Dave Wiggins of Brookings got his limit of black rockfish via his canoe on Sunday, launched at one of the beaches near Brookings. The Pilot/Larry Ellis

Fishing report for 

September 2-9

Halibut season still open – rockfish, lingcod plentiful

The halibut season south of Humbug Mountain to the Oregon/California border will remain open at least through this weekend.

I thought this would be the perfect way to start out the fishing column, since there have been a lot of rumors stating that the season was going to end on Labor Day. Obviously that closure didn’t occur.

 “There has been no decision made on the south-of-Humbug fishery, so for now the season is still open,” said Lynn Mattes, sport groundfish and halibut project leader for ODFW. “There has been no announcement as far as any closures go.”

It’s been my pleasure to get to know various ODFW employees over the past decade. Mattes is my direct source for groundfish and halibut. If she is out of the office, then I talk with her boss, Gway Kirchner, the marine fisheries section manager.

I spoke with Mattes on Thursday. She had just gotten off the phone with the National Marine Fisheries Service and had given me the good news about the halibut. But Mattes told me that there would be further discussions regarding the area south of Humbug Mountain early next week.

So fish for halibut to your heart’s content, but do keep apprised of possible in-season adjustments by visiting the ODFW website at www.dfw.state.or.us and click on “News Releases”.

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Rockfish and lingcod are starting to fatten up and their bellies are beginning to fill out. Anglers brought a variety of rockfish to the fillet tables last week and a considerable amount of lingcod that were over 10 pounds.

A lot of the bottom-grabbers have moved into the shallows and anglers with smaller aluminum boats have been able to fish inside the kelp for some of the larger black rockfish.

Dave Wiggins of Brookings launched his kayak at Lone Ranch Beach on Thursday and whacked a limit of some really nice blacks by fishing even deeper inside the kelp beds.

There are always a handful of days in the summer where the ocean lays down as flat as a piece of glass. This allows folks to launch kayaks from the beach. Fishing from a kayak is a lot of fun and a great way to pick off some of the larger rockfish and lingcod that hunker down inside the kelp beds. The fishing can sometimes be totally off the charts because many of these fish have never even seen an artificial lure.

Casting white twin-tail plastics on 1-ounce jigs is a popular way of getting these rockfish to inhale your offering.

Cast plastic worms rigged Texas-style into the kelp beds

Another popular fishing method for rockfish is to use 6-inch white twister-style worms rigged Texas-style. Slide a 3/4- to a 1-ounce egg sinker up your line and tie a 3/0 bait holder hook to the end of your line. Rigging a worm Texas-style makes it weedless.

To rig up your worm, grab the hook shank and gently rest the point of the hook directly in the center of the beginning of the worm (the rounded part). Now push the hook about 1/4th of an inch toward the middle of the worm and bring the hook point out of the side of the worm.

Now grab the hook point and pull the entire shank through the worm. Embed the point of the hook about an inch or so into the side of the worm so that the worm lays out nice and straight. I like to shove the eye of the hook back into the plastic so that it remains hidden. Also, peg your sinker with a toothpick to keep the sinker from sliding up your line.

You want to fish these worms so they get bit while they are sinking. To put the Voodoo on your worm, pinch the line coming off your reel between the thumb and index finger of one hand and wait for a small “peck” while the worm is sinking. If you feel this sensation, reel your rod tip down toward the water’s surface to take up slack line, and set the hook good and hard. Rockfish and lingcod will both hit your worms when worked this way.

The great thing about fishing in the kelp with Texas-rigged plastics, is that you can work every inch of the kelp bed without losing a single lure. You can pull the worms up and then over individual kelp stringers, letting them fall back to the bottom in a different location of the kelp bed.

You don’t have to be in a canoe or a kayak in order to fish plastic worms rigged Texas-style. You can cast toward the kelp beds from any boat without fear of losing your rig. Often, you can use a single worm all day using this method and never lose it. The only time you’ll want to change plastic worms is when you’ve caught too many fish, because the worms tend to take quite a beating.

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The non-selective coho fishery in the ocean north of Humbug Mountain was closed early on Sept. 7. It was hoped that it would remain open through Sept. 10, but due to extremely good fishing, the 5,900-fish quota was reached early.

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The good news is that starting this coming Thursday, anglers will be able to keep one wild coho per day in rivers from the Coquille north to the Nehalem. As stated in last week’s column, every river has been assigned a separate quota.

Ask me what I’m going to be doing on Thursday. HELLOOO - COQUILLE!

Last year, people fishing from the public crabbing docks at the Port of Bandon did quite well on these wild silvers.

These fish are going to be averaging 10 to 15 pounds and they should be chromers! Cast from the south jetty structure or troll the bay using anything in the color pink.

Great lures are Worden FatFish, Brad’s Wee Wigglers and Flash-Glo spinners (casting version).

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In the meantime, get ready for some Chetco Bay Chinook action. More on this subject next week.

Tight lines!