Wesport Fishing

Cutty Sark · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:19 am Post subject: Wesport Fishing

Hey, where are all the westport guys at? I know I talked to a couple of you this year, and the forecast is looking good for the weekend. I'm thinking of towing down to fish sunday if the weather stays favorable. And I have never done westport, anyone else going to be down that way? Care to share a little knowledge.

Sark

Jazzmanic · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:03 pm Post subject:

Sark,

I know that Larry Q goes out of Westport quite a bit and has local knowledge. PM him or better yet, Larry Q, let's hear what you have to say.

Larry Q · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:02 pm Post subject:

Hey Guys-
The fishing has been great out of Westport!
Opening day, 8 fish in the boat by 11am. Last Thursday I had four guys from Montana. I checked the internet at 3am and it said light to moderate bar condition. When we got there the bar was closed and small craft warnings were posted. Oh well, I guess it happens.
Last Sunday three of us went out, the bar was flat, what a treat. We kept three nice kings from 16 to 26 lbs. We had to release several more kings large and small. We were only able to find two hatchery silvers in amonst the 9 silvers we caught. FUN DAY!
I will be there this Sunday! I should be at the launch around 6:30 am. I know it late to get fishing but the fish don't seem to care.
We caught most of the fish straight out on a 270 compass heading and started trolling in 180' of water. We trolled out to 220' and turned around and trolled back to about 140'.
We heard lots of chatter on the radio about lots of silvers south of Willapa.
We were just to lazy to run down there!
Herring at between 30 to 50 feet did the trick on all the fish except one smart ass king that took the bait at the surface as I was trying to put the line in the downrigger clip.

Jazzmanic · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:18 pm Post subject:

Nice post, Larry. So when are you going to show an ocean wuss like me how to fish out at Westport? Wink

Cutty Sark · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:30 am Post subject:

Larry, Thanks for the tips!! I'll be out with Roger on sunday too, not sure what time we'll launch but I'm sure we'll be somewhat along your heading, since I'm totally a newbie to the fishing out there. Keep an eye and ear out for us. Ok I'll admit it, I'm mostly a hardware guy, so what size bait are you using?

Sark

Larry Q · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:57 am Post subject:

Sark-
It will be nice to see you guys again! I order fresh herring from the Hungry whale in Westport. It is a chevron mini mart. You must call by 6pm the evening before to order bait. The herring have been small 4-5".
I would feel better if he held a gun on me while I am being robbed......
I mean paying for bait. 3 bucks a dozen!
I've used hardware many times in the ocean and I have lots of the stuff, but herring have worked best for me.
My cb will be on channel 14 and vhf on 68.

rogerbum · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:57 am Post subject:

Larry,

I WILL NOT forget to take the dramamine early on Sun so Sark won't have to worry about that. Figured I'd mention that before you had a chance to relate the story of Roger - the human chum machine.

Sark, I went out of Westport once last year with Larry and was sicker than a dog. Most of the time, especially when I'm driving, I don't have a problem but sometimes I do get seasick if I don't take dramamine (or bonine). On meds, no problem. Also, to be fair, I did catch one of only 2 or 3 fish brought to the boat even if I did spend a bit of time over the rail or laying down.

The way that Larry fishes for coho out there was quite a bit different than what I'm used to. He uses divers with cut plugs but only 20' or so behind the boat on a slow troll. Basically the bait is in the prop wash - really close to the boat and the surface. It's kind of fun that way but with down riggers, I'd probably use the more traditional flasher cut plug or flasher hootchie set up. However, if things are as hot as Larry (and others on the gamefishin site) indicate, it might be more fun to just use cut plugs and banana weights or cut plugs off the rigger without the flasher (better to fight the fish with).

Larry - if I remember there is a place near the launch for fresh bait and you need to reserve your bait order a day or so in advance. Can you provide details on that?

Cutty Sark · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:18 am Post subject:

Yeah that makes it real fun, I'm pretty lucky and have only really felt sick once out of La push and it was rough out. With the weather the way it is looking I think it won't be too bad but better safe than sorry.I'll probably be more concerned with sunscreen Cool

. Slow for coho, that is a bit different, I usually feel like I should be towing a waterskier instead of fishing.

Sark

Larry Q · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject:

Sark, Roger
What a team, the fish won't have a chance!
Roger, I did take the downriggers off of the whaler and installed them on the C-ya. Last Sunday, the down riggers out performed my diver with a herring in the propwash. When we were looking for the last silver two of us switched over to using chartreuse green 4oz weights with about 60' of line. My son kept using the downrigger at 50' and kept catching those pesky kings.
The phone # of the Hungry whale for bait is...360-268-0136, be sure to order bait by six pm. or you will be out of luck.
If the bar is rough remember to head to the hole in the wall at the tip of the south jetty.
Maybe I do troll slow, 2mph to 3mph, hey I'll try anything. How fast do you troll?

iggy · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:14 pm Post subject:

I went salmon fishing at Westport with my Dad and his work buddies in about '62 or '63. I would have been 15-17 at the time. The bar was typical, and I got sicker than a dog. Betweens bouts of sickness I managed to get some fishing in.

My rig was in the water, while I lay down and slept on one of the deck benches. Someone nudged me, and said, "Is that your rod? I think you may have a fish on!" Needless to say I woke up pretty quick. It took 25 minutes to get the fish in: 31 lb 6 oz King! I remember the wt because Field and Stream had a contest going, and I sent in the specs and rec'd back a nice certificate.

iggy

Cutty Sark · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:33 pm Post subject:

For Coho I usually go at least 3.5, more often than not 4-4.5. As soon as I speed up it seems aI always start getting more silvers, but I fish Neah Bay , and the sound alot so it might be a bit different. Looking forward to this weekend.

Sark

rogerbum · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:51 pm Post subject:

I usually do 3-4 kts for coho (Sark - I assume you mean 3.5 mph). I've found that I can increase my ratio of coho/king or coho/pinks if I keep the bait in the upper 30' of the water column (even late in the day) when I'm offshore near Neah Bay and I assume the same would apply out of Westport. This is especially important up north during a good pink year (odd number years) as in August at Neah Bay it can be very difficult to get your coho due to too many pink salmon being caught. I've thrown back 60-80 pink salmon +25 wild coho in a day to get my 4-6 legal coho (2 per person) in the boat. Initially, that's a lot of fun but after a couple of days, it can get old.

Pink salmon can be found almost anywhere in the water column so when they're in, it's even harder to get kings. I've caught pinks down at 250' on the down rigger all the way up to 20' deep. However, the ratio of coho-pinks is much higher in the upper 25'

Squarehead · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:30 pm Post subject:

So will I get my a$$ handed to me in a 19 angler going across the bar? (Following a seasoned guy out)

rogerbum · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:16 pm Post subject: