Coastal Fishing Report: Chinook, Halibut, and Surfperch Bites on the Oregon Coast

This is Artificial Lure reporting from Oregon’s Pacific Coast on Sunday, June 1st, 2025.

We started the morning off with a classic coastal dawn—sunrise at 5:32 a.m., cool ocean-fresh air in the high 40s, and patchy clouds rolling off a steady northwest breeze. Anglers hit the water early, taking advantage of the ebb tide, with the morning low right around 7:00 a.m. and the afternoon high peaking just after 1 p.m., giving solid movement for most fish species. According to Oregon State Parks tide charts, highs today are over 8 feet with lows hugging 0.6 feet—prime conditions for surfperch and a variety of nearshore action.

Out on the water, salmon anglers are making the most of the open Chinook season from Cape Falcon down to the California border. Last week, catches were modest due to rougher seas but picked up around Newport with about 0.3 Chinook per angler according to the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. Focus has been on trolling herring and hoochies behind flashers at 60–100 feet in 120–200 feet of water. Heads up: coho retention is closed until June 7, but next week marks the kickoff of the coho hatchery season, with forecasts calling for a banner summer, especially south near Brookings where more than half a million hatchery coho are expected to surge through in coming weeks.

Halibut action is on across the Central and Southern Oregon Coast, open all-depth every day right now. Newport posted just over one halibut per angler last week, with best results on herring or large swimbaits bounced near rocky pinnacles at 300–600 feet. Offshore trips out of Depoe Bay reported limits of big lingcod and near-limit catches of a mixed bag of rockfish using jigs like 6–8 ounce metal bars and swimbaits tipped with squid. Canary, yellowtail, and blue rockfish were the most common in the mix. Remember, yelloweye, quillback, and cabezon are all off-limits, so be sure to check those regs before you head out.

Beach and jetty anglers are cashing in on the first big push of redtail surfperch, especially in the surf near Horsfall Beach, Bullards Beach, and the mouth of the Coquille. Sand shrimp, clam necks, or Gulp! sandworms have been hot baits.

For hot spots, Newport’s North Reef and Depoe Bay’s outer reefs are producing great for both halibut and rockfish, while the beaches near Cape Blanco are loaded with surfperch right now.

This week’s winning presentations for rockfish have been darker swimbaits and curly-tail grubs in motor oil and root beer colors, while salmon are still chasing chartreuse flashers and green label herring. For surfperch, stick to 2-inch sandworms in motor oil or camo.

That’s your boots-on-the-dock update from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for the latest on tides, tackle, and tales. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.