Oregon and possibly Washington recommendations.

After the Elk tourney, my family and I are going to continue up north to Oregon and possibly Washington.  My wife would like to go all they way up north to BC, but might be tough as we only have a week.

Any recommendations on where to camp and/or fish?  What are must see sites?

My rough itinerary from Elk is to Crater Lake, north to Portland, then down the Oregon coast on the way home.

Any help is appreciated.  

Kevin

If the buoy 10 salmon fishery opens at the mouth of the Columbia, that would be a must hit fishery for sure.  Don't know yet if/when it will open.  Or depending on the dates, I'm still trying to figure out a San Juan trip around then.

-Allen

Kevin, I just got back from a quick week in Oregon, camping and fishing.

The Oregon State parks are quite nice, we stayed at two, and both had water and electricity in every drive-in campsite. Their drive-through RV sites had 30A electric and sewer hook-ups too-for a little more cash. Next time I'm bringing a small microwave oven and my favorite coffee maker!

Our first night out we stayed at Ainsworth SP in the Columbia River Gorge, about 5-6 miles downstream from Bonneville Dam. I wouldn't stay there again unless I was fishing for Trophy Oversize Sturgeon at Beacon Rock again! The campground is right next to the RR tracks and several times during the night, a big old frieght rumbled by (Only the trains heading upstream make enough noise to wake me!)

The Trophy Sturgeon fishing is awesome. I posted my report on Coastside's Freshwater Reports Page. If you like, I can post it here as a reply.

The Gorge is absolutely beautiful! The view from mid-river is worth every penny of your guides fee-consider the Big Game Fishing a bonus!

The Visitor Center at Bonneville Dam is free admission and well worth your time, especially when the Salmon are traversing the Fish Ladder.

 Downstream from the VC is a hatchery that's good too- trout, salmon and  "Old Homer" a huge Sturgeon about 11ft long!

We headed downstream to Astoria after our day on the river, but I wish we'd planned a day off for knocking around the Gorge. The old Scenic HWY30? was built during the depression and what little of their Art Deco Concrete work I did see was truly amazing.

Out at Astoria, we stayed at Fort Stevens SP. This park has a centrally located Espresso stand, is a Civil War Era fortress at the corner of the Pacific and the Columbia River. Ft Stevens is the only place on the US Mainland that came under Japaneese Naval Attack during WWII. In fact, we pulled in to camp there on the 63rd anniversary of that shelling. We didn't get a chance to check out the Fort or the Shipwreck, because we were fishing for keeper sturgeon at Bouy 10 at 6:30AM the next day.

The Astoria Keeper Sturgeon fishery is really amazing- four of us caught seven keepers. We  released five of them and 15-20 undersize sturgeon too. I filed a report on Coastside's Saltwater Reports Page about 6/24 or 6/25

On the way to Corvallis, I crossed Willamette Pass State HWY 58 I think. Down from the summit (A little west towards Eugene) was a beautiful Lake Odell that got a good write-up in the Oregon Handbook from Moon Books www.moon.com

One more thing that was really cool that we did was visit the "Spruce Goose" at Evergreen Aviation's new Avaition Museum In addition to Howard Hughes' big flying boat they've got an SR71, Corsair, Spitfire, ME109, B17 a beautiful cut-away Pratt&Whitney R4360 "Corncob" 28 cylinder radial engine. These awesome air-cooled power plants powered the SG as well as B29s and several current Reno Racers. Alas, I can't remember the name of the town where Evergreen Air is. www.sprucegoose.org

M_Man,

Can you give us more details on the sturgeon fishing?  How feasible you think it is from a yak on the main Columbia?

-Allen

The upriver sturgeon fishery doesn't lend itself to kayak angling in my opinion. This is big Moving water. We fished with 80lb spectra, 3lb lead on sliding swivels, and a whole fresh-dead American Shad for bait. Water in the "Honey Hole" was 80ft deep. Flows started at 175K CFS We placed our baits at the edge of the main channel and an eddy. Between that sweet spot and our anchor bouy was a "Potato Patch" of confused two foot standing wavelets about a half acre in size.

Here's my Coastside Report:

Tuesday 6/21
 
Wow! What a fishery!

Four of us fished Tuesday 6/21 for the big breeders below Beacon Rock on the Columbia, downstream from the Dam.

We fished with an awesome guide, Joe Salvey http://www.fishhawkadventures.com

The day started making bait- American Shad. That went pretty slowly, so back to the bait shack for more fresh shad.

After setting the anchor system, we dropped back and set two rigs. Whole shad, 3# cannonball, single barbless hook, on a standard Susuin Bay sliding sinker rig. Then we motored back up to the anchor bouy and floated back the third rig on a crab float w/ downrigger release. Didn't take a half hour for the first hookup!

