As I have pointed out in a few articles, Depoe Bay is in all probability the safest, easiest place on the west coast to fish rockfish out of a small boat.
It can be an easy, accessible and short boat ride for world-class fishing for rockfish and sometimes exceptional salmon fishing.
Your main concerns are safety equipment, knowledge and common sense.
Over the years I have often times left the bay at 9:00pm at night to go out and catch rockfish without any concerns for mine or others safety and sometimes fishing ‘till midnight or even one in the morning.
Of course like any other harbors there is a time to go and a time to stay home!
The one advantage of Depoe Bay is the lack of importance of an ebb tide where the outgoing tidal currents reacting with the ocean swell coming in can make for a dangerous bar.
Most bars can become very dangerous when an ebb tide meets an incoming swell especially if it is a large tidal exchange interacting with a sizeable swell.
Depoe Bay is reported to be the world’s smallest harbor and there is virtually no tidal exchange (no large estuary or big river drainage).
So the key to launching out of Depoe Bay is the swell and predicted marine forecast.
I as have many learned from experience to pick your days and base your decisions on whether to go on marine forecast and the expertise of others including but not excluding the USCG.
It is best to go out with another boat or two but not necessary if you are using common sense and have the proper equipment and knowledge.
One of the most important factors I believe is reliable communications and I feel that should include two or more communication devices in case one of them should fail.
One of the few concerns I would have for anyone is if it is the time of year that fog might be a factor and you don’t know how to navigate in the fog.
If that be the case, fish right out front and come in before the fog disillusions you.
You can see the fog bank coming and cruise in ahead of it.
Wind and swell are normally accurately forecast so I have never experienced a problem there.
Remember I am talking fishing a few feet to just a mile or two from the entrance of Depoe Bay and have never personally seen where a boat had a tough time returning when the forecast foretold a different story.
So, here we go!
I have some charts that Sea Gypsy posted a few months back that are questionable to me as far as accuracy but the best that I could obtain.
I painted in some approximate areas that are consistent to catch fish, but they are only approximate.
Most of these area’s a Loran or GPS is not needed but helpful on the larger reefs like GP or avoiding being on top of the Morocco wash rock on days it doesn’t consistently break.
Depoe Bay Area
The first chart shows some consistent areas to catch rockfish (blacks, china’s, ling’s, blue’s, cabezon, greenling’s [seatrout], etc. that are very safe again if you use common sense and knowledge of the ocean swell, etc.
The second chart shows some areas that are my personal favorites but are only recommended to experienced mariners that are experienced with the area.
I need to emphasize this point!
Do not attempt this area unless you are with an experienced mariner that is experienced within this area!
Otherwise you might end up in the “same boat” with a somewhat experienced charter boat captain that ended up floating away with his capsized boat a couple years ago when a breaker capsized his inflatable boat!
Lars (Samson) is an experienced charter boat captain and I would welcome his comments on fishing this area or any others.
It would be my recommendations to fish these areas if the forecast is for 6’ swells or less (preferably 4’ swells or less) and there are plenty of those days any time of year!
A lot of fishermen are in the mindset that the calm ocean only occurs during the summer months but this is grossly miss-understood!
Some of your best ocean conditions can take place during the winter months and some of your best “rock fishing” can take place during the winter months especially fishing for lingcod.
One of the big advantages of fishing wintertime rockfish is that when you have a calm between the storms, you often don’t have the mid morning/afternoon winds caused by the heat in the interior!
I showed a few ifisher’s how safe and easy it is to catch some of these tasty treasures of the sea this last year and there is plenty room and tasty fish to catch.
Dano
Overall picture of Depoe Bay (map 1 & 2 – 9-6-03)
Areas painted in of the close shore reefs in the Depoe Bay area.
#1 is of government point which varies from 100’ or deeper to shallow depths of 35’ to 40’ depths.
#2 is inside Boiler Bay with an average depth of 20’ or so in those areas.
#3 Outside Pirates Cove with an average of 20-35’ depth
#4 North Point which can be fished within the kelp beds in approx. 20-35’ and outside the beds in approx. 30-45’
#5 Right in front of Depoe Bay just outside of casting range from the rocks.
