a great deal of debris and dirty water. Plan on a long day and few fish if any.
Fishing for trout is good throughout most of the lake, although I have had better luck in the Squaw Arm, or between Copper ramp and the entrance to Squaw Arm. Trout average 10 to 14 inches, but I have taken a few 16 and 17 inch fish. In the summer the trout go deep and seem to almost disappear. Still fishing is good where Carberry Creek comes into the lake and on the point located on the other side of the bridge from Carberry. For trolling with light tackle I have had good luck with Flatfish, size F3 to F7, in Gold, Silver and Frog colors. For old style trolling, a small to medium lake troll with an 18" leader and a worm seem to do about as good as anything. The trout run in the top 25ft of water in the Spring and Fall, so there is no need for large weight. If you want to try for them in the Summer, bring leaded line or some other way of getting your offering deep. Still fishing is good with power bait, worms, and patience.
From Spring to Fall, the name of the game at Applegate is really Smallmouth Bass! Bass over 5 lb. have been caught, and of course rumors say there are a few 10 lb. plus fish. Smallmouth fishing is very good in the Squaw Arm and along the shore line on the South East side of the lake.
The Squaw Arm has some man made structure that has been put in the lake just for Smallmouth. It would be just too easy for me to tell you just where it is, but it is there. There is a lot of structure that was left in the lake when it was made, large rocks, and tree stumps. When the lake is full, the back of the Squaw Arm has lots of brush that is underwater. Not being a great Bass fisherman, the biggest Smallmouth I have caught has been just over 3 lb. I do know that in 1995 the large bass to qualify for a national tournament came from Applegate, and until just a week or so before time was up, got beat. The fish was close to 10 lb.
If you want to try something different, try trolling for Bass. My wife hates sitting still, so most of the time we troll. This summer at Applegate we started catching Bass trolling. Use a small spinner with a size 3 to size 5 blade, take the hooks off and tie on a short 6 inch leader. Tie on a Steelhead hook, about size 8 with a good size chunk of nightcrawler. Troll this mess about 15 feet deep and close to the shore line, turn the trolling motor on and off, or change speed often. Hang on because when Bass hit, they hit hard. For you die hard Bass people this may be strange or even funny, but don't knock it if you haven't tried it.
For you Crappie and Catfish folks, I have no information other than I know they are there. I even met a few people that were fishing for those two kinds of fish, although I only know reliably of one person who caught any. If want to fish for Crappie, I understand the hot spots in the summer are close to the intake tower by the dam, and the small cove by Carberry Creek. Catfish are in the shallow part of the lake on the other side from Carberry.
It does not matter when you go to Applegate, there are always some very large fish laying on the bottom of the lake in 100 to 150 feet of water. They are there! At least four fish finders show them all the time. When I have been in the mood, I have tried jigging and trolling real deep. No luck yet! You can find them by the dam and by the mouth of the Squaw Arm. If you go to Applegate and catch one of these fish, let me know what kind it was please.
I would not plan a trip to Applegate in the winter unless you live close by. More than once in the last few years, I have taken my boat to more of a puddle than a lake. The water was almost 50 feet away from the bottom of the low water ramp and the only way I got in was by using my rubber raft. The shore line is covered with deep mud, so wear rubber boots. Wear lots of clothes because temperatures will be in the 30's and 40's. If there is a wind, the chill factor will be much lower. Of course, if you are into a rubber raft, while it is snowing, raining, and 35 degrees, I must admit the fishing was good but it was some kind of cold!
Don
VMT Software
97 Update
The Smallmouth bass that were put in Applegate Lake illegally have put a hurt on trout fishing. A trend of putting whatever fish you like in whatever lake you want has not only impacted this lake but many others. The OFWD has started stocking legal fish only since the thousands of fingerlings were ate by bass the last couple of years. If you like fishing for Smallmouth bass there are a lot here!
2006
Not much seems to change here. Large population of small mouth Bass, still a put and take fishery for Coho and Trout. Made two trips here this year, one early April and one in July. Fishing was great in April, water was in the 50's and fish were on top. Fishing in July was another matter, water was 75 or so on top and had to get down 20-30 feet to get into fish. July was of course HOT, in the 100 area.
Fished in December, lake was normal low so the boat ramp was working. Winter fishing was slow but we hooked up with some nice fish.
2007
Lakes Full, good water year!
Fishing OK, got two limits all three times out so far. Lots more bites, hard to hook up.
Most of the fish are small planters, it will be better in the summer fishing deep and in the fall.
Summer 2007 - Learning how to fish this lake in the summer! Fishing 20-30 ft deep using standard lake troll worked good. Wind Drifting in the Squaw arm and bouncing power bait off the bottom did very well and picked up some larger fish. Fly Fishing from a float tube at Applegate has very productive for a lot of people.
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