Silver Fishing at Newport

Bobberdown · 06-12-2001, 04:19 AM

Hello fellow fishermen, I have spent many a day on our rivers but have not yet ventured out into the ocean to try my luck at the silver fishery. I understand that an outstanding run is predicted this year (like every year about this time) and I got me wondering how you fish for the little critters. How far out do you have to go? Do you use divers or downriggers? What for bait? Heck I am not even sure what questions to ask so any help would be greatly appreciated. If the fishing is poor we thought we would try bottom fishing. Everyone talks about the rock pile. Where in proximity to Newport is the rock pile? Any GPS Way point data would also be helpful. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

bait boy · 06-12-2001, 06:09 AM

Heres what we did last year. Every time we put in at Hammond marina in Astoria. almost every time we went straight out to the CR bouy and started trolling. head sw from the tip of the south jetty at Astoria and look for the other 50 or 100 boats out there.

Heres the gear:
get 20-30 Lb salmon leaders or tie them yourself. with 5/0,6/0 or 5/0,4,0. slip tie or solid tie is up to the user. (barbless 2 single shank hooks at Tillamook)

Get a plug cutter for your bait. be careful because there are bait size restrictions for Tillamook. try and use fresh herring every time (hopefully bait quality goes up by then).

Downriggers are nice if you have them, but a 10$ diver works. you just don't get that weight free fight. if you use a rigger put a bead chain swivel in line (or 2) with your herring. (no divers or flashers unless the flasher is attached to rigger wire for tillamook)

There are lots of ways to actually hook a herring that has been plugged and some work better than others. hopefully you'll get a few of those opinions here. Last year we also used hoochie skirts and got some fish. I hook the top hook up throught the high side (or longer side) and run the bottom hook throughthe belly going in through the cavity and out from the middle portion lower than the lateral line. you can let it dangle or lightly hook it in the back towards the tail.

start out at a given depth by keeping track of the pulls you make off your rod. start at 15 and if you have multiple rods out vary the deepth on those also and when on gets bit send it back to that depth and bring up(or down)one more rod (or more) to that depth. fish a bit deeper for kings and change the roll on your herring to go either tighter or slower wider ark roll (I can't remember which)

I heard that the folks up north did better than the more southern ports. I also hear the bottom fishing is better down south.

I recently heard that they are getting kings out at the rockpile but you need 200ft of rigger to get them.

Good luck and I hoped that got you started

Rick

Orca · 06-12-2001, 07:07 AM

Bobberdown,

For the Central Coast Coho season starting on June 22, you will need to observe the 2 barbless single-shank hook restriction. Otherwise Rick has the right idea. I will be using divers (Deep-Six and Delta Diver)

This will be my first year out for Ocean salmon as well. I will be going out with a guy who has been out for the last few years, but using my boat. As I understand it from him, we will go out 6 - 8 miles towards the rock pile, look for the bait fish/bird schools, and start fishing. I would imagine there will be small concentrations of boats here and there catching fish. He said last year you could barely get your diver out and started down before you would have a fish after it.

I am currently looking for some decent herring to use for bait and can't find any. Bi-Mart has some freezer burnt worn out specimens, and I can't find any anywhere else. Harry's in Newport has indicated that they are still trying to get some, but they may not have any by the 22nd opener.

As for the rock pile, there are a few old posts about the rock pile and salmon with GPS coords listed. Do a search for "rock pile" and you should find the needed coords.

bait boy · 06-12-2001, 07:28 AM

This just in The fish are already at the CR bouy and anchovies are going to be the bait due to the lack of herring. the commercials have stopped fishing. They have their quota already I hope (maybe not but the prices have started to drop too low for them to make $ at it due to the overabundance)

Looks like a 15 min limit again to get two fish. Maybe more to get throught the non finclipped fish.

45 out 15 for fish and 45 back in makes for a good sturgeon/salmon trip, heck back in and fishing for sturgies before 9:00.

my hands are shakin as we speak Im checking bar conditions and bouy reports every day. man if last year was good I can't wait for this year........ [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[ 06-12-2001: Message edited by: rickh75 ]

swampy · 06-12-2001, 08:29 AM

Can't wait for the coho !!!!! I fish out of Newport for silvers and usually start to fish at around 150 - 165 feet ...I think this is about 5 - 6 miles out ...small pink lady diver ...two feet of leader to small flasher then three feet more leader to plug-cut or even just chunk-o herring with chartruse hoochie .....i prefer that all in the boat use the same diver but vary the flasher color , depth , and hoochie color on different rods ...fish the edge of slicks , watch for birds ,carry two nets , be safe . I managed to limit the boat each time out last year but my best memory was a coho rookie who was (and almost always is) the first line in the water but could not get his diver to dive ....while whining about it a coho took his herring off the surface ...fish on in about ten seconds !!!!! coho will hit and come back for it , feed out line and wait !!! With a fish on other coho will follow fish to the boat ...be prepared to offer these fish something like a streamer fly , jig , herring etc and have a ball !! The rock pile was very produtive last year ...I do not have the coordinates but it is around 14-15 miles east northeast of the jetty ...mark your gps at the jetty , each buoy on the way out and mark a spot where you found fish to get back to the spot . The ocean current will take you south so watch your position constantly and beware that if you don't watch it you can get way south in a hurry . Boy , am I pumped !!!!

