Astoria Fishing Happening Now
What do you want to fish for in 2026? Our Astoria location offers fishing for everyone. Some of the best salmon fishing in the Pacific Northwest. Plus we have sturgeon, tuna, lingcod, rockfish, and crabbing. Yes, it’s a smorgasbord of fishing, and as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t get much better than this.
Update: Buoy 10 Salmon
August 13th, 2026: The ocean salmon season has been so good that we’ve almost reached the ocean quota for Chinook out of Astoria. ODFW/WDFW just announced that today will be the last day for ocean salmon retention in Marine Area 1. While we enjoy fishing the ocean when we can, fish are moving into the river and we’ll continue to target them as they funnel through the mouth of the Columbia River. The season has just begun and we have months of good fishing ahead of us!
Buoy 10 Salmon
The Columbia River opened for the 2026 Buoy 10 salmon season on August 1st. We’re expecting something similar to the 2025 season and have had some great fishing opportunities in both the ocean and Columbia River already. The Buoy 10 Chinook season goes through September 2nd this year. After that we switch to a hatchery Coho only fishery for the rest of September and into October. During Coho season we’ll drop the crab pots when can, giving you the chance to bring some Dungeness Crab home with your salmon. There’s nothing in the world quite like the Buoy 10 salmon fishery, and we’re excited to chase some fall salmon later this year.
Astoria Ocean Salmon
The 2026 Pacific Ocean salmon season opened on June 20th and closed in Marine Area 1 on August 14th, as we’re close to the Chinook quota. It’s a marked-select fishery this year which means we can retain native and hatchery Chinook as well as hatchery Coho. Things can get pretty action-packed when we’re able to retain all salmon, and we’ve had some incredible days of ocean fishing so far this season. Pair that up with the Buoy 10 season on the Columbia River and we have some great fishing opportunities for the next 2 months. Bright chrome Chinook and Coho biting anchovy and other offerings like Spinfish. Most fishing has been to the north of the river mouth in 50-90 feet of water. Nope, not very far out. The high tide bite on the green line has been super consistent.
Dungeness Crab
Fall will be here before we know it and it’s the perfect time to catch some crab. We’ll drop the pots on our way to the fishing grounds, pick them back up on our way in, and have your crab cooked right by the dock. You can’t get much fresher than that!
Tuna Time!
The tuna are here! Legion’s Mercy can be from the tips to the fishing grounds in an hour at that distance. We have 400 pounds of ice and a fish hold that can carry 50 tuna. I’ll just say it right now, please don’t catch 50 tuna. That would be absurd, but whatever, the capacity is great for keeping the sashimi cold 🙂 The flat oceans of summer and blue water moving close to shore is something many never experience. Reach out to get your date on Legion’s Mercy today!
Rockfish and Lingcod Palooza
Awesome fishing opportunities and the scenery isn’t bad either! Tillamook Head is typically loaded with black rockfish and on light tackle it’s a blast. We catch fish around a variety of rock formations that come up from the bottom of the ocean and even see some top-water action. At that point, the spinning rods and one-ounce jigs come out. The slow retrieves just get hammered and on light tackle just below the surface? Yes, it’s a lot of fun. We will often couple these trips with some ocean salmon, sometimes heading out to the Canyon to bottom fish instead. 25-30 black rocks and salmon? It’s how we do it this time of year out of Astoria!
Want to book a trip? Contact us on our Questions & Reservations page. We can answer any questions you have and make sure you’re getting the trip that’s right for you!