Depoe Bay Report: Sat and Sun

Fishmstr · 06-08-2003, 06:25 PM

Fished Depoe Bay Saturday and Sunday. The ocean was flat calm on Saturday. We trolled in 200-230 feet of water for 5 hours. Caught one 4 lbs. Coho and had one other salmon on...probably another small coho. We spotted baitballs and birds all over. Water temp was 52. Got bored about 1130 and decided to go inside and fish for rockfish. Caught 30 blacks and 10 lings (only 1 keeper) in a short time.
Sunday started out nice, but it didn't last. We worked 190-210 feet of water. Trolled for about 4 hours with not a single take down. We found a huge baitball and trolled around it for a couple of hours. There was bait breaking the surface and birds gorging themselves. It sure looked good...we thought we were going to catch a fish

Water temp was 46.9! Definitely some serious upwelling going on!
At about 9 am the CG says Depoe bar is closed to boats 16 feet and under...no problem we are in a 22' boat. Then about 1030 they say it is closed to boats less than 22. Hmmm....maybe something is going on there. There wasn't any wind, but the swell was building, maybe we should head in. We get to the bell bouy and the CG says wait, they are sending out a cutter to guide people across the bar. They came out...timed the sets, and told us when there was a lull (they said there were crests across the mouth). They also gave us a nice little disclaimer saying that "we were responsible for the navigation of our boat and the risks involved." So we idled up next to them...waited for a wave to pass and then floored it and rode the back of the wave in. The wave didn't break in front of us...but it was pretty steep. I would not have wanted to be on the front side of it. We shot through the hole with little problem, but it was quite a rush. I would much rather get my adrenaline rush on fishing trips from fishing, not navigatino! Next time, I'm coming in the minute they restrict the bar to anyone! Still a great place to fish out of...just not when a big swell is rolling in.
Hope someone finds the salmon soon. Although we caught no chinook...It looks right out there.
later,
steve
"Avocation"

Pirate · 06-08-2003, 08:17 PM

Great report Fishmstr!!!

Quote:

I would much rather get my adrenaline rush on fishing trips from fishing, not navigating!

truer words were never spoken.

Born to be Wild · 06-09-2003, 12:15 AM

Steve,

I took these pic's probably around 7:00pm Sunday night of the Coast Guard praticing entering Depoe in rough bar conditions.

Had about three different tourist express their concern about the coasties that appeared to be stuck out there. One even asked if maybe they closed the bar on them.

I straightened them out. :grin:

This is what the Depoe Bay hole looks like during a 10' swell. Not to friendly to an in-experienced small boater.

As you can see this building swell on Sunday was predicted. This is what Seasquid posted on Thursday.

Quote:

Fisherpeople,

it's looking real fishy tomorrow -- My allergies are killing me, my asthma is acting up -- about the only thing that will cure this is some marine air. Besides all of that -- LOOK AT THE LATEST FORECAST!!!!

Rockpile here I come:

Seasquid out --

COASTAL WATERS FROM CASCADE HEAD TO FLORENCE OREGON AND WESTWARD
60 NM
330 PM PDT THU JUN 5 2003

.TONIGHT...N WIND 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. N SWELL 5 FT AT 5 SECONDS.
.FRI...N WIND 10 KT...EXCEPT S 5 KT NEARSHORE. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR
LESS. NW SWELL 5 FT AT 6 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG IN THE AFTERNOON.
.FRI NIGHT...S WIND 5 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. N SWELL 6 FT.
AREAS OF FOG.
.SAT...S WIND 15 KT...BACKING TO NW IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 3
FT. NW SWELL 6 FT. AREAS OF FOG.
.SAT NIGHT...N WIND 25 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT. NW SWELL 7 FT. AREAS OF
FOG.
.SUN...N WIND 20 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. NW SWELL 7 FT. AREAS OF FOG.
.SUN EVENING...NW WIND 20 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. NW SWELL 9 FT. AREAS
OF FOG.
.MON...NW WIND 20 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT. NW SWELL 9 FT.
.TUE...NW WIND 20 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT. NW SWELL 8 FT.

Actually the forecast was upgraded to a 10' swell. Here's something I posted on the same thread in responce to a question from Russ:

Quote:

As a general rule of thumb; 6' swells or less for rockfishing and boating out of Depoe. Up to 8' swells for boating depending on the boat and direction of the swell. 11' swell seems to be the borderline point for some of the big water big charter boats.

So where did you catch the blacks & lings and what did you use?

fish assassin · 06-09-2003, 05:07 AM

YeeHaw!! Them's some right purdy pictures there, Dan!!

