2020 in review

Fishing and fishing related fun just wasn't in the cards for me at all in 2020. 

-Never wet a single line.
-Never touched a single fishing lure, rod or reel for any reason, even just to move it out of the way.
-Never even bothered to get a fishing license.
-Never put my drysuit on (and now I am 60lbs lighter than when I last wore it during Labor Day 2019 at Hobuck).
-Made it to the coast only one time the whole year and this was back in early March before the coastal folks asked the valley folks to stay on our side of the sandbox.
-Kayaks plopped into Hagg twice, and Lake Billy Chinook twice - and that's it!

Fortunately myself and my family have dodged the virus so far and hope to continue keep it away long enough for the vaccine or herd immunity to take full affect.   

My heart truely goes out to all that have had a rough year due to the virus, be it health or financial. 

I really hope to get back out in the ocean in 2021 as I am completely out of frozen rockfish. 

About the same, here. Splashed the kayaks just once at Hagg, didn't even fish.

Hit Nehalem twice and Memaloose once in my skiff for salmon to no effect.

OTOH I did clam 8 times and spent a bit of time nosing around for mushrooms.

It just was kind of limiting to not be able to go together with fishing buddies.

Dang, sorry to hear that guys. I'm lucky to have several local fishing options here on the coast, so I made the best out of being "stuck" for most of the year. Highlights included:

 - Excellent winter steelhead return in Feb-March. No giant fish, but several 5-7 fish days. Really fun.

 - Spring lingcod fishing was amazing. When the boat ramps and charters were largely shuttered, the ling bite off Depoe Bay was fire. Best memory was "free gripping" a giant hitchhiker lingcod. She was easily 43-45 inches and well over 30 pounds, biggest I've ever laid hands on and I even got it on video.

 - Ocean coho was generally tough for me, as they hung outside of kayak range for most of the year. But the summer/fall Chinook bite was pretty damn good, and totally made up for it. Landed a couple of kayak PB Chinook this year.

 - Fall Chinook fishing in the bays was good. Got into the groove of using 360 flashers. Silly effective on bay Chinook. Hoping for something bigger than a 5-fish season limit next year.

I hope you guys who didn't get out this year can give it Hell in 2021!

I guess I shouldn't complain either.

In December last year when fishing with a few buddies I got the idea of starting a fish log for 2020 and also set the goal of a trip per week.

With still a few days left, the counter is at 57 trips (and I hope to squeeze in one or two more) so I met the target of 1/week despite Covid shit hitting the fan. Probably fished more than ever.

Starting a fish log was a great idea. There are many things that you learn on most of the trips (either from your own success or lack thereof, but also from talking to others or observing others). What I realize now is that most of this learning fades away quickly unless written down (what water levels, what bait etc). So also for next year I will make a log.

Having a log also makes it easy to look back:

57 trips...37 fishing  from my kayak, 2 from a power boat and 18 from the bank....32 solo trips, 25 with others...17 different species (plus crab) caught

Highlights:
- 14 chinook and 3 coho (which totally blew away my previous high for salmon per year)
- Large numbers of Cutthroats in coastal rivers. Either I finally learned how to catch them or (more likely) the population grew big time
- I used the free-fishing day for WA state to go after Kokonee for the first time (Lake Merwin) and actually caught some. Will try more in 2021 and probably get a WA license as well.

Lowlights:
- Only one steelhead despite "serious effort"
- Only two trips on the ocean at Pacific City (waves, wind, fog etc.)
- No opportunity to chase Coho in the ocean (ocean simply wasn't cooperating on the days when I had time)
- No trips to Central Oregon (due to Covid). A fly-fishing trip to the Metolius and having large trout grabbing the dry fly from the surface was one of the 2019 highlights and i planned on hitting that river again in 2020 (which thus did not happen...Hopefully in 2021) 
- No tournaments....A real bummer not have the ORC or Tillamook Bay Day....It is nice to be out with many others and have a gathering afterwards. Hopefully next year again!!


 

Damn.  Are you saying you didn't fish because of the virus?

Yes, I am saying that I didn't fish due to the virus.

I don't fish for fresh water fish other than occasional salmon and sturgeon.  With the coastal ramps and beaches closed as long as they were for the pandemic, and the coastal community requesting I stay in the valley for their safety, my chances to fish/crab/clam in the salt was limited. Limited to the point when things were finally acceptable to go to the coast, it wasn't cost effective for me to buy a year fishing license for only a few months of return at best.

I hope I didn't come off as complaining, as I respect the coastal community far more than I do the "big city" community. 

I merely found something else to do this year.  Totally looking forward to being able to hit the salt again, when it's right to do so.

I don't think you're complaining at all. You've just stated the facts as they pertain to you.

Also, good economic choice, weighing cost v remaining time regarding getting your license.  BTDT.

Yes, the 'rona. A lot of my fishing buddies stayed in isolation, plus the various flavors of travel restrictions and stay at home orders kept me from going alone and going alone is just not as much fun. I got zero drift boat trips in, just one jetty trip, one surf perch trip. Clamming and mushrooming kept me sane.

I also just bought a jeep to facilitate more exploration off road. You can say "Dude, you already have too many hobbies" and that's true, but when some of them are artificially shut down it is nice to have others to fall back on.

I expect we will still be looking at a lot of restrictions through next summer, and I very much fear that 2020 will be the new normal for every flu season.

