The tuna are here. ODFW’s dock samplers in Charleston had boats averaging 6.11 albacore per angler for the week of July 13 through 19, which is the first real tuna number of the year for Coos Bay and a good one. Winchester Bay did even better at 8.5 per angler. When the warm water sets up this close in July, the whole south coast fleet goes offshore at once, and that is what happened this week.
The week in numbers
| Charleston | This week | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Albacore per angler | 6.11 | ODFW dock sampling |
| Salmon angler trips | 202 | 1,205 for the season, against 559 at this point in 2025 |
| Chinook kept | 24 | 265 for the season; 4 at this point last year |
| Coho kept | 66 | 327 for the season; 178 at this point last year |
| Swell, Port Orford buoy | 4.7 ft average, 8.9 ft peak, 9 seconds | Wind 17 knots average, gusts to 32 |
| Water temperature | 57 to 59 degrees | Warm enough for tuna close in |
Tuna
Six albacore a rod is a full day. The boats that went found fish without a long hunt, and Winchester Bay’s 8.5 says the warm water band was sitting right off the Umpqua and Coos. For anybody who has never done it: albacore trips out of Charleston run 25 to 45 miles offshore, start before daylight and finish with a fish box you have to sit on. They are the most physical day we offer on the Oregon coast and the one people talk about for years. The 25-fish daily limit is not the thing that ends the day; your arms are.
The water temperature at the Port Orford buoy touched 58.6 degrees this week. Tuna like 58 and up, with a color change where the green coastal water meets the blue. That line was in reach, and the fleet found it.
Salmon
Coos Bay is not a big ocean salmon port, and that is what makes this year interesting. Charleston boats have made 1,205 salmon trips so far this season against 559 at the same point in 2025, and they have kept 265 Chinook. Last year’s number at this date was four. Four Chinook. This year the kings are around, and the coho fishery, which is fin-clipped only until the quota is met, added 66 fish this week. Coastwide the fleet kept 2,419 Chinook and 6,798 coho in seven days.
The ocean from Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain is open for Chinook through October 31, two salmon a day, 24-inch minimum. Fin-clipped coho are open on the summer quota and the catch is being watched weekly.
Bottomfish and halibut
With the fleet offshore, bottomfish did not get sampled in Charleston this week. That is normal in a tuna week; the rockfish are still on the reefs off Cape Arago and will be there when the weather sends everybody back inside. The bag this year is four rockfish and three lingcod, with a two-fish sub-limit on canary. Yelloweye and quillback go back down on a descending device, which has to be rigged and ready on every boat.
Halibut: nearshore is open inside 40 fathoms, the spring all-depth season has one more week, and the summer all-depth days start August 1. Two a day, six for the year.
Crab and clams
Ocean crabbing is open and will be through October 15. The bay is open year-round. Check the ODA shellfish line at 1-800-448-2474 before you dig clams; biotoxin closures come and go in summer.
Ocean and bar
A working week. Swell averaged just under five feet with a short nine-second period, and the afternoon northwesterly blew 17 knots on average with gusts into the thirties. That is a typical July pattern on this coast: leave early, fish the morning, be back across the bar before the wind fills in. The one rough day pushed the swell to nine feet. The rest were fishable for boats that respect the afternoon.
Looking ahead
Tuna will hold as long as the warm water does, and July water is usually dependable. The spring all-depth halibut days end July 31 and the summer days start August 1. The coho quota is the number to watch; when it goes, the season drops to Chinook only.
Neighbors
Winchester Bay: 8.5 albacore per angler. Bandon: 1.0 salmon per angler. Florence: 1.2 salmon per angler. Gold Beach: 0.5 salmon per angler.
How this report is built: catch rates are ODFW Ocean Recreational Boat Survey dock-sample estimates for Charleston for the week of July 13 to 19, 2026, published July 22. Salmon counts are ODFW’s preliminary weekly estimates through statistical week 29. Ocean conditions are from NOAA buoy 46015 off Port Orford. Season rules are ODFW’s 2026 regulations. Photos are file photos from the Pacific Charter Services archive (2025) and were not taken during the week covered. Compiled by Pacific Charter Services, Charleston, Oregon.