Three things happened at once this week. The summer all-depth halibut season opened on August 1. The water off Charleston hit 61 degrees, the warmest reading of the year at the Port Orford buoy. And Charleston boats made 432 salmon trips, the biggest salmon week of the season for the port. Albacore settled in at 3.2 fish per angler, which is a good, steady number after the big volume week before.
The week in numbers
| Charleston | This week | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Albacore per angler | 3.2 | Bandon 3.1, Winchester Bay 3.4, Gold Beach 7.3 |
| Salmon angler trips | 432 | Season high; 2,000 for the year against 1,535 in 2025 |
| Chinook kept | 21 | 322 for the season |
| Coho kept | 153 | 575 for the season; best coho week of the year |
| Swell, Port Orford buoy | 4.3 ft average, 7.9 ft peak, 14 seconds | Wind 11 knots average, one gust to 34 |
| Water temperature | 59 degrees average, 61.3 peak | Warmest week of the year |
Halibut
The Central Coast summer all-depth season opened August 1 and runs through October 31 or until the quota is caught, two fish a day and six for the year. The summer quota is 59,709 pounds for the whole Central Coast, and the spring season left more than half its quota on the table, so there is room. Halibut out of Charleston means a long run to the deep flats and a full day on the water. It is the fish people drive from Portland for, and a 40-pounder feeds a family for a winter.
Tuna
3.2 albacore per angler is a solid day without being a spectacular one. The water was the warmest it has been, which spread the fish out rather than stacking them on one edge. Gold Beach boats found the better concentration at 7.3. The 14-second swell this week made the long offshore run comfortable, and that is a big part of whether a tuna day is fun or an endurance test.
Salmon
432 trips in a week out of Charleston. For a port that made 987 salmon trips in the entire 2025 season to this date, 2,000 trips by August 2 is a different year. The 153 coho kept this week were the best coho week of the season here, and the Chinook kept running at 21. Coastwide the fleet kept 12,050 coho in seven days, which is why the fin-clipped coho quota will not last. ODFW’s review is weekly; when the quota is reached the coho fishery closes and Chinook continues through October 31.
Bottomfish
No Charleston sample this week with the effort split between tuna, halibut and salmon. The rockfish are not going anywhere. Four rockfish, three lingcod, canary limited to two of the four, and a descending device on board for the yelloweye and quillback you cannot keep.
Crab and clams
Ocean crab open through October 15, bay year-round. ODA shellfish line: 1-800-448-2474.
Ocean and bar
The best ocean week of the summer so far. Swell averaged 4.3 feet at a 14-second period, which is a long, lazy ground swell, and the wind averaged 11 knots. One front pushed a 34-knot gust through on one day; otherwise it was the kind of week where everybody fishes. Water temperature peaked at 61.3 degrees.
Looking ahead
Summer all-depth halibut is the new option through the fall. Watch the coho quota announcements; at this catch rate the clipped-coho season has days left, not weeks.
Neighbors
Gold Beach: 7.3 albacore per angler. Winchester Bay: 3.4 albacore. Bandon: 3.1 albacore. Florence: 0.52 salmon per angler.
How this report is built: catch rates are ODFW Ocean Recreational Boat Survey dock-sample estimates for the week of July 27 to August 2, 2026, published August 6. Salmon counts are ODFW’s preliminary weekly estimates through statistical week 31. 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.