Cape Blanco 7/30/15-8/2/15, Country Music festival fishing opportunities

Hey all,

The family is looking at camping for the weekend and taking in the Cape Blanco country music festival.  The tides are good for clamming for razors, and the music schedule leaves plenty of time for fishing in the mornings.

Have any of you all attended the festival and fished from it?  Any local knowledge on the best launch sites near the cape?  I know it blows on the regular at port orford, diurnal heating mostly bringing up afternoon winds like down here just south of the ca/or border.  THe sixes river estuary looks like it could provide a decent beach launch, how about a landing if the wind is up?

i know this is way in advance, I'm just getting some planning and ideas together, and want to make sure that its worth the effort to bring the kayak to fish in the mornings.

TIA

I have never heard of this. How many years have they been doing it?

http://capeblancofestival.com/

2014 was the first year I think.  I didn't go this year since I wanted to get reviews for how family friendly it is before taking my girls.  All reports I got back were that it is definitely family friendly and should be a great time.

Your best bet is probably Port Orford, there at battle rock. You have the rocks and kelp beds right there. The morning should be ok till about 1pm or a little sooner. Don't know about the Sixes mouth but will try and find out some more intel for you.

It's usually pretty rough around the cape and Sixes. I'd also suggest Port Orford also or go up to Sunset Bay for a safe launch and close fishing. It blows like hell almost all the time at Cape Blanco.

I might add that you should bring a big parka to keep warm at the festival.

Last year was the first ever Cape Blanco Music Festival.

You're looking at the windiest headlands on the Oregon Coast.  Everyone who attended last year, who weren't from the Port Orford area, complained about the constant, strong wind and the poor sound quality (that they blamed on the winds).

The wind is not diurnal.

The most frequent comments I heard around town from those visitors who attended were: the wind, poor access, surly vendors, local prices, and the sound quality.

If you're coming, you should know that there are no clamming opportunities in the immediate area; we have no clam beds.  You can find clams near Bandon to the north or around Humbug Mountain to the south.

There are no salmon and no steelhead in the local rivers at the time of the festival, and the coastal cutthroat run will be past.  The water will be very low and very warm, and even the trout get hard to find at that time of year.

The surf at Cape Blanco is big, year-round, and it's tricky and treacherous with extremely strong rips and currents.  It is usually impossible to reach the sea from the Sixes estuary.

It's rarely a possible to launch from Battle Rock in a kayak, and there are hundreds of rock gardens to dodge, and much of the area out from Battle Rock is a Marine Reserve.  You might catch a break and be able to launch from Dog Beach, near the docks, and from there, if you hug the north headlands, get in some decent fishing.
 
If you come, please clean up.  Last year, I pulled more than five 50-gallon bags of trash out of the Sixes River in the week immediately after the festival, and I wasn't the only person trying to clean up the river.  Honestly, the promoters did a good job of cleaning up, but didn't clean in the rivers nor on the opposite bank.

Salmon numbers in the Sixes have been a bit disappointing this year, despite the rains keeping the rivers up and the higher than normal tides.  I don't know if there's a correlation or a coincidence, but they hold the festival at the same time the smolt are trying to get out, and there was an incredible density of gulls and cormorants hanging around picking the campgrounds and being fed near the river.

If you want more information about the area, PM me.

Thanks for the detailed post tinker.  I'll try to scout the area on my way to ORC this year.  I got the clamming info from the ODFW website, I haven't tried it before in that area so thanks for the tip.

As for kayak fishing the area and getting out, I imagine its similar to cape mendocino down this way.  Usually not fishable, but epic when it is.

Thanks again.

I fished for two days at Port Orford this past August.  The beach by the docks has parking and is sand and you have maybe 50-75 yards to either pull or carry your boat to the water.   I had about a 1 foot surf break but I could see that if one pulls up closer to the dock, the surf break would likely be much less.

I fished  out by Hells Gate and Tichenor Rock.  Wind came up strong at about 10:30 to 11 with some fog to boot.  Cold and choppy without the sun out.  Caught/kept 1 ling, released some small rockfish and underlings.

Lots of great looking stuff around there but the wind certainly does howl!

The wind is pretty predictable in the summer. Go at the crack of dawn and it can be like a pond for several hours until it picks up.

This guy's photo gallery  has quite a few few pictures from Port Orford as well as other spots in Curry and Coos counties.

http://www.southcoasttours.net/kayak-photo-gallery.html

The Sunset Bay AOTD tournament in Charleston is usually the first weekend in August. There will be a bunch of us camping and fishing that week in the area. The official date has not been set yet, but appears likely that's when it will be.

Here are two pics from April and May 2011. It can be nice there mid-day.

Thanks for the detailed post tinker.  I'll try to scout the area on my way to ORC this year.  I got the clamming info from the ODFW website, I haven't tried it before in that area so thanks for the tip.

As for kayak fishing the area and getting out, I imagine its similar to cape mendocino down this way.  Usually not fishable, but epic when it is.

Thanks again.

A little worse than Mendocino (as I remember it) but not night and day different.  The beach at the dock is nicknamed Dog Beach; it's tucked behind the headlands (and the dock) and is usually blessed with small surf, a close break, and gentle swells.  South Coast Tours launches there.

The Sunset Bay AOTD tournament in Charleston is usually the first weekend in August. There will be a bunch of us camping and fishing that week in the area. The official date has not been set yet, but appears likely that's when it will be.

Neat.  Hope to run into some of you.