I Fished Salmon on Sunday. When I went out at about 6:am it wasn't too
bad, but the swell was certainly on the up-swing! I was listening to the
charter boats talking to the Coasties on channel 21 and was wondering if
I was going to make it back in!! Quite the wild ride! The hole was *real*
disorganized with the waves broadcasting off'n both sides. Had a heck of a
time keeping the Mistress in line! :grin: :grin: My comment over the radio as I cleared
the entrance was a simple "YeeHaw". What more could I say?

Found a few fish out at 55 fathoms. Nice fishy water with lots of bait. Took
5 fish, and broke the 100 lb. mono on 3 more!! My big fish for the day weighed in
at 26 lbs. dressed!! Kinda made up for the other 4 eight pounders!

-assAssin-

Fishmstr · 06-09-2003, 06:49 AM

Yep, quite a wild ride. I tried calling Ifishers Sat and Sun...but got no reply

We caught the blacks and lings about a mile south of the 2nd bouy. Tons of blacks, but I need to find a spot that has some keeper lings.

Hope to be out next saturday.
see you out there,
steve

fish assassin · 06-09-2003, 07:02 AM

Steve,

I'll always answer if you happen to call when I'm not busy either boating
a fish or napping!

What channel were you calling on? I usually monitor channel 80 on the
VHF 'cause it's the port channel. I toggle back and forth on the "mouse"
between 13 (the salmon channel) and 21 (the port channel).

Did the Coasties chase you off the ocean on Sunday?

-assAssin-

Quote:

Originally posted by Fishmstr:
Yep, quite a wild ride. I tried calling Ifishers Sat and Sun...but got no reply
We caught the blacks and lings about a mile south of the 2nd bouy. Tons of blacks, but I need to find a spot that has some keeper lings.

Hope to be out next saturday.
see you out there,
steve

Northpaw · 06-09-2003, 09:30 AM

It was an interesting weekend. Southpaw and I took our boat on it's shake down run at Newport. Saturday was flat but Sunday picked up a bit. A moter that was acting up cut out fun in the sun a bit short but seeing the above pictures makes be feel better about coming in early.

Regards

Northpaw

Fishmstr · 06-09-2003, 02:46 PM

Fishassasin,

I was on 72...thought that is what folks broadcast on. I'll remember 80 for next time. I am still learning how to Chinook fish and can use all the help I can get!

DepoeBayDan,
I almost foregot, we caught all our blacks and lings on 1 or 2 oz. darts. My friends call them bait...the fish sure think so!

steve
"Avocation"

Miss B Haven · 06-09-2003, 03:14 PM

Mark - You Dopey Bay guys don't have anything to worry about. What - a couple hundred feet of "bar"? 'Bout 5 miles of that stuff at the CR when it's rough! :depressed:

Of course.... my crack 'tween the rocks is just a leeeeeetle wider! :grin:

On a scale of 1-10 what exactly was the pucker factor coming in Sunday? :whazzup:

Fishmstr · 06-09-2003, 04:05 PM

The Coasties didn't chase us off, but their constant warnings finally sunk in and made us come in. It just didn't seem that bad when we were out there.
The size of the swell wasn't the worst part...it was the bounce back that was funky. I would have to give it a pucker factor of about a 7. Crossing last year in my 15'6" Gregor was an 8, but mostly because of the small size of my boat. Once again, the bounce back off of the walls was the worst part. It seems to throw your boat at odd directions as you are crossing.
I'll definitely take DepoeBayDan's advice and not go out of Depoe when the swell is over 7 feet.
Lesson Learned.
Steve
"Avocation"

fish assassin · 06-10-2003, 07:06 AM

Mel: I came in right at low tide on Sunday so the hole in the rocks was only about
20' wide. As Fishmstr said, it was the broadcast off the rocks that was scary!! I
was throwing the wheel as hard as I could to keep "Mistress" on the staight and narrow
coming through. I hit it a little hot on the throttle because I had a big one right
behind me that I just KNEW was going to break across the opening ... sure enough!!

As for pucker factor, I'd give it about a 5, and that was because the broadcast got
me looking at the rocks and trying to stear clear 3 times coming in! For some reason
that I just can't explain, I just don't want to end up on the rocks out there in the
channel! :smile: :blush:

-assAssin-

Quote:

Originally posted by Miss B Haven:
Mark - You Dopey Bay guys don't have anything to worry about. What - a couple hundred feet of "bar"? 'Bout 5 miles of that stuff at the CR when it's rough! :depressed:

Of course.... my crack 'tween the rocks is just a leeeeeetle wider! :grin:

On a scale of 1-10 what exactly was the pucker factor coming in Sunday? :whazzup: