Salmon fishing heats up on Southern Oregon Coast rivers

Fall has begun to arrive on the Southern Oregon Coast, and with it the best bay and estuary salmon fishing of the year.

Guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing and Brookings Fishing Charters spent all of August on the Rogue River Bay in Gold Beach, where the salmon fishing has been good.

Salmon caught in the Rogue Bay in Gold Beach, Ore., in August, 2018, with guide Andy Martin.

A big run is expected back to the Rogue this year, and August didn't disappoint. Fishing was solid all month on the Rogue Bay, with a fish-per-rod average, limits some days, and a few slower days mixed in. The size of the salmon was good, with a solid 20-pound average.

The average size of the salmon on the Rogue Bay in 2018 has been around 22 pounds. Great fish.

Now that September has arrived, Andy is switching gears to the Coos and Coquille rivers. The Rogue will continue to fish well in September, but with cooler water upriver, the fish will not hold as long in the bay, instead they will quickly move upriver toward their spawning grounds.

The Coos has one of the biggest hatchery runs of king salmon on the West Coast, and limits are common in peak season in September. Anglers can keep two salmon a day, which can be wild or hatchery kings.

In October, Andy and the Wild Rivers Fishing crew will focus on salmon in the Chetco estuary, as well as the special ocean salmon season off the mouth of the Chetco, which runs Oct. 7-8 and 13-14. This is when the biggest salmon of the year are often caught. The biggest salmon in Andy's boat caught during the estuary was a 58-pounder caught several years ago. It is the biggest fish in recent memory from the estuary.

This 58-pound king caught in 2009 with guide Andy Martin is the largest in recent memory from the Chetco Bay.

In late October and November we begin our drift boat season on the Chetco and Smith rivers. This is by far our most popular fishery of the year. With several local, year-round guides working with us, we can still accommodate anglers for the 2018 season, but dates are filling fast. Visit www.wildriversfishing.com to learn more.

The first big rain of October will bring hundreds, or thousands, of salmon into the lower Smith and Chetco rivers. The run continues through December. The Smith will fish will first, followed by the Chetco, and then the Elk and Sixes rivers. Once fishing slows in the lower rivers, the Upper Chetco, where Wild Rivers Fishing guides Andy Martin and Travis Sallander have special-use permits from the Forest Service, will heat up. This is a limited-entry fishery for guides, so the Upper Chetco does not get anywhere near as crowded as the lower Chetco or Smith rivers.

Salmon, lingcod, halibut season underway in Brookings

BROOKINGS, Ore. - The 2018 salmon, halibut, lingcod and rockfish seasons are under way on the Southern Oregon Coast, and when the weather cooperates, fishing has been good.
Brookings Fishing Charters has been running trips daily out of the Port of Brookings, with good catches of lingcod and rockfish. Limits are common when the ocean is calm. During windy weather, the charters are still finding limits of rockfish.
Several dozen halibut have been landed in Brookings so far this season. In May, Capt. Andy took the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters on a halibut trip, and returned with two keepers in the 40-pound range, as well as 49 sanddabs and half a dozen petrale sole. The halibut were caught with Capt. Andy's custom halibut rigs fished with squid and whole herring.

Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters holds a 45-inch halibut caught by Mark Berry off the coast of Brookings in early May.

Salmon season opened May 19 and runs through Aug. 26. So far, fishing has been good 6 to 9 miles of Brookings, but the weather has been windy for much of the season so far, limiting the chance to get offshore. We expect very good fishing when the wind lets up and we can get to the salmon grounds.

Fishing for lingcod is great when the ocean is flat. Here are some nice lings from May 2018 for Brookings Fishing Charters.

Our lingcod and rockfish action has been great, with lots of topwater action on big snapper. Lingcod fishing has been solid, with limits on the calm days when we can get to Twin Rocks, House Rock or Mack Arch.

Deckhand Jason and Capt. Andy of Brookings Fishing Charters with a pair of nice Brookings halibut from the 2018 season.

In June, we will focus on salmon and halibut more, but also run lingcod and rockfish charters every day with at least one of our boats. Brookings Fishing Charters has two boats, and books two more six-pack charters.

To book a trip, visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082.

Lingcod season off to good start off coast of Brookings

BROOKINGS, Ore. - After being closed since mid-September, lingcod and rockfish season re-opened Jan. 1 on the Oregon Coast, with very good fishing when ocean conditions have allowed boats to get out.

Limits of lingcod caught Jan. 1, 2018, off the coast of Brookings aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters. 

Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters said he had two boats out on Jan. 1 and 2, the first two days of the season, and both returned with easy limits of lingcod, as well as fish boxes full of rockfish.
"The lingcod fishing was even better than expected," Martin said. "We knew we were going to have good fishing for lingcod, but the bite was as wide open as I've ever seen. We actually let more lingcod go than we kept, and everyone got limits of lingcod. The first day, we had seven lingcod in the box in the first half hour. We returned with 24 keepers for our 12 customers on both boats, plus let a bunch go."
Brookings Fishing Charters ran another lingcod trip Jan. 7, once again getting easy limits.
Rough weather has prevented the Brookings charter fleet from running any trips since the first week of January. Big wells and strong winds have made the ocean too rough to fish.
The lingcod were biting copper jigs, whole herring, twin-tail scampies and flutter jigs.
Brookings Fishing Charters operates two six-pack boats out of Brookings, as well as booking charters for the other six-pack operators in Brookings, including Old Dog Sportfishing. The smaller, faster boats get to the fishing grounds quickly, and specialize in light-tackle lingcod and rockfish.
Charters will continue as soon as calm weather returns to the Oregon Coast.
Late winter and spring offer good opportunities for lingcod, which migrate to shallow water to spawn.
The limit is two lingcod per person, plus five rockfish, with any combination of black and blue snapper, canary rockfish, China, quillback, copper and vermilion.
For information, visit www.brookingsfishing.com.
Below are some photos from the first few trips of the 2018 season with Brookings Fishing Charters.