Everything About Salmon Fishing in Oregon

Oregon salmon are aplenty. Coho, chum, and chinook salmon reign over its waters and anglers flock there to get their hands on these fish. This article serves as your guide in salmon fishing in Oregon. It’ll talk about Oregon’s salmon species, best salmon fishing spots, best salmon baits, salmon fishing regulations, salmon season, and salmon meal ideas.

Catching Salmon in Oregon

Generally, fishing enthusiasts seek salmon for both game and meat. Coho salmon are pretty great fighters, while chinook salmon are humungous and fulfilling to catch. Both fish yield excellent-tasting meat.

On the other hand, anglers typically ignore chum salmon and even find them bothersome. This is because they don’t fight when hooked and their meat doesn’t taste as good as coho or chinook salmon meat.

Coho Salmon

Coho salmon are also called silver salmon, and they’re highly-admired fighters. They’re not that big, weighing only 2 to 6 pounds on average. They’re undersized when compared to chinook salmon.

However, coho salmon is the toughest, wildest, and best fighting salmon. They’re a challenge to catch to the point that some fishing enthusiasts are even dissuaded from attempting to bag them.

You can identify the coho salmon by checking its mouth. A coho salmon’s mouth is black and features white gums.

Chinook Salmon

Chinook salmon reigns among all salmon as the king. They’re labeled as king salmon due to their size, which averages at 10 to 50 pounds. However, the largest recorded salmon catch in Oregon was more than 100 pounds and 5 feet long.

This is what convinces anglers to fish for this salmon species in the first place. If you seek out chinook salmon, you’re bound to have a great sport session and a hearty meal afterward. 

The best way to identify chinook salmon is to check its size and mouth. Of course, the chinook salmon is huge. Meanwhile, its mouth features a black hue with black gums.

Chum Salmon

Chum salmon in Oregon isn’t really any fishing enthusiast’s favorite. They don’t taste good compared to other salmon species, and they barely even fight when they’re hooked. 

These fish weigh 4 to 10 pounds on average and display a white mouth and white gums. They have green bodies with purple stripes, and males of this species tend to have large teeth.

Despite being disliked by many anglers, however, chum salmon produces large and flavorful roe. Their eggs are larger than other salmon, and that’s the only thing that makes them stand out from the rest. us and enormous compared to the others.

Best Salmon Fishing Spots in Oregon

Salmon in Oregon are typically found within the rivers and lakes or inshore and nearshore. However, if you’re looking for specific salmon fishing spots in Oregon, check out Rogue River, Umpqua River, Nestucca River, Trask River, McKenzie River, Santiam River, Middle Fork River, Imnaha River, Tillamook River, Deschutes River, or Chetco River.

Alternatively, you can head on to Depoe Bay or Yaquina Bay. Both bays yield high salmon catch numbers yearly.

Best Baits for Salmon in Oregon

Salmon roe perfectly serves as salmon bait for any salmon species. However, small fish such as herring, sand shrimp, sardine, or anchovy works fine as well. Alternatively, you can opt for green-colored or red-hued plugs and lures.

Common Techniques for Salmon Fishing

Salmon fishing in Oregon isn’t complicated. The best techniques utilized for salmon fishing are spinning, trolling, drift fishing, and fly fishing.

Salmon Season in Oregon

Chinook salmon fishing in Oregon succeeds best when you fish from August to September and July to October. Meanwhile, coho salmon fishing yields positive results when you fish from October to November and July to September.  Lastly, chum salmon fishing provides you with plenty of chum salmon when done from August to September and July to October.

If you’d like more details about this, read Take Me Fishing’s post about salmon fishing in Oregon.

Salmon Fishing Regulations in Oregon

Two salmon per person can be bagged in a day. Likewise, you can only take home coho salmon that’s at least 16 inches long, while chinook needs a length of 24 inches, and chum possesses can be any length.

Cooking Oregon Salmon

Salmon can be prepared in countless ways. It can be canned, smoked, filleted, consumed raw, or turned into patties. Similarly, you can grill it, bake it, fry it, steam it, or boil it.

Any flavoring and spice can complement salmon, but non-overwhelming flavors are the wisest choice for cooking salmon.

Hiring a Fishing Charter for Salmon Fishing

Hiring a fishing charter like Oregon Coast Salmon Fishing Charters or Newport Salmon Charters guarantees memorable, safe, and successful fishing adventures for you and your companions. Charters provide you with the best fishing equipment, boat, and guides, so you don’t have to worry about anything while fishing.

Other Fish You Can Catch in Oregon

Besides salmon, Oregon features incredible fish like cabezon, sea bass, lingcod, halibut, and Dungeness crab. Check out our blog for more handy guides about catching fish in Oregon.