I have caught commercial limits of blacks (60 fish) there and lings, ect.
#6 South Reef of Depoe.
A good major reef of Depoe but be careful if there is a swell (6’ or so) as it can get a bit nerve racking in close
#7 North entrance of Whale Cove.
Voila! Consistent hot area for bass and lings!
A few ifisher’s experienced the awesome experience of fishing this area this last spring/summer.
On a normal day of 6’ swell or less this can be a productive and rewarding area to fish (maybe only a mile and a half or so south of Depoe).
#8 Never did very well there but some have.
Out in front of Rocky Creek and it can be good for lings.
#9 Have done well for bass at times when they are in there.
#10 Carefull here. Have consistently done well here but there is the “washrock” off of Moroco!
I have anchored off this rock and drifted it but you have to realize your drift ahead of time or you might be on the wrong side of the break when it happens!
I used to know the loran number for this washrock and believe it was 690.0 or 790.0 for the north/south line but you definitely want to know its whereabouts because it won’t be forgiving in the wrong circumstances!
Again, if you are not totally familiar with these reefs and washrocks down south off of Otter Crest, don’t attempt it.
There are areas that can capsize you and there are areas that can eat a prop.
The easiest and safest places to fish that can be very productive to fish are within a couple miles of the Depoe Bay entrance are from Whale Cove (approx. 1&1/2 miles to the south) to Government Point (approx. 1&1/2 miles to the north).
Again, this area can be hazardous to the inexperienced mariner that is not familiar with this area and I would highly recommend fishing it with an experienced mariner the first couple times.
Sometimes there are other boats fishing this area but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it might not ending up the blind leading the blind scenario.
I vocally yelled or radioed at a boat or two over the years that I felt was fishing in a hazardous area down there over the years.
With that said:
#9 can be a good area but I believe I drew my line a little to the south of the intended area I have been successful.
I believe the line should have been a little closer to the 5 fathom mark on the chart.
Difficult to tell on this chart.
#10 is the same cautious area that I warned you about as #10 in the former map the Morrocco wash rock.
#11 can be a good area but be careful traversing the area depending on the swell.
The southern end of this drift can be good just south of the wash rocks that can be seen breaking.
There is some excellent fishing directly inside off the shear cliffs that has the lookout and gift shop above.
A person has to be watchful and careful about getting in too close for this is where the prop eater is located!
#12 the north end of Gull Rock has been a favorite area for me but again you need to know when and how to enter and exit the area without risking your boat and/or crew.
#13 Otter Rock can be a good spot to catch rockfish and put out rings or pots for crabs in shallow water as shallow as 20-30’ deep but requires a 5 mile run or so against wind chop on the return trip if you are looking at NW winds in the spring/summer months.
Could possibly be closer to 6-7 miles. Its been a long time since I fished it.
I once filleted a nice limit of lings and bass for a couple fishermen that launched a canoe on the beach there (Beverly Beach) and fished Otter Rock.
I have done real well crabbing there at times and it can be a lot of fun crabbing the shallow protected water there during a calm swell.
This area is beautiful and my personal favorite to fish on a calm day.
There are a couple of charters that fish this area from time to time and you might consider trying to charter one of them to learn this area first.
Richard Newton (Kimberly Ann) a six pack boat fishes it and I believe Lars (Samson) fishes it also and are both out of Dockside Charters.
Note:
If you are looking at soaking some crab pots outside of Depoe Bay then you ought to look at a minimum of 70’ but more realistically at 100’ or so.
Depoe Bay is a natural shallow rocky area with deeper crab areas but several miles to the north (Siletz River or the spit) and south (Otter Rock) are some shallower crab areas.
Terminal Tackle
There is a wide variety of terminal tackle used for catching rockfish and some types have proven more successful over the years by the charters, private sports fishermen and the commercials.
I will give some general descriptions and then show pictures of the most common gear and provide descriptions for them.
The local charters have two classifications for the tackle; light tackle and heavy tackle.