swampy · 06-12-2001, 09:00 AM

err , make that w/nw vs e/ne ....e/ne has you fishing Yaquina tide water ...that is a fall thing ...sorry ...swampy

Hookset · 06-12-2001, 12:53 PM

There are other alternatives to divers and using bait. Last year fishing sturgeon during July near Astoria. The bar conditions were so flat that I decided to venture out for coho. Only thing was, I had no salmon gear in the boat and didn't feel like spending mucho bucks buying new divers, flashers and dodgers. I improvised. Used spreaders, lead droppers with 48 inch solid tied 2 hook leaders. No cut plug, I just fished whole herring and tied the 2 hooks close enough to get a nice roll after threading the herring. With no diver or flasher, thought the fishing would be only so so. Not the case, lots of fish. Fish attacked the first rod before the second rod ever hit the water. The second fish hit after gettting the second rod out. Since I was the only person rigging and baiting 4 rods, this kept me very busy. We only used 2 and 3 oz cannon ball sinkers with 8 to 15 pulls to catch fish. After landing half our limit, I placed a 5 oz sinker on one rod at 25 pulls hoping to land a chinook. Turned out we caught a nice 20 pound nook right near the end and limited the boat with 8 fish.

Other ideas besides bait is to use spoons. Many of the charters do not use bait because of the work involved. Coho are very aggresive and will attack alomost anything. One charter I know used 3.5 inch hot pink spoons with black dots to limit their customers every trip. Talk to Harry's Bait and Tackle about spoon fishing for coho and chinook. They can be just as deadly.

I also noticed the Leadbetter Point to Cape Falcon opens July 1st for coho.

It's going to be a great summer on the big blue for salmon!!

hook

Biteme · 06-13-2001, 05:55 AM

If you pour your own lead a alternative to divers is a cannonball release, this allows the weight to drop when a fish hits and then you fight only the fish instead of the weight or diver. Use whole anchovys on a two hook slider put one hook thru the tail between the dorsal and tail and the other thru the top of the head and out thru the bottom lip adjust the slider to give a nice tight roll to your bait rig up behind a dodger or flasher and hang on. Hoochies are always productive in chartreuse, green, blue, pink or red. use a shorter leader for a hoochie and a dodger to give in the side to side action and it will work just as well as herring for added scent add a few squid tenticles to the hook. spoons work very well to thats what the commercial boys use. You dont need to stress about herring for cohos

Lives_to_fish · 06-13-2001, 06:26 AM

In the early 80's I spent two summers going out of Newport every day fishing silvers and we did very very well and 90% of the time it was on anchovies, with a diver and at that time a flasher. Once in a while we picked up a chinook also. I was young then 13-14 and don't know how my grandfather was deciding where to fish.

finclipped · 06-13-2001, 07:32 AM

Herring, sardines, anchovies and even baby shad have all caught silvers for me. I don't think the type of bait is as important as being "in" the fish. Even during periods of tougher fishing, anchovies have done just as well for me. For silvers anyway. All the techniques above are great, except I haven't ever tried spoons.

NorthRiverS · 06-17-2001, 03:00 PM

rickh75,
While reading both of your posts, you mentioned the "CR buoy". Could you please fill me in on where that is? Hope this isn't a dumb question. Thanks. Steve

sturgn · 06-17-2001, 04:16 PM

The outer bouy is marked "CR" and locally referred to as the "Whistle Bouy".

bait boy · 06-17-2001, 11:18 PM

Yeah, what sturgn said. Its the first bouy that delineates the entrance to the Columbia river mouth...

Rick

sturgn · 06-18-2001, 05:07 AM

LOL

superfly · 06-18-2001, 06:40 AM

For the ocean coho fishing, don't make it to hard on yourself, this is not rocket science. Take it from someone who spent most of there summers growing up on the saltwater fishing for kings and silvers. All you need for gear is good 8 1/2 foot to 10 1/2 foot rod, my suggestion, an allstar 1086, or 1264, a decnt reel like a shimano triton 100 or 200 loaded with 20 to 30 lb main line,mooching leaders tied with 20 lbleader in hook sizes 3/0-4/0 or 4/0-5/0 hooks in solid tie, (slip tie means lost fish) 3 to 5 oz sliding mooching sinkers, they are the ones that are cresent shaped. and some good bead chain swivels and a few beads for stoppers against the swivels. now you are ready to fish. Since I have never fished that area, I would follow the local pros out and see where they go, then all you need to do is plug cut your herring and put it out at the depth of 20 to 50 feet and motor mooch. If there is that many fish out there, there is no need to troll, there is enough tidal and wave action to work your bait, we use to kill em doing that out of P.A and seiku and neah bay and even westport.
Good luck, and if anybody has an open spot july 1,2,or 3rd let me know.
Peace Superfly