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I expect we will still be looking at a lot of restrictions through next summer, and I very much fear that 2020 will be the new normal for every flu season.

God I hope not! 

Its crappy enough that so many small businesses across the country had to close their doors forever. I doubt we'll see a line at the banks with new business loans being applied for next year either.  I certainly wouldn't step my tootsies onto that sinking ship.

You would think with all the social distancing, masks and hand sanitizer, the damn flu would have gone extinct by now. 

Speaking of Jeep. What kind of exploration are you looking to get into? 

One of the major things I worked on this year to keep busy, was to upgrade my '17 Tacoma Offroad for some SE Oregon NE Nevada desert exploration. Ditto on my kayak/camp trailer. Since I put a lift on my Tacoma, I plan to swap the short stiff trailer leaf springs with the leaf pack that came off my Tacoma. Longer and softer! 

I spent a week out near the Alvord/Steens area
this summer, and both the truck and trailer proved successful, but proper tires and suspension are key to doing this often. I will be back out there!!!!

The ocean never settled down and the streams were crowded.  I made three trips out in the bay this year and ended up empty-handed and wondering why I let that surf12foot fellow talk me into buying a 2020 license.

We've been jam-packed with folks from out of the area since February.  I stopped walking the dogs on the beaches because they became over-crowded, and I'd never seen elbow-to-elbow combat fishing along these little coastal streams before this season.

I'm decidedly not dissing you city folk since much, if not most of the crowds are from out of state, but we also have more than the normal number of folks from all over Oregon hanging around.  It seemed that the more strict the public health restrictions became, the more people headed for the coast.  Curiously lemming-like behavior if you think about it for a moment.

I, too, am not complaining.  This is simply how it was to live on the coast this year and carrying-on about it doesn't change a thing.

2020 was not a great fishing year for me either. I think I got 9 wild steelhead last winter which is a lot for me but then only made it out kayak fishing four times in June to try for AOTD species. I got on the board but that was the end of kayak fishing. Never made it to the salt or fall salmon fishing. I made a scouting trip for steelhead last week with the rivers on the rise which has me a little bit excited now to keep going. We ended up doing projects on our property to keep busy since all our travel plans got cancelled. I bought rockfish filets at the store this week.

Speaking of Jeep. What kind of exploration are you looking to get into? 

One of the major things I worked on this year to keep busy, was to upgrade my '17 Tacoma Offroad for some SE Oregon NE Nevada desert exploration. Ditto on my kayak/camp trailer. Since I put a lift on my Tacoma, I plan to swap the short stiff trailer leaf springs with the leaf pack that came off my Tacoma. Longer and softer! 

I spent a week out near the Alvord/Steens area
this summer, and both the truck and trailer proved successful, but proper tires and suspension are key to doing this often. I will be back out there!!!!

I intend covering a lot more ground in the coast range and Mt Hood for mushrooms, maybe stream fishing. Mild offroading on logging roads to begin with, nothing artificially technical. Imma take her up to Ft. Rock in Feb for Cougar Camp instead of the truck, pulling my teardrop.

Mt TD is kindasorta offroad, with 15” tires and good ground clearance, so will let me do mild overlanding. Would be interested in SE Oregon. This week I am upgrading her battery to 100ah, solely to get three nights of electric blanket use. Longer if I bring the solar panel or generator.

Matter of fact I have a zamp connector ready to install at the same time for the solar.

The jeep is a stock JKU, tires are 31.5 m/s’s. Not lifted and no lockers or limited slip but does has the new traction control. It has more capability than I do at this point.

Will have a winch on her by Q2.


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I fished at least once every month, usually on kayak. Several trips to La Pine area lakes for still water fly fishing. Unfortunately did not make it up to Canada this year to fish with my brother, nor he here.  But Stinger Hook once a week! That’s awesome, congratulations!!

My year in general was pretty damn awful!

My father in law died from covid after a long battle. Died on Xmas Eve. Mother in law and sister in law both had covid but seem to have made it out the other side ok.

My fishing year had a bunch of bummer trips and a few stellar trips. I did accomplish my AOTY goal of entering 10 species! Pretty stoked for that! I caught the biggest Lingcod of my life with some guidance and help from Clayman. Thanks Chris!

I also spent two days fishing Brownlee where Jed showed me the ropes. Thanks Jed! I caught 4 new kayak PBs there. A 19 inch Smallmouth, 21 inch Rainbow Trout, 12.5 inch Yellow Perch and I think the catfish was 23 inches! Man that was fun!

I am so completely looking forward to 2021!

Definitely a weird year, thoughts go out to those affected.

The shutdown really shaped my fishing year. Washington was shutdown, Idaho wouldn't sell me an out of State license, kids were at home for school, and there was a county travel restriction.

This forced me to explore water I've never fished before and really work areas that I thought I knew. Even after things opened up a bit I ended up traveling a lot less than previous years. This plan paid off with some PB fish close to home and spots I can hit in the future for quick trips.

Only made it to the Salt twice but was lucky enough to find some decent fish. Even found a chicken nugget halibut at PC as well as help land a buddy's 50#er.

Super stoked to be able to put on the BCS V with only a weeks notice and have a really good turn out. Covid precautions in place of course.

I really missed attending the other tournaments and get togethers with fellow kayak anglers.

Hoping things calm down and 2021 is more normal-ish.