Coos River Basin Report

Coos River - Coos Bay, OR (Coos County)


by OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Staff
10-1-2025
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Anglers have been catching rockfish around the jetties in the lower Coos Bay estuary, but you may need to move around to several spots to find actively biting fish. Best fishing is typically near slack tides with good fishing one day and fair fishing the next. A jig fished with a twister tail trailer is always a good option to catch bottomfish.

The 2025 daily general marine fish bag limit is 3 fish plus 2 lingcod with no retention of yelloweye or quillback rockfish. There is a one fish daily sub-bag limit for canary rockfish as part of the general marine bag limit. Anglers are allowed to harvest cabezon with a 1 fish daily sub-bag limit as part of the general marine bag limit.

The salmon daily bag limit in the Coos Basin increased from two to three fish in aggregate, one of which must be a hatchery salmon.

Anglers can harvest wild Chinook (maximum of 10 for the season), hatchery Chinook, hatchery coho, and wild coho (through October 10). Salmon anglers are allowed one wild coho per day (up to three per season). The limit increase applies to areas currently open to salmon fishing in the Coos Basin.

Salmon anglers are reporting limited success catching Chinook and coho salmon from the Charleston to the Empire Boat Ramp. Anglers are also catching Chinook salmon in the Coos River and in the lower portions of the Millicoma and South Fork Coos rivers. The salmon bite is typically best a couple hours before and through the slack tide.

Striped surfperch can be caught around the jetties and red-tail surfperch are being caught along the ocean beaches like Horsefall Beach. Anglers have the best success fishing with sand shrimp near the bottom.

Trout anglers are allowed to use bait including in streams and rivers above tidewater. The daily bag limit for trout fishing in streams is 2 trout over 8 inches per day. The trout season closes on October 31.




More Reports

OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Reports
for Wednesday, October 1st

Beulah Reservoir: Beulah is around 30 percent full and the boat ramp is useable
Blitzen River: The Blitzen River is currently flowing around 50 cfs
Burns Pond: There was recently a fish kill at Burns Pond
Bully Creek Reservoir: The reservoir is 35 percent full and the boat ramp is usable
Chewaucan River: Fishing continues to be good for 8-14 inch Redband Trout
Chickahominy Reservoir: Recent sampling indicates there are plenty of large holdover trout available
Dead Horse Lake: Trolling flies and lures from a boat on the West end is most productive at this lake
Delintment Lake: Some nice holdover trout available as well and fishing should been good
Dog Lake: Perch and crappie fishing should be good
Heart Lake: Fishing has been good for rainbow trout in the 8-18 inch range
Holbrook Reservoir: Fishing at this time of year can be excellent
Upper Klamath Lake: Redband Trout are moving back into the main lake and also to spawning grounds
Krumbo Reservoir: Some very fat holdover trout in the 14-20 inch range are still being caught after stocking
Lofton Reservoir: There have not been any recent fishing reports, but fishing should still be fair
Malheur River: There are some very nice trout in Malheur Reservoir right now
Owyhee Reservoir: Owyhee Reservoir is 52 percent full
Owyhee River- Lower: Flows from the dam are still around 220 cfs
Pole Creek Reservoir: Recent sampling showed black and now white crappie are abundant
Warm Springs Reservoir: rout fishing will improve this fall as water temperatures drop
Yellowjacket Lake: Lots of fish in the 9-10 inch range and some up to 18 inches can be found
Ben Irving Reservoir: Fishing is slow
Cooper Creek Reservoir: Hold over trout from the spring stocking should be picking up