Strong ocean salmon season expected in 2015

It is looking more and more like this summer's ocean salmon season out of the Port of Brookings will be similar to last year, with a full four-month opportunity to fish for salmon and a repeat of last year's generous two-fish-per-day limit.

State and federal fishery managers are currently working on the process of setting ocean salmon seasons on the West Coast. By all indications, we should once again have an early May through early September king fishery out of Brookings. Last year's season ran May 10-Sept. 7. This year the season could begin as early as May 1 and continue through Labor Day.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council will set the seasons in April. This past week, the agency released run forecasts that look very promising.

While Brookings sits at the mouth of the Chetco River, home of some of the biggest king salmon in Oregon, the harbor is also located in the middle of one of the most productive ocean salmon feeding areas on the West Coast. Large numbers of kings from the Sacramento and Klamath Rivers, two of the biggest salmon producers in the world, feast on anchovies and krill each summer off of Brookings. Salmon on the Northern Oregon Coast swim north in the ocean to feed off of Alaska. But kings from the Sacramento, Klamath, Rogue, Chetco, Smith, Eel, Trinity, American, Feather, Pistol, Winchuck and other Southern Oregon and Northern California rivers stay more local, spending the ocean portion of their lives feeding on the extreme Southern Oregon and Northern California coasts.

Federal biologists are forecasting an ocean abundance from the Sacramento River to be more than 650,000 kings. Another 425,000 kings from the Klamath River are swimming on the ocean off of Southern Oregon and Northern California. That alone tops 1 million kings in our region, plus tens of thousands more from the Rogue, Chetco, Smith, Eel and other salmon rivers.

Last year, Brookings sport anglers landed 6,817 kings, more than any other port on the Oregon Coast. In fact, Brookings anglers accounted for 37 percent of the entire ocean king salmon catch in Oregon. The port with the closest catch was Winchester Bay, where anglers landed 27 percent. Some anglers are surprised to learn sport fishermen in Brookings catch more kings in the ocean than the ports of Coos Bay, Astoria, Tillamook and Newport combined. And, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife data, Brookings only accounts for 14 percent of the total ocean salmon angling effort, so the catch rates in Brookings are much higher than the rest of the coast.

We will begin our ocean salmon charter season in May, and are anxious to help anglers enjoy the best ocean salmon fishing Oregon has to offer. In fact, it's some of the best ocean king salmon fishing anywhere, even better than Alaska (which is experiencing a dramatic downturn in its ocean and river salmon fisheries).

I hope to see you on the water this summer.

- Andy Martin

  captain and fishing guide

  BrookingsFishing.com