Any Halibut out of Winchester Bay?

Orca · 05-01-2002, 09:11 PM

I am looking at the chart, and it looks like you can hit 600' deep water about 15 miles off Winchester Bay.

Anybody here do any Halibut fishing out there? I have heard that the Halibut like a certain type of gravel bottom. Anybody know the details on this?

Also, I will be at Winchester Bay this July and would like to find a bottom fishing spot in the area. Anybody want to share the location of their second or third favorite ling fishing hole?

wishntobefishn · 05-01-2002, 09:19 PM

I too would like to know of any bottom fishing spots? We've started an anual trip to Winchester bay over July 4th. We usually spend the whole week. The crabbing has been excellent, and last year, salmon limits every day the bar was open.

Mystic sea, if your in the area around the 4th, it would be great to have another boat to tag along with... saftey in numbers thing.

tailchaser · 05-02-2002, 06:29 AM

Well if the two of you are willing to go to Winchester I would advise traveling the extra 1/2 hour and hit coos bay. I'm a native here and we have all the things you're looking for. There's a very good halibut hole about 22 miles Southwest of the jetties, and excellent bottomfishing nearby. Salmon is the same as winchester for the most part.

Winchester is limited to mostly salmon from the lack of structure around the area. Not much for bottomfishing and not much for halibut spots. The spot out of coos bay is 375-450' and is an easy limit for the boat weather permitting. The coos bay bar is also much better than Winchester. I've fished both in my life and winchester can get downright nasty. I can give you some good coordinates if you guys come this way.

tc

South Paw · 05-02-2002, 06:53 AM

Coose Bay Rocks. Take the extra 30 minutes and go.

Pilar · 05-02-2002, 08:18 AM

Tailchaser, tell us more about the bottom fishing out of Coos Bay. Any numbers would be appreciated.

Thanks......

Ramstrong · 05-02-2002, 12:28 PM

John,
For bottom fish. You can be fishing on Simpson Reef within minutes of clearing the jaws. I don't have #'s because we were never that technical, but it's just south of charleston. As far as Halibut go's my dad never took us out there. For Salmon fishing, I'd still prefer Windy Bay, but Charleston rocks for bottom fish. The salmon fishing isn't bad as well.

Orca · 05-02-2002, 08:42 PM

Wishn, I will be at Winchester July 17th - 21st. I have a family outing going on with the in-laws. You will have to let me know how you do on the Chinook over the 4th. I will try to remember to send you a note before I go. I am hoping to sneak past the Coho and catch mostly Chinook when I am there. The father and brother in-law will probably be very happy catching either.

Tailchaser, I would love to explore Coos Bay at a later date. I will keep it in mind for the June or August Halibut day if we get one. Is there a fall Chinook run up the river? If so, when do they get keged up at the mouth? Maybe I will plan a trip down just to chase Chinook later in the summer, and I will send you a note and try to connect up with you. Thanks for the good info.

tailchaser · 05-03-2002, 06:29 AM

Probably some of the best bottomfishing to be had here is roughly seven miles from the jaws on a direct south clip. I'll have to check out my GPS for a few of my honey holes, but the area is full of reefs. This is South of Simpson's Reef about 3 miles and looks like a sandy bottom until you come to the "glass house" as it's called. There's a monster house on the cliffs all alone with windows making up the largest portion and basically the fishing is from there on south all the way to Bandon. I usually fish in 50-60' of water and it's an easy way to fill the coolers of fish. Simpson's Reef is similar in nature to Seal Rock, but gets pressured a lot from small boats. It can be good at times.

The halibut hole is basically 17 miles directly off of Bandon, but roughly a 24 mile run SW from coos bay. There's an area, roughly 5 square miles that comes up from 700' to 400' and its a sure thing out there. You can easily see this on any navigational chart looking at this area.

The salmon season is actually pretty hot here right now in the ocean. People are coming close to limiting pretty much every day. The fisheries are basically the same here as in Winchester bay for timing. We have a very good run of fish also come August and Sept. I'm heading out this weekend in the ocean and I can give a first hand report there.

Basically if you make the trek to Winchester, it's well worth the 1/2 to get here and have lots of options. Drop me a line when you come down to this neck of the woods and I can line you out where to go or follow me on the water. :grin:

tc

wishntobefishn · 06-25-2002, 08:30 PM

Tailchaser, the 4th of July week is almost here. I'm looking forward to Salmon and Bottomfish out of Coos Bay. Any word on the fishing?

From your directions it looks easy to find the Bottomfishing area's, but GPS coordinates are always welcome.

Anybody else going to be in the area over the 4th? I'll be staying at the RV park right on Winchester Bay. Leaving Sunday and coming back Saturday. My son may not be able to make it, so I might have an open seat if anyone is interested in going out one of the days.

Thick-N-Thin · 06-25-2002, 10:04 PM

Wishn,

I will be at Winchester Bay over the 4th. I've talk to many people who said the chinook fishing has been good. I've heard of limits just North of the red bouy just out from the mouth of the Umpqua. The 7th is the opening for Coho, but I haven't heard any reports on anyone catching coho yet.

I might go out of Charleston if the bar is to rough at Winchester Bay. I'll be in a 21ft red Maxuum jet sled.

Good Luck!

James

tailchaser · 06-26-2002, 06:22 AM

The salmon fishing here in Coos Bay has been nothing short of exceptional. Pretty much everyone I know has been limiting on chinook every day out. The best part of this is the fact they're only fishing 20-40' down. The fish are large for the most part 20+ lbs. The easiest place to fish for them is straight out of the jaws to the last red and white buoy (whistler). However my dad picked up two when he put his lines in right on the jetties so I would start there and troll out.

The bottom fishing is easy to find. Head directly south until you reach simpson's reef. It's a large group of rocks out of the water roughly 4 miles south of the jetties. (This is not the one with the lighthouse.) You can start there and work your way even farther south if you like. The best spot is another 3 miles down in 50-70' of water off of the glass house as I mentioned in the earlier post. There will be other boats around, but don't worry about them having the only spot, there's lots of reefs around with fish. Give me a jingle when you get here and I can scrape up some numbers for you on that end.
541-751-1953.

tailchaser · 06-26-2002, 06:27 AM

Almost forgot you orca, but the salmon come into the river here starting in late august and go through September and into early October for chinook. Early on the best fishing is mooching off of the bar, and then trolling in the bay produces well also. There are multiple rivers to fish nearby to chase the action here also. The coquille is 20 min. away and so is the umpqua so pick you poison really. Let me know when you're coming and I'll be able to give you the latest scoop.

tc

Orca · 06-26-2002, 11:25 PM

Thanks tailchaser. I will look you up for a run down there in August/September sometime. Maybe sooner if it stays as hot as you say. I am going to try the RockPile this weekend, then I am booked for all of July and the next halibut run on Aug 2/3.

Will let you know.

Strikezone · 06-29-2002, 05:26 AM

The Salmon fishing, Bottom Fishing, and Halibut fishing out of Winchester Bay is superior to anything you will find out of Charleston.

Every bottom fishing trip I have taken in 2002 we have limited on large Ling Cod, not two or four fish... 10 to 12 ling. Try to do that in Charleston! To verify that just ask the ODFW samplers at the docks about Strike Zone's bottom catches.

Halibut is also great with limits of LARGE Halibut. you can catch halibut on the high spot 15 miles northwest of the bar but we have been running 25 miles northwest to the area where the 100 fathom curve takes a sharp turn to the west.

If you want more info come talk to Scott at Strike Zone charters.

TH · 06-29-2002, 07:43 PM

tailchaser has it down.. right on.
The salmon fishing out of Charleston is excellent. I have been out almost everyday (that I can get out, Iam a softy in the ocean) for at least an hour or two and have had limits each trip. We have also been putting the pots in and getting lots of crab.
The Bar at Charleston is great... the fishing starts right away, infact you can fish inside the tips this year,first in four years I belive... so start troling early.
I have been trolling hoochies and shad strips w/ a #1, #2 divers, catching lots of coho, but lost of chinook as well.
If I recall the coho season starts Sunday the 7th, get that hatchery card!

Botton fishing is something I have yet to really get into, as I suffer from sea sickness if I am out to long in seas that are over 4+.
This week has been tough with the conditions a little rougher than last.

