What is the Biggest Fish

[Norski]

What is the biggest fish you have hauled up from the depts off the Oregon coast.
For me 48 pound butt, 38 salmon, and one big ling est 5 foot long, but could not keep.

Let's here your's & a pic would be ok in my book.

[YoungBuck28]

46lb lincod off port orford.

[stream]

My bigest so far only 35lbs

Attachment 6832

[flapbreaker]

54lb Tillamook bay chinook. All the way from the depth of about 34 feet.

[Reel Obsession]

Mine was a 94lb. hali. Two other hali landed that day with 3 of us on board, 70 and 75lbs followed by 6 lings and 30 black bass. Best fishing day ever offshore locally. Largest inland fish taken and released, a dozen or so oversize sturgeon between 72 and 114 inches long out of the Columbia River.

Photo taken by Mike Mason my wing man from his boat, Reel Time.

[Mypursuit]

52# and 56# chinooks (well the 56# was my uncles) but they were caught in 300' within 20 minutes of one another and after all, it was MY boat ...

[CATCH AND EAT]

82 # halibut off the CR where there are no halibut to fish for. 40 # nook in T-Bay during late October. 7 Ft oversized sturgeon. 29.5# springer. 14.5# steelhead. 23# coho

[namu mac]

Not my biggest but--2 springers on the same rod at the same time and boated them both.

[PIR8 Hook]

99# halibut off Pacific City. But there was that Mola Mola in 1974 that was big enough to park a small car on the body & had an eye the size of a dinner plate that we were going to gaff and drag to the beach to impress the tourist girls with. Since then I've seen Molas jump clear of the water. I'm really glad that my teenage brain thought better of this Darwin Award stunt!

[Tip-Sea]

Mola mola in Oregon??

[retaliate]

#180(est.) Skate off Tillamook S. Jetty. #140(65 1/2") Halibut off the Rockpile.

[Beginners luck]

70lb Butt out at the Banana bank in 790ft of water...Its the pic on my Avatar.

[CHROME CATCHER]

47 lb fall nook out of Astoria is the best SO FAR!!!!!
hoping to out do that soon

[Big Sur]

35 lb. spring chinook just above tidewater on the Rogue. That is not really offshore though.

[BigBlueFisher]

70 lb halibut at the Rockpile. The first and only time I tried for halibut, 5 minutes in the water, and boom!

[Stowaway]

yes

Originally Posted by Tip-Sea

Mola mola in Oregon??

[infinity22]

55lb chinook caught off brookings 2 years ago in the fall.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Originally Posted by Tip-Sea

Mola mola in Oregon??

I've seen them off the CR at least 7 foot in length. Huge suckers for sure. Tons of the little fellas.

[Threemuch]

I have caught 35 pound chinook, 15 pound coho, 50 pound halibut, 30 pound lingcod, 40 pound albacore, all nice fish, but none really remarkable or huge. I never catch very big fish, but I seem to be around when they are.

I swung the net on my buddy Bruce's 50 pound chinook, the biggest salmon I have seen caught in th ocean.



My buddy Karl landed a 270 pound salmon shark, south end of the rockpile.



We decided not to kill it, but I got to play wire man. I cut the hook off right at the jaw. Biggest fish I ever took part in.

It's funny that you mentioned pictures and only got a few so far. No pic no fish! Pony up!

[Threemuch]

Originally Posted by Tip-Sea

Mola mola in Oregon??

Common. Once you hit blue water you see plenty of them. Quite a few on the green side too.

[WP]

Easily was the 9'+ sturgeon (estimate by a guide was 250+) also many other sturgeon. Largest Halibut is 84, salmon is 47, albacore is 38, ling 70+ (Alaska and we couldn't keep them, though at that size they are not too good to eat anyway), 6.5 black rock fish, silver 23 (commercial) 17 (sport), yellowtail 26, bluefin 18, and no large bill or southern ocean species
It is not the size that thrills me, it is the ocean, the hunt, the thrill of the take, and the companions I fish with. I would trade a good albacore trip for a bill fish trip, anytime! Bigger is not always better
Dave

[Norski]

Man that shark has some teeth, the big ling we let go had a mouth full too.
And the same day, another person bring up there butt, shark jumped on it, they are so fast, just about took the tail off.

[Reel Obsession]

Originally Posted by Threemuch

My buddy Karl landed a 270 pound salmon shark, south end of the rockpile.



