Coos River Basin Report

Coos River - Coos Bay, OR (Coos County)


by OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Staff
12-10-2025
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Rougher weather/waves warrant caution when fishing along the jetties, however, some rockfish can still be caught 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.

Chinook salmon have moved through the bay and have spawned in tributaries or been spawned at the Morgan Creek and Noble Creek hatcheries. The limit through 2025 remains three fish, one of which must be a hatchery fish, thus no more than two wild/natural fish in the bag. The limit increase applies to areas currently open to salmon fishing in the Coos Basin. . The wild coho season closed on October 10th. For any questions on Salmon Fishing in the Coos or Coquille please call the Charleston office at 541-888-5515 (dial zero at the answer of the machine).

On occasion stray feeder Chinook from the ocean may be caught in the lower Coos Bay. however, most fish have moved to the upper bay and rivers to spawn. The salmon bite is typically best a couple hours before and through the slack tide. Steelhead are now showing up at typical locations, (W.F. Millicoma River, S. Coos River) . Steelhead fishing is expected to improve notably if rains continue and should be available to be caught in December in traditional locations

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 season closed Oct. 31.

STARTING IMMEDIATELY THERE MAY BE A TEMPORARY DOCK MOORED TO THE CHANDLER BRIDGE TO ALLOW FOR BRIDGE MAINTENANCE. BOATERS IN THIS REACH OF RIVER NEED TO BE AWARE OF THIS BOATING RISK.





OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Reports
for Tuesday, December 9th

Applegate Reservoir: Trout fishing should be good throughout the reservoir
Applegate River: The Applegate River is open for hatchery trout fishing