"Late Spring Fishing on the Oregon Coast: Salmon, Halibut, and Rockfish Bites"

Hey folks, Artificial Lure here with your Saturday, May 31st Pacific Ocean Oregon fishing report.

First light hit at 5:29 a.m. this morning along the central coast, with sunset set for 8:53 p.m. This means there’s a wide window for anglers to get lines in the water. Weather along much of the coast is classic late-spring: marine layer burning off by late morning, light winds around 5–12 knots, and seas a touch choppy but steady enough for small boats. Dress in layers, expect cool mornings, and watch for the northwest wind building into the afternoon.

According to Oregon State Parks tide tables for the north and central coast, we’ve got a significant low tide in the late afternoon—around -0.2 ft at 7:19 p.m. in Tillamook Bay and -0.7 ft at 6:42 p.m. in Newport. Morning tide swings are moderate, so expect the bite to turn on through the incoming and outgoing slack water this afternoon.

Fishing effort picked up in recent days after a patch of rough weather kept a lot of boats at the dock. The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife reports that, for ocean salmon, Chinook are open from Cape Falcon south to the California border. It’s a two-salmon daily bag (but no coho retention for now), with the best Chinook action last week out of Newport—average about 0.3 Chinook per angler, but expect that to improve as the weather stabilizes and more fish push in. Trolling herring or anchovy behind a flasher, or running Pro Trolls with chartreuse hoochies, is producing strikes.

The halibut season has also kicked into gear, with the Central and Southern Oregon Coast subareas open daily at all depths. Newport was the standout last week, averaging just over a halibut per angler; Charleston lagged behind a bit at half a fish per person. Bait up with large herring or squid, or try big white grub jigs bouncing bottom around the 200–300 ft marks.

Bottom fishing remains hot when weather allows. Dockside Charters in Depoe Bay and Brookings Fishing Charters both report near limits of "big" lingcod and solid bags of rockfish, with the deep reefs and nearshore structure giving up fish to swimbaits, large curly-tail plastics, and leadhead jigs tipped with squid. Remember, yelloweye and quillback rockfish are completely off limits, and canary rockfish is a one-per-angler sublimit.

For those looking for a hot spot today, head to the reefs off Newport or the Point St. George Reef near Brookings—both are producing consistent lingcod and rockfish catches. The halibut bite is best in the 180–300 ft lanes west of Depoe Bay and Newport on the drift.

To sum up: target salmon with flashers and green/blue herring, bounce big jigs for halibut, and work plastics or bait for lingcod and rockfish. Best times are morning through early afternoon, working the swing of the tides. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for fresh local fishing intel. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.