Anglers will also find 120 feet of water off of Bird Island and Twin Rocks and can troll 25 to 50 feet below the surface.

TIMING THE RUN
In May, Rogue River spring chinook are moving through the area of Brookings.

These fish average about 20 pounds and tend to be short, fat salmon.

In June and July, salmon from the Sacramento, Rogue and Klamath rivers show up in the catch.

These fish range from 15 to 40 pounds because all age-classes are present.

Bigger fish begin to show up in August. Aside from the feeder salmon found offshore, trophy salmon from the Chetco and Smith rivers arrive.

Each year, a few salmon up to 50 pounds are caught in late August.

By September, more trophy fish are caught.

SHORE FISHING
Few anglers try to catch salmon in saltwater from shore. But fishing from the jetties at Brookings or Gold Beach are exceptions. Anglers have some success during the summer and early fall, especially when chinook move in to feed on baitfish close to the rocks.

Also during the summer, big salmon will also move in and out of bays when anchovies, herring and sardines enter the estuaries.

The river side of the north jetty in Gold Beach and both jetties in Brookings will get anglers into range of feeding salmon.

The hard fight the kings put up, plus their ability to reach 50 or even 60 pounds, keeps drawing anglers to the south coast in search of a trophy.

How do you catch salmon from the jetties? There are two basic methods

1.Spoons, Spinners Most anglers will cast large spoons such as Kastmasters and slowly reel them in. Salmon will hit a spoon as it flutters just after hitting the bottom, and also on a slow retrieve.

Large spoons tend to be more effective, since they have more weight that lets you cast farther.

Large spinners -- particularly Worden’s Flash Glos and Blue Fox Vibrax -- are also good choices for shore-casting.

2. Bait-Fishing

Shore-anglers who still-fish with anchovies or herring will also catch an occasional feeding salmon.

It’s vital to keep the bait a foot or two off the bottom. Chinook will seldom pick bait directly off the bottom, and an anchovy or herring lying on the ocean floor is an easy meal for abundant crabs.

A common rig is a 4-ounce sinker attached with a three-way swivel to a 4-foot leader. Slide a cork onto the leader about a foot above the hooks. The cork will float the bait a couple feet off the bottom. You’ll need at least 4 ounces of lead to keep the cork from floating all the way back to the surface. Natural-colored corks work best, as they will be less likely to spook salmon checking out the bait.

The current and tidal surges will usually give the bait just enough action to provoke a strike from salmon that run across the bait.