Category: Reports

Current charter status: COVID 19 update

Brookings Fishing Charters continues to suspend its ocean charters until the social distancing mandates from the state of Oregon are relaxed. We are not running charters through mid-April, when we will re-evaluate the governor’s temporary closure on many businesses along the Oregon Coast. Currently, short-term lodging is not available. Motels and RV parks still open are now allowed to accept guests staying for less than 28 days. That is part of the state’s efforts to keep visitors from coming to the coast.

We are concerned about keeping our Oregon Coast communities safe during this social distancing period. So far, there have been no confirmed cased of coronavirus in Curry County. We are one of the few counties in Oregon without any cases so far. We also are deeply concerned about our crew, and other local businesses impacted by this. We will resume running charters as soon as possible.

Lingcod from a trip in late March aboard the Miss Brooke before we suspended charters because of social distancing mandates.

Ocean salmon seasons will be set next week by the Pacific Fishery Management Council. The season could open in mid-May, although there is word that could be delayed until June or even July. Halibut season will open May 1. We will run trips as the weather allows in May for Pacific halibut. The California halibut will start to show in mid- to late June. Last year, Brookings Fishing Charters was the only local charter company to consistently target Cali Hali.

Limits of lingcod caught in March before we temporarily suspended charters because of COVID-19.

We also were the only local charter to run multiple successful trips for albacore tuna. We will start those trips in June or early July, as the tuna get in closer. This is a popular trip, and we put a call list together to fill seats for it.

Lingcod and rockfish has been very good out of Brookings. During the social distancing, Capt. Andy, Capt. Mike and Capt. Rich have all taken family members fishing to fill their freezers as they await charters to resume. We expect lingcod and rockfish to continue to be good in April and May, when we start running again.

You can still book trips online. We prefer you use the online system for June and beyond. For dates in the near future, please call our booking office at (541) 813-1082.

Thank you for your patience as we get through this unprecedented time.

Lingcod biting, charters on idle

Just as the lingcod and rockfish action accelerated out of Brookings, and our charters were getting nice limits of both, new measures from the state of Oregon to combat the coronavirus pandemic have sidelined our charter boats for right now.

Brookings Fishing Charters has suspended ocean charters at this time, in accordance with the governor’s executive order regarding coronavirus. Happening during the busy Spring Break period, with many of the reservations made months ago, this is an especially difficult decision. We will be contacting customers booked during the upcoming two-week period to reschedule or process refunds of deposits. We hope to be fishing again sometime in April or early May.
Our thoughts are with the countless families and small businesses here on the Oregon Coast financially impacted by this, the medical workers dealing with the pandemic, and our customers who will have to fish with us some other time.
No cases of coronavirus have been confirmed on the Southern Oregon Coast, and obviously we hope that remains the case. We sincerely hope the spread of COVID-19 is quickly contained, and wish a positive outcome for anyone who comes in contact with it.

Limits of lingcod aboard the Miss Brooke in early March 2020.

Before we temporarily shut down, lingcod fishing was very good. We were seeing a nice grade of fish, with limits most trips, and limits of nice rockfish as well.

6 limits of lingcod caught aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters in March 2020.
Nice limits of rockfish caught aboard the Papa B in March 2020.
Glenn, a longtime customer, with a nice lingcod caught in March 2020 aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.
More lingcod limits caught aboard the Miss Brooke in March 2020 near Mack Arch.

Lingcod, rockfish biting off of Brookings

A nice vermilion rockfish caught aboard the Miss Brooke in March 2020.

The 2020 ocean lingcod and rockfish season out of the Port of Brookings is off to a good start. The Brookings Fishing Charters fleet was the first charter company in Brookings to begin running charters this year, and the Miss Brooke, Papa B and ‘Bout Time have already run several dozen trips. When the weather is nice, fishing has been good, with limits of lingcod and rockfish. During rough weather days, rockfish are still biting well, but catch rates for lingcod have dropped.

A nice canary rockfish caught March 8, 2020, off the coast of Brookings aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.

Overall, lingcod fishing has been good this season. There are big numbers of smaller male lingcod in shallow water, preparing to spawn. These fish are abundant and aggressive, and readily bite baits and jigs when the swell settles down. During a big swell, they hunker down and are somewhat more reluctant to bite. We have been catching lingcod as close at Chetco Point and south of the harbor, but generally are doing best between Bird Island and Mack Arch. We have already ventured to Mack Arch and Arch Rock several times this season.

An average-size lingcod from March 2020 aboard the Papa B. Lingcod fishing has been good so far this season.

Limits for rockfish and lingcod are unchanged for 2020. We can keep five rockfish a day, with any combination of black, blue and canary rockfish. Two lingcod a day may also be kept, in addition to the rockfish. The minimum size of lingcod remains 22 inches.

Ocean salmon season is expected to open in May. Final seasons will be set by the PFMC and ODFW in April. Pacific halibut season opens in May. We should start to see California halibut in early July. Brookings Fishing Charters Capt. Andy Martin was very successful at finding the CaliHali in 2019 near Brookings.

Pacific halibut season opens May 1 in Brookings. California halibut, like those pictured here, arrive in late June and early July. Capt. Andy will be running CaliHali trips again this summer in the guide sled.

We are now offering daily trips, as the weather allows, aboard the Miss Brooke, Papa B, The Dash, ‘Bout Time and guide sled. In March and April, trips will depart between 7 and 7:30 a.m. We will bump up the time in May.

Limits of lingcod from early March aboard the Miss Brooke. We have gone to Mack Arch several times already this season.

For daily fishing report updates, please visit our Facebook page, with is updated regularly by Capt. Andy. https://www.facebook.com/brookingsfishingcharters

To book a fishing charter, please visit our online calendar at www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082.

See are blog for fish and chip recipes.

By popular demand, we have posted our favorite fish and chip recipes. Here is the beer battered fish and chips. http://brookingsfishing.blogspot.com/2016/03/easydelicious-beer-battered-fish-and.html

Here is the fish taco recipe. http://brookingsfishing.blogspot.com/2019/05/www.brookingsfishing.com.html

Winter lingcod action heats up

In between winter storms, we have experienced some of the best lingcod fishing of the year recently out of Brookings, as fish have moved into shallow water to prepare to spawn. We have run a handful of ocean charters in recent weeks, with good success for lingcod, black and blue rockfish and canary rockfish.

Limits of lingcod in November aboard the Miss Brooke.
Capt. Andy Martin holds a Smith River king salmon caught the day before Thanksgiving on a MagLip plug.

We will continue to run ocean charters as the weather allows this winter.

We also are running salmon and steelhead river trips from the drift boats on the Chetco and Smith rivers. With little rain this fall, the Chetco has been closed, but the Smith has had a few openers, with good salmon fishing. A big storm is expected this week, and an opening is anticipated on the Chetco.

To learn more about river trips, visit www.wildriversfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082.

Salmon, halibut seasons open

The ocean salmon season and Pacific halibut seasons are now open out of Brookings. Although the weather has been rough in recent weeks with only a few days that boats have been able to get offshore, there are some halibut and salmon being caught.

Brookings Fishing Charters once again has the distinction of getting a customer into the first Pacific halibut of the year, as well the first salmon of the season caught aboard a charter boat.

The first salmon of the season caught aboard a charter boat out of Brookings was landed May 27 by Cody Anderson aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.

Salmon season runs May 25-Sept. 2. Hatchery coho can be kept beginning June 22. During its first trip offshore, the Miss Brooke landed five salmon, but only one keeper Chinook, a 30-incher caught by Cody Anderson of Brookings. The customers also released a pair of coho, including a hatchery coho. There also were some shakers (salmon too small to keep). Anchovies and pelicans have arrived off of Brookings, so bigger numbers of salmon should move close to shore within the next few days.

Capt. Andy Martin holds the first Pacific halibut of the season caught out of Brookings in early May.

Halibut season runs May 1-Oct. 31 out of Brookings. There have only been a few days calm enough to reach the halibut grounds. Capt. Andy ran a halibut trip in early May, during which his customers caught a Pacific halibut, several petrale soul and a few dozen sand dabs. They then went in close for limits of rockfish and a few lingcod.

Customers aboard the Miss Brooke hold some of the rockfish and a salmon they caught May 27.

Fishing for bottom fish has been good out of Brookings in recent weeks, even though windy weather has kept boats in close. The grade of rockfish has been excellent, with a nice mix of canary, black and blue rockfish. Lingcod fishing has been fair.

Peak season for salmon is quickly approaching, and Brookings Fishing Charters has four boats available each day for charters. To book online, visit www.brookingsfishing.com, or call our office at (541) 813-1082.

Brookings Fishing featured on KTVL Channel 10

The crew of Brookings Fishing Charters was recently featured during a three-part series about winter lingcod fishing on the Oregon Coast that aired on KTVL Channel 10 in Medford.

The segment, part of Oregon Outdoors with Mark Freeman, can be viewed at https://youtu.be/NwqAZNWL7Cw

To film the series, Capt. Andy Martin took the Miss Brooke to Mack Arch and Arch Rock, about 17 miles north of Brookings. Thd TV crew, along with customers that day, enjoyed fast action for rockfish and caught several lingcod.

