(NEWPORT, Ore.) – The General Marine Species bag limit returns to a four-fish bag limit beginning Monday, Aug. 18. The one-fish sub-bag limit for cabezon and the one-fish sub-bag limit for canary rockfish remain in place, and retention of quillback rockfish and yelloweye rockfish is prohibited.
Great weather in mid-July led to high effort and success, and 26 metric tons (mt) of black rockfish were caught for the entire coast in one week from July 21-27 and 20 mt were caught the following week. In comparison, for the first three weeks of July, an average of about 11 mt of black rockfish were caught per week. In total 80 mt of black rockfish were caught in July. Check the ODFW groundfish estimates webpage to see how much quota has been attained.
Harvest limits for both black rockfish and canary rockfish are projected to be exceeded if the bag limit remains at five fish. A bag limit reduction from five to four during the month of August decreases the risk of an early season closure or a three-fish bag limit.
The General Marine Species group is made up of all rockfish species, greenlings, cabezon, skates, and other marine species not listed on page 81 of the 2025 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations Book. Sablefish have been pulled out of the General Marine Species group and have a species-specific bag limit of 10 fish per angler.
Additional information on the recreational bottomfish fishery can be found on the ODFW sport bottomfish webpage.
Ocean sport salmon fishing closes at 12:01 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 19 in the Columbia River Subarea (Leadbetter Pt., WA to Cape Falcon, OR)
Possession of salmon on board a vessel is prohibited on that date; fishing is allowed on Monday and is closed Tuesday.
Projected harvest of marked (fin-clipped) coho salmon in this area is 48,899 fish to be landed by the evening of Aug.18 which is within 961 coho of the 49,860 quota allowance. The closure action was taken by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in consultation with the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the States of Oregon and Washington, and fishery representatives that met Aug. 14 via conference call.
Fin-clipped coho fishing remains open in the Cape Falcon to Humbug Mt. and Humbug Mt. to the OR/CA border subareas through Aug. 24 or until quotas are reached. Check the 2025 Oregon Ocean Recreational Salmon Seasons map page for more information.
Recreational salmon estimates for the Leadbetter Point, Washington to Cape Falcon, Oregon can be viewed online. Visit the Ocean Salmon Management page for more information on Oregon’s ocean salmon seasons and fisheries.