WestPort Fishing

L

Larry Q

New member
Joy, B~C, Cutty Sark
This coming Sunday I plan on going salmon fishing at Westport. We normally get there around 6:30- 7:00 am. I haven't checked the tides yet, but I'm going anyway. If you want to hook up with me send a PM or e-mail.
The only fresh bait that I know is at the Hungry Whale. It is a standard station just before you turn right to the boat launch. It's best to call the day before and order bait. He runs out and he charges a dollar a dozen more if you haven't ordered it.
Several groups I know went down for the opener and their main entertainment other than catching fish was to call me every time one was boated.
I will check the forecasted bar conditions, ocean swell and wind predictions
tomorrow night. Unless it's really crappy, I'm going even if It's too rough to go outside there are lots of sea bass to chase along the south jetty.
 
Larry, man that would be fun but we just got back from the Snake river and I have just enough left in the gas budget to get to Kalama and go Pikeminnow fishing. If I catch enough of them next week I can afford to go salmon fishing :)
good luck, hope to catch up with you later in the season.....BE SURE to let us know how the fishing is if you make it out
 
B~C
We went out as planned at Westport yesterday morning. I'm sure glad I spent the dollars for the radar and GPS with blue chart. It was so foggy that visibility was about 200' once we got out side the south jetty.
We fished south, our starting point was the G.H. buoy. We trolled due west to about a depth of 165' and turned around and trolled east back to G.H.
There was no real concentration of fish any where, for the two of us we caught 6 salmon, 4 were wild fish that we had to let go and two were hatchery fish that we put in the box.
All of the fish were caught in the top 6 feet of water right in the prop wash of the kicker!
Water conditions were pretty nice until about 3pm when the wind kicked up. Being a coward we headed in and crossed the bar about 4pm. The boat handled the 7 to 8 foot seas better than I did. (my first bar crossing in the new boat) There is a good reason they put windshield wipers on these boats!
I don't know if I'm going out next week unless I hear that fishing picks up.
Most boats that came in when we did not catch any fish, I guess we were lucky!
One of the guys that works for me went out the same time as we did gave up on the salmon around noon and went to the south bowl and got some nice sea bass and one dandy ling.
Let me know how the pike minnow harvest is going.
 
drat sounds like scratch fishing, last year we scratched around for a fish here and there. I kept thinking the fishing would pick up but it never did for us, I hope that's not the same story this year.
This coming weekend looks like it will be a bumpy one offshore, one of these days.
I about broke even on the Pikeminnow fishing but if I can go out fishing and break even, I'm rich. I caught more sturgeon this morning than money fish
 
B~C
I'm not going out this weekend for two reasons. One I'm getting close 14 hours on the new boat and if I go out Sunday I won't be able to get the boat serviced by Tuesday and I'm going Tuesday! My boss has his two grandsons here from Montana and none of them has ever been on the ocean or caught a salmon.
I called the factory and they asked that I bring the boat up and leave it, they will service the engine as they get time. It may take a week. I called two marine shops and one said about a week to 10 days and the other one said three weeks.I will take it to the factory. After this I will service it myself.
I hope to get the boat back by the weekend but I may not so the 23rd is looking iffy.
The first week of August the wife and I are going to take a cruise somewhere, we haven't decided yet.
Thanks for the update on your trip.
 
B~C
I lied. I went to westport today. A friend called last night around 7:30 and asked if I wanted to go with him in his boat(21' jet craft)
We launched at 7 am and headed south to the G. H. buoy area. For the three of us we had 11 bites 9 hook-ups, got 6 fish to the boat. Three legale. One king about 20 lbs, and I caught 2 large silvers. The king was hooked at a depth of 30 ft. All the rest of the fish were hooked in the top six feet of water. I use a medium diver with a red snubber behind it with 4 to 5 ft of leader. I like large hooks the front one is a 5-0 and the trailer is a 7-0. Around 10:30 the wind kicked up out of the NW and made it miserable. We were back at the dock by 12:30. It was a slow rough trip.
The fish counter at the dock had not seen many fish yet to day, but it was early.
I hope the wind dies down by Tuesday, I'm heading out again in my own boat, taking three people, none of them have ever been on the ocean.
 
Did you make it out again, it's sure been a windy P^%%$. Between the wind and the spousal units vacation plans, other than the required kid & I trip to Ilwaco, I may not make it salmon fishing this season.
How do you like fishing out of the new boat compared to the Whaler?
 
B~C
Yes we did make it out last Tuesday........for a few hours. We did get one nice king (21lbs) before one of the guests on board became sea sick. I wasn't sure if he was going to survive. Of course his grandsons had great compassion for him :lol: They kept offering him something to eat, herring heads, tuna sandwich ect. I too would have thought it was funny until I remembered the sick guest was my boss and my yearly review had not been done yet. Back to the dock we went.
As far as witch is better to fish out of the C-dory wins in the comfort race and you don't have the feeling your about fall over the rail in sloppy conditions. There is more stumble around room on the deck of the whaler,but there is nowhere to get out of the weather, the cutty cab is more for gear than people.
In insane seas or crazy bar conditions the whaler wins hands down, you can't sink it!
I like the whaler but we love the C-dory.
I can fish all day on the ocean in the C-dory and not burn more than 15 gallons of fuel. The same trip on the whaler is closer to 50 gallons.
My wife and I both have this next week off, so we will be taking a few over night trips. The ocean needs to settle down and more fish to show up before I can get too excited about going back to westport.
 
