Bottom fishing in Yaquina Bay?

[Waterfish]

During the next few weeks, I am planning to make a couple of trips to Yaquina Bay with my 18’ boat to crab, fish for sturgeon, and maybe try and catch some bottom fish. I won’t be going out in the ocean. What kind of bottom fish could I expect to catch in the bay? I have zero experience with bottom fishing, so all tips are appreciated!

Sometime during the next 1-2 years I plan on upgrading to a bigger boat and gradually learning how to be a salty dog. In the mean time, once in a while I take my boat to the bays where I am a salty pup. :o

[kill2hunt]

just as on a recent post, i really like the newport jetties. for bottom fish you mainly catch blacks and the occasional china, then there are the lings which can be really good at the right time of year. striped surf perch and greenling are always there for the taking too. sometimes you will get surprised and hook into a good cabizon. for the bottom fish i have the best luck at night at high tide. for the perch and greenling it really doesnt matter what tide it is in, just use sandshrimp and stay close to the rocks. at low tide look for the holes in the rocks and slide your bait into it. for the bass and lings i like to use plastic but i know alot of people who use herring and do well. you might want to throw a shrimp out in the middle of the bay i have landed some good flounder on occasion.

[sparkleboy]

Waterfish,
I have a 16' driftboat I take out in Yaquina Bay for crab and bottom fish fairly regularly. I really like to tie up to either the old pilings around the north foot of the bridge, or the foot of the bridge itself (the south-facing side of the north foot....if that makes any sense at all...). If you get close enough, you can see there is a little 'alcove' where a boat under 20 feet can slide right into. There's an old rusted ladder which I clip onto so I don't float away. It's a good idea to bring bumpers unless you don't care about barnacles scratching your boat. I like to use a three-hook setup with sandshrimp and about 2-3 ounces of weight. Cast as far as you can toward the pilings and let your bait sit. I catch greenling, several species of perch and rockfish, and I have heard of some of my friends hooking lingcod while reeling in smaller bottom fish. The best fishing always seems to be around the slack tides.
One of my other friends really likes to fish by the jetty that protects the fishing fleets port docks. He catches lots of black rockfish there.

[Fish_N_Russ]

wow that sounds fun........I always like fishing where you dont know for sure what you are going to catch