Northwest Fishing Reports

I will be down in Ocean shores this weekend. I am still going to do some surf fishing for perch but am also interested in hitting the jetty down there for some rockfish? I was going to hit duck lake for bass but I do that every weekend so I am going to take full advantage of the salt opportunities while I am there. (thx for the tips coast - no fins=no tube)

This one:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=46.9 ... 9&t=h&z=15
Has anyone done any good there? Any tips? I'm probably not going to use bait and stick with artificials.

Regulation questions - it looks like it is in are 2-2? Or from what I can gather, if I fish to the south of the jetty it is in area 2-2, and fish north of the jetty (towards state park) it is in area 2?
I can't really tell what these regulations are talking about for lingcod and rockfish:

LINGCOD March 14-Oct. 17, 2009
Re-opens Mar. 13, 2010
Min. size 22". Daily limit 2. No retention or possession of lingcod seaward of a line
approximating 30 fathoms March 15-June 15. See 30 fathom restriction below.
No retention or possession of LINGCOD south of 46°58 N. and seaward of 30 fathoms
on Fridays and Saturdays July 1-Aug. 31.

ROCKFISH Year-round No min. size. Daily limit 10. No CANARY or YELLOWEYE may be retained. No retention
or possession of rockfish seaward of a line approximating 30 fathoms March 15-June 15.
Retention of SABLEFISH, and PACIFIC COD permitted May 1-June 15. See 30 fathom
restriction below.

What areas are these bolded areas talking about?
Also, is it legal to clean the fish on the jetty/beach?

I will be on foot from the state park so westport is a little far to get to.

thx

The 30 fathom restriction I believe means that 30 fathoms is the max depth that you can fish for lingcod and rockfish. From what's stated it seems like you'll be fishing within dates where that restriction doesn't apply though. Also the south of 46 58N is just waypoints or the longitude latitude.

Send a PM to ChristopherBeebe... he fishes out there a lot. Better yet, check with Coastfishin' he lives there.

I fished there a few times this year, but only managed to catch striped perch from the jetty using sandshrimp. If you have one of the castable crab snares, you can get some nice size crab there. Also have tried from shore, but with no luck. If you want some bait, wade out a few feet and catch some of those ghost shrimp that the tide washes in. Good luck.

i talked with coast about duck lake at length and now that it turns out im not fishing it i feel kinda bad picking his brain some more hehe.

i think i got what i need figured out - ill report back on how it goes

Hey! I'll be heading over to Westport this weekend to do some jetty fishing and crabbing as well! Shame weather forecast says its gonna rain :/

My family and I might be going to camp around the westport grayland area in a couple weeks. I was wondering what the best way is to fish for crab from shore or the jetty? What kind of fish can you catch of the jetty in mid july?

jsmith78 wrote:My family and I might be going to camp around the westport grayland area in a couple weeks. I was wondering what the best way is to fish for crab from shore or the jetty? What kind of fish can you catch of the jetty in mid july?

i find using a crab snare effective off of the jetties and as far as fish go the finger jettys in westport will produce some nice pile perch about right now i got some exceptionaly large ones 3-4lbs using pieces of clams. greenling are also plentiful and u may even get some black rockfish i use 3" yamamoto grubs in charteuse with black flakes fished near the bottom with a 3/8oz lead head. cabezon and lingcod are also availiable.. be prepared to lose alot of tackle on any of the jetties. good luck and let us know how you do..

jsmith78 wrote:My family and I might be going to camp around the westport grayland area in a couple weeks. I was wondering what the best way is to fish for crab from shore or the jetty? What kind of fish can you catch of the jetty in mid july?

just got back from Westport literally 30 minutes ago. if you want to crab, throw crab rings in the marina and pull every 15-20 minutes. During high tide, we were getting 15-20 crabs (not all keepers...) EVERY pull. I'd skip out on using a crab cage/trap...unless you wanna let it soak for 2 days. I wouldn't recommend the jetty honestly...trying to fish off there, I could already tell crabbing would be hell off the jetty.

