Fall coastal salmon management

Where to fish

How to fish

Fall salmon fishing seasons in rivers along Oregon’s coast from Necanicum River to the Winchuck River depend on the outlook for wild Chinook and coho. Management of wild fall Chinook fisheries are guided by the Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan (CMP) and the Rogue Fall Chinook Conservation Plan (RFCCP). ‌‌‌

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Fall coastal salmon management‌

The Commission adopted wild Chinook coastal seasons for fall 2025 mostly as proposed by staff at their June 13, 2025 hybrid meeting in Pendleton.

For the Umpqua River, they adopted a limited fall Chinook fishing and retention season on the mainstem Umpqua, Smith, and North Fork Smith rivers (different than the original staff proposal) after receiving many public comments and hearing testimony from a Douglas County Commissioner, business owners and local anglers concerned about a proposed closure.

The Umpqua, Smith and North Fork Smith Rivers are open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays starting July 1. The season runs through the earlier of Nov. 30 or until the 500 wild Chinook quota is reached. The bag limit is one Chinook (either hatchery or wild) per day and per season.

All Chinook fishing including catch-and-release is prohibited on the Umpqua, Smith and North Fork Smith Rivers on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and after bag limit is caught. Other fishing seasons remain open under permanent regulations.

The days-per-week approach will allow ODFW to better evaluate when the wild Chinook quota is reached. Any closure will be announced via news release, on this page and on the in-season updates page.

Boundaries for the three rivers remain as in permanent regulations (e.g. allowed where Chinook fishing is allowed in permanent regulation).

Wild coho seasons and other coho regulations will be considered by the Commission at their Aug.15 meeting in Salem. Proposals will be posted on this page when available.

More about the Umpqua River Decision

This is the first time the Umpqua River has dropped below the Critical Abundance Threshold (CAT) since the Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan (CMP) was adopted in 2014. Last year's return of fall Chinook to the Umpqua was the lowest on record since 1980. The CMP calls for discontinuing wild harvest when populations fall below CAT, but allows for adaptive management such as the approach in the Umpqua River this year.

"We have talked for a couple years now about how conditions in the Umpqua River are very concerning for salmon and steelhead due to impacts from wildfire, drought, warming streams and non-native predators," said Tom Stahl, ODFW Deputy Fish Administrator for Inland Fisheries. "The outcomes from these conditions are now being felt with last year's extremely low return and discussions over how this affects the fishery are difficult for everyone."

"It's very hard to realize such an iconic river as the Umpqua is struggling," said Commissioner Hatfield Hyde. "I am very thankful ODFW staff have come up with some options, and we ask the public to hang in there with us and help us figure out how to look toward the future."

Table 1. 2025 Wild Fall Chinook regulations adopted by Commission

This is a summary of regulations. More detailed information will be posted here and to the in-season updates page prior to the start of fall seasons.

Population	Bag Limit (per day/season)	Other Changes
Necanicum	1 / 2
Nehalem	1 / 2
Tillamook	1 / 2
Nestucca	1 / 5
Salmon	2 / 10
Siletz	2 / 10
Yaquina	2 / 10
Alsea	2 / 10
Yachats	1 / 2
Siuslaw	1 / 2
Umpqua	1 / 1 (for all Chinook)	Open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays until quota of 500 wild Chinook is reached
Coos	2 / 10
Coquille	Closed
Floras/New R.	1 / 2
Sixes	1 / 10	Oct. 1 through Nov. 3 low flow closure from the Hughes House Boat Ramp upstream to the mouth of Crystal Creek
Elk	Closed
Rogue Aggregate	SW Zone rules
L. Rogue	SW Zone rules
Hunter	1/2
Pistol	1 / 5
Chetco	1 / 5
Winchuck	1 / 5

Background‌‌

Wild Chinook‌‌

Management of fisheries for wild fall Chinook in Oregon coastal rivers is guided by the Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan (CMP) for rivers from the Elk River northward and the Rogue Fall Chinook Conservation Plan (RFCCP) for rivers south of the Elk River. ‌‌‌

The CMP established a tiered sliding scale approach for managing Chinook fisheries. Based upon the prior year's return and the current year's forecast, daily and seasonal bag limits may be reduced or increased for a set of rivers within the same geographic area—or fishing may be closed entirely at a certain critical threshold. Likewise, the RFCCP specifies management objectives and regulatory measures based on abundance though some provisions differ from the CMP. ‌‌‌

The Plans recognized that adaptive management would be necessary due to unavoidable uncertainty. In recent years, rapid climate and ocean change is undermining assumptions and increasing forecast uncertainty for wild Chinook. Populations on neighboring rivers, despite similar freshwater and marine conditions, are performing substantially differently in some cases. Spawner abundance has shown large variations, with 11 of 14 monitored populations at or below the critical threshold for one or more years since the CMP was adopted. Finally, a generally increasing freshwater harvest rate in some rivers (vs. generally decreasing ocean harvest rate) may indicate increasing vulnerability to harvest. ‌‌‌

Due to these factors, more conservative management and restrictive bag limits and seasons than what the Plans' original sliding scales called for will be necessary during some years, as they were in 2023 and 2024.‌‌‌

The following tables show the fall Chinook estimates, forecasts, and criteria used to develop the 2025 proposed coastal wild Chinook regulations.

Wild coho‌‌

The 2025 forecasted ocean abundance of Oregon coast natural coho is 289,000, up from about 232,000 last year and the largest forecast since 2012. Wild coho season proposals will be available later this year. The Commission is expected to adopt coho regulations for fall coastal salmon seasons at their Aug. 15 meeting in Salem. Seasons also require approval from NFMS. Reminder that the rules for Chinook being considered by the Commission in June 2025 still reference 2024 regulations for coho, which will be updated when the Commission considers coho regulations in August.