[Puffin]

Anybody have any tips on locating these fish sometimes I find them sometimes I don’t find them. I notice they’re not always on the structure but sometimes off some distance

 

[Arne K]

It seems like there are always yellowtail just north of the YRCA. I also mark a waypoint whenever I see a school while salmon fishing. Sometimes I find fish in the same area again. If I want to load up on big canaries, I just head to Nelson Island.

 

[Puffin]

I would’ve expected more activity on this thread as I think it’s becoming a popular fishery

 

[MattPark]

Jon, in my short but oddly successful career of LL fishing, one pattern I see is the fish are almost always down current from the shallowest spot, but like you said in random areas. We fished a new spot a couple weeks ago with nothing to show for it after a half hour or so, but on the chart it looked too good to just leave. Just moving a bit downstream and off the hill the TV lit up and we had 40 big 'ol Canary and YT on the deck in no time. It's the only pattern I can see so far.

 

[Han Solo]

I agree with Matt. Most of the time I have fished for canaries deep they are down current from the feature. I just circle around until they show on the sonar. The current at depth may be in a different direction than on the surface so keep looking if they do not show up on the screen right away. Basically just circle the feature off the high point.

 

[hoghauler]

I would’ve expected more activity on this thread as I think it’s becoming a popular fishery

Hey Jon, I sure would like to get this fishery dialed in so I will be watching this thread and hopefully people in the know will chime in.

 

[grim]

I've been using some of my fishing time to hit different sea mounds. It's interesting, some have nothing at all, some show a few fish, and some show loads of fish. I haven't done this enough to find out if my "loads of fish" waypoints produce consistently. But yes, as said above, just off of the top of the feature.

 

[BlakeH]

I'm far from an expert, and I'm sure many here have done better than I.

That said, this fishery reminds me of my time trolling in late season for kokanee when they are deep. It's all about using your sonar to find the fish.

I've found these fish on structure off structure and where there was no structure for quite a distance.

Once while out prospecting for halibut we saw quite a bit of activity on the sonar. Sure enough, limits came in short order. No structure around at all. Just a few hundred feet of fish all stacked up.

It's a great fishery. Those that haven't tried it should make the gear and give it a try. Very good way to put some fish on the deck and fill the freezer with fish tacos.

 

[Broadoak]

I've researched a lot but haven't tried it yet. My research can be summed up by "find some feature on the bottom and drive around it in expanding circles. If you find fish drop, if not, go to next feature. Even if you find fish, sometimes they aren't on the chew, mark them to fish later and move to find an active school. That's really all I've been able to find, just said many different ways. When I get out I'll call numbers for productive bites I find.

 

[Don G Baldi]

I've limited and been skunked in the same spot. Like the Jerry Reed tune, when you're hot - you're hot. When you're not - you're not.

 

[Puffin]

I've limited and been skunked in the same spot. Like the Jerry Reed tune, when you're hot - you're hot. When you're not - you're not.

That’s kind of my experience too Don. some days I go to a spot and we rail them.some days I go to the same spot and can’t seem to find but a few fish. I’m trying to figure out some consistency here. we filled the boat many many times. but occasionally we get semi-skunked and only get a few fish. it’s always late in the day as we generally halibut fish or some thing first we don’t always have time to fish a lot before the wind comes up. Trying to figure out how to locate the fish and get right on them

 

[Arne K]

In my experience, it's definitely tougher fishing later in the day. I have sat over some massive schools and hardly been able to catch fish. I don't have high expectations when they're a secondary target. When LL is my first task, I don't have trouble getting limits. Another thing is that I have yet to get into consistently big fish around the Rockpile. That's why I head farther out when I want a bunch of freezer stock.

 

[Fishplay]

I found some once off Charleston when we had some time to kill before the next days planned Tuna adventure. We didn’t come close to limits but 10 fish of that quality was nice enough. Have had very dismal success at locating otherwise. Ive spent a multitude of hours on at least 6 different days with less than a dozen fish total to show for it out of Depoe and Newport.
I will gladly accept waypoints from anyone in a sharing mood for spots to try. At this point I’ve given up out of total frustration. Not sure why the gear still rides around with us.

 

[ssriverrat]

I’ve only done it twice but have limited the boat both times. I just go up the west side of the closure area at the pile and look for schools. I got 30 the last time I fished and they were all yellow tail. Not as big as last time I caught them in that area.

 

[Puffin]

I found some once off Charleston when we had some time to kill before the next days planned Tuna adventure. We didn’t come close to limits but 10 fish of that quality was nice enough. Have had very dismal success at locating otherwise. Ive spent a multitude of hours on at least 6 different days with less than a dozen fish total to show for it out of Depoe and Newport.
I will gladly accept waypoints from anyone in a sharing mood for spots to try. At this point I’ve given up out of total frustration. Not sure why the gear still rides around with us.

Sorry to hear that Greg I’ve had much better success than that but we have had three or four trips where we’ve only caught two or three fish other than that we have limited the boat every time. we’ve caught as many as we want and the fish definitely segregate size wise to deeper the water the larger the fish it seem Rockpile fish are half as large as fish in 500ft of water

 

[wildcard123]

Been fishing LL for a couple of years have found that the schools of fish vary in size of fish small fish stick together large fish stick together don't seem to mix in size

 

[Starr]

Going to totally jinx myself here, but we've been very successful and have taken out numerous rookies to fill up their freezer. Spent a lot of time looking over Navionics for structure. Mark a few points then drive over them with the Sonar. Keep circling weigh points until you find them. Don't get hung up on "big" structure, any structure will hold fish. Haven't done it enough to know "why" yet, but sometimes there are acres of fish, and sometimes they have vanished over the same structure. Just move to another weigh point and keep staring at the screen. Don't be affraid to drop on weak sonar returns. Some good fishing has happened from weak returns. Most of our fish have been Yellow Tail, with the occasional Canary. I think the Canary like deeper structure than we fish. We usually fish 250-400' structure

 

[Nameless]

Been fishing LL for a couple of years have found that the schools of fish vary in size of fish small fish stick together large fish stick together don't seem to mix in size

I wonder if it’s an age group thing? The groups are from a particular year’s hatch? Larger fish are from older hatches? Complete arm chair scientist here…

 

[Fishplay]

Going to totally jinx myself here, but we've been very successful and have taken out numerous rookies to fill up their freezer. Spent a lot of time looking over Navionics for structure. Mark a few points then drive over them with the Sonar. Keep circling weigh points until you find them. Don't get hung up on "big" structure, any structure will hold fish. Haven't done it enough to know "why" yet, but sometimes there are acres of fish, and sometimes they have vanished over the same structure. Just move to another weigh point and keep staring at the screen. Don't be affraid to drop on weak sonar returns. Some good fishing has happened from weak returns. Most of our fish have been Yellow Tail, with the occasional Canary. I think the Canary like deeper structure than we fish. We usually fish 250-400' structure

Ive done exactly that. Studied Navonics at home. Transfered waypoints and drove circles around them. Ive also gone to shared waypoints and drove circles to no avail. I guess my long leader luck just SUCKS. Years ago before the closures we would happen upon them. When we did we fished them but I wasn’t driving around for hours looking for something that cant be found in the same place twice Our method was different then and successful. I would drop gear too light for the drift and as it rose through the school it loaded up. Simple! No time spent on the bottom
This crap now is a pita to deploy. If its a small school you could miss it before getting down. These schools move as well. By the time I figure out the drift the school is gone.
My patience is shorter than it used to be and my quickness to anger is worse. It’s never a fun day so at this point Id rather not continue to be ****ed off. Just talking about now raised my BP. Lol