Light Tackle:
Light tackle is normally a lighter spinning outfit or level wind similar to what most of use for salmon fishing in the rivers.
Light tackle rods are usually rigged with small jig heads (1/2oz. to 2 oz. with soft plastic grubs or plastic fish.
There are exceptions and one of the deadly ones is the 2oz. lead fish with a double hook or treble hook attached.
Double hooks in the 2/0 size are the most popular these days and don’t require a split ring that the treble hook requires.
The 2/0 size is a heavier, sturdier wire than the 1/0 size that doesn’t straighten out as easy and is my preference.
Some of the privates use the larger 5/0 size when targeting lings.
When I first moved to Depoe Bay some 10 years ago the standard practice for charters using torpedo sinkers on the heavy tackle was a 1/0 treble with a brass split ring which were easier to use than a stainless split ring but still a hassle to rig.
A few years later I discovered the double hook and now that is the standard hook used.
Some charters still use plastic grubs or worms but the chovy minnow that I manufacture or cocahoe minnow are much more popular these days.
Plastic shads are used by some also.
In a grub the 6” is the most popular but some charters have great success with the 3-4” grub.
8” grubs are normally only used for the private sector targeting lings.
They are too expensive for the charters to provide and don’t work real well for blacks, blues, etc.
The 4” chovy minnow that I manufacture is basically a copy of the 4” queen cocahoe minnow that I consider a better product for a couple different reasons.
For one I shortened it up which puts the hook point further back for the short biters.
Some of the charters and rock fishermen used to bite off the head of the cocahoe minnow.
Also the head of the chovy minnow is blunt and not tapered like the fish head shape of the cocahoe and that I feel makes more sense and provides more “meat” where the lead barb of the jig head is inserted.
Plastic shads work real well also but the 4” shad is not near as durable as a 4” cocahoe or chovy minnow due to the flat design.
3” shads hold up real well and catch real well and that is what I normally use off the rocks.
Twin tail shrimp work but aren’t as popular these days for the charter fleet or private sector.
Often times a shrimp fly or two are attached to the line a foot or so above the jig head and plastics to catch additional fish and often time doubles or triples can be caught that way.
This is also an effective way to fish the larger jigs for lings that sebsates family rockfish are reluctant to bite and catch them while targeting lings with larger gear.
Heavy Tackle:
Heavy tackle is normally used on the heavier boat rods normally with a non level wind casting reel for the charters and the private sector uses them and also level wind reels.
Normally these are rigged with a torpedo sinker from 4oz. to 10oz. but heavier and lighter are used depending on the depth, current and wind factors.
Also even though lings bite smaller jigs/ torpedo sinkers, the bigger the better for lings.
Of course the bigger the more expensive it gets.
Torpedo sinkers are normally fished with one or two flies above them.
All rockfish bite torpedo sinkers very well!
One of my good friends down in Depoe Bay is considered by most fishermen to be the best ling fishermen around and is known as the “King of Lings”.
He fishes the charters on almost a dailey basis and his secret weapon of choice is a 10oz. torpedo sinker with a 5/0 double hook and of course he uses tough line or power pro.
Howard Pruitt does plant a lot of lead on the Lincoln County reefs however!
Some folks and a few charters use diamond jigs but I have never seen any evidence of them working any better than the standard torpedo sinker.
I have seen very little evidence over the years where bait or scents have made any significant difference in catching rockfish with the exception of live greenling and small blues, etc. used for catching lings.
I have on the other hand have seen many times where someone was soaking a perfectly good food fish and be out fished by others using jigs or torpedos.
I would just as soon see a small rockfish released if caught in shallow water and artificial lures used.
Methods:
There are other methods that work and sometimes rockfish will bite almost anything and other times they are real finicky.
Normally towards the latter part of April or early March the bass (mostly black and blue rockfish) will start finning on the surface and I don’t think it gets a whole lot more fun than that.
The best baits seem to be small jig heads with small plastics when they are finning.
I’ve always thought that a light rod with a clear plastic slip bobber and a small fly would be killer when they are finning.
