Late Summer Salmon, Rockfish, and Tuna Bite on the Oregon Coast

This is Artificial Lure, bringing you your Pacific Ocean Oregon fishing report for Sunday, August 17th, 2025.

We woke up to classic Oregon coast weather—patches of dense morning fog holding steady offshore and hugging the bays, but the marine forecast calls for calming seas at 6 to 7 feet and light winds around 5 knots, shifting westerly as the day goes on. Expect that fog to stick around on the water through mid-morning, so use extra caution at launch. Sunrise came at 6:21 AM and we’ll be casting until the sun dips at 8:17 PM—plenty of daylight for a full day’s chase.

Tidal movement is prime for early action. Newport reports a low tide at 1:56 AM, a strong push up to a 5.34-foot high at 8:49 AM, then drops into a moderate 3.74-foot low at 1:02 PM and a full high at 8.31 feet by 7:30 PM. Fish activity often perks with this kind of swing: work these changeovers for the best bite, especially in tidal bays and at the mouths[5].

Now for the action: Coho salmon still headline the salt, especially south of Cape Falcon. Ocean coho have been thick, and though the season’s coming to a close soon, catches are downright steady—local charters report plenty of doubles landed, with healthy limits when tide and bait align according to The Guide’s Forecast. Chinook action is more hit-and-miss this week, but boaters pulling flashers with herring or anchovies are scoring where pockets of bait are holding. For salmon, run anchovy or herring behind a flasher in 30-90 feet, trolling 2-3 mph just outside the surfline and up to a couple miles out[1][10].

Albacore tuna are in solid numbers as well, with sport boats running 30-40 miles offshore from Garibaldi and Newport and coming back with big counts. Tuna are taking cedar plugs, small swimbaits, and dark jigs in the early fog. Double-check your weather window before heading out deep.

That next tide window is a good shot for inshore bottomfish, with rockfish and lingcod holding strong off reefs near Depoe Bay and Pacific City. Jigs, curlytail plastics like Z MAN GrubZ, and baited shrimp flies are working wonders, especially in 40–70 feet. Anglers using Z MAN plastics mention bass and lingcod grabbing and holding these baits more than others, partly due to their realistic action and durability, as reviewed by Discount Tackle. Green and motor oil hues are local favorites this week[3].

For surf fishermen, perch bite early on sandshrimp or Gulp camo sandworms. Some reports of striped bass caught in the mouths of the Salmon and Nestucca Rivers, usually at dusk on poppers or swimbaits.

Crabbing is fair in the bays with recent tides cleaning things up. Chicken or salmon carcass in a ring net is all you need now.

As for hotspots, don’t sleep on the nearshore reefs just north of Newport—rockfish are thick, and a few big lingcod were pulled over the rail this weekend. Pacific City’s dory launch gives fast access to strong bottomfish action, and the Salmon River mouth is still coughing up good numbers of salmon at first light.

Quick tackle rundown: for salmon, use anchovy or herring rigs behind Pro-Troll or Fish Flash flashers. Tuna want small cedar plugs and swimbaits. Bottomfish prefer curlytail plastics and rootbeer-colored leadhead jigs. Bait-wise, squid strips and herring keep getting bit.

That’s your on-the-water update for Oregon’s Pacific coast, August 17th, 2025. The tides, the fish, and the weather are all in our favor—get out there and make the most of these late-summer runs.

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