Coos River Basin Fishing Report


by OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Staff
4-12-2016
Website

Steelhead angling is open in the Coos basin until April 30. Anglers fishing the South Fork Coos River above Dellwood will need a permit from Weyerhaeuser, which they can pick up at the Dellwood office. In the Coos Basin one additional hatchery steelhead may be retained per day for a total aggregate of three adult fish harvested daily.

Anglers have been catching rockfish along the jetties, submerged rock piles, and also along the railroad trestle. The marine fish daily bag limit for bottom fish (rockfish) is seven fish and a separate daily limit for lingcod (two). Anglers can only keep 3 blue rockfish and 1 canary rockfish as part of their daily limit and there will be no harvest of China, quillback, or copper rockfish. Retention of cabezon is prohibited from January 1 through June 30.

Crabbing has been decent with the best crabbing near high tide. It is still recommended you discard the crab viscera (guts/butter) before cooking.

Recreational harvest of bay clams remains open along the entire Oregon coast. Clamming is excellent during low tides near Charleston, off Cape Arago Highway, and Clam Island. There are also good places to dig clams even on positive low tides in Coos Bay. Due to low tide exchanges this week, the next good opportunity to dig bay clams will be in a week. Recreational harvest of razor clams is closed for Tillamook Head south to the California border due to elevated levels of domoic acid. This includes all beaches and all bays.

Before any shellfish harvest trip, make sure to check the Oregon Department of Agriculture website for any updates.