During those spring months the rockfish are often times up on the surface feeding on crab larvae that look like a very small Dungeness crab.
I would think a small fly tied with a beige color would be the hot trick.
The rockfish will continue finning from time to time throughout the summer feeding on other surface feed but late late April/early May seem to be the most consistent time to find the finners.
There are different methods to fish different tackle/different ocean conditions.
If targeting lings the most productive method is to have tackle heavy enough to fish the bottom where lings are generally found although I have rarely seen them on the surface chasing finning bass.
Usually if there is a lot of current or wind making for a fast drift the jig heads/plastics work better.
If the drift is real slow I often cast and real slowly back. This method covers more ground and often times I will out fish the folks just dragging the bottom.
Another method is to drop straight down and once it hits bottom real up slowly.
Often times the fish are suspended and you won’t catch them if you are dragging the bottom.
If the drift is fast normally you can simply let line out and basically troll them.
When I used to commercial fish rockfish I would often times use three rods with jigs at a time when the drift was fast and by the time I reeled one fish in I would often times have another fish or two on the other rods.
There were times I would have my 60 fish trip limit by 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning.
I quit commercial fishing rockfish because I saw the downhill trend on their populations and size and it gave me a guilt trip.
The charters were also over exploiting the rockfish at the time because they had lost their coho seasons.
I feel it better to leave the inshore rockfish that take many years to mature (especially the sebastes family) to the sports fishermen.
I would like to see the commercial inshore rockfish fishery eliminated.
Sorry commercial fishermen but that is just the way I feel about it.
Well this book is taking up a lot of time I don’t have presently so on to other things.
If I miss some important factors or make some mistakes which are inevitable, I’ll come back and edit.
I will welcome someone that has the time to post current reg’s on rockfish in California, Oregon and/or Washington especially the ever changing yelloweye, canary and ling reg's.
I would suggest to all of you to advoid deeper water reefs where canaries and yelloweye are present if there is no retention.
You will needlessly kill and waste those slow growing fish and there is plenty great fishing for the other species inshore.
Terminal Tackle pic’s description
Plastic's:
3” and 4” Shads.
Again some of the most popular colors.
You will notice the 3” shad rigged on the shorter 3/0 hook and the 4” shad rigged on the longer 5/0 hook.
Chovy Minnows (4")
These are some of the most popular colors and one is shown rigged with a 1oz, arrowhead jig and another with a 2oz. jig head.
6” Shads and Cocahoe minnows:
Again some of the more popular colors and three are shown rigged with a 3oz., 4oz., and 6oz. jig heads.
Special attention to the 6” Cocahoe minnow (King Cocahoe) shown.
This I consider the best plastic made for lingcod fishing and I base that on experience and when I used to wholesale them from Southern California to Seattle area and all the feed back I received from retail customers and commercial fishermen.
It’s the hot one!
Jig Heads:
Center row – 1/2oz., 3/4oz., and 1oz. arrowhead jig with special short shank 3/0 extra strong hook.
Left row – 3/4oz., 1oz. arrowhead jig with 5/0 91750ST Mustad hook. 1&1/2oz., 2oz. bullet jig head with 91750ST Mustad hook. 3 oz. Bullet jig heads with and without the lead shank and barb. Note: When I pour 3oz. and larger jig heads I prefer the jig heads without the lead shank and barb so I modified my molds.
The Hilts molds were designed with such a large shank and barb they have a tendency to split the plastics and are not needed in the larger jig heads.
4oz. customized jig head, 6oz., 8oz., and 12oz. jig heads.
I make a 16oz jig head also that is not shown.
3” Grubs.
I’ve pretty much phased these out but they do work real well.
Some popular colors and the short shank 3/0 hook once again.
6” Grubs.
Some of the most popular colors. The white and glo are difficult to see in this picture.
White and the custom motor oil/root beer are by far the most popular.
The two rigged are on a 1oz. and 2oz. bullet head jig.
8” Grubs.
Some popular colors and again the white and the custom motor oil/root beer are by far the most popular.
The ones rigged are on 1&1/2oz., 2oz., and 3oz. jig heads.