Pat played the fish to the boat twice before she gave up. The rigs were spooled with 80# spectra so max pressure is put on the fish to bring them in fast. Pat's fight was around 20 minutes.

Here's where the trip really got interesting. There was a Washington Dept of Fisheries Research Boat watching the whole fight. Our guide told us that if the fish was over eight feet, they'd want to take it on board for study. So when the fight was over, Joe turned the big fish on it's back in the water, the WDF boat rafted up alongside the fish and pulled it thru the diver door on the side if the boat.

Once onboard the Research Boat, they corralled the fish, still upside-down against the side of the boat, inserted a washdown hose into it's mouth and started measuring. They "wanded" the fish to see if it had been tagged before, and looked for a special scar that tells what year the fish was tagged. The Biologist saw his mark from 2004, and went on to open the fish with a scalpel to sex the fish. Then he took a small egg sample and told us the story of the fish. Last spawned three years ago, still three/four years from spawning again. He could tell all this by looking at the eggs.

While they sutured up the fish they answered all our questions, and invited Pat aboard for some pre-release pix. Then back she went.

Back to fishing...Kirk hooks and lands a 55in keeper that we released. Then Donna hooks a good fish, Donna's only been fishing for a year or two, has one Susuin keeper on her dance card, but she's never been hooked up to a fish like this. Did I mention that Donna's 115lbs-soaking wet? Anyway I spelled her twice and wow can these dinosaurs pull! Sure, they were using the 175K cfs to their advantage, but we were fighting from a drifting boat. I got it to the boat by pushing the drag past strike, but the fish saw the boat and ran off with another 100yds. I handed off to Donna, and she brought the fish in for another drive-by and called for help again. I hammered the drag and brought the fish in for another look at the boat and this time her run was a little half hearted. Donna was ready, and finished the fight. What a slug! The Research Boat came back for round 2, and the big fish taped out at 8'-2" ~345lbs. Spawned last year.

Let me give kudos to the WDF Biologist, he must have taken a half dozen tail slaps upside his head between the two fish we brought his way. They looked at four fish total for the day. I think they were headed to the Drug Store for some Excedrin!

The next bite came quickly, and it was my turn. This fish was pulling like Donna's fish on BALCO brand steroids...after a half hour of hammering the drag and peggin' my meter, we figured out that I was pulling on some other guy's fish and Boat! We got together and freed the poor guy (and poor me!) and they floated off to much derision from our boat...They had it coming. Our guide said they were private boaters who were fishing with way under-gunned tackle- he said they'd been on the fish for 20 minuutes when their fish picked me up. They took another 20 minutes to get broken off. Pity the fish.

Now that I'm good and spent, I hook up again and pull in a 7'-2" fish that went about 275# without any drama.

What a great trip! Three huge fish (8', 8'-2', 7'-2"), one around for everyone, Sturgeon 101 from a guy who loves his job, beautiful scenery in the Columbia River Gorge, and a great innovative guide. Joe's a CG Liscenced Master who Commercial fished for 15 years before he started guiding (five years) Joe runs a tight ship- a tricked-out 26ft Alumaweld sled. We couldn't have asked for anything more.

This Keeeper Sturgeon fishery is much more apropriate for kayak angling.

We fished early a mile or so from shore in sloughs that were very skinny water, some places less than two feet deep. We were east of Tongue Point, but put in a few miles east because we were in a 26ft Alumaweld sled. I'm sure you could launch somewhere from Tongue Point.

 I wouldn't want to do this without a guide, or going with a guide the day before. Our guide had the latest Nav chip, but still had to go super slow and check the sounder because the bars move all the time, pretty much with every rainstorm!



I'll copy my Coastside Report below.

Wednesday 6/22
We fished with guide Joe Salvey http://www.fishhawkadventures.com

We launched from a free ramp at John Day County Park about two hours before a minus 1.9 low. A quick run to some sloughs and we were fishing. We were anchored in 8ft of water and cast our baits into 4ft. Bait was bag 'chovies and Ghost Shrimp. (Interestingly, they call 'em Sand Shrimp in Oregon)

Didn't take long before we had our first bite- a 30in shaker. Then another, then a double, then our first keeper, that went back in. As quickly as it began, it was over. Joe pulled the plug and we motored over to another Island and put 'em back in.

Similarly another flurry of action. All the shakers were 28" or bigger and fat. We did the triple this time. No keepers on this stop. At the slack, we picked up and moved five miles downstream to Astoria proper.

Now we're fishing in 65ft of water. First hookups are starry flounder. Then we see a net flying on a party boat, then we start hooking up. It was epic sturgeon fishing by Susuin Bay standards. Our final talley was Seven keepers between 48" and 53" We kept two for four anglers. We lost track of shakers released, but it was between 15 and 20!
We had one quadruple hookup that had two keepers and two shakers.