The Mail Tribune in Medford published an accompanying article. http://mailtribune.com/oregon-outdoors/ling-on

Ocean fishing good between storms

While stormy weather has kept charter boats at the docks much of January and February, on days when the ocean has been flat, in between storms, fishing has been good for lingcod and rockfish. The sport crab season also is now open off of Brookings.

Capt. Andy and Capt. Travis have both run charter trips this winter for Brookings Fishing Charters. With lots of freshwater flowing out of the Chetco River, the best fishing has been to the north, especially from Bird Island up. The Miss Brooke had some good success in the House Rock area, and also up at Mack Arch. Customers have been catching a good grade of rockfish, with a mix of blacks and canaries, and some nice lingcod.

Ocean conditions often continue to improve in late February and early March. We will be offering trips as weather conditions allow in the winter, and by late March will have all four boats in the water offering lingcod, crabbing and rockfish trips daily.

Ocean salmon season likely will open in May. Halibut season opens May 1.

To book a trip, visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082.

2019 ocean season off to hot start

The Brookings Fishing Charters crew kicked off the New Year by running the first ocean charter of the season out of Brookings, getting customers into limits of big rockfish and a boat load of lingcod.

Bottom fishing seasons are open year round in Oregon, but rough weather kept boats at the dock since before Thanksgiving. On New Year’s Day, the swells were down to 2 feet with calm winds, so Capt. Andy took a group out on the Miss Brooke. There were plenty of rockfish in the shallow kelp beds, but most were small, so Andy headed to deeper water, where big black and canary rockfish were aggressively biting. All six customers got quick limits of lunker rockfish before the Miss Brooke returned to shallow water to target lingcod. Each angler got at least one lingcod, with the biggest around 14 pounds.

The ocean is rough again, but ocean charter trips out of the Port of Brookings will resume as the weather allows.

In December, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission set the 2019 bottom fishing regulations. The lingcod limits remains two fish a day at least 22 inches long. Anglers also can keep five rockfish, with any combination of black, blue, canary, deacon, China, quillback, copper, vermilion, olive and yellowtail rockfish, and kelp greenling.

To book a trip, call (541) 813-1082.

Salmon beginning to show up

A pair of nice salmon and lingcod caught last week aboard the Miss Brooke.

Salmon season has been open since May 19 off the coast of Brookings. The season runs through Aug. 26. Although fishing has yet to bust wide open, some nice kings are being caught. We ran trips last Monday and Friday, and both days returned with a couple of nice kings. The salmon are running 12 to 20 pounds.
The fish are offshore in 300 feet of water, so we are using downriggers to troll herring and anchovies, but soon they will be closer to the buoys, where we can fish shallower. Anchovies are already thick just outside of the mouth of the river, so the salmon will migrate closer any day.
Fishing for lingcod and rockfish remains good, especially when we fish north of Bird Island.
We are now running trips daily with both boats, so there is availability throughout the summer.
To book a trip, call (541) 813-1082.

Brookings lingcod, rockfish opener yields limits

The 2018 lingcod and rockfish season got off to a great start out of the Port of Brookings, with quick limits of lingcod, as well as a nice variety of snapper and rock cod.

Customers of Brookings Fishing Charters holds limits of lingcod caught Jan. 1 aboard the Miss Brooke.

The Oregon bottom fishing season opened Jan. 1. With calm weather the first week of January, Brookings Fishing Charters ran two boats on Jan. 1 and 2 and the Miss Brooke ran another trip Jan. 7. Each trip produced limits of nice lingcod and plenty of rockfish.
Rough weather returned the second week of January. Gale-force winds and big swells have kept boats at port since.
During the opener, lingcod fishing was especially good near Bird Island. Both Brookings Fishing Charters boats caught limits of lings using twin-tail scampies, flutter jigs and whole herring.

Scott Hood of Chico, Calif., holds a tropjhy-size brown rockfish.

On Jan. 2, one of the Brookings Fishing Charters customers caught a brown rockfish that may have been a contender for the world record. Since brown rockfish are unusual out of Brookings, the crew was unaware the world record was only 4 pounds. Scott Hood of Chico, Calif., caught a brown that likely weighed between 5 and 6 pounds.

Regular customers of Brookings Fishing Charters, Liz Brown and Glen Thill of Medford, hold one of several lingcod they caught during the Jan. 1 opener aboard the Miss Brooke.

Limits of lingcod from Jan. 2.

Capt. Travis got this family from Reno into a nice limit of lingcod Jan. 2.

We will continue ocean charters in February as ocean conditions allow. To book, call 541-813-1082 or visit www.brookingsfishing.com.