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.

Brookings Fishing Charters specializes in lingcod

BROOKINGS, Ore. - With lingcod populations healthy on the Oregon Coast, most charters return to the docks with a few nice lingcod each day. Aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters, however, the goal each day is to get each customer into their limit of lingcod.
"We specifically target lingcod, which is something not all charter boats do," said Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters (www.brookingsfishing.com). "Because we run six-pack boats, we can spend time each day fishing specifically for lingcod. We use baits and lures that are intended to catch lingcod, not just rockfish."
Most Oregon Coast charter boats rig up with shrimp flies or small plastic grubs to catch rockfish (also known as snapper or rockcod), and while fishing for those fish they will encounter a few lingcod. "We use that same gear to catch rockfish, but we also use large baits and large jigs that will entice lingcod into biting," Martin said. "We also fish the pinnacles where lingcod hang out. We want our customers to catch limits of rockfish and lingcod."
It is common aboard the Miss Brooke and the other Brookings Fishing Charter boats to use light spinning rods to catch limits of rockfish, and then use slightly heavier rods rigged with bait with nothing but lingcod in mind.

Big lingcod like this, caught by customer Don Stroh, are a specialty of Brookings Fishing Charters.

Brookings Fishing Charters has a loyal following among anglers who want to catch lingcod because of the charter boat company's high success rate in catching lings. "We don't just catch lingcod by accident. Our crew works really hard to find lingcod and rig our customers with the gear to catch them," Martin said.

Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters has a well-earned reputation of being one of the most consistent charter boats captains on the Oregon Coast of getting customers into nice lingcod.

Big lingcod are caught regularly aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.

Lingcod are abundant along the entire Oregon Coast. According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the population is healthy and stable. Anglers are allowed two lingcod a day at least 22 inches long.
"We catch them all season, but the late winter and spring months are good because that's when the big fish move in close to spawn. August and September also is a good time to catch lings," Martin said.

Catching limits of lingcod was a memorable experience for this family.

Anglers of all skill levels catch lingcod with the Brookings Fishing Charters crew. Many families book charters so children can experience the thrill of catching lingcod, which are among the best-tasting fish on the Pacific Coast.

This group from Klamath Falls, Ore., left with full limits of lingcod while fishing aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters in 2017.

The filleting and bagging of the catch is included with each charter with Brookings Fishing Charters. Based at the Port of Brookings, the Miss Brooke and other Brookings charters operate from February through October. Brookings has the safest bar crossing on the Oregon Coast, and generally has the calmest ocean conditions on the coast.

A nice limit of lingcod made the trip to Brookings worthwhile for Jeff, a frequent customer of Brookings Fishing Charters.

"We can usually find a protected cove to fish in, even when the rest of the Oregon Coast is too windy or has too big of a swell to fish," Martin said.
To learn more about lingcod fishing with Brookings Fishing Charters, visit www.brookingsfishing.com.

Brookings Fishing Charters expands fleet

BROOKINGS, Ore. - Brookings Fishing Charters, a six-pack sportfishing charter serving the Oregon Coast from the Port of Brookings, has expanded its fleet and added another captain.
Already one of the most popular fishing charters on the Southern Oregon Coast, Brookings Fishing Charters had added a 26-foot bay boat to complement its 29-foot offshore charter boat, the Miss Brooke.

The 29-foot Miss Brooke is one of the newest, fastest charter boats on the Oregon Coast and comfortably fishes six customers. It is pictured fishing for lingcod near Arch Rock off the coast of Brookings, Oregon.

The Miss Brooke will continue to run trips for lingcod, rockfish, crab and salmon, but also will be offering albacore tuna and halibut trips in 2018.
The Miss Brooke, new to the fleet in 2016, is captained by owner Capt. Andy Martin, as well as Capt. Travis Sallander.

The new 26-foot Alumaweld Columbia is Brookings Fishing Charters' new bay boat, and can fish six customers for salmon, lingcod and rockfish. It is equipped to fish the coastal bays as well as near-shore reefs.

New this year is the 26-foot bay boat, a custom-made Alumaweld Columbia, with extra high sides and a deeper vee for saltwater use. The bay boat is mainly used for ocean and bay salmon, as well as lingcod and rockfish trips.
Both boats comfortably seat six anglers, along with the crew. The bay boat is especially popular because of its comfortable seats with arm rests. Anglers get to fish while sitting instead of having to stand on the back deck to fish.

