A somewhat boring night of fishing in Newport

I went night fishing in the bay last night with my buddy Andrew. There were more sea lions than I have ever seen on the rocks and in the water near the Under Sea Garden, it was a nuts! We caught a few small rockfish out by the fingers from the kayak where there were less sea lions. When the tide started to swing we fished from the rocks by the marina near the fuel dock. There are a lot of big herring in the bay. We casted a herring rig from the rocks with crappie jig under it for a little weight. We caught herring till around 1:00 in the morning, then went home.
It was crazy to see the sea lions round the herring up. The sea lions were in groups chasing the herring. It was awesome watching the herring boil out of the water while the sea lions chased them around!
This pic doesn't show very well how many there really were. It was a pretty incredible amount of them.

Nice work!  I was going to fish the bay this weekend, but the Seafood+Wine Festival crowds convinced me to go chase steelhead instead.  Good to know the herring are still in, maybe I'll give it a shot this next weekend.  Thanks for the report!

Nice work!  I was going to fish the bay this weekend, but the Seafood+Wine Festival crowds convinced me to go chase steelhead instead.  Good to know the herring are still in, maybe I'll give it a shot this next weekend.  Thanks for the report!

It's a pleasure to share. I wasn't really sure what to do with the herring because I don't use them all that much. Most of them went with my buddy, he'll use them up fishing for lingcod here soon. The few that I did keep went in the smoker. To my surprise they were delicious! The meat came right off the bone. It kinda reminded me of having little trout on a stick over a camp fire.
Pickled shimckled[emoji6]


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Nice, I cooked a couple fresh ones I caught from last week too.  Just a simple pan-fry.  They're super tasty!  But the abundant bones were kind of a pain.  Might be better if I cook smaller ones next time so I can just munch the bones with the meat.

Great report, Casey!  Looks like a lot of fun - especially night fishing. 

Sounds more than somewhat boring!

Herring sure are yummy! Those bones are just extra calcium and you can usually get most of them out all together after cooking by pulling out the spine with (hopefully) all the bones attached.

Sounds more than somewhat boring!

Herring sure are yummy! Those bones are just extra calcium and you can usually get most of them out all together after cooking by pulling out the spine with (hopefully) all the bones attached.

It was a lot of fun catching herring, and like you said most of the bones came right off. The reason I said somewhat boring is because I've had so many amazing nights catching good sized rockfish all night long in the bay, and last night they were all pretty small and the fishing wasn't as fast as it can be on a good night. It was way better than staying home though, that's for sure!


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I was fishing Yaquina Bay Saturday and was in the middle of a couple of those feeding frenzies with the sealions.  I took a couple videos with my phone, but couldn't get them to upload on here.  One time they were so close they splashed me and I couldn't unlock my phone to record it.  As much as I dislike sealions, it was fun to watch.

I was fishing Yaquina Bay Saturday and was in the middle of a couple of those feeding frenzies with the sealions.  I took a couple videos with my phone, but couldn't get them to upload on here.  One time they were so close they splashed me and I couldn't unlock my phone to record it.  As much as I dislike sealions, it was fun to watch.

I tried uploading a video of them also. It was neat to see that. Hopefully they don't get too many! I saw some guys heading out with yellow kayaks in the back of there truck while getting suited up on the south jetty around 6:00 ish, was that you?


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I saw some guys heading out with yellow kayaks in the back of there truck while getting suited up on the south jetty around 6:00 ish, was that you?

No, I had to head out about noon.  I have a tan