ut oh, can't have the boss getting sick on your watch.....now if you got him puking real good you may have something to hold over him come performance review time :)
A little more stumbling around room in the C-D cockpit would be nice...but then I guess it would be an angler and not a cruiser

good fishing to ya
 
Joy, B~C
No more honey do's for the next week of two. I'm headed back to Westport on Sunday and next Thursday. Let me know if you want to tag along. Hopefully the weather will co-operate.
 
good deal, go get em. We got back from the Sound and I re-configured the boat for fishing. The kid and I where going to head to Illwacko for some fishing tomorrow & Friday but me thinks we'll hold off for less wind and more fish.
I so want to try the fishing out of Westport but the durn kid gets odd days off, he'll be quitting after Labor Day, maybe we can make it up then.

be sure to keep us posted on the fishing up there
 
Mr Fisherman-
Please fill our heads with tales of lots of tuna. Let me know how far you had to run. Last year for a short time the tuna were only 9 miles straight out. What a treat! I'll chase them myself if they get within 20- 30 miles.
 
Well guys.......it got rough and we tucked our tail between our legs and let the ocean at 1:30. B~C you were smart to go to Illwacko. (good name)
We did get two very nice kings in the morning, again both were caught in the top 6 feet of water. One weighed in at 37 lbs and the smaller one at 23.
We weighed them at the derby scales on the board walk in Westport. Several people had to slip in and get their picture taken with my fish.
Some boats came in with a fish or two and a local friend of mine call to tell me they limited their boat,(8 fish). They went north out of Westport about 12 miles, maybe the fish are finally on their way.
I'm going out this Thursday and one day next weekend if any one wants to tag along.
 
Larry Q":5fyym2nr said:
Mr Fisherman-
Please fill our heads with tales of lots of tuna. Let me know how far you had to run. Last year for a short time the tuna were only 9 miles straight out. What a treat! I'll chase them myself if they get within 20- 30 miles.
Click to expand...

A few weeks ago I took my 22' C-Dory Angler 36 to 45 miles out of Depoe bay and brought in an estimated #900 of prime Albicore Tuna. We got about #450 of fillets off of those 26 fish. While I have had bigger numbers I think that is the heaviest I have come in. The boat was giving me all she had to do 18.5 knots at a burn rate of 6.5 GPH. I didn't know my fuel meter went that high...

I am headed out on the Rampage from Westport in 3 days. The Captain has reported plugging the boat with fish 4 of the last 6 trips. That is like 2 tons of Tuna at an average of more than 20 fish per angler with an average per fish of #30. Very impressive and I am really looking forward to it.

There is NOTHING like live bait Tuna fishing. I already have 3 live wells for Sea Lion. I need to plumb the wash down pump and get the bait tank pumps plumbed and wired.

I plan to try the new Shimano Butterfly jig system on this trip. I'll let you know how it works. With any luck at all I will be able to get below the scooling Albicore to get at larger Bluefin! If I do you are sure to hear about it. We see them every year but they are rarely caught and none of the larger fish have been landed to my knowledge. I want to change that ;).
 
Larry Q":2gb9820w said:
Well guys.......it got rough and we tucked our tail between our legs and let the ocean at 1:30. B~C you were smart to go to Illwacko. (good name)
We did get two very nice kings in the morning, again both were caught in the top 6 feet of water. One weighed in at 37 lbs and the smaller one at 23.
We weighed them at the derby scales on the board walk in Westport. Several people had to slip in and get their picture taken with my fish.
Some boats came in with a fish or two and a local friend of mine call to tell me they limited their boat,(8 fish). They went north out of Westport about 12 miles, maybe the fish are finally on their way.
I'm going out this Thursday and one day next weekend if any one wants to tag along.
Click to expand...

Larry,

Looking at the swell predictions, Thurs/Fri looks good with Fri being the best. I'd perhaps go out if you have an open seat. Will pay for my share to be sure...


Roger
 
Larry, glad to hear there was fish last weekend. I'm strongly considering the idea of coming down Friday night and staying till Sunday afternoon. I will get a slip at the dock if we come. Maybe we could run out together the day you are going out. I have not crossed the bar except as a passenger/ deck hand when I work down there many years ago and would feel better if I ran with someone who has done it before. Do not get me wrong I have had a boat for twenty some years and logged plenty of hours on the big pond with no problems and I just want to keep it that way. If your still going give a shout so we can touch base. Thanks Dan
 
Roger-
I have a full boat on Thursday. But I will send you a PM next time I have a open seat!
I keep hoping the ocean will settle down some. I have not been out on a nice day this year. The guys I'm taking out Thursday are all from the mid-west. If the seas look too big when I check conditions tomorrow I may head to the straights or Port Townsend or maybe Whidbey Island.
The last flatlander I took out wished he could have died, he reminds me of my murder attempt every day at work.
I haven't heard if the fish are coming into the Columbia yet for the buoy 10 frenzy. It's a circus but a lot of fish are caught when things are right.
 
Thanks Larry - I'm getting up tomorrow at 3AM to go hit the Lake washington sockeye so I'd probably be too tired on Thurs to be much good anyway. Friday looks like the best day of the week swell wise 3-4' in the AM. Thurs may be a bit tough 6' or so. For your flat land friends, try bonine - I tried it a week or two ago and like it better than dramamine.
 
Roger-
How did the sockeye pursuit go? I haven't fished for them in lake washington for 8 to 10 years.
My wife and I are both from Bellevue, 33 years ago we escaped!
My mother still lives there so I go up to visit once in a while.......like when she needs something done on her house, ect.
We grew up fishing the sound and lake washington. Great times were had
as a juvenile delinquent catching sockeye. We fished mostly on the west side of poverty rock (mercer Island), what part of the lake do you fish?
I still have not decided where I'm going in the morning. It will be a last minuet thing.
 
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