Capt. Andy Martin grew up in Brookings, Ore., and is the owner of Brookings Fishing Charters.

Capt. Andy has run charters in Oregon and Alaska for more than 12 years. He grew up in Brookings and has been fishing the productive ocean waters between the mouths of the Chetco and Rogue rivers his entire life. He fondly remembers fishing the coast of Brookings with his family at an early age. His father worked at a local plywood mill, often taking the overnight graveyard shift. When he got off work each morning, he would wake his children up, including Andy, and take them fishing  before going to bed.
Andy earned his Coast Guard near-coastal captain's license, and ran big party boats out of Seward, Alaska, as well as six-pack charter boats in Southeast Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park before dedicating all his time to ocean and river charters in Brookings, Ore.

Capt. Travis Sallander grew up in Brookings and has a decade experience of guiding in Oregon and Alaska.

Capt. Travis also is a native of Brookings. He and Andy have known each other since grade school. Travis spent 10 years guiding on the Kenai and Kasilof rivers in Alaska, as well as working on halibut and salmon charter boats in Deep Creek, Alaska, and Homer, Alaska. He earned his Coast Guard captain's license and now skippers the Miss Brooke when Capt. Andy runs the new Alumaweld Columbia.

The crew of Brookings Fishing Charters also run drift boat trips on the coastal rivers near Brookings during the fall and winter. Here, Capt. Travis Sallander fishes a group on the Smith River.

During the fall and winter months, both Capt. Andy and Capt. Travis are full-time river guides, taking customers down the Chetco and Smith rivers in drift boats. Both have special-use permits from the Forest Service for the Upper Chetco and the Forks area of the Smith River. They also guide on the Elk and Sixes rivers. Fall salmon season runs October through early December, while steelhead are in the rivers from December through March.

Capt. Shane Brookes works on the Brookings Fishing Charters crew.

Capt. Shane Brookes works on the Brookings Fishing Charters crew. He mainly works on the Miss Brooke, and has spent time working on charter boats in Alaska. He also is a river guide during the fall and winter months on the Chetco River.

The Miss Brooke is a six-pack charter boat and one of the fastest boats in the fleet. It gets to the fishing grounds quickly and has plenty of room for six anglers.

Our ocean charter season runs February through October. We focus on the rivers the rest of the year. The Miss Brooke is usually the first charter in the Brookings fleet to begin running ocean trips, as soon as we get a break in the weather in late winter to allow fishing offshore.
All of our captains hold U.S. Coast Guard near-coastal captains licenses, are first aid and CPR certified, are licensed fishing guides through the state of Oregon and California. Our boats have the latest safety equipment. The Miss Brooke is the only six-pack charter in the Brookings fleet with a self-inflating life raft, radar and EPIRB, items normally required only for much larger inspected party boats.

To learn more about Brookings Fishing Charters, visit www.brookingsfishing.com. Call (541) 813-1082 to book a trip.

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

2017 Brookings ocean charter season begins (March 4, 2017 fishing report)

After one of the roughest, stormiest winters in recent memory, the ocean out of the Port of Brookings Harbor on the Southern Oregon Coast has finally begun to settle down, allowing the first charter boat trips of the year.
So far this season, fishing for lingcod and rockfish has been good. The lingcod are in shallow water spawning right now, so we don't have to go out very far to catch them.
Rockfish of all sizes also are being found in abundant numbers from just past Chetco Point on up to Bird Island, Twin Rocks, House Rock and beyond.
Brookings Fishing Charters ran a couple of trips in late February. The first trip of the season was a huge success, with limits of lingcod and rockfish. The action was fast, with a good grade of big black rockfish and nice lings. The second trip took place on a marginal weather day, and despite white caps and a strong southerly wind, we were able to get limits of rockfish. Fishing for lings was tough, however, as we were not able to get very far past the jetties.
Crabbing also is off to a good start. We will be dropping crab pot during our charters for a nice crab/lingcod/rockfish combo.
Remember, we have new rockfish regulations this season. The lingcod limit remains two, while the rockfish seven-fish-limit has a number of sub-limits. Anglers can keep up to six black rockfish per day, seven canary rockfish, and a four-fish mix of blues, Chinas, quillback and copper rockfish. The limit also can include up to seven vermilion rockfish. Again, the total rockfish limit is seven fish in combination, and also includes kelp greenling and cabezon.
We will find out in April what the salmon regulations will be this summer. Early word is we will have some kind of ocean king season in May and June.
Let us know if you want to get on the calendar for this spring and summer. Visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082.
Looking forward to seeing you on the water.
- Capt. Andy Martin
Brookings Fishing Charters.

