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.

2018 Oregon bottom fishing regulations set

Lingcod season runs Jan. 1-Dec. 31 in 2018, with a two-fish limit for lingcod and five-fish limit for rockfish.

BROOKINGS, Ore. - Anglers fishing off the coast of Oregon will be allowed to keep seven bottom fish in 2018, including two lingcod and five rockfish.
The limits were set during the Dec. 8 Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting in Salem. While the limit of rockfish was reduced compared to 2017, Oregon remains the only state on the West Coast with a year-round rockfish and lingcod season. California, Washington and Alaska have winter closures for bottom fishing. Oregon's season will remain open January through December.
The 2018 limits do no include sub-bag-limits for rockfish, meaning anglers can keep any combination of black, blue, canary, vermilion, yellowtail, China, copper and quillback rockfish.
The lingcod limit remains two a day with a 22-inch minimum size.
"While we had hoped to keep a higher limit of rockfish, we are glad we will have a year-round fishery and anglers will still be able to leave with seven fish a day," said Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters.
Capt. Andy was one of the charter boat captains who testified before the Fish and Wildlife Commission, which had considered tighter limits of three or four rockfish a day.
Brookings has the safest bar crossing on the Oregon Coast. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, boats are able to cross the bar more days out of Brookings than any other port in Oregon or Washington.
"Since we have the greatest chance of being able to get out and fish during the winter months, this year-round season is very important for Brookings," Martin said. "Some of our best lingcod fishing takes place during the winter months, so we will be able to run charters in January, February and March, when the lingcod are close to shore and easier to catch."
Brookings Fishing Charters will begin its ocean charter season Jan. 1. Capt. Andy and Capt. Travis will be running trips daily, weather permitting.
Brookings Fishing Charters has opened a new booking office and tackle shop at the Port of Brookings, located at 16399 Lower Harbor Road, Suite B.
Visit www.brookingsfishing.com to book a trip, or call (541) 813-1082.

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.