We decided not to kill it, but I got to play wire man. I cut the hook off right at the jaw. Biggest fish I ever took part in.

It's funny that you mentioned pictures and only got a few so far. No pic no fish! Pony up!

Great photo Threemuch!!! And I agree, let's see some pics......

[Reel Obsession]

Originally Posted by Tip-Sea

Mola mola in Oregon??

We see them all the time when the water is calm, usually 10 miles plus offshore and especially on sunny days. If you approach slowly, and splash your fingers in the water, sometimes they'll come right up to your hand. Here's one of 2 or 3 we saw during the Garibaldi leg ofthe OTC last summer doing just that.



Here is another surprise we saw the same day. Saw something break the surface, motored over that way, and found this leatherback turtle, eating a big jelly-fish. This guy was at least 7 feet long, and barely took notice as we circled back, pulled up along side and took pictures.

[Tip-Sea]

Thanks for the great pictures. I thought they were a more tropical fish. They aren't legal to keep are they? I don't get out very far in my boat. Usually just fishing bottom fish and salmon in close (not enough fuel capacity).

[stream]

When you’re out do you see the turtles much? I have seen lots of sun fish but no turtles that was cool. I would like see one up close

[Dr Strangelove]

250lb CR Sturgeon (~9ft)
60lb Halibut (rockpile)
50lb Albacore (central CA coast)
50lb Kenai King (12# test spinner fishing for silvers)
20lb CR Silver

[Reel Obsession]

Originally Posted by Tip-Sea

Thanks for the great pictures. I thought they were a more tropical fish. They aren't legal to keep are they? I don't get out very far in my boat. Usually just fishing bottom fish and salmon in close (not enough fuel capacity).

Hey Tip-Sea. The mola mola are really pretty common, and the first several I saw were while salmon fishing around the CR buoy. On a calm day, you'll see just a fin tip raise and lower in the water. As far as I know, they are legal to catch as I have seen photos of caught molas up and down the coast, but not sure why. They eat jelly-fish, and are are supposed to be pretty loaded with parasites. Supposedly they lay on the surface so that birds and pick off the bugs...yum. I understand that they eat them in Japan and China, and sometimes in Hawaii, but in most areas they are not commercially taken. They can be HUGE. I've seen them that were 7 or 8 feet long, and they are supposed to be the world's largest boney fish.

Some great photos here...

http://www.oceanlight.com/html/mola_mola.html

[Reel Obsession]

Originally Posted by stream

When you’re out do you see the turtles much? I have seen lots of sun fish but no turtles that was cool. I would like see one up close

That was the first and only sea turtle I have ever seen up here. I know of one other person who saw one while on an OTC event, no photos. I guess it is fairly rare to see them, and even more unusual to get a photo although they do migrate up our coast to feed on jelly-fish. A couple of my photos and the event were picked up by a couple OR/WA media releases, so I think we were VERY lucky to have seen it.

[exgamey]

Didn't get this fish weighed but it was larger than a 45 pounder we did weigh. The old guy holding it is 6'4". Was caught after trolling about 30 seconds one morning after running out about 6 miles from Charleston.

[Reel Obsession]

That's a hog gamey. Do you fish tuna out of Charleston? Thinking about OTC leg down there this year. Tim

[croation2]

9' sturgeon (250??)

7 foot six gill shark (puget sound) ( wt ??)

[flatocean]

75 lb halibut off CR
50 lb salmon off ilwaco
8 foot blue shark on the tuna grounds (which totally tangled our gear)

flatocean (boat slabhunter)

[fyshndad]

Originally Posted by Reel Obsession

Hey Tip-Sea. The mola mola are really pretty common, and the first several I saw were while salmon fishing around the CR buoy. On a calm day, you'll see just a fin tip raise and lower in the water. As far as I know, they are legal to catch as I have seen photos of caught molas up and down the coast, but not sure why. They eat jelly-fish, and are are supposed to be pretty loaded with parasites. Supposedly they lay on the surface so that birds and pick off the bugs...yum. I understand that they eat them in Japan and China, and sometimes in Hawaii, but in most areas they are not commercially taken. They can be HUGE. I've seen them that were 7 or 8 feet long, and they are supposed to be the world's largest boney fish.

