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Bottomfish angling closes for the year Sunday Tuesday Sep 12, 2017 at 3:02 PM Sep 12, 2017 at 3:02 PM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman A hot year for recreational bottomfishing will come to an abrupt halt Sunday night when the bottomfishing season will close for the year because the annual rockfish quota for will be met for the first time since 2004. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the closure this afternoon for any species of rockfish, lingcod, cabezon, greenling and myriad other species. Remaining open, however, will be angling for ocean flatfish such as sanddabs and halibut where seasons remain open, including along the South Coast. A 10-percent drop in this year's black rockfish quota, heavy angler interest in bottomfishing, a lack of ocean-salmon opportunities, more fishable weather and other factors such as a stronger economy and sweltering inland heat waves that drove anglers to the coast all likely played a role in the closure, according to ODFW. "Those different factors combined to give us a very high landings rate," says Caren Braby, manager of ODFW's Marine Resources Program in Newport. "Rockfish stayed on the bite all summer, and we had excellent weather to get people out," Braby says. Through August, anglers logged an estimated 92,500 angler trips, well above the recent yearly average of about 77,000, Braby says. The halibut season from Humbug Mountain south to the Oregon border is scheduled to remain open through October. Tuna fishing is also open coast-wide, and ocean salmon fishing north of Humbug Mountain is scheduled to remain open through October.