BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Oregon Coast salmon managers have posted an “early” version of their proposed 2026 fall Chinook and wild coho seasons for public comment ahead of final decisions by state and federal fishery overseers in the coming months.
Highlights include increased season bag limits from last year for several North Coast Chinook rivers, a five-month fall king season on the Umpqua, and coho opportunities mostly similar to 2025.
Lowlights are a reduced annual Chinook limit on the Nestucca and no wild coho fisheries on the Alsea and again on the Umpqua.
The proposal is officially posted on the Oregon Secretary of State’s website and written comment is open through June 23 with verbal input being taken in-person and remotely June 26 at the Fish and Wildlife Commission’s meeting in Redmond.
The latter date is when seasons for both salmon species will be set by the commission, though because of their Endangered Species Act listing, wild coho fisheries also need to be signed off on by the National Marine Fisheries Service. That typically happens in midsummer.
ODFW manages stocks between the Necanicum River and Winchuck Creek using its Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan, and 2026 fall Chinook bag limit proposals are again on the more conservative side.
The agency’s 14-page rule-making explanatory statement provides a high-level comparison of 2026’s proposals with 2025’s seasons.
“Preliminary data available at the time of fiscal impact statement preparation suggests that, apart from the Nestucca River Basin, wild Chinook salmon seasons will offer similar or greater opportunities for harvest in 2026 compared to those held in 2025. We anticipate the Nestucca River Basin to have lower bag limits in 2026 for wild Chinook salmon retention relative to the previous year,” the document states.
“Provisional rules for 2026 wild Coho salmon seasons are currently similar to the 2025 seasons,” it continues.
“All basins open in 2025 are proposed to be open in some capacity for wild Coho salmon retention in 2026, except for the Alsea basin (in 2025 there were 11 river basins allowing wild Coho retention). Overall changes to harvest opportunity are not yet known given that key factors including season duration and bag limits for each basin are still in development at this time and require federal concurrence before the wild Coho salmon seasons can be implemented.”
ODFW breaks the proposed changes out by district, and for the North Coast District the annual adult wild Chinook bag limit would increase from 2025’s two to five this fall on the Necanicum, Nehalem and Tillamook Bay system rivers, while on the Nestucca it would be cut from five to two.
In the Mid-Coast District, changes being proposed include bumping the Alsea wild Chinook season limit from three to 10 and the Siuslaw from two to five.
In the Umpqua District, ODFW is proposing opening Chinook retention on the mainstem, Smith and North Fork Smith from July 1 through November 30 with a daily bag limit of one and five for the season. Last year, there was a very abbreviated Chinok fishery here that closed in mid-August after the quota of 500 wild fish was retained. However, for 2026, no coho season is proposed on the Umpqua, as was the case last year due to an expected low return.
In the South Coast District, the Sixes adult wild Chinook limit would increase to 10 for the season, up from one in 2025, with daily limit of one. Hunter and Floras Creeks would again be open for one wild Chinook a day and two for the season, like they were in 2025.
And ODFW is again proposing coastal wild coho limits of one for the day and three in aggregate on open streams, with most waters open daily except Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays only on the Nehalem, Tillamook systems and Nestucca.
Catch stats from 2025’s fall seasons show 3,434 mostly fall Chinook and 1,470 coho caught on Siletz Bay and the Siletz River; 3,069 Chinook and 1,088 coho caught on Coos Bay and the Coos River; 2,997 Chinook and 1,543 coho caught on Nehalem Bay and the Nehalem River, 2,767 Chinook and 1,764 coho caught on Siuslaw Bay and the Siuslaw River; 2,662 Chinook and 1,020 coho caught on Alsea Bay and the Alsea River; and 744 Chinook caught on Chetco Bay and the Chetco River, among other systems.