Some great photos here...

http://www.oceanlight.com/html/mola_mola.html

We netted a mola mola ONCE back in the early 70's while chartering so our customers could get a better look at it and it ruined the net
Never could get the slime off of it

It took a week of scrubbing to get that slime off the deck

I would not recommend bringing one in the boat

[fishbait]

Limited to the OR Coast:

70 ish Halibut
44 Chinook

Other

130 lb Halibut AK
9,11 & 12 ft Sturgeon, 200-350 lbs
74 ish Keni King, C&R first season (length girth method)
Multiple mid 40 lb Tillamook Fall Chinook
34 lb clipped Spring Chinook
90-100 Striped Marlin MX
4 lb Rainbow on 8lb, Montana
22 lb Steelhead, Oregon river

[SeaFever]

70lb hali------Bannana Bank
25lb chinooks.....Willamette x1, Siuslaw x2
35lb sturgeon.....Astoria

[Spoiled Daddy]

61 lb Halibut
42 lb Chinook
14 lb Coho

the Spoiled Daddy

[PIR8 Hook]

Originally Posted by Tip-Sea

Mola mola in Oregon??

absolutely! At times they ae very common....this boy was the biggest one I've ever seen.

turtles are seen rarley...usally during an El Nino. I've never seen one but know several dorymen with photos. there was one that hung around Cape Lookout one year in the in the '70s' but some @**%$&^ head shot it & killed it.....the jerk!

[Tip-Sea]

Thanks for all the great info on the Mola Mola. The artical says they can reach 11 feet and 3000 lbs! Thats insane. To bad they don't taste good.
I'll have to keep my eyes open for them this spring.

[Irish Pennant]

I once caught that was this big

I use to target oversize sturgeon and we caught a lot of big ones. It was fun at the time. I never realy measured one but we estimated we had some that were over 12 ft. Caught some halibut that were 61", 59", 56" and 55". All in one day by a motley crew.
I'm not much for picture taking but here's a couple.

[whaleraddict]

Not counting some oversized sturgeon I had to release my biggest fish in Oregon is a 46# Chinook from the bank on the trask river with 15lb line. Took me 50 minutes to get him into the net .

[Old Coot]

My biggest ocean caught fish to date: A tie. Twice I have taken monster 12 pound nooks, one off Gold Beach with my dad when I was a kid, and one off PC with little Skippy Bailey when we were kids.

I would post pics, but they won't fit your monitor. They were BIG for 12 pounds, and mean, too.

[Reel Obsession]

Originally Posted by Old Coot

My biggest ocean caught fish to date: A tie. Twice I have taken monster 12 pound nooks, one off Gold Beach with my dad when I was a kid, and one off PC with little Skippy Bailey when we were kids.

I would post pics, but they won't fit your monitor. They were BIG for 12 pounds, and mean, too.

[5-Cents]

The butt was 74# back at the dock... I'm calling it 75 because its close enough! That day was a two butt per day trip last fall and I had 5 total on my boat... we got 10 butts, smallest was 48# and the biggest was 76#... best day of butt fishing ever for me. We had some lady take our picture at the dock with everyone in it... but she never pushed the button all the way! :-(

Salmon was 51# - my personal best!

[bryant123]

75lb halibut about 40 miles out of depo bay

[fyshndad]

Originally Posted by bryant123

75lb halibut about 40 miles out of depo bay

What where you using a 9/0 penn with 50 lb braid and 10 lbs of lead??

Dude at 40 miles out the depth is like 1500 to 2000 feet deep

[Big Billy]

My biggest fish was a 120 pound blue marlin, a 34 pound king and a 30 pound tuna, which was the most FUN "Da TUNA"!!!

[BCobb]

A 40 pound Ling that was caught in the San Juans

[bajadan2000]

Originally Posted by Tip-Sea

Mola mola in Oregon??

The Mola mola had us surrounded last halibut season at the Banana.
65# halibut is largest.

[Sublime]

Originally Posted by Norski

What is the biggest fish you have hauled up from the depths off the Oregon coast.

Hey Big Billy, I'm guessing that Marlin wasn't here in Oregon, was it?

Lets hear more, people~

[Big Billy]

Originally Posted by Sublime

Hey Big Billy, I'm guessing that Marlin wasn't here in Oregon, was it?

Lets hear more, people~

No it wasn't it was off the big island Hawaii, my wife (what a sweet thing)got us on a half day charter and it worked out that we were the only ones fishing that morning and we hooked up about 30 minutes into the trip, come to find out later that this boat had not landed a fish in the last 20 trips out, so when the fish was finally in the boat they started beating him like Rodney King, I mean both of them wacking away my wife had to go into the cabin she couldn't take it!