Tag: Brookings fishing report

Brookings salmon opener best in years

The ocean salmon season off the coast of Brookings started with a bang over the weekend, but the hot opener, which produced limits for Brookings Fishing Charters customers, wasn’t a complete surprise.

As the ocean salmon seasons for the West Coast were being developed this spring, the Brookings Fishing Charters crew pointed to forecasts and last year’s catches in predicting a stellar season on the Southern Oregon Coast. Those predictions turned out to be true on Saturday, June 20, as the six passengers on the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters landed 12 adult king salmon for full limits. They also hooked and lost more than a dozen more kings.

Many private boaters also enjoyed great success during the opener. The second day, Sunday, June 21, also produced good fishing, but swells, choppy seas and strong winds limited catch rates.

ODFW fish checkers said the opener was outstanding. Most boats had at least one fish, and there were well over 100 boats fishing.

Michael McGahan, a deckhand and fishing guide for Brookings Fishing Charters, holds the first king salmon of the 2020 season landed on the Miss Brooke.

The ocean season out of Brookings runs June 20-Aug. 7. The last few years have resulted in fair to slow fishing for ocean salmon, with the exception of high numbers of shakers, or salmon that are too small to keep, last year. Last year’s shakers are still around, but instead of 20- to 24-inch fish, they have grown to 10- to 20-pounders this season.

Customers hold their limits of king salmon caught June 20 aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.

Federal biologists estimate there are more than 500,000 adult salmon from the Sacramento River, 220,000 salmon from the Rogue River, 180,000 adult kings from the Klamath River, for a total ocean abundance close to 1 million adult Chinook salmon. Unlike the last few years, when those salmon stayed off of the Golden Gate, or offshore of Humboldt Bay, this year some of the bigger schools are off of Brookings. Massive schools of herring and anchovies are keeping the fish close to Brookings.

Capt. Travis Sallander of Brookings Fishing Charters washes down the opening day catch from the Miss Brooke.

The last really good salmon year off of Brookings for sport anglers was 2014, when fishing was wide open all of July. This year’s opener rivals the great fishing of 2014, and most years the salmon fishing gets better later in the summer, in July and early August.

Brookings Fishing Charters trolls for salmon with downriggers, divers and spreaders. Using light tackle, customers get to enjoy the hard fight of these prized fish, which are excellent table fare when caught in the ocean.

Customers of the Miss Brooke hold their catch from Sunday, June 21.

The 2020 limit for salmon is two kings a day. Wild or hatchery king salmon may be kept. Coho salmon, including hatchery silvers, must be released. The minimum size is 24 inches.

A salmon is netted by the Miss Brooke crew on opening day.

Brookings Fishing Charters runs six-pack charters daily. Aside from salmon, lingcod and rockfish trips also are available. The crew of Brookings Fishing Charters are locally-based captains and deckhands with boats moored year round at the Port of Brookings. These captains have extensive local experience.

Bruce, a regular customer of Brookings Fishing Charters, holds a nice king caught June 21 with Capt. Andy.

Aside from ocean salmon, the Brookings Fishing Charters crew also guides on the famous Rogue River Bay. Here, thousands of king salmon stack up at the mouth of the Rogue River in Gold Beach, Oregon, waiting for fall rains to move upriver. Hot weather inland keeps the Rogue River above tidewater in the 70- to 75-degree range, too warm for salmon. The salmon stack up in the bay until the water cools and they can continue upriver.

Some nice kings caught June 21 aboard the guide sled with Capt. Andy.

To book an ocean salmon fishing charter, visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call the Brookings Fishing Charters booking office at (541) 813-1082.

One of two double hookups landed on opening day aboard the Miss Brooke.
A nice lingcod caught on the opening day of the ocean salmon season off of Brookings.
We also have been catching limits of nice rockfish on our charters.

Rockfish bite good out of Brookings

Despite windy weather for much of the past two weeks, fishing for rockfish has been very good out of Brookings, with limits of snapper to 5 pounds. Fishing for lingcod also has been good on the nice weather days.

A nice vermilion rockfish caught in late May 2020 by Jamie of Grants Pass.

Fishing has been good in the bay, off of Chetco Point and in the Bird Island area. On calmer days, the boats have been running to House Rock and Mack Arch.

Nice limits of lingcod caught in May 2020 near Mack Arch aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.

Salmon season opens June 20 out of Brookings. With a strong forecast for the Sacramento River and Rogue River, and decent forecast for the Klamath River, there are expected to be big numbers of feeder kings off of Brookings this summer. The baitfish and pelicans have already arrived, a good sign for the salmon opener.

A nice grade of rockfish caught aboard the Miss Brooke.

A few Pacific halibut are being caught off of Brookings. So far, fishing for California halibut has been slow, but schools of these prized fish usually don’t show up until late June or early July.

Lingcod and rockfish from a recent trip aboard the ‘Bout Time.

We are now adding names to our call list for albacore tuna. These trips usually take place in July and August, as the albacore move close to shore. We fish for these fish with rod and reel, and handlines, depending on how customers want to fish.

