Anglers will find relaxed fishing rules on the central Oregon coast for salmon and halibut, beginning Friday.
Salmon
Friday through Sunday begins an unmarked coho salmon season between Cape Falcon (Manzanita) and Humbug Mountain (Port Orford).
The daily limit will be any two salmon, and coho don’t have to be fin-clipped. The season is scheduled to continue Fridays through Sundays until the end of September or when 14,000 unmarked fish have been caught.
However, state and federal fish managers will meet Tuesday to decide whether the quota can be increased, since less than half of the hatchery quota of 120,000 fish were caught during the recently closed ocean coho season.
Either an increased quota, more days per week or both are possible.
Also, beginning Wednesday and lasting through mid-October, limited wild (unclipped) coho seasons will open in the Tillamook, Nestucca, Siletz and Coos river basins.
Basin-specific regulations are detailed on the recreation report (northwest and southwest regions) of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Web site, “MyODFW” (Recreation Report).
Wild coho seasons in Siltcoos, Tahkenitch, and Tenmile lakes open Oct. 1 under permanent regulations.
Halibut
Beginning Monday, all-depth halibut fishing will open seven days a week between Cape Falcon (Manzanita) and Humbug Mountain (Port Orford) with a daily bag limit of two Pacific halibut. The annual limit remains six fish.
Since recreational bottomfish fishing is also open at all depths beginning in September, anglers may retain both bottomfish and halibut on the same trip.
From Humbug Mountain to the California border, the limit is also increased to two fish (six annual), but the season open dates remain unchanged.
Details are also found on “MyODFW.”
-- Bill Monroe for The Oregonian/OregonLive
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