Oregon Coast Fly Fishing 5/3/2012

 Yesterday, I headed to the coast for some different fly fishing than the norm for your typical Oregonian. Although what is "normal" fly fishing anyway? I know I love my carp fly fishing, and now that is almost considered "normal", but not quite yet.....

I was going for bottom fishing for species like rockfish, cabezon, and lingcod, and hopefully the conditions would produce some fish. The first spot I hit was Netarts Bay, and I was trying off of the rocks for a good while before I decided that the tidal movement felt too intense to get a decent presentation to actually catch a fish. On the walk back to my car, I decided to wade out into a sandy flat to literally just bomb out a few casts. It was not really something that I actually was thinking would produce a fish, and I wanted to more or less cast out a few huge bombs just for fun and casting practice. It turned out that on the second cast, when I was stripping my huge two tailed conehead saltwater white bunny leech (for Rockfish, Cabezon, & Lingcod), I got a crushing take. The line had a fast hard radical pull, and I wondered what I had on. It was no bottom fish, nor was it a surf perch (which I knew swam in the exact area), and it was fast and pulling hard; swimming like a salmonid. The glimpses I had of the fish seemed to be anything from a steelhead, a huge sea run cutt, or a salmon. Finally the fish tired enough to reveal that it was a salmon in its saltwater oceanic part of its life cycle. It was so chrome bright, where it was practically transparent, and had a holographic shimmer to it fins. It was humbling; since it made me realize how random things in fishing happen even when you think you have a grasp on what is going on. Surprises happen, and that is another reason why we fish!

While casting into a large sandy saltwater flat, this salmon intercepted this Rockfish fly

After that, I drove to the Tillamook Bay in hopes of better bottom fishing, and the tide was drawing to a near slack "low" time. The currents would not be as fast near the slack tide; so I figured I would be able to get a better presentation to the fish I was targeting. It turns out that I made the right decision, as the fishing was consistent and action packed for about 2 hours. I was throwing a shooting head system with an intermediate sinking running line with a type II 28 foot sinking shooting head. The leader was a short hand tied three piece configuration of 18 inches of 30# butt section to 9 inches of 25# to 2 feet of 20# tippet. The flies I used were both 2/0 in hook size, and one was a synthetic clouser with chartruese and white; while the other was a conehead two tailed white bunny leech.  

This black rockfish took this large two tailed white conehead bunny leech

All in all it was a fun day of fishing between the incidental salmon and the rockfish I got into. I also briefly hook up with a larger fish that was either a cabezon or a lingcod, but it was a short lived hookup. I did see the fish eat my fly and had it on long enough to bend the rod over hard. Just then, it was off....

Fly fishing for bottom fish off of jetties in Oregon requires a shooting head line system

  Once the tide turned around and started to slowing become "incoming", the fishing seemed to shut off like a light switch. How strange; since the reputation is better for good fishing at incoming tide. Who knows.... that is why we call it fishing and not catching I guess....

Below is a short video of some of the action from the day. I was not filming too much; so I missed the best fish, and it seemed like when I was filming it was jinxing the action. Nonetheless, you can see what some of the fishing was like out in the inshore Oregon saltwater.....