We did some fishing and caught some greenlings but from the looks of it, most people were catching perch and alot sea bass. As for me...i got too frustrated trying to keep the damn sand shrimp on that i gave up after the first night.

ckim85 wrote:

jsmith78 wrote:My family and I might be going to camp around the westport grayland area in a couple weeks. I was wondering what the best way is to fish for crab from shore or the jetty? What kind of fish can you catch of the jetty in mid july?

just got back from Westport literally 30 minutes ago. if you want to crab, throw crab rings in the marina and pull every 15-20 minutes. During high tide, we were getting 15-20 crabs (not all keepers...) EVERY pull. I'd skip out on using a crab cage/trap...unless you wanna let it soak for 2 days. I wouldn't recommend the jetty honestly...trying to fish off there, I could already tell crabbing would be hell off the jetty.

We did some fishing and caught some greenlings but from the looks of it, most people were catching perch and alot sea bass. As for me...i got too frustrated trying to keep the damn sand shrimp on that i gave up after the first night.

Rubber bands work for keeping the shrimp on the hook pretty well, also I use shrimp hooks out there. Shrimp hooks look a lot like a safety pin with hooks on it. They are about the best way I have found to keep shrimp on.

yeah the manager at the resort i was staying at said rubber bands work but the shrimp is so soft that the rubber band literally tears the shrmp apart! eh...another day.

Did you buy your shrimp or dig them yourself? If you dig them they stay firmer a little longer if you keep them cool.
sometimes bought sand shrimp can be soft when they are bought. they don't have a very long shelf life

Coastfishin wrote:Did you buy your shrimp or dig them yourself? If you dig them they stay firmer a little longer if you keep them cool.
sometimes bought sand shrimp can be soft when they are bought. they don't have a very long shelf life

yea bought them for a whopping 5$ a dozen at my resort office. probably shoulda done some digging but fishing was second to crabbing this trip and wasn't prepped much for fishing. it was the pink colored cured shrimps which are ridiculously soft and break apart like nothing.

i know the ones you're talking about! about the only way to get them to stay on a hook is to use an egg sack

yeah we just really couldnt get them to stay on. I'd put it on the hook and stand up and i look and the shrimp is gone!

it was possibly one of the more frustrating kinds of fishing i've done...with the shrimp and all the snags...atleast the crabbing was great and westport is absolutely amazing!

What kind of fish can you catch of the jetty in mid july?

You can catch black rockfish... but it' pretty hit or miss. And if the winds are fierce I'd recommend forgetting about it. I fished it three times in 2007 and got at least one keepable rockfish each time. In 2008 and 2009 I fished it once a year and have not been so lucky. I think I'm going to give it a shot next month though. I recommend jigging 5 and 7-inch curly tail grubs for rockfish if you don't want to deal with shrimp. You can read my jetty reports here:Westport jetty reports.

ya that weather was rough - i tried for a lil bit one day and that was all i could manage. i hear westport has better fishing conditions.

hint(s):

-the cheap grocery shrimp work as good or better than sand shrimp, and stay on the hook better. Try squid too.

- use 1/4 or 1/8 ounce jig heads when fishing on the jetties for black rockfish, with 3-inch white or yellow curl tail grubs. The rockfish seem to like the smaller jig heads than the bigger ones

- you don't need to fish from the big south jetty in order to catch lings, rockfish, and sea perch

ckim85 wrote:yeah the manager at the resort i was staying at said rubber bands work but the shrimp is so soft that the rubber band literally tears the shrmp apart! eh...another day.

When we fish for sturgeon we use sand shrimp. To keep the shrimp on the hook we use Magic Thread which you can buy at most sporting goods stores. It works like a champ and doesn't destroy the shrimp. I will be in Westport at the end of September and hope to get a day or two of calm seas to fish the surf for perch. I can't wait!