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.

Chetco, Smith salmon season off to good start

Jackie of Bend, Ore., with a nice Chetco River king salmon caught in October with guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing and Brookings Fishing Charters. The fish hit a 5.0 MagLip plug.

With ocean fishing practically over for the year, the attention has turned to the fall salmon runs on the Chetco and Smith rivers. Fishing is off to a good start on the Brookings-area rivers.
We knew we were likely in for a good run when the Rogue River and Rogue Bay had one of it's best seasons in recent memory. Like the Rogue, the Chetco and Smith river fall salmon runs are south-migrating fish, which means they spend the ocean portion of their life off of Northern California and extreme Southern Oregon instead of heading to Alaska like other salmon runs. The Feather River, another south-migrating run, had an incredible early fall season.
Brookings Fishing Charters and Wild Rivers Fishing began fishing the Chetco estuary in early October. Fishing was good. The short ocean season at the mouth of the Chetco also was good, with lots of quality fish. The Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife estimated 300 salmon would be caught during the four-day sport season in the ocean off of Brookings in October. The final count was 530 fish, an indicator there are a lot of salmon off of Brookings right now.
The first rains arrived the week of October 20. Brookings Fishing Charters and Wild Rivers Fishing guides Andy Martin and Travis Sallander were among the first to float down the Chetco this fall, and they encountered a lot of bright king salmon. The Smith River also fished well for a few days, but the Chetco was the bright spot during the good flows of mid-October.
Another big rain is expected this first weekend of November. We are expecting good fishing on both rivers. Most of our fish have been caught on Yakima Bait Company MagLip plugs, but we also caught some nice kings on roe fished below bobbers. Beginning Nov. 4, we will be back-bouncing roe was well as running the MagLip and FlatFish plugs.
Here are a few photos from the first part of our salmon season on the Chetco and Smith rivers and in the ocean out of Brookings in October.
To learn more about our river trips, visit www.wildriversfishing.com or www.brookingsfishing.com.

Peak steelhead season arrives on Chetco, Smith rivers (Jan. 20, 2016)

When the weather has cooperated, steelhead fishing has been good on the Chetco and Smith rivers. We've been steelhead fishing from the drift boat since Christmas, but high, muddy water has limited the amount of tume we've been able to spend on the rivers.
Currently the Chetco and Smith are both high, because of heavy rain. The forecast looks like it will allow us to get back on the rivers early next week.
We have been side-drifting roe with light spinning gear, and also running small plugs, such as the MagLip 3.5.
Steelhead season runs through March. After that I will resume ocean charters out of the Port of Brookings Harbor. When the ocean lays down in March, I also will be running some early lingcod, rockfish and crab charters.
Below are some of the photos from the current steelhead season on my boat.
To book a river trip, please visit my river guide service web site, www.wildriversfishing.com.
For ocean charters, visit www.brookingsfishing.com.
You can also call (541) 813-1082 or my cell (206) 388-8988.
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