Here are a few photos from our first charters of the season.

A nice green-colored lingcod from our first charter of the season in February 2017.

How's this for an early season lingcod?

A nice limit of lingcod and rockfish.

A dandy lingcod from the first charter of the season out of Brookings, Oregon.

Capt. Andy holds a nice lingcod from the start of our 2017 ocean charter season.

Some nice rockfish are being caught already out of the Port of Brookings Harbor.

A double of nice rockfish.

We specialize in light-tackle lingcod and rockfish charters.

We are finding a god grade of rockfish already.

New Oregon rockfish and lingcod regulations (Dec. 9, 2016)

Oregon anglers can keep bigger variety of rockfish, lingcod population stable

BROOKINGS, Ore. - Oregon fishery managers have adopted the rockfish and lingcod regulations for the 2017 season, allowing anglers to keep a wider variety of rockfish while maintaining the seven-fish limit for snapper and two-fish limit for lings.

Oregon anglers will be allowed to keep more canary rockfish in 2017. In 2016, only one could be kept. In 2017, up to seven can be kept as part of the seven-fish total limit for rockfish.

Lingcod populations on the Oregon Coast have remained stable, allowing the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to keep the two-fish limit for lings. The minimum size remains 22 inches.
Oregon's lingcod and rockfish season remains open year round, keeping it the only state on the West Coast with 12 months of lingcod and rockfish fishing.
The 2017 ocean fishing regulations were set at the Dec. 2, 2016, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting. Seasons and limits for salmon and halibut will be set in the spring of 2017.
Anglers will be allowed to continue to keep seven rockfish per day. The daily limit of black rockfish is six fish, as part of the seven-fish overall limit that includes other species of rockfish, as well as kelp greenling and cabezon. The two-fish lingcod limit is in addition to the seven rockfish.
Rockfish are also known as rock cod, sea bass and snapper.
During previous seasons, anglers could keep only one canary rockfish and three blue rockfish as part of the seven-fish limit. Copper rockfish, China rockfish and quillback rockfish were prohibited. Beginning in 2017, there is a four-fish sub-limit that includes any mix of blue rockfish, China rockfish, quillbacks and coppers. There is no sub-limit on vermilion rockfish, and now there is no sub-limit on canary rockfish, which have recovered to levels capable of sustaining a fishery, according to federal biologists from the National Marine Fisheries Service. Yelloweye rockfish must still be released.
Fishery managers were concerned about increasing harvest of black rockfish along the entire West Coast, so the daily limit for blacks was reduced from a total of seven to six in Oregon. The one-fish decrease in the black rockfish sub-limit will allow Oregon to keep its 12-month season, biologists said.

An angler holds a trophy vermilion rockfish caught aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters during the 2016 season.

In California, meanwhile, the black rockfish limit was reduced to three fish. It is also closed for part of the year.
"The new Oregon Coast regulations are actually really good," said Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters. "Sure, we now can keep one less black rockfish, but we still will be able to keep seven total rockfish, and now we can keep more canaries, as well as Chinas, coppers and quillbacks. And the sub-limit for blues has increased, as sometimes we get into some pretty good-size blues."
The total limit remains nine fish, Martin said, counting the two lings and seven rockfish.
"We can keep a lot more color now," Martin said. "Anglers will leave with the same amount of fillets as before, and maybe a little bigger when we get into the coppers, quillbacks and canaries."

It's always exciting catching three rockfish at a time. Beginning in 2017, anglers can keep six black rockfish per day as part of the total rockfish limit of seven. Canaries, blues, cabezon, coppers, Chinas, quillbacks, vermilions, blues and kelp greenling also can be kept.

Brookings Fishing Charters begins its 2017 ocean season in March, after steelhead season wraps up on the Chetco and Smith rivers. Trips depart daily from the Port of Brookings Harbor. To book a trip, visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082.

The limit for lingcod remains two fish a day at least 22 inches long, in addition to seven rockfish per day.