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.

Giant vermilion rockfish caught by Brookings Fishing Charters

During the 2017 ocean bottom fishing season out of the Port of Brookings on the Southern Oregon Coast, the crew of the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters got customers into an impressive number of big vermilion rockfish.
These spectacular-looking rockfish are among the most prized bottom fish anglers catch on the Oregon Coast. Aside from providing great fillets for fish and chips, the vermilion rockfish are hard fighters and among the coolest of all rockfish in appearance. Sometimes called red snapper, the vermilions are found off the coasts of Oregon and California. Brookings is one of the best spots on the Oregon coast to catch them.
The world record vermilion rockfish weighed 12 pounds and was caught off the coast of Depoe Bay, Oregon, in 1990. This summer, customers of Brookings Fishing Charters caught several just under the world record size.
Capt. Andy Martin and Capt. Travis Sallander are among the most successful charter boat captains on the Oregon Coast and getting customers into limits of big rockfish and lingcod, and each season catch some of the biggest vermilion rockfish on the coast.
Here are some photos of a few of the trophy vermilion rockfish from the 2017 season.
To book a trip with Brookings Fishing Charters, visit www.brookingsfishing.com