Depot Bay Report - Aug. 18th

I spent a couple of nights out of Chinook Bend to see if I could get out to Pacific City to do some crabbing and fishing. The last month or so has had great conditions, but when I checked the website to see if the channels were clear, wouldn't you know it? Restricted access. Luckily, Tuesday morning was good to go - until the winds were forecasted for that afternoon. If that was my backup plan, I'd have to hope my luck held out. When I got to PC, there wasn't a kayaker to be seen - except for all of the surfers getting ready to hit the waves. Not a good sign for me. There was also a large CG ship very close to shore just outside of the crabbing area. Aarrrrgghhhh!!! Back to Depot before time runs out!

I dropped off my crab trap at camp and scurried to the Depot Bay parking lot. I was the only one there at 9:30 - not even a trailer! I got everything unloaded and had to fiddle with the wires on my fish finder. Made it out of the hole after a little... incident with my rudder that didn't want to comply with my command to take me to the right just as I was thinking, "Hey! This is going to be easier than I thought!" I grabbed my paddle to clear the rocks as I started drifting a little too close to the left. Got out about 50 yards and tried to figure it out. I found that I had to keep my right hand pulling on the rudder deploy handle as I steered my Hobie when I really wanted to turn to the right. There was a little current out there with the swells going here and there so I'm sure that contributed to the rudder's failure. Thankfully, there was much less wind than I had anticipated. There were swells and a little wind, but I thought it was going to be a little more intense. Headed toward the first buoy and hooked my first fish to the right of it. Okay, this should be a good day. Headed farther north and started catching more rockfish, a few smaller, a few medium-sized... I threw back several.

There were the usual whaling boat suspects out there and I think they got more of a kick out of me fishing out of a piece of tupperware than they were of the whales cruising up and down the bay. Too funny. I got to put a show on for them a couple of times with some of the rockfish. About 2 hours into it, I hooked something bigger on my black and silver Lancer jig that I got at the ORC two years ago (I may just be a believer). Brought it to the boat and it was a fat Cabby (about 12 pounds). Nice! He blew octopus chunks at me and I tried to get some of the pieces at the side of the kayak, but they were too far out of reach. There went my chance at some semi-alive bait. I cut the gills and set it in the back of the Hobie. I was going to leave it and the other fish on the side of my kayak, but with all of the blood in the water and being the only one out there, I just dipped them in the water and tossed them in the back. Continued catching fish off and on until I caught about an 8 pound ling that hit the small squid fly Good fish! Everything was going according to plan. Hooked another bigger Cabby and gave him a short line release. It was about 15 pounds, I think. Definitely bigger than the one I first caught. Spent the last hour or so finishing up my limit and trying to get that last lingcod but no luck. The wind started to pick up and the swells weren't getting any smaller. I figured the fishing gods were kind enough to let me get out and I headed back to the dock. Gave my information to the fish checker when I got in and went back to camp to package my fish.

Although it didn't turn out the way I would have ideally liked (which would have included a fat limit of Dungies, it was definitely a good day... Out of curiosity, do any of you here crab from your 'yaks out of Depot? I know a couple of good-looking spots I'd definitely hit.

Fred "True" Trujillo

Sounds like a great day!  Thanks for the in depth report.

Nice report, Fred, thanks.  Did you take note of the salmon fishing over on the Siletz? I suppose it's started by now. The new owners of Coyote Rock don't post pictures anymore- that's what I used to go by.

Oh, yes. I was out there on Monday evening, but only got reports of a couple being caught on Tuesday morning with Kwikfish at the hogline.

I'm heading out to Depoe or PC from Sunday to Friday of this coming week. I think the forecast is supposed to be a bit more cooperative. I'll be hitting the ocean harder than the Siletz but will hit the Siletz definitely. The seals have started lining up at the mouth...

Fred "True" Trujillo

Thanks. I'll probably hit that a time or two later on.

Thanks for the killer report Fred!

good job fred and good luck if u make it this weekend. what did u end up doing with the rudder to fix?  tighten lines maybe?

I was checking it this evening and it looked like the top part of the rudder pin was sheared off. I put the back up pin on that seemed to have a little more "oomph" to the top. I think I'll need to tighten up the lines too. I still have a couple of days to figure it out.

Fred "True" Trujillo