Fast action for rockfish aboard The Dash.

Salmon fishing in the Rogue Bay will get going in late June, with July and August the peak season. Capt. Andy and Capt. Shane will be running trips out of Jot’s Resort this summer, and will be offering lingcod, rockfish and salmon combos. This is a premier trip and best chance to really load the freezer with fish.

A nice lingcod caught with Capt. Mick aboard The Dash.

To book an ocean charter or Rogue Bay trip, call (541) 813-1082 or visit www.brookingsfishing.com.

Nice limits of rockfish and lingcod caught aboard the Papa B.
A nice vermilion caught aboard the Miss Brooke.

2020 ocean salmon season set!

There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the ocean salmon season approved today (April 10, 2020) for the Ports of Brookings and Gold Beach. Although the June 20-Aug. 7 season is shorter than most years, running only 48 days, it takes place during the peak time of the year for salmon fishing out of Brookings. Late June and early July often produce substantially better fishing than the rest of the year.

This summer’s ocean salmon seasons runs June 20-Aug. 7 out of Brookings. These kings were caught in July 2018 aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.

Anyone who spent time trolling for salmon off of Brookings in June and July last year, and later in August on the Rogue Bay, likely noticed the very large number of jacks, or 2-year-old salmon. You often couldn’t get through them to catch a larger adult salmon. Those jacks are a key indicator of the following year’s run. Lots of jacks and shakers last year should equate to plenty of keeper-size adults this summer.

A nice king caught offshore of Brookings last summer aboard The Dash of Brookings Fishing Charters.

The majority of the salmon caught out of Brookings are from the Sacramento, Feather, American and Mokelumne rivers in Northern California. Those rivers have a 2020 ocean abundance of 473,200 adult kings, up from last year’s pre-season forecast of 379,000. Those shakers caught and released last summer off of Brookings are likely part of that large population of Sacramento Valley salmon, which feed off of Southern Oregon and Northern California during the summer months before moving toward the San Francisco area later in the year, and then into the bay and delta.

These jack salmon caught on the Rogue Bay last August with Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters are an indication of a bigger run of adults this year.

Adding to the big numbers of salmon from the Sacramento River and its tributaries are salmon from the Klamath, Trinity and Rogue rivers. There are an estimated 186,000 adult kings from the Klamath and Trinity rivers in the ocean this year. That number is down from the 2019 forecast of 274,000, which led to the shorter ocean seasons this year to ensure enough fish make it back to the Klamath to spawn. The highest impacts on Klamath River salmon by anglers fishing out of Brookings and Crescent City are in August, resulting in the limiting fishing in August this year. The Rogue River has an ocean abundance of 256,900 this year. There were incredible numbers of jacks in the Rogue Bay last August, a sign there will be lots of larger 3- and 4-year-old king salmon this season.

Angler Bruce Beck holds a nice king caught in the ocean out of Brookings last June with Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters.

The overall ocean abundance for the Sacramento Valley, Klamath-Trinity and Rogue River totals 916,100 adult king salmon. The number is more than 1 million once salmon from the Chetco, Smith, Eel and other coastal rivers are added in.

A nice king salmon caught last July aboard the Miss Brooke with Capt. Travis Sallander.

When developing this year’s ocean salmon seasons, biologists warned the smaller forecast for the Klamath River would result in a shorter season than last year. Anglers and local residents testified at PFMC meetings that the preferred dates are late June and July, when salmon are most abundant off of Brookings. Anglers also pointed out May and early June can be windy, creating rough conditions on the salmon grounds 5 to 10 miles out from the Port of Brookings.

Smaller kings like this 25-incher caught last summer off of Brookings are an indicator of more adult kings the following year. A big forecast of salmon headed to the Sacramento River could result in good fishing this summer out of Brookings.

Brookings Fishing Charters targets salmon during the summer months by trolling herring, anchovies or sardines with downriggers or divers. Each of the captains have considerable ocean salmon experience off of Oregon. The Miss Brooke, Papa B, The Dash and ‘Bout Time are also among the fastest boats in the fleet, to quickly get anglers offshore to the salmon grounds.

This year’s limit is two king salmon per day at least 24 inches long. The ocean season is open seven days a week. Barbless hooks must be used.

When the salmon bite turns on, double hookups are common. These two kings were caught last June aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.

After the ocean salmon seasons closes, Brookings Fishing Charters continues to run lingcod and rockfish charters out of Brookigs, along with California halibut, and fall salmon on the Rogue Bay in Gold Beach. Capt. Andy docks his guide sled at Jot’s Resort in Gold Beach to run bay salmon trips, and ocean lingcod and rockfish, and bay salmon combos.

Anglers Vince McKinley and Dan Westeren hold king salmon caught in August 2019 with Capt. Andy of Brookings Fishing Charters.

The Rogue Bay fishes best from early July through mid-September. During the Rogue season, anglers can keep two adult kings and five jack salmon per day.

To book an ocean charter with Brookings Fishing Charters, call (541) 813-1082 or visit www.brookingsfishing.com.

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.