After two weeks of extremely windy weather, the ocean calmed down this week, giving anglers a better shot at lingcod and rockfish. Salmon fishing, meanwhile, slowed after very good fishing the first two weeks of the season.
Nice salmon caught aboard the Miss Brooke in late June. After two weeks of hot fishing, the salmon action slowed over the long Fourth of July holiday in Brookings.
With the calm weather, our charters made it back to Mack Arch for the first time in a few weeks. The rockfish action has been wide open, with rockfish feeding on crab spawn near the surface, while some nice lingcod also have been caught. One of our customers, Julie from Shady Cove, Ore., caught an impressive 27-pound lingcod on July 6.
Julie Jackson holds a 27-pound lingcod caught July 6 aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters.
The lingcod and rockfish charters also are yielding lots of color. We are catching vermilion and canary rockfish, along with lunker-size black and blue rockfish. The rockfish action has been some of the best we’ve seen so far this season.
A beautiful vermilion rockfish caught on the guide sled with Capt. Andy.
Brookings had really good salmon fishing from the June 20 opener through the end of the month. But cooler water from strong winds and upwelling offshore pushed the schools of salmon away from the harbor. The water temperature dropped to 46 degrees. It is slowly warming this week, and bait is still thick, so we expect an improved salmon bite this weekend.
Anglers hold the results of a July 4 double-hookup on the Miss Brooke.
Salmon season runs through Aug. 7. The limit is two king salmon, hatchery or wild, a day, with a 24-inch minimum length. The kings are running large this year, with fish to 25 pounds or biggers.
Nice kings from July 3 on the Miss Brooke.
There are reports of albacore tuna off the Oregon Coast. Several boats plan to scout the tuna grounds this weekend. If they find them within 30 miles, we will soon offer tuna trips. A few Pacific halibut also were caught this week out of Brookings.
The average size of the salmon off of Brookings this year has been excellent.
During good weather days, we are offering afternoon bottom fishing charters, along with the normal morning charters. The afternoon trips are popular with families, or people traveling from the Rogue Valley who would rather drive over in the morning instead of the day before.
We have been catching a lot of canary rockfish on our 6-hour bottom fishing charters to the north of Brookings. The grade is excellent.
To book an ocean charter, visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call our booking office, 541-813-1082.
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.
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.
One of the many families who caught their limit of lingcod this summer with Brookings Fishing Charters
We have finished our 2017 ocean charter season, and it was a great success. Our busiest season to date! Overall, we had a great lingcod season out of the Port of Brookings. The Miss Brooke, our offshore boat, ran nearly every day of the season. We also put our new 26-foot bay boat into service for near-shore lingcod and rockfish. Capt. Andy was busy this season on both boats, while Capt. Travis took the helm of the Miss Brooke the second half of the season.
We begin the 2018 season as soon as we get a break in the weather. Usually we are up and running by late January or early February.
We had some disappointing news late in the season, first when the Chetco Bar Fire caused extensive evacuations in the Brookings area and made for smokey conditions. Then in mid-September, the lingcod and rockfish season closed early. The salmon fishing in the estuary, however, was good and our October ocean salmon season was great, with plenty of fish in the 30- to 40-pound range.
Call (541) 813-1082 to get on our call list for early season ocean charters in January and February.
– Capt. Andy Martin, Brookings Fishing Charters
Anglers fish for rockfish with light tackle aboard the Miss Brooke.
One of our longtime customers, Dan from Bend, with a bright king caught on October out of Brookings.
