NWKA Oregon Rockfish Classic, June 18

I can modify your trailer by Thursday afternoon.

Sounds cool. I was actually surprised to see only ~40 people participating. Sounds like good odds! Good luck to our NCKA brothers who are making the trek. Hoping somebody catches a 100+ lb California halibut....

1 truck, 3 guys, 4 kayaks.  We can't fit another yak.

-Allen

My trailer is available if you want to borrow it for the trip.  It can carry 4 yaks.

This is what a 19 pounds, 2 ounce cabbie looks like, winner of the 2011 Oregon Rockfish Classic.

WOW!!!

-Allen

WOW!!! 

How was the fishing overall, Allen?

I want to go next year.

WOW!!! 

How was the fishing overall, Allen?

I want to go next year.

The fishing was great!  I launched at 7:30 and was back at the harbor a little before 10 to man the weight in.  In that short time, I kept a 7# cab and 4 black rockfish between 18-20".  I let go probably a 1/2 dozen lings including some barely legals and a crap load of smaller blacks.  This was all within maybe 3/4 mile of the harbor entrance.

There was an 11 and a 12 pound cabbies weighed.  A 16 pound ling took 2nd place.  Lots of C&R going on, by everyone came in with all the fish they wanted plus some donations to the fish fry.

Would love to see a larger NCKA contingent next year.  I know prodigal, The Kraken, and myself will be back.

-Allen

Right on. I'm there next year.

Had a blast this year at the ORC!! HUGE thanks to Allen for his hard work getting everything put together!

It was awesome seeing some NCKA guys there - it was great meeting you guys!  Sorry we didn't get to hang out more.

Here's a quick video I put together from the day.  Ron, the guy featured, ended up in second place with the lingcod he caught in the video.  It ended up at 16 lbs. 15 oz..

   

Check out the NWKA thread for all the, reports, pics, and video from the day here:
http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,6349.0.html

Cheers!

One more crazy thing worth mentioning about that 1st place cabzilla was that it had an adult, keeper-sized dungeness crab in its belly among other things... unreal!

Looks like an awesome time out there! Awesome job Allen on setting/helping out for this event, hopefully I can make it to next year's event

Man, those 2 cabs are monsters for reals!! I've been very fortunate to catch myself some nice cabzillas, but still haven't broken the double digit mark yet. Crazy to know that cab had a legal dungie inside its stomach lol

One more crazy thing worth mentioning about that 1st place cabzilla was that it had an adult, keeper-sized dungeness crab in its belly among other things... unreal!

 

Man, those 2 cabs are monsters for reals!!

Those were the same cab.

-Allen

Right on. I'm there next year.

did someone say convoy?

The road to ORCfest is a long but very enjoyable ride.
There and back again, 22 hours.
Good conversation, incredible landscapes, and singalong power ballads helped the miles roll away until we arrived safely at Chinook Bend.

This was also where the awards/feast went down due to rain. It was the perfect plan B.


On tourney day, I found some stoke in the harbor ops.
Advising the harbor master of the intent of 4 kayakers to make their way out (acknowledged), followed by raising my horn high and sounding,
then full throttle out of the harbor.
It was a great way to start the morning.

My first drop was fish-on and there after we enjoyed a steady mix of blacks and lings throughout the morning. All of my fish were released unharmed as my big winner did not arrive. Still I had a blast!









We didnt do a great job of documentation but I think that was due to a great bite and some choppy water.
That same choppy water, and the rain, helped inspire some tetris skills to repack the truck and head south to my home waters.
There we enjoyed perfect conditions for slinging senkos and sight fishing.






After temps started to rise we headed over to the RP and toasted to a great adventure and smooth ops.

There is no doubt we are gong back to the ORCfest and I reconfirmed that OR is a place that I want to live.  Thanks again Allen
 



 

thanks for the pic report terry, love that fish kite/flag, cameron

Both the folks at Chinook Bend and the guys (and girl) in the tournament were a blast to hang around with. We shared some good stories and I learned a lot more about fishing from these northern folks. And all the cold weather gear I bought and never use, well I finally got to use it.   

The morning of the tourney I woke up with a bad stomach and that transferred to sea sickness shortly after getting on the water, but the fishing was to good to leave. It seemed like I would be at that point where I would start to head back and then I would catch a fish and decide to last a little longer. As mentioned, fat black RF and lings seemed to be all we could get, but almost everyone else was nabbing the big cabs and some greenings. Terry had his success with the Big Hammer swim baits that were donated for the tourney and I was doing great on irons.

I found a few pics of our tent city, the Chinook bend party area and the Siletz River that borders the camp ground. Also, a pic of the big winner bluewrx02 dealing with another fish as he's going up a nice wave and a few more fish pics of me and Terry.

My first "out of state" tourney was a lot of fun and I'm glad Allen and Terry decided to put up with me on the long drive. See you guys next year!