Salmon starting to show off Brookings (July 23, 2015)

Two and a half months into this year's ocean salmon season out of the Port of Brookings Harbor, we are finally starting to see some decent salmon fishing. In fact, we've had a couple of days this week of double-digit or near double-digit hookups, with a mix of kings, hatchery silvers and wild silvers.

Yesterday we hooked several salmon, releasing wild coho, with one keeper king and another keeper silver. We also lost several salmon. On Sunday, we had a good day salmon fishing, catching a handful of keeper hatchery silvers while losing several more.

There are pockets of cooler water within a few miles of Brookings now, and lots of bait, including krill and schools of anchovies.

We also have been getting a good grade of rockfish and lingcod, although some days, such as today, we had to work real hard before limiting on rockfish and catching a few lingcod.

Today I saw a few boats come in with halibut, the best catches so far this season. Albacore also are showing 20 miles out of Brookings.

It appears this season's best salmon fishing will be late in the season, from now through August.

We will continue to fish for salmon out of Brookings through Labor Day, then switch over to the Coos River and upper Coos Bay in September, before returning for the trophy king salmon season in the ocean at the mouth of the Chetco River in October.

Below are some photos from the past week.

Capt. Andy Martin'

www.brookingsfishing.com

(541) 813-1082

Super easy Salmon Cake recipe (July 22, 2015)

People tend to think fishing guides get an unlimited supply of salmon and other fish to fill their freezers and cram their smokers. In reality, guides seldom get a chance to take fish home. Their customers catch, and keep the fish, and in some areas, such as Alaska, guides aren't even allowed to fish themselves with clients on the boat, and they certainly are not allowed to keep a limit for themselves.

To enjoy salmon myself, I have a favorite recipe that utilizes the scraps of meat left on the carcass that most people throw away. After filleting my customers' catch, I put the carcasses back in my fish box (unless of course they want them), and after seeing my guests off, I use a spoon to scrape the bits of meat left along the backbone. The small bits of salmon flesh are perfect for salmon cakes.

Below is a recipe for salmon cakes, made with the carcass scraps from my customers' catch today out of the Port of Brookings Harbor on the Southern Oregon Coast.

Salmon cakes are a mixture of fresh (or smoked, or canned) salmon, chopped onion, raw egg, bread crumbs, dill weed, salt and pepper, and if desired, a little cream cheese. Easy to make, and delicious, the salmon cakes are a meal in themselves, or a great way to utilize leftover grilled salmon.

Small pieces of salmon, scraped from the backbone and carcass, are the main ingredient in salmon cakes. Left overs from grilled salmon also work great, as does smoked or canned salmon.

In a large bowl, combine the salmon, chopped onion, bread crumbs, egg, dill weed, salt and pepper. Use roughly 1/8 cup onion, one or two eggs, 1/2 cup bread crumbs and 1 cup salmon.

Mix well.

Shape the salmon mixture in small patties, or "cakes." I like to add cream cheese to some of the cakes.

Cook the cakes in a skillet over medium high heat with butter or olive oil. After cooking one side, turn the cake and firmly press with a spatula. The cakes are done in just a few minutes.

Serve with fresh lemon, and homemade tarter sauce for a delicious meal or snack.

If you would like to catch a fresh salmon to try this recipe, give me a call, or visit www.brookingsfishing.com or www.wildriversfishing.com. 

- Capt. Andy Martin

(541) 813-1082

wildriversfishing@yahoo.com

Brookings ocean fishing report (July 16, 2015)

The rockfish and lingcod action out of the Port of Brookings Harbor remains good, with some of the best quality fish of the season, while salmon fishing remains slow. Today, for the first time this month, we cancelled our ocean trips because of rough weather. We have a gale warning for the next couple of days before the winds die down for the weekend.
We have been enjoying very fast action on big rockfish, with a mix of large blacks, blues, canary and vermilion, plus some yelloweye, copper and quillback rockfish that we have been releasing. The size of the lingcod is impressive right now, with many of the fish between 10 and 20 pounds.
While the ocean is slow for salmon right now, that may change with the strong northwest winds, which generally cool the surface temperature 2 to 5 degrees as the large whitecaps create upwelling and bring cold water from deep to the upper column.
For now, the Rogue Bay has been the best bet for salmon, and we have been sending customers there to fish with some of our associate guides. I will probably run a few trips there this week as we wait for the ocean to lay down again.

There are still some open dates for salmon, lingcod and rockfish action in August. Call (541) 813-1082 or visit www.brookingsfishing.com to reserve your date.

Below are a few photos from the past week out of Brookings.