Tag: Rogue River Fishing Guides

Salmon action heats up in Brookings

The best ocean salmon fishing in more than seven years is happing in Brookings this summer, as big schools of anchovies are attracting impressive numbers of kings and coho just outside of the harbor.

The charter boats working out of the Brookings Fishing Charters office have regularly been catching limits or near limits of salmon. While some days have been slow, the overall king salmon fishing this season has been well above average. Salmon to 25 pounds are being caught.

The salmon being caught out of Brookings this summer are nice-size kings.

Salmon season opened June 12 out of Brookings. Only hatchery coho salmon could be kept the first week. King season opened June 19. Both wild and hatchery kings and hatchery coho may be kept through mid August. The coho season will run through late August.

The first week of the season, fishing was wide open for silver salmon, which are also known as coho salmon. The Miss Brooke, Bout Time and Dash were getting limits nearly every day, while also releasing lots of kings. As soon as the king season opened, limits of near limits were being caught, with the salmon in close, feeding on thick schools of bait.

Limits of coho salmon caught aboard the Miss Brooke the first week of the season out of Brookings.

Windy weather has kept sport boats away from an area commonly known as “Salmon Ally.” Instead, anglers have been forced to fish closer to the buoys. Despite the wind, overall fishing has been good. Even better action is expected the second half of July as boaters can get offshore again during periods of nicer weather.

A nice catch of kings from the Miss Brooke in late June 2021.

Salmon have been biting anchovies or herring trolled close to the surface behind divers and Fish Flash flashers. Since the Brookings Fishing Charters captains are year-round fishing guides, working on the ocean charters during the spring and summer and local rivers during the fall and winter, they are all accomplished salmon anglers. Capts. Travis Sallander, Michael McGahan, Rich Singnorello, Andy Martin, Sam Stover, Mick Thomas, Rye Phillips and Mike Brouillette are among the best salmon captains on the Oregon Coast, with extensive experience fishing out of Brookings, in Alaska and off of Northern California. The six-pack boats are equipped with trolling motors to get the precise speed salmon like. They also can fish in tight quarters, as the hot bite often draws a crowd of boats (which usually follow the charters as they steadily pick away at the salmon).

Capt. Michael shows a chrome-bright king salmon caught off of Brookings in June.

The limit is two salmon per day. Kings must be at least 24 inches. Wild coho must be released, but wild or hatchery kings, and hatchery coho, may be kept. Most of the coho are bound for the Columbia River, where a near-record return is expected this fall. The king salmon, meanwhile, are primarily Sacramento River, Feather River, American River, Klamath River, Trinity River and Rogue River fall Chinook salmon.

A beautiful king salmon caught out of Brookings aboard the Miss Brooke.
Nice king salmon caught in July aboard the Miss Brooke.
A hefty king salmon caught on the guide sled with Capt. Sam.
Anglers of all ages are enjoying the great salmon fishing off of Brookings this summer.
Limits of kings and coho caught aboard the guide sled with Capt. Sam.
A bunch of nice kings caught on the guide sled
A perfect king salmon caught aboard The Dash with Capt. Mick.
A great catch of kings and coho from the Miss Brooke.
A very nice king caught aboard The Dash with Capt. Mick.
Salmon from the Miss Brooke in late June.
The guide sled has been a hot boat this season out of Brookings.
Limits of coho salmon from mid-June aboard the Miss Brooke.
These are big kings for early July.

Brookings Fishing Charters offers salmon trips daily aboard its six-pack charter boats. Bottom fishing trips also are offered on the Nauti-Lady and the six-packs not booked for salmon.

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

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.