The announcement of the week came from ODFW: the ocean coho season from Cape Falcon to the California border closes to coho retention at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, August 18. The quota is nearly caught. Chinook stays open, two salmon a day with a 24-inch minimum, through October 31. On the water it was a rough week. A short, steep swell with wind gusts to 35 knots kept salmon trips out of Charleston down to 187, less than half the week before, and the tuna boats that got out averaged 2.33 fish per angler.
The week in numbers
| Charleston | This week | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Albacore per angler | 2.33 | ODFW dock sampling |
| Salmon angler trips | 187 | Down from 432; 2,187 for the season |
| Chinook kept | 13 | 335 for the season |
| Coho kept | 58 | 633 for the season |
| Swell, Port Orford buoy | 5.9 ft average, 10.8 ft peak, 8 seconds | Wind 16 knots average, gusts to 35 |
| Water temperature | 54.6 degrees | Upwelling again |
Salmon
If you want a coho in the box this year, you have until Tuesday the 18th. After that it is Chinook only until the non-selective coho season, which ODFW has scheduled to open September 1 on its own quota. Charleston kept 58 coho and 13 Chinook this week on 187 trips. The season stands at 2,187 trips, 335 Chinook and 633 coho; last year at this point the port had 1,826 trips and seven Chinook.
Up and down the coast the neighbors were on salmon rather than tuna this week: Bandon 0.77 salmon per angler, Florence 0.77, Gold Beach 1.0, Winchester Bay 0.31.
Tuna
2.33 per angler from the boats that made the run. The water temperature fell back to 54.6 degrees at the buoy, which means the warm band moved offshore again and the fish went with it. In a week with a 10.8-foot peak swell and an 8-second period, the long run out was not something most skippers wanted to put customers through, and the fleet mostly stayed home.
Bottomfish and halibut
Rough weeks are rockfish weeks when you can get across the bar at all. The nearshore reefs off Cape Arago fish fine in a swell that would make the tuna grounds miserable, and a four-fish rockfish limit with a shot at three lingcod is a short, productive trip. Summer all-depth halibut is open on its remaining quota, two a day.
Crab and clams
Ocean crab open through October 15. Bay crabbing is the right call in a week like this one; the Charleston docks and the bay produce when the ocean does not. ODA shellfish line: 1-800-448-2474.
Ocean and bar
The worst ocean week since early July. Swell averaged 5.9 feet with an 8-second period, which is wind chop stacked on ground swell, and the peak day hit 10.8 feet with gusts to 35 knots. The Coos Bay bar gets ugly fast on an ebb in that kind of water. Boats that fished picked their mornings and came home early.
Looking ahead
Coho closes Tuesday, August 18, at midnight. Chinook continues. September 1 is the scheduled opener for the non-selective coho season on a separate quota. Tuna will come back in reach when the wind lets the warm water move back toward the beach.
Neighbors
Bandon: 0.77 salmon per angler. Florence: 0.77 salmon. Gold Beach: 1.0 salmon. Winchester Bay: 0.31 salmon.
How this report is built: catch rates are ODFW Ocean Recreational Boat Survey dock-sample estimates for the week of August 3 to 9, 2026, published August 13. Salmon counts are ODFW’s preliminary weekly estimates through statistical week 32. Ocean conditions are from NOAA buoy 46015 off Port Orford. Closure dates are from ODFW’s August 13 announcement. 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.