Ling treats!
This is what I throw off the rocks and I use white only and have never had a different color out fish me.
I normally throw the 1&1/2oz. jig head off my 8’6” salmon rod.
Some of the ifisher’s did real well with these fishing out of their boats last year.
4", 6" & 8" Twintail Schrimp:
These are also known as Scampi's and are effective but not as popular or durable as the 6" shad and Cocahoe minnows, and 8" CT Worm or grub these days.
The body is not round like the 8" CT but has a flat spot and they have a tendcy to split.
Also the tails on the 6" have a tendecy to wrap the jig hook denying you a strike.
Pictured here with a 1&1/2oz., 2oz., 3oz. and 8oz. jig head.
Torpedos, Diamond jigs, 2oz. Lead fish and Shrimp Fly’s.
At the top are some various 2oz. lead fish (some are Crippled Herring I believe).
The non painted one is a custom mold I borrow from a customer of mine in Seattle.
These are hot and unbeatable at times especially when the current isn’t screaming.
A drawback for these are they are very expensive when you are attaching them to the bottom.
Below them are 3 shrimp fly’s I tied that work very well.
Many other fly variations are available and some good ones are tied up using conventional fly tying materials and techniques.
I’ll try to take a pic of one of the home tied shrimp fly’s at a later date and post it.
Below them are; 3oz. and 4oz. diamond jig. Then a 4oz., 6oz.,8oz. and 10oz. torpedo sinkers rigged with double hooks.
Deadly!
Jig Heads:
Center row – 1/2oz., 3/4oz., and 1oz. arrowhead jig with special short shank 3/0 extra strong hook.
Left row – 3/4oz., 1oz. arrowhead jig with 5/0 91750ST Mustad hook. 1&1/2oz., 2oz. bullet jig head with 91750ST Mustad hook. 3 oz. Bullet jig heads with and without the lead shank and barb. Note: When I pour 3oz. and larger jig heads I prefer the jig heads without the lead shank and barb so I modified my molds.
The Hilts molds were designed with such a large shank and barb they have a tendency to split the plastics and are not needed in the larger jig heads.
4oz. customized jig head, 6oz., 8oz., and 12oz. jig heads.
I make a 16oz jig head also that is not shown.
Ganions:
Light tackle jigs rigged with Fly’s.
A very productive way to fish for Lings and all other rockfish.
Heavy tackle ganions (torpedo sinkers) rigged with Fly’s.
Again a very productive way to fish for Lings and all other rockfish.
Note:
You will notice the two different types of “ganions” I tied.
The one on the left are a standard ganion or what I call a “shrimp fly loop”.
The one on the right (with the beads) are a special “deluxe” ganion I tie that is much stronger with conventional Trilene knots which are much stronger than the shrimp fly loop.
Its difficult to see in the picture but I thread a barrel swivel on the line, place two beads both side of the barrel swivel and then attach crimps to hold it in place.
The short leader is tied to the barrel swivel and then to the fly.
Another advantage of this ganion besides the extra strength is that the fly leader swivels around the main line and keeps your fish from twisting up the leader when fish are brought up from deep water and also tangles with other fishermen are much easier to untangle.
Well I’m sure I over looked some important aspects of fishing rockfish from a boat but as I said earlier I will go back and edit them in later.
I hope to get together with some of the dog's again this year and show them around some of the reefs and possibly show up at one of the tunaholic’s meetings to show some how to tie some of these knots, flies, etc. although most of it is pretty basic.
I showed Brad (Uglygreen) some of the reefs last year and a few others and Brad learned a lot on his own also.
He’s a good fishermen and fast learner and would be a good one to get together with on an ifish Depoe Bay rockfish invitational.
As some of the ifisher’s learned last year, fishing rockfish out of Depoe bay can be very rewarding regarding fun and tasty fish to take home.
And it can be very safe!
And often times a fisherman can come home with limits or near limits of both rockfish and salmon.
Have a very safe, happy, and productive new year Dog’s!
Dano (formerly DepoeBayDan)
Bottom Fishing Depoe Bay - Small Boat
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