Salmon Fishing Newport Sat & Sun

[Sea Raptor]

Went salmon fishing this weekend out of Newport. The ocean was incredible. I could not believe how calm it was. I just wish I was ready for tuna, because that was the conditions that would have been perfect for it. The fish cleaning station at the boat ramp was proof. A whole lot of carking was going on.

I had to stick with the salmon, but that was pretty good too. On the first day we just went NW of the jetty and started at 100' depth and kept going out to 150'. We were picking up fish all over using divers, flashers, and plug cut herring. The problem was they were all natives. I can't believe how many wild fish are out there this year. They must be making a huge comeback or somebody forgot to fin clip them at the hatchery. It will be interesting to see how many are caught this fall while fishing for chinook on the Alsea. It would be great to see them recover on the coastal rivers.

We heard on the radio that people were doing really well at about 180' straight out from the jetty, so we pulled in the gear and headed that way. We got into the fish right away and they were all hatchery there, plus we got 2 chinook. With the boat limited, we decided to try some rockfish. We did alright on those as well and got 20 and then the wind started to pick up and we called it a day.

Sunday, we headed to the spot straight out from the jetty and again got into a nice chinook right away. Then it was wild fish after wild fish. Finally, we were able to get into the hatchery fish and limited out.

Before we limited, I noticed that a lot of the coho were real shallow, so I got my fly rod out and tried to catch one. No luck, but one of these days I am going to hook up and the crazy, jumping coho will give me a real fight on my fly rod. Part of the problem is we would get into a school and before I could get my fly rod out, one of the other rods would go down and I would have to net the fish. By the time the fish was netted, we were out of the school. Oh well, such a small problem for a great weekend.

Limits of salmon, a bunch of rockfish, and a bunch of crab. It doesn't get much better, except for that elusive fly-caught salmon in the salt.