Go West Young (or Old) Man.. for Fish!

[Johnsfolly]

I was headed out to Portland Oregon for a business conference. I was able to tack on a couple of days in front of the conference to fish. I have never been to Oregon. This would allow me to catch a fish in the state of OR and maybe a trout or salmon. Looking at the weather, there were high winds, waves, rain on the coast on Friday and light rains on the east side of the mountains. I decided to fish freshwater sites on Friday and the coast on Saturday. I had hopes to fish coastal tidepools for micros particularly marine sculpin species. Unfortunately, the tides and the weather didn't allow me to fish them safely or at all during my fishing days. 

Channeling @Devan S. if picked out a couple of creeks/rivers to try for coastal rainbow trout subspecies, aka steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout. My fish spot was an access on Gales Creek in Forest Grove, OR. It was a pretty little creek with a deep hole.

I fished Zig jigs and got some bites but no hook ups. Finally got lucky on downsizing to microjigs and landed a couple of coastal rainbows my first fish caught in OR! They even slipped thru the holes in my net😉. OR is my 33rd state that I have caught fish.

I endured light and moderate rains. I didn't think that I would be able to catch a cutthroat here and moved to the next location which was further downstream on Gales creek. I looked over that spot and went to another river system to get out of the rain. 

I ended up on Tualatin River near Dilley OR. The targets are prickly sculpin and pikeminnows. I was using a #16 hook with bit of worm and a 1/8 oz split shot about 4 inches above the hook. The idea was to bounce the bait along the bottom and hope for aggessive sculpin. I fished the downstream side of the bridge and got a couple of solid bites but no hook ups. I tried the upstream side and cast such that my bait would go next to a brush pile. I did get a bite and landed a prickly sculpin, another Lifer!

I fished the upstream side for a while longer but no longer got any other sculpin. I went back to fishing the downstream side and cast towards a laydown log. I fished the bounces a bit faster hoping for a pikeminnow. On the third cast I hooked up with a posible pikeminnow, but it turned out to be a coastal Cutthroat trout! Another Lifer!

With the short days, I had one other spot on the Willamette river about an hour further south to try for peamouth and pikeminnows. Also if I stayed late enough I might headlamp reticulate or another prickly sculpin.

Again I was fishing worms on #10 circle hooks and 2-3 oz weights. I got only one solid bite, then broke off four rigs. I was too frustrated (also tired from the long travel time the day before) to stay until after dark to try for sculpin.

Day two plan was to go to Garibaldi OR to fish Tillamook Bay. I was hoping for one or two surfperch species and my first marine sculpin species on this trip. I drove thru light to moderate rains thru the mountains. The rain eased off some as I got to the public fishing pier.

I fished pieces of sand shrimp first on a bottom rig with a #10 J hook and a 2 oz weight. These are very soft baits. I got bites and lost more bait than I caught fish. I dropped the hook size and added a piece of worm and caught my first shiner surfperch.

Seeing the size of their mouths I went with the same #16 hook that I used for the sculpin. For bait I cut small pieces of bloodworm scented fishbites. Using that rig, I ended up catching 5 more shiner surfperch.

A lounging harbor seal, very likely full after eating the crabbers by-catch from the pier.

I decided to try for marine sculpin. I cut off the heavy weight and put a 1/8 oz split shot above the hook like I used for the prickly sculpin. I put a small piece of worm on the hook. I fished the pier close to the bank. I went to a spot where I thought was the end of the rip rap/boulder bank in about 4 to 5 feet of water. I bounced the bait along the bottom and quickly caught a cabezon, my first marine sculpin!

The second one. (rains were back🙄)

These were all juveniles. Cabezon can get up to three or more pounds. Even with the rain, I made one more cast and got a strong bite. This fish put some strain on my UL travel rod and 4# test line. Turned out to be a decent sized striped surfperch!

I had hoped to catch one but thought that I would need to fish the heavy surf near the mouth of the inlet. So a very happy surprise!

Hoping to get out of the rain, I headed down another 90 mins to Newport OR to fish the Yaquina bay for other sculpin species and possible greenlings. I got to the first public pier were Pacific staghorn sculpin have been caught, it was completely dry due to the low tide 😒. The next spot had a little bit of water but little to no structure. I ended up at the sea lion pier aka fishing pier.

My first good bite was a keeper Dungeness crab that tried to break my 4# line. I made several casts with no bites. I decided to fish the gap between the fishing and commercial piers. I ended up catching two kelp greenlings that finished my OR fishing days.

I didn't catch a lot of fish but ended the trip with seven lifers! I cannot and am not upset about my OR fishing trip. I still need to catch a WA fish, which could be close enough for a second chance at some more OR lifers. Maybe a sturgeon!!

 

 

[Quillback]

Cool - having live out there, there are certainly lots of possibilities for fishing salt and fresh.  Chum salmon should be running up around Hoodsport WA this time of year, you can catch them wading off the beach.  Of course timing is everything.  

 

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

Cool - having live out there, there are certainly lots of possibilities for fishing salt and fresh.  Chum salmon should be running up around Hoodsport WA this time of year, you can catch them wading off the beach.  Of course timing is everything.  

 

I'm home now but will keep this in mind. Chinook were being caught in the mouths of some rivers when I was there.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Even with the bad weather and unfortunate tides, it still sounds like a great trip.   

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, Daryk Campbell Sr said:

Even with the bad weather and unfortunate tides, it still sounds like a great trip.   

It was.