THANK YOU NCKA!! And an Oregon update

MattSwayze mailed this to me a few days ago, and all I can say is: YOU GUYS ROCK!!  What an awesome Fish Whistle!  It’s surprisingly loud too, haha.  Just what I needed to call in those deep-water Pacific halibut this summer.  Thanks so much to all of you.  NCKA is a special group, truly one-of-a-kind, and despite me now living in another state, I’m proud to continue calling myself a member of the NCKA tribe.
 

Many of you may have seen my Oregon updates posted on Facebook, but I figured I’d share them here for the non-FB crowd.  I moved here in early February.  Found a small house for rent in a place called Yachats (pronounced Ya-Hots), with the beach only a 2-minute walk from my front door.  My first foray into Oregon fishing took place at my new “home beach”, which I found to be a killer redtail perch spot.  These fish are finicky as all hell about the tides, but when I time it right (typically the last hour of the incoming), I’ve caught some nice slabs.  One evening after work I was surprised by a spotted ratfish, something I’d never seen in person and the only surf-caught ratfish I’ve heard of around here.




It wasn’t until mid-February when I’d gotten my home stuff squared away enough to sample the local rivers for winter-run steelhead.  I soon found out why so many anglers can become addicted to chasing steelhead: bashing through ferns and moss-covered trees in the rain along a remote stretch of river, covering every potential nook-and-cranny that looks like it could hold a fish, hoping you don’t farm that ONE bite, and summarily getting your ass handed to you by a 10+ pound bullet fresh out of the salt.  You go one day, and you want to go again, and again, and again.  I spent pretty much every weekend from mid-February through the end of March chasing steelhead on one of three small coastal rivers within 15 miles of my house.  Word from the locals was that this was a very tough year for steelhead, so I considered my 10-for-12 score to be quite an accomplishment for a newbie to these streams.







Steelhead season ended on most of the coastal rivers on March 31.  I’m biding my time for the coastal systems north of me to start receiving spring-run Chinook.  But we had a weather window for an ocean foray yesterday.  The kind folks at NWKA helped me with intel, and I ended up having a great day pulling on bottomfish out of Depoe Bay.  The black rockfish were super aggressive and abundant, as I marked dozens of massive schools on the local reef.  Great size to the blacks too.  When I dropped big baits for lings, I was rewarded with steady lingcod and cabezon action.  The lings were in the 20 to 30 inch range, cabs were in the low 20-inch range.  After taking a limit of 30 inch lings, I poked around for flatfish for about an hour and caught a few sole.  All of this, and I’d barely explored the northern portion of the local reef!  I look forward to putting more time into Depoe, which should be easy, as it’s only a 45 minute drive.







As to the future season: like I mentioned before, spring-run Chinook salmon will be showing up in numbers in the Tillamook Bay rivers in May, with a peak in June.  Nestucca springers will follow right behind the Tillamook systems.  One of my bucket list fish is a bright spring-run Chinook, so I plan on putting in some time to nab one.  Pacific halibut season will open June 1, and I’ve already been scouting potential surf launch spots adjacent to suitable Pac halibut habitat.  Sea-run cutthroat will start showing up in the estuaries around July, another bucket-list fish of mine that can exceed 20 inches and are rumored to be one of the tastiest fish that swims.  Then as fall approaches, fall Chinook and coho will start running on virtually all the local rivers where I’ll be trolling for them in the bays, particularly Alsea and Siuslaw.  When the fish push up the rivers, I’ll bust out this little gem that just arrived in the mail.  At 31 pounds, portaging will be a cake-walk and I will have access to river sections that drift boats cannot reach.

Needless to say, I’ll have my hands full with fishing opportunities up here and I’m very excited to see how the year develops.  Hope you guys have a great summer season this year!  Fish On!

Right on  Kiddo !!!

That's a very nice write up, thumbs up! 

My oh my.... those are some beautiful fish and some beautiful scenery.

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That ratfish is DOPE!

That's a very nice write up, thumbs up!

Make that 2 thumbs up! And I want to move to Oregon...

Only your location changed.  You are still killing it. 

You're the coolest!! Glad to hear all is well and way to go on all those steelies!!!

Only your location changed.  You are still killing it.

And the write up is still top notch too!  'glad you are enjoying the fisheries there, sounds like it's very healthy with lower pressure. 

 Cool whistle/knife !!! Awesome Steelie pics. 10 outta 12 is a good percentage. I went 2 for 4 but it ain't 100% over the Russian is still high and muddy. Can you say "Summer Steel"

That's amazing, but why would I expect any less from you I'm glad you decided to post up because I'm not on FB. Hope to fish with again.

ernest

Great recap, Chris.  I've been stoked to follow your continued adventures in Oregon, and I still hope you'll make it to GS! 

Have a great season, man.  You're living it right.

You're one of a kind!!!
Truly aMayesing!!!


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Definitely gettin' after it!

The only thing I miss living in No. Wa.was the Steel head and Salmon fishing.
Awesome pics and catches thanks for sharing