The whole time our guide was ribbing us "How's that compare with Sacramento sturgeon?" We fished the Bonneville Giant sturgeon the day before with Joe, so we were already one big happy family

Kevin, I don't have time tonight, but remind me later. I'm pretty familiar with the N. Oregon Coast.

As for camping on the Oregon Coast, you can camp for free most of the way down. From Seaside south just find a dirt road and turn left off of 101 and into the woods. It is state forest. There are some really excellent places along creeks in some areas.

You can probably sturgeon fish the Columbia this time of year as it runs pretty slow in the summer. A good launch would be from Beacon Rock State Park on the Washington side. It is a protected bay and you can go out and sample the river or stay in the bay. There are  crappie in the protected waters, walleye and bass, most likely about 15 to 20 feet deep this time of year, white fish, catfish and trout.

As for kayak launch sites on the coast, most bays will have some kind of jetty access that you can launch into the surf. Pacific City is a beach launch site for Dory's if you want company and there is a big rock off shore to explore.

There is some good fishing at Battle Rock, south of Port Orford, but they closed the dirt road going down. If you are real enterprising you could wheel a kayak down there and even a back pack and camp on the beach. Also Cape Blanco has a super campground and good beach access for the kayak. It has a protected cove on the south side with lots of seaweed, with black cod. It has to be the most interesting place on the coast, with a big rocky point with hidden beaches, knarly trees, deer, turkeys and lots of drift wood on the  beach and beach rocks. Cape Blanco has it all. It also is the most western point of the US in the lower 48 which means it gets a little more nasty weather and fog. Don't go by Cape Blanco.

Gold Beach Campground, south of Port Orford is a great private campground to leave your kayak right on the beach with a little river to play in. There is likely good fishing for bottom fish because it is fairly far from the ports.

Just before you get into Gold Beach the town there is a nice area to get right up to the beach that you can launch. It is a couple of miles before you get to the Rogue River. Don't miss Cape Blanco!

Oh, one more thing, they shut the dams down on the weekend so the Columbia River flows are down then. Also if you are below the dam, check the tides there, because that slows the river down, too.  I know it sounds weird but the river is affected by the tide all the way to the dam from the ocean. In fact on a good tide it reverses the flow just north of Vancouver (the river flows north from Vancouver for a ways before it turns west again).

What do you know about sunset bay and the charleston area? How far is cape blanco from that area?

I haven't spent much time in Charleston area, as I recall it was sandstone cliffs. Charleston is more or less a subdivision of Coos Bay and South Bend. If your looking for entertainment for the kids, you'll have the 'big city' thing going on, big for a coastal city anyway. There is a bay there, I think, besides the huge Coos Bay, which is kayakable, but kind of industrial.

Cape Blanco is south about an hour. It really is one of the top spots on the Pacific Coast for camping, protected bay, sandy beach, rocky cliffs. The beach is very interesting with large rocks growing right out of it at the surf line. You can find platinum by the cliffs, it's illegal to dig in the cliffs for it, but you can pick up pieces if your lucky. The camp site is in a knarly treed woods and a great camping place.

On the north side of the Cape Blanco as you drive in, is the Sixes River which you can kayak out to the ocean, about a mile. It has a great launch. I don't know that there is much in it, but it has a big salmon run in the middle of the winter.

You've just about got me sold on Cape Blanco. The only things that kept us wanting to go back to Sunset Bay, besides the fact that I have seen people pull some huge Ling Cod out of that area, last time I went, are the numerous blackberries and rasberries growing wild as well as a great fish shop in town,good clamming and crabbing. This platinum thing has got my mind working. You mean not only might there be some good fishing in an accesible area but I could send my wife and child platinum hunting and become wealthy? Wow, this is getting good. Tell me more.

Thanks for the replies.  My trip up north is postponed until Sep.  I will post again when the date is firmed up.

Lots of possibilities.

Kevin

How far is the beach at Cape Blanco from the state campground?

How far is the beach at Cape Blanco from the state campground?

There is a drive down to the beach that starts in the campground, so it is in walking distance. The drive down is somewhat rough, pickup or four wheel. You can drive on the beach. As for a kayak if you can't drive down then you have a steep 100 yd carry or use wheels. There is a parking area at the top of the road. There is also a fresh water pond to rinse stuff in.

September, can be dicey for weather there. Cape Blanco can get thick fog, a fog that is dense enough it wil make you wet. On the other hand it is a short drive inland and you can go back to Langlois and turn into Floras Lake. A great campground with lake in front of the ocean. You can  fish for trout and bass in the lake or take a cruise on a little river that leads about three miles or more to the ocean. The campground is Cope Park, it is county but I've had some good times there. There is a great hike over the creek and across the lake south.