Ocean salmon season approved (4-15-2015)

130-day ocean salmon season approved for Southern Oregon Coast

Ocean salmon season opens May 1 out of Brookings

BROOKINGS, Ore. - Anglers fishing for king salmon on the Southern Oregon Coast will have a lengthy 130-day ocean season this year with a two-fish daily limit, federal fishery managers decided today (Wednesday, April 15).

A May 1-Sept. 7 ocean sport salmon season was approved for the the Klamath Management Zone, a 170-mile section of coast from Humbug Mountain, Ore., to Horse Mountain, Calif. The zone includes the ports of Brookings and Gold Beach in Oregon and Crescent City, Trinidad and Eureka in Northern California.

The season was approved during the Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Rohnert Park, Calif. The council is a federal agency that regulates recreational and commercial salmon and bottom fish seasons in Oregon, California and Washington.

"This is a great season that will give anglers plenty of opportunity to catch salmon out of Brookings this summer," said Brookings fishing guide and charter boat owner Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. "This will be one of the longer seasons in recent memory and people will have plenty of chances to get in on what are expected to be big salmon runs on the Oregon Coast."

The long season also will be a boon to tourism-related businesses in Brookings and other coastal community, including motels, restaurants, tackle shops, RV parks and gift shops.

"The fact that we have this long season will be beneficiary to both people who come to fish, and the entire community," said Jim Carey, owner of the Chetco Outdoor Store in Brookings and Rogue Outdoor Store in Gold Beach. "Even though we can't get out to fish every day here on the South Coast with the winds, this summer-long season will bring additional people into the area to fish. They will be in the motels and local restaurants, allowing additional dollars to rotate through the community."

Sport fishing is one of the biggest draws to the Oregon Coast each summer.

With strong returns expected to the Sacramento and Klamath rivers this fall, the federal fishery managers approved the most generous of the three salmon sport season options they considered. According to federal biologists, nearly 650,000 king salmon from the Sacramento River, 420,000 from the Klamath River and 200,000 from the Rogue River are currently swimming off the Southern Oregon and Northern California coasts. The salmon from those rivers are the biggest contributor to ocean salmon seasons out of Brookings and other nearby harbors.

Anglers will be allowed to keep two king, or Chinook, salmon per day. Those fish can be wild or hatchery fish. From June 27 to Aug. 9, anglers can also include hatchery coho, or silver salmon, in the two-fish limit. The coho quota approved by the PFMC is 55,000 hatchery coho salmon. The king salmon season will remain open after the coho quota is reached.

Brookings is often the most productive port on the Oregon coast for king salmon, which average 12 to 20 pounds and can reach weights exceeding 50 pounds. Last year, Brookings sport anglers landed 6,817 kings, more than any other port on the Oregon Coast. Brookings sport fishermen accounted for 37 percent of the entire ocean king recreational salmon catch in Oregon. The port with the closest catch was Winchester Bay, where anglers landed 27 percent of the Chinook catch. Brookings anglers landed more kings in the ocean than the ports of Astoria, Coos Bay, Tillamook and Newport combined, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife figures. Brookings also had the highest catch rates, as it only accounted for 14 percent of the total ocean salmon angling effort.

"Brookings is the best port on the Oregon Coast for king salmon fishing because it is located right in the middle of the ocean feeding area for fish from the Sacramento and Klamath rivers, which contribute a huge portion of the salmon off the Oregon and Northern California coast," Martin said. "Brookings also has higher catch rates because it generally has calmer water than the rest of the coast and more fishable days."

The fishery council also approved shorter commercial salmon fishing seasons for the Oregon and Northern California coasts.

For more information, visit www.brookingsfishing.com.