The clipped-coho season closed Tuesday night, August 18, and Charleston finished it with 644 coho and 340 Chinook on 2,581 salmon trips. The Columbia River area north of Cape Falcon closed to all salmon on August 24. On our water the story this week was cold: the Port Orford buoy averaged 53 degrees, the coldest reading of the summer, and the albacore that were six a rod a month ago were 0.88 per angler for the Charleston boats that went looking. Bandon, farther south and closer to the warm edge, got 6.7.
The week in numbers
| Charleston | This week | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Albacore per angler | 0.88 | Bandon 6.7, Winchester Bay 2.09 |
| Salmon angler trips | 394 | 2,581 for the season against 2,103 in 2025 |
| Chinook kept | 5 | 340 for the season; 7 at this point last year |
| Coho kept | 11 | 644 for the season; coho closed August 18 |
| Swell, Port Orford buoy | 4.3 ft average, 6.6 ft peak, 8.5 seconds | Wind 13 knots average, gusts to 27 |
| Water temperature | 53 degrees average | Coldest of the summer |
Tuna
Upwelling did its job. Three weeks of northwesterlies pushed the warm water offshore and pulled 53-degree water up along the beach, and albacore do not live in 53-degree water. The Charleston boats that ran found less than a fish a rod. Bandon’s 6.7 says the edge was still reachable from the south, and the boats willing to run long from Charleston were going that way. This happens most Augusts. The fish come back when the wind lies down and the warm water slides back in, often in September.
Salmon
394 trips for the week, but only five Chinook and 11 coho kept. The coho were already thin before the closure and the kings went quiet. The season total for Charleston, 2,581 trips and 340 Chinook, is still far ahead of 2025, when the port had seven Chinook by this date. Chinook stays open through October 31, two a day, 24 inches, and the non-selective coho season is scheduled to open September 1 with its own quota.
Bottomfish
This is the week to talk about long-leader. Outside 40 fathoms, Oregon allows a long-leader rig that keeps the gear 30 feet off the bottom, where the midwater rockfish live and the yelloweye do not. Yellowtail, canary, widow and bocaccio come up on light rods in numbers, the limit is a full bag, and the fish are often bigger than the blacks inshore. Cold, green water inshore does not bother them. With tuna 40 miles out and salmon slow, a long-leader trip is the most reliable fish box out of Charleston right now.
Limits: four rockfish, three lingcod, two canary within the four. Descending device required. Cabezon opened July 1, one per day within the bag.
Halibut
Summer all-depth days continue on the remaining Central Coast quota, two a day, six a year, through October 31 at the latest. Nearshore halibut inside 40 fathoms is open daily.
Crab and clams
Ocean crab open through October 15. ODA shellfish line: 1-800-448-2474.
Ocean and bar
Moderate. Swell averaged 4.3 feet with an 8.5-second period and the peak day was 6.6 feet. Wind averaged 13 knots with gusts to 27. Nothing dangerous, nothing comfortable; a typical mid-August week where the morning is fine and the afternoon is not.
Looking ahead
The non-selective coho season opens September 1. If the wind drops, watch the buoy water temperature; when it climbs back toward 58, the tuna are back in range.
Neighbors
Bandon: 6.7 albacore per angler. Winchester Bay: 2.09 albacore. Florence: 0.32 salmon per angler.
How this report is built: catch rates are ODFW Ocean Recreational Boat Survey dock-sample estimates for the week of August 10 to 16, 2026, published August 20. Salmon counts are ODFW’s preliminary weekly estimates through statistical week 33. Ocean conditions are from NOAA buoy 46015 off Port Orford. Closures are from ODFW’s August 13 and August 20 announcements. Photos are file photos from the Pacific Charter Services archive (2018) and were not taken during the week covered. Compiled by Pacific Charter Services, Charleston, Oregon.