good contour charts for scouting/planning

Good afternoon guys.

Taking a break from outfitting they kayak, and getting ready to head to the lake to work on skills before hitting the ocean next weekend.  One of the things I want to do this summer is hit smaller places up and down the oregon, washington, N CAl coast.  I have fished the shore up and down the coast since I was a lil kid, and have always thought there was a treasure trove of fishing to be done just offshore if I could just get to it.  Such as going out Salmon river to crab and fish off of cascade head.   That said I have been trying to find a good resource to study charts to try to find reefs and rock outcroppings within reach of a kayak once I find good launch points.  Heck, even if I dont find great fishing spots,, the adventures will be worth it!!

I have found decent charts for the common areas like Depoe bay, PC, and Sunset.  Does anyone know of a good resource out there, not matter if its electronic or paper chart.  I would much rather have electronic so I can compare things easier like the ODFW restricted marine reservations, but not scared to pour over a big paper chart. 

Thanks in advance for any help!
Looking forward to meeting some of you on the water in the near future.

Lance

https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/

Uncheck all boxes the check both DEM boxes

Good question. Navionics has all your looking for. You can browse the chart viewer here:

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@11&key=w%7Cq_GhqruV

They have an app that tracks your GPS location with their charts. Really cool stuff. I downloaded the demo app which lasted 10 days but forgot to use it. So now they want $49.99 but I have not felt the need to pay up yet.

I just browsed around the link that Mojo Jojo sent. Was kinda difficult to figure out. Maybe I just dont know which buttons to click.

So the question I have, does anyone know where to find substrate maps? That shows where sand/mud/gravel? Looking for those nearshore sandy honey holes....preferably with some humps...

 

+1 to Navionics

So the question I have, does anyone know where to find substrate maps? That shows where sand/mud/gravel? Looking for those nearshore sandy honey holes....preferably with some humps...

https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/fishmaps/

They're compressed in tar.gz files and are super high resolution. Like 150MB+ compressed kind of resolution. You can use 7zip (https://www.7-zip.org/) to uncompress them if you're on windows, then open the .tif file with whatever photo viewer you want.

The real fun stuff is the rendered bathymetry NOAA has online

https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/

Uncheck Multibeam Bathymetric Surveys then click BAG Color Shaded Relief Imagery, if you're fortunate enough to fish in an area where the NOAA did a study you can see ridiculous detail of the bottom here.

Fish hard,
Some fish data nerd.

Good question. Navionics has all your looking for. You can browse the chart viewer here:

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@11&key=w%7Cq_GhqruV

They have an app that tracks your GPS location with their charts. Really cool stuff. I downloaded the demo app which lasted 10 days but forgot to use it. So now they want $49.99 but I have not felt the need to pay up yet.

I just browsed around the link that Mojo Jojo sent. Was kinda difficult to figure out. Maybe I just dont know which buttons to click.

So the question I have, does anyone know where to find substrate maps? That shows where sand/mud/gravel? Looking for those nearshore sandy honey holes....preferably with some humps...

Side looks like this?

Good question. Navionics has all your looking for. You can browse the chart viewer here:

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@11&key=w%7Cq_GhqruV

They have an app that tracks your GPS location with their charts. Really cool stuff. I downloaded the demo app which lasted 10 days but forgot to use it. So now they want $49.99 but I have not felt the need to pay up yet.

I just browsed around the link that Mojo Jojo sent. Was kinda difficult to figure out. Maybe I just dont know which buttons to click.

So the question I have, does anyone know where to find substrate maps? That shows where sand/mud/gravel? Looking for those nearshore sandy honey holes....preferably with some humps...

And Pacific City will look like this. 

Thats AWEOME guys!! thank you, now I know what I will be doing all week lol   Taking the yak on the ocean fist time next weekend.  Cant wait!!!

Guys, you also want to check the box for Bathymetric Attributed Grid (BAG) Imagery. Not all areas have it, but where it’s available it’s even better that the reef Mojo is showing at PAC City.

Thats AWEOME guys!! thank you, now I know what I will be doing all week lol   Taking the yak on the ocean fist time next weekend.  Cant wait!!!

So you think a week in a lake will get you ready to fish in the ocean for the first time, huh?  Meet up with someone or find someone to go with you.  Your safety is the most important thing.  Just saying.

Ya, I realize I may not get alot, if any of fishing done, but even if I just work on shore launches and landings with an outfitted kayak it will be worth it.   watching the weather close, I have been looking at Sunset (looks nice and sheltered) or Salmon river, then out to ocean from Knight Park to start.  PC has me a bit nervous to start out at, want my confidence up a bit before I head up. 

Living in Eugene allows me to go north or south easily. 

Sunset Bay is a great area to fish.  The launch is gravy pretty much year round, but understand that the actual ocean outside of the reef can get really sporty for a beginner, and for the experienced alike.   Fog, wind and confused swells happen on days that are forecasted to be butter.

On a more advanced note you can download the BAG files and render them in CARIS (http://www.caris.com/downloads/CARIS%20Easy%20View%204.4.1%20(x64).zip) if you want to zoom in and get exact depth.

Or if the NOAA survey offers .sd files you can render them in iView4D (http://www.qps.nl/display/fledermaus/iview) and fly around.

Here's one of the Nisqually basin.


With a combination of these bathymetric renderings and flow maps I've found some 'undiscovered' spots both in the Puget Sound and in California.


Fish hard.