Salmon still being caught on Southern Oregon Coast (Nov. 30, 2015)

Yesterday, the 29th of November, my clients landed two chrome bright king salmon on the Chetco. I had two other guides out and they also landed multiple bright fish. There are still a lot of new salmon in the Chetco, Smith, Elk and Sixes rivers, even though conditions are currently low and clear. Fishing is tough, but there are bright fish available.

Tonight it is raining lightly in Brookings. Heavier rain is expected tomorrow night through Thursday, which could set up prime conditions for this weekend on all the area rivers.
Yes, it is late in the salmon season. Many of the kings on the Chetco and Smith have already spawned. But without a major blowout rain so far this season, there still may be a good group of salmon to come. We will find out this weekend.
If you want one more shot at king salmon this season, I have local guides available for the weekend and early next week.

Call 541-813-1082 to book a trip, email wildriversfishing@yahoo.com, or visit www.wildriversfishing.com.

For the past two weeks, we have been enjoying some pretty decent salmon fishing, despite the low water. Some of the kings have been pretty big, including a really nice 49-inch king caught and released last week by Matt Thompson of Prineville. The fish was around 55 pounds. The fish may have cut OK if we kept it, but I am glad my customers chose to let it go.

Steelhead are just around the corner. We may begin some winter lingcod trips in January.

Here are some of the photos from the past couple of weeks.

- Andy Martin
Wild Rivers Fishing and Brookings Fishing
www.wildriversfishing.com
www.brookingsfishing.com

One of the bigger kings from the past few weeks, caught on the lower Chetco.

Matt and Jamey with a 49-inch, estimated 55-pound king caught and released last week on the Chetco.

Lingcod and rockfish action remains strong out of Brookings (May 14, 2015)

Shrimp and krill is now abundant in the near-shore waters out of the Port of Brookings Harbor, fueling wide-open rockfish action, while lingcod fishing remains good.
Over the past week we've watched water temperatures rise from 46.5 degrees to 50 degrees. Another degree warmer and we should start to see some good salmon action.
For now, the rockfish and lingcod action is very good. We've had some exceptional weather the past few days, and that has resulted in great fishing for rockfish. Yesterday, we found a giant school of big black rockfish (also known as sea bass, black snapper or rockcod) at the surface near Twin Rocks. We enjoyed wide open action on light spinning gear, tossing 1/2-ounce dartheads with small grubs and nailing the rockfish just under the surface on the retrieve. It would have been a freshwater bass angler's dream, as these fish fight hard on light tackle, especially when they are at the surface.
Remember, unlike many of the other charters out of Brookings, we use light spinning rods for rockfish, and also have heavier gear on board when fishing lingcod in deeper water, or halibut. We also use top-quality G.Loomis rods for salmon fishing with Shimano reels.
After weeks of limits on lingcod, we are now seeing the lings move back into deeper water as the spawn concludes. We are still catching several lingcod a day, and will continue to do so all summer, but the epic fishing we see each spring has winding down. Yesterday's customers took home six nice lingcod and full limits of black rockfish and canary rockfish.
The day before we had similar action.
Flat seas are expected again through the weekend and into next week.
With the warming surface temperature, we will be spending a lot more time trolling for salmon. Out of Brookings, the salmon tend to bite best with temperatures slightly more than 50 degrees. 51 or 52 would be ideal, and we probably will have those temperatures by the weekend.
There is a lot of bait here - unreal amounts of krill and shrimp - so it will soon be some hot salmon action.
We have seats available throughout the next month and will be offering salmon charters, salmon/rockfish charters, and shorter trips just for lingcod and rockfish. Aside from my boat, Capt. Scott, another light tackle specialist, also has open seats.
To book a Brookings Oregon fishing charter, visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082. You also can call my cell (206) 388-8988.
Below are some photos from the last couple of days. This is light tackle Oregon Coast ocean fishing at its finest!
- Capt. Andy Martin
Brookings Fishing
(206) 388-8988 cell

Kenny and Matt double up on lingcod.

Nice rockfish on light tackle.

Corie with a nice lingcod out of Brookings. This ling nailed a small black rockfish and clamped on clear to the surface.

Ethan and Corie with a couple of nice lingcod.

Another limit of lingcod.

First lingcod.

A tub full of good-eating rockfish.

Lingcod fishing on the Oregon Coast with www.brookingsfishing.com.

Lots of teeth.

Lots of lingcod for the Malone group.

Alexandra and Vanessa with a lingcod and rockfish.

Alex with a lingcod caught on light tackle.

Aaron with a canary rockfish.

Limits of lingcod for Robert and Aaron. These were caught on Monday, May 11, the roughest day of the week. We fished just outside of the harbor and still got 'em.

Rockfish and lingcod. Lots of of good eats here.

Doubling up on rockfish. Great action on light tackle.

Many people go to Alaska to catch this type of variety of fish. You can catch them a lot closer, and less expensive, here in Brookings, Oregon.