Halibut fishing- Plan B help

[flapbreaker]

Ok me and a buddy would like to go for halibut this year but were not willing to go out if the seas are not under 4'. So we need a "plan B" if we get to newport and things seem a bit rough for our liking is there anything worth fishing for inside the bay? Also how is the Bar at newport? Do people cross it on both incoming and outgoing tides? Just wondering how people time that when making long runs.

[skein]

Man, as I read your question I thought of a pile of questions myself. It's no fun to get a question when you wanted an answer, but here goes:

What's your experience with the ocean?
What's your boat like? Size, type, equipment?
You seem pretty unfamiliar with Newport. Do you know where to target halibut once you get out?
What's your crew like? Do they get seasick? Do they know how to handle a big hali once they get him to the boat?

Fill us in and we'll be a lot better prepared to answer your questions.

Skein

[Bait O' Eggs]

were not willing to go out if the seas are not under 4'.

You probably wont be doing a May or June Halibut run unless we get a really nice ocean, which I dont remember seeing anytime in the recent past on those early halibut all depth days.

Stock up on herring jigs, which you can use while you soak your crab pots in the bay.

You could always tour the lighthouses or maybe the breweries

[Half fast Toyn]

HERRING!!!! bring salt to cure em...They make great halibut bait and can even be cut plugged for salmon if you tie them on. Sturgeon love the bigger shad which you will also catch with your herring. I do one trip a year to Newport with 3-4 guys and get my herring for the year. That keeps me from paying $4-$6 a tray for the starved ones.... and I think they fish better.

I do purchase blue label for fall chinook because the herring dont seem to be that big when I fish for them in May or June.

[flapbreaker]

Sorry for the lack of info on my experience. I'll break things down.

1.) I grew up fishing the NW with my dad. Mainly Tillamook bay with a little ocean fishing. Have been over the columbia bar a few times with him too. (Can be scarry).

2.) I have not been fishing out of newport since I was a kid but if I remember right we fished for flownder in the bay and also took a charter or two out for bottom fish.

3.) The largest Halibut we ever pulled in the boat was 50#'s and I know enough not to put one in the boat that size until it's dead. You only make that mistake once.

4.) We would probably fish stone wall banks since that looks like the closest option although I understand depending on weather that driving north on the return trip can be more difficult since most days you would be fighting the wind.

5.) It's not my boat but my buddy has a 19' jet boat. I know it's not ideal but thought that stonewall would be do able.

6.) My comment about 4' seas was more for our own comfort . As long as I take dramamine and don't stare at the bottom of the boat I usually don't have a problem.

It's good to know that the seas don't lie down too much in may and june. It might not be realistic for us to do it then.

My main question was is there anything to fish for inside the bay. Of course there's crabs and it sounds like herring (do they fight hard? -Just kidding).

[retaliate]

4' or less, gee you might want to up that a bit, or you won't be getting out much. usually the forcast is for maximun swell hight, & often the actual, or average is less
but sometimes worse than the forcast, you could always stay in close & troll for salmon, or bottomfish the close in reefs, that way if you get sick your trip in won't be so bad
if your like me you don't feel as bad when moving, as for bay fishing there is the usual perch, rockfish, lingcod, at or near the jettys, & herring, & crab can be fun at times not far from the marina, there are stugeon also up the bay, but I couldn't tell you where.

[flapbreaker]

Ya 4' might be too conservative. It really depends on what the wind is doing. The wind wave is more important to me because plane old swells with no peak are not a problem. I can tollerate large swells without wind on top. We went out of depoe bay salmon fishing several times last year. It's hard to guage what the wave height was though. The wave forcast page seems to be pretty inacurate. Some days it called for 3' waves with a 2' windwave and it turned out that the ocean was pretty flat.

[Tacklebuster]

Let's pray for water conditions much like we had last year for the opener

Don't give up on the flat ocean dream for the opener. We had an ocean a couple of Saturday's ago that was a dream. Keep the faith