Fishing the Oregon Coast: Halibut, Salmon, and More - August 2025 Update

Artificial Lure here, bringing you the latest fishing report for Oregon’s Pacific coast this Saturday, August 9, 2025.

Sunrise hit the water at 6:12AM with a golden promise, and the day’s tides set the pace for action: low at 7:15AM, high at 1:39PM, and another low at 6:53PM in Pacific City and Nestucca Bay. Weather’s holding mostly clear early, though breezy afternoons are likely, so get your casts in before the wind picks up. Expect sunset around 7:34PM, so evening bites are fair game for the late crowd.

Let’s talk fish. Offshore, the big news is Pacific halibut: the season stays open into November since quotas haven’t hit—rare for August. Catch rates are decent but patchy, with boats working hard from Trinidad to the Eel River Canyon. Best chances are running deep, covering ground, and bouncing bait off rocky bottoms. Use lead-head jigs tipped with herring or squid, and add a glow skirt for low light; the bite turns on during tide transitions, especially near slack[7].

Rockfish and lingcod are reliably hot near jetties, reefs, and the shallows off Cape Lookout and Three Arch Rocks. Berkley Gulp twister tails, shrimp flies, and metal jigs in chartreuse or motor oil work well. Keep it simple: drop, bounce, repeat. Lingcod favor bigger swimbaits or live greenling if you can wrangle one. The Sisters and the cans off Crescent City were called “on fire” by local boats this week—easy limits with a bit of patience[6].

Inshore and up the rivers, the story’s all about Chinook salmon. The Coquille River is on the edge of reopening any day, thanks to a massive tribal-led effort removing more than 45,000 invasive smallmouth bass. That means the kings will be running strong this September for the first time since the collapse in 2021. Watch for fresh Chinook moving in—chartreuse spinners, plug-cut herring, and twitching jigs are your best bet. Cooler, higher flows from incoming tides will give you the edge[1].

Coho action was slow in Brookings, but looks much better north from Newport to Winchester Bay. Troll anchovy or herring behind flashers on the outgoing tide; if you’re using artificial, hoochies and Brad’s Cut Plug lures match the hatch. Remember, only hatchery coho are legal right now. The kings are thick but closed—so anything silver that takes a swipe at your gear needs to swim free[6].

Crabbing season just finished, but razor clam digging reopened north of Battery Point. If you’re chasing shellfish, target the minus tides at dawn and keep your bucket separate. Limit is 20 clams per digger, no size picking allowed—the first 20 are yours and they’re sweet this time of year[4].

Hot Spots:
- Cape Lookout for lingcod and rockfish by boat or kayak—drop near the reef edges around mid-tide.
- Nestucca Bay mouth for evening surfperch and early crabbing on the minus tide.

Best Bait and Lures:
- Halibut: Lead-head jigs tipped with herring or squid, glow skirts for deep drift.
- Rockfish/Lingcod: Berkley Gulp twisters, shrimp flies, metal jigs (chartreuse, motor oil), big swimbaits, or live bait.
- Salmon: Chartreuse spinners, plug-cut herring, twitching jigs, anchovy behind flasher, Brad’s Cut Plug.

Fish Activity:
- Halibut: Hit-and-miss, best early and mid-day on deep structure.
- Rockfish/Lingcod: On fire, easy limits by patient jigging.
- Salmon: Coho fair north, Chinook prepping for strong river runs.
- Surfperch: Steady, best on sand shrimp or Gulp sandworms at incoming tide.

Thanks for tuning in! Subscribe for your weekly dose of Oregon coast action and fishing tips. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn