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  FISHING

Fishing Boats , Newport - Photo by Kathy Munsel -

Send us your fishing report
We’d love to hear about your recent fishing experience. Send us your own fishing report through ODFW Fishing Reports -- the information will be forwarded to the local biologist who may use it to update various ODFW resources such as the Weekly Recreation Report.

Marine Reserves

Prohibitions at Oregon’s marine reserves at Redfish Rocks and Otter Rock are in effect as of Jan. 1. Fishing, crabbing, clamming, hunting and gathering seaweed are all prohibited. Beach walking, surfing, bird watching, diving and other non-extractive uses continue to be allowed. See complete details and a map of the boundaries of the reserves:

• Otter Rock Marine Reserve 
• Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve and Marine Protected Area

BOTTOM FISHING

Pacific City, Garibaldi, Port Orford and Gold Beach were the hot ports for bottom fishing last week with limits and near limits of both rockfish and lingcod. Fishing for rockfish continued to be good in other Oregon ports, but only one in two anglers landed a lingcod. The exception was Bandon where nearly everyone fishing for lings got one.

Watch for the weather windows: a calm ocean usually means better catches this time of year. Fishing for bottomfish (also known as groundfish) can be good this time of year when weather and ocean conditions permit.

Since April 1 and continuing through September, sport fishing for groundfish is closed offshore of the 30-fathom line. View waypoints for the 30-fathom line.

The marine fish daily bag limit is seven fish, of which no more than 1 may be a cabezon from April 1 through September 30. There are separate daily limits for lingcod (two) and flatfish other than Pacific halibut (25).

Remember: yelloweye rockfish and canary rockfish may not be retained. The Stonewall Bank Yelloweye Rockfish Conservation Area approximately 15 miles west of Newport is closed to the harvest of rockfish, lingcod, flatfish and others.

Calab holding his first ever salmon. - Photo by Rick Gallahon-

SALMON

Only a few salmon fishers made it out onto the ocean last week. Of the anglers surveyed, only those fishing out of Pacific City and Charleston reported catching fish. One fish for every three anglers in Pacific City and two fish for every five anglers in Charlseston.

Ocean chinook salmon fishing from Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain opened March 15 and continues through Oct. 31. The bag limit is two salmon per day, closed to retention of coho except during the selective coho and the non-selective coho seasons. Selective coho opens July 1. The non-selective coho season opens in September.

Ocean chinook salmon fishing from Humbug Mountain to the Oregon-California border opened May 1 and continues through Sept. 9. The bag limit is two salmon per day, closed to retention of coho except during the selective coho season. Selective coho opens July 1.
 
In the ocean off the Columbia River (Leadbetter Point, Wash., to Cape Falcon) fishing opens June 9 for fin-clipped chinook.

View details of the Oregon ocean sport salmon seasons. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, at its meeting on April 20, adopted the seasons; seasons must still be approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Secretary of Commerce.

HALIBUT FISHING

Many anglers during the first all-depth Pacific halibut opening of the year returned to port with fish. Nine out of 10 surveyed anglers in Garibaldi, Newport, Charleston and Port Orford were successful. The next all-depth dates for the central coast are May 17-19.  View open dates. The Pacific halibut quota is 9 percent more than last year.

The nearshore Pacific halibut fishery in the central coast subarea (Cape Falcon to Humbug Mt.) includes waters inside the 40-fathom line, as it has in recent years. New this year is the prohibition of fishing for or retaining groundfish (including rockfish, lingcod, cabezon, greenling and others) offshore of the 30-fathom line in Oregon through the end of September. So during days on which nearshore halibut is open and all-depth halibut is closed, the game plan is to fish first for halibut between the 30- and 40-fathom lines, catch your halibut, and then move inside the 30-fathom line to catch groundfish. View waypoints for the 40-fathom line.

On all-depth halibut days, anglers are asked to use caution around or avoid research moorings in the northwest area of Stonewall Bank, west of Newport. Read the information sheet (pdf).

SHELLFISH

Minus Tides

The next series is May 18-26 in the morning.

Razor Clams - Oregon Fish and Wildlife-

Razor Clams

Razor clam harvesting along the Clatsop Beaches improved during April. Harvesters had the best success in Seaside and Sunset beach areas where the average catch was more than 11 clams per person. Clams were largest in Seaside where they averaged 4½ inches while Sunset beach clams averaged 4¼ inches. Harvesters should be on the beach one to two hours before low tide and should pay close attention to the surf forecasts. If the forecast calls for combined seas over 8-10 feet, razor clam harvesting can be very difficult because the clams tend to show much less in those conditions. Look for a minus tide and combined wave heights of less than 10 feet. An east wind will help knock down the swell; likewise a southwest wind will make surf conditions worse for clamming. Never turn your back on the ocean when clamming.

Recreational shellfish harvesting status as of May 15:

• The entire Oregon coast is open to all recreational shellfish harvesting.
• The consumption of whole recreationally harvested scallops is not recommended. However, coastal scallops are not affected by toxin closures when only the adductor muscle is eaten.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture's shellfish safety hotline is toll free and provides the most current information regarding shellfish safety closures. The ODA Web pages may not be updated as quickly as the shellfish safety hotline. Please call the shellfish safety hotline before harvesting: 1-800-448-2474.

Check out the recreational shellfish pages on the ODFW Web site. The pages contain everything you need to know for identifying and harvesting Oregon’s clams.

Dungeness Crab, Newport - Photo by Kathy Munsel -

Crabs

Crabbing in Oregon bays continues to be slow, especially after rain and subsequent decrease in salinity level. Bay crabbing typically picks up as summer progresses. The recreational harvest of Dungeness crab in Oregon’s bays and estuaries is open year round.

Recreational crabbing in the ocean is open along the entire Oregon coast until Oct. 16.
The ODFW crabbing report shows average number of legal-sized Dungeness crab per person in various ports: check it out.

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  VIEWING

Gray Whale Blowing - Oregon State Parks-

Resident gray whales return

The first of Oregon’s more than 200 resident gray whales are returning from their breeding grounds in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. They stay along the Oregon coast during the summer. Gray whale mothers and calves, the last of the northern migrants, are still meandering north. The Whale Watch Center in Depoe Bay reported seeing between 10 and 12 whales most days.

Birds

Shore birds are still putting on a great show in Oregon’s coastal bays and estuaries. Often mud flats will be covered with tens of thousands of shore birds stopping to feed and rest on their way to breeding grounds in the south.
All of Oregon’s migratory song birds are showing up through mid May.

Amphibians

The amphibian hatch is occurring everywhere in freshwater wetlands along the coast. The best time to visit a wetland is around dusk. Listen for red legged and Pacific chorus frogs.

Minus Tides

May’s s second minus tide series this month is May 17-26 in the morning. A minus tide is an excellent time to visit tide pools and watch the life that was just a few hours ago under as much as 10 feet of water.

Tide Pool - Photo by Kathy Munsel -

Look for green anemones, hermit crabs, sea urchins, small fish, jelly fish, sea stars, pinkish corraline algae, lime green anemone, dark green sea lettuce, barnacles and other animals of the intertidal region.

There are dozens of good places on the Oregon coast to go tide pooling. Some of the best are in state parks and recreation areas, including Haystack Rocks, Hug Point, Seal Rock, Yachats State Recreation Area (or just about anywhere with 10 miles of Yachats), Strawberry Hill State Wayside, Neptune State Park, Sunset Bay State Park, Cape Arago State Park and Cape Blanco State Park. Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, four miles north of Newport, has outstanding tide pools and rangers on hand to provide tours and answer questions.

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