2018 Depoe Bay coho reports

Speaking of sticky presentation, has anyone tried a barbless circle hook for the trailer, or is this not appropriate/legal?

The problem with coho is that they are scrappy hook spitting magicians and once they hit the bait it may stop spinning & they won’t hit it again.

  Last year, I was proud to muster a 50% landing ratio on those coho.

What you guys said.  I went 1 for 7 during a trip last summer.  I was ready to sell my rods after number 6 but decided to give it one more try.

-Mark-

Speaking of sticky presentation, has anyone tried a barbless circle hook for the trailer, or is this not appropriate/legal?

I use them quite often on my flies when those little buggers just wanna nip the tail and are in the play mode. Saved a lot of fishless days.

I've heard those Matzuo sickle hooks do a good job of hanging onto coho.  I've used them a few times, but not enough to form much of an opinion on them.  Sometimes I wonder if it's less about the hook, and more about how much pressure I'm putting on the fish.  Maybe a longer, more limber rod would be the ticket?  Or maybe even one of those rubber snubbers that guys use for kokanee.  Something to help absorb those spastic little head shakes.

I have had decent success on coho using Gamakatsu Big River and Trokar Big Nasty hooks, both of which have a "sickle" shape to them.  They seem to stick better than regular octopus shaped hooks.  I also like my lamiglas fiberglass rod.

I recommend fishing straight 25 mono, with 40 lb leaders, no snubber needed.  Don’t get me started on my hatred of divers for coho fishing.

 Those brb hooks are money.

I know I'm not the only one who's been watching the forecast sites lately  .

I plan to fish it hard Saturday through Monday.

Good luck and hope to see you out there! I’ll be out bright and early Saturday! Fishing for about 342 AOTY points and some fish nuggets for my girls! 😉 A nice chinook and a cabby should do. Fingers crossed 🤞

I've heard those Matzuo sickle hooks do a good job of hanging onto coho.  I've used them a few times, but not enough to form much of an opinion on them.  Sometimes I wonder if it's less about the hook, and more about how much pressure I'm putting on the fish.  Maybe a longer, more limber rod would be the ticket?  Or maybe even one of those rubber snubbers that guys use for kokanee.  Something to help absorb those spastic little head shakes.

I used the rubber snubbers & circle hooks a couple weeks ago out of my friend's pb out of DB. Three of us on the boat had 8 bites & landed 7 wild coho's we had to release, which brings up some fishery management issues I'd like to discuss later on a different post.

I'm thinking the sickle hooks would also work well.

Chris - I'd like to fish with you one of these days. I'd do my best to keep up. 

Am at government point at the moment. Ocean looks goooooood! Hope to feesh thru Monday.

For those that like to play with whales looks like this be ur weekend.they are all over!!

In a word: sloooow.  I never had a touch today.  Trolled all the way out to 170 feet, then back to 80, then back to 160, etc.  Just couldn't find any good rips, and the bait was almost nonexistent.  By the time I left at 1400, the parking lot was still full of trailers and the cleaning station was empty, giving me the impression that the bite sucked for everyone today.

Buddy of mine picked up a few fish out of Newport at the 160 foot contour.  I may just hop on a boat and do that tomorrow.  Give my legs a break after all that trolling!

Ha, bummer. Thanks for the report. I’m heading out tomorrow and Monday anyway. Any fog to speak of at sunrise?

If it was like today expect thick fog but burned off to be really nice.

I've heard there's been some good success catching salmon close to the beach off the shores of Waldport and also Florence.  Granted, it's not as nice of a launch as Depoe Bay, but there are some fish close in.  A lot has to do with the water temperature.  Hope the fish come in closer!!  Here fishy fishy.