Tailchaser, I am in the 22' dark green open willie predator, say hi or yell at me on the radio

TH

Strikezone · 06-29-2002, 08:52 PM

Check out the ODFW stats on catch per angler Winchester Bay vs. Charleston. Yes, it is good fishing out of Charleston, but the catch per angler stats will show Winchester Bay has a higher catch rate.

Check your tides and swell heights if you are concerned about a bar crossing and use your head. If the bar is going to be rough then go to Charleston.

By the way, this thread was started with a question about halibut, not salmon kids. I wonder why so many of you guys are down on Winchester Bay, The fishing is great here!

TH · 06-29-2002, 09:05 PM

Strikezone.. do you run the strikezone charter boat out of Winchester Bay?

I didn't mean to be down on Windy Bay. I live closer to CB and find it easier to get out of there.

I have had some wonderful days out of Winchester Bay...
And yes you are right, this thread started as a thread for halibut out of windy bay.

TH

Strikezone · 06-29-2002, 09:09 PM

Yes TH, we are Strike Zone Charters.

tailchaser · 07-01-2002, 06:45 AM

Calm down there stirkezone. I will disagree with you on some of your posts, but before recently Windy Bay was more or less a salmon port and nothing more. I'm glad to hear you have a hali-hole within reach, but as of the bottom fishing I doubt you have the options that we do down here. Big lings aren't too hard to find if you know where to go. It's just the fact you guys don't have as many reefs and options up there. I can't say I've heard of charters targeting bottomfish down there besides picking up lings while halibut fishing. However, you could prove me wrong on that but I'm unaware of any reefs besides going all the way to Heceta.

I'm not sure you guys are that superior on the salmon either. For one we're only 20 miles apart as the crow flies, and two it's hard to argue with anyone who's limiting on a daily basis in a couple of hours on chinook. I've had some fun out of there a few times, but for the amount of crazy people in the bay come the fall, I would rather spend my time at a more predictable bar with less people and the same fish.

Hey TH I'll look you up the next time I go out, I'm planning on thursday and friday morning most likely. I have to keep some distance from the fiancee before the wedding on saturday otherwise I'll end up picking up flowers or something?! Relatives in town that want to fish is finally a good thing. I'm in a 21' black Fish-Rite sled with two downriggers attached to the side. Hope to catch up with ya.

tc

TH · 07-01-2002, 03:44 PM

tc, congrats,
It's nice to speak with another Coos County guy. Wednesday looks like the day I'll be out, small seas, no wind.. I'll be out early and hopefully back early as well.

Strikezone... has the afternoon wind been enough for you as of late? sunny days on the coast are tough! How's the fishing?

Strikezone · 07-01-2002, 09:28 PM

TailChaser

Look up the stats on the Salmon landings if you want proof. StrikeZone brought in 21 Chinook yesterday morning for 5 hours of fishing. 8 paying passengers on board, 5 extra fish for the crew. What did the boats in Charleston do yesterday?

It's not my fault you don't know where our reefs are located. We have been slaying ling, yelloweye, canary, and yellowtail for years. Those fish must be inferior to the black rockfish you are so proud of.

I'm done with you, find comfort in your ignorance.

Thick-N-Thin · 07-01-2002, 11:04 PM

I have to say that I have been very impressed with Scott @ Strikezone Charters. I've been on his charter boat several times and he knows his fishing as well as safety for his customers. He probably knows Winchester Bay better than anyone in the area. Take his word and like he said the ODFW site.

tailchaser · 07-02-2002, 06:31 AM

Oh I'm not too worried about the ODFW checkers out there. They are on top of every boat that comes in. Yeah right. What I care about is that I limit my boat every day I fish and right now it's a piece of cake. I'll catch up with you TH hopefully on wednesday. As far as Strikezone is concerned what the #*$( is your problem? Do you have a little #enis envy over people talking about coos bay over winchester?? Get over it man! If we want to compare how many times my boat limits in comparison to yours on days that I'm out, number of people on board and time, there would be no challenge. I've fished winchester many many times and I wouldn't give a rats ass if I ever made it back there compared to what I have here to fish from. Enjoy fishing the yellowtail and canary buddy because you only get one, and soon none at all so lavish it all you want. If we want to compare ignorance, try looking at your last post and see how many people would like to fish with you now with that attitude. [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img] A person that lives from your reputation around here should be more professional in thier ways. Not a single customer will be headed your way from my mouth. We were all comparing places to fish, you took it personal and had to cry about it. Good luck on the ensuing clientell.

tc

Strikezone · 07-02-2002, 08:02 AM

Tailchaser,

This thread was not started as a comparison of places to fish. It was a specific question about Halibut fishing out of Winchester Bay.

You took it upon yourself to post how much better Charleston was than Winchester Bay. Since that is not true, I responded.

I find it quite amusing that you basically state in your last post that I can't compare to you as far as catching fish. That's funny.

I really don't care what you say in the future about Strike Zone or Winchester Bay because you were trashing Winchester Bay before I ever posted!

It doesn't surprise me that you are not concerned about the ground fish issues that don't directly affect your shallow water fishery. Once the mid water rockfishing is taken away from recreational boats pressure will increase on your shallow water fishery and we will lose that also. THINK ABOUT IT.

Maybe if you reply to this post you could talk about my mom, or my ethnic origin, wife, kids... why stop at just a lame #enis envy comment.

tailchaser · 07-02-2002, 08:18 AM

[img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img] BOO HOO

I'll stop at that. No need in dragging through the mudslinging but as far as the comment on the groundfish goes

"It doesn't surprise me that you are not concerned about the ground fish issues that don't directly affect your shallow water fishery"

Show me in my posts where I've said that one? Or are you transposing my words. If you want to compare brain pans buddy go right ahead. I've got a lot of degrees in my back pocket with things you don't have a clue on in life and one is business management. Something you should look into.

Strikezone · 07-02-2002, 08:39 AM

TC

Be careful about making assumptions. I have a B.S. in Business Mgmt. with core studies in marketing, secondary studies in humanities.

I called your home telephone # and left a message for you to call me. We obviously disagree. Not a big deal.

Call me at 800-230-5350

Ask for Scott

Orca · 07-02-2002, 09:21 PM

Well now, all I wanted was a Halibut or Ling hole lead and we end up with a feud. Strikezone kicks -ss on Salmon, and so does tailchaser. Fish on fellows.

Strikezone · 07-02-2002, 09:30 PM

Orca,

I'm glad you are interested in fishing out of Winchester Bay. When you get into town stop by my office or boat and I will give you some #'s for Ling and Halibut.

Scott
Strike Zone Charters

Chass · 03-14-2012, 09:42 PM

Old thread I know but I'm kind of interested in avoiding the rodeo at Newport for the halibut all depth days.

I see that Strikezone never came back after this interaction . . . his description of the spot they were halibut fishing is pretty good. Its easy to find this spot on the charts. Looks like its right around 600' deep and a LOT closer than the Chicken Ranch.

Anyone ever fish in that spot he was talking about? I'd sure like to check it out. A guy could always fish the high spot on the way out or back if it was a bust. If the weather was good, you could always head out further to Heceta too.

Anyone with knowledge about this spot?

I also picked out the spot TC was talking about outside of Bandon 17 miles. Its pretty obvious on the charts and Google Earth. Looks like it could be good fishing too. Rocky up north according to the charts. It would just require some darned good weather to head down there for me.

Chass
ct

Mark Mc · 03-14-2012, 10:00 PM

hahaha.....wow, that was a walk down memory lane....another peaceful thread involving Strikezone

.

Yea, I've fished the spot where the 100 fathom curve makes a 90 degree turn. The problem with that area is that...it's hit or miss. And if if it's a miss day (or a miss month), the only other options involve more fuel & going further away up onto Heceta.

The other spot mentioned, known as the peanut to locals, is even more hit / miss. Mostly miss.

Chass · 03-14-2012, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Mc

hahaha.....wow, that was a walk down memory lane....another peaceful thread involving Strikezone

.

Yea, I've fished the spot where the 100 fathom curve makes a 90 degree turn. The problem with that area is that...it's hit or miss. And if if it's a miss day (or a miss month), the only other options involve more fuel & going further away up onto Heceta.

The other spot mentioned, known as the peanut to locals, is even more hit / miss. Mostly miss.

Ahh, thanks Mark. I guess thats why we go where we go. Yes, I fish with 250 other boats at the CR every year . . . and every year I bring back a boat load of hand picked fish.

Chass
ct

rogueriverfisher · 03-14-2012, 10:06 PM

Thanks for bringing this one up, Chass.

I have been rigging my boat for dry storage at Charleston, and was wondering if the only good halibut spot was down at the bandon high.

Nice to know there's closer (even if marginally so) spot to at least check out.

Wonder how many more are still waiting to be found ...

FirstH2O · 03-15-2012, 08:18 AM

Chass,
The shrimper's hit those spots pretty hard.If you can get to any of them before they do it's lights out.There are Hali's spread out all over Hecta just got to go look it's a big area.The Bandon High spot has not been kicking out as many big fish as of old but still is a great place to fish.
Why this sudden interest in the South Coast?I thought you were a people person.LOL

tailchaser · 03-15-2012, 08:41 AM

There is a reason why the Bandon High Spot has been producing smaller fish in the last few years, let me explain:

Forgive me on the dates as they are approximate here, but when the ocean salmon season was closed to commercial harvest the sport fishing for halibut was lights out on the high spot. Add the commercial restriction to 600-feet for halibut fishing (this area is just inside of that depth so off limits) and it didn't take 2 hours to limit the boat with 35-45" fish. Often times we had 4-5 fish on at once.

In the last few years, the commercial fleet has been allowed the early season for salmon and guess where they fish this time of year? Yep, the high spot. Ironically, they have caught thier allowance of halibut by-catch a week prior to the first sport season. Just so happens that those years that they have fished absolutely sucked for halibut in size and numbers. It's not rocket science what's going on.

I mentioned this during an ODFW meeting with several commy's in attendance and I got blasted for even thinking of getting rid of or changing thier season dates of allowable by-catch for halibut, because they were not targeting them. I happened to mention, if they don't target them and they don't suffer from barotrauma (sp?) then why keep them? Thier answer, "because we can"
-----------------------------------

The rational is simple, a commy can get double the price for a halibut than a salmon. They are allotted certain amounts of them for bycatch, why not put a line on the bottom? I get it, they don't make the rules and trying to make a buck, but I'm not for circumventing the intention of why they have the allowable catch (which in some years is more than the entire sport allowance). At any given time during the sport season you can see 100 commy boats working the area. It doesn't take more than a couple of weeks to clean out the spot as it's only 7 miles long. This year looks like another repeat of last year with the salmon season.

The commy's can't legally halibut fish this area during thier all depth opener, so any halibut from this area is a bonus fish to them.

As of the windy bay spot, it seems to have less fish but they are bigger. It's also a hard rock bottom that is pretty snaggy also. Some great fish come out of there if you have the patience.

tc

Chass · 03-15-2012, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FirstH2O

Chass,
The shrimper's hit those spots pretty hard.If you can get to any of them before they do it's lights out.There are Hali's spread out all over Hecta just got to go look it's a big area.The Bandon High spot has not been kicking out as many big fish as of old but still is a great place to fish.
Why this sudden interest in the South Coast?I thought you were a people person.LOL

Casey, it was just a thought . . . for the openers I usually get there on Wed night before it gets crazy anyway. I don't fish out of Newport for anything except Halibut anymore. Tuna a couple times last year but mainly for OTC. You could say I've been cheating on Newport. I guess Newport is my old ball and chain

tailchaser, Thanks for that input. Good observations.

It's looking like the Chicken Ranch for the opener again for me. Maybe I'll do some fishing at some of those "big fish spots" on my way out to see if we can hook some of them. Then if we come up dry after a couple hours, we'll head to the Ranch. I still have yet to catch anything very large off the Oregon Coast. My friends have from my boat but I'm too busy catching little fish to manage my own. Ahh, well, maybe this year.

Chass
ct

FirstH2O · 03-15-2012, 02:21 PM

Just wander around lost

like I do. You'll get lucky a couple times.

Jim,
Can't blame them for fishing those spots.I would do it also if that was how I fed my family & it was legal.I as you make money off the ocean on occasion.(Not Salmon Fishing).Some of the rules & regs are crazy both ways Commercial & sport.Still allot of Hali spots out there that are for the most part unfished you just have to go look.I have caught a hand full of BIG Halis just off the cable in your neck of the woods.Wish I could pinn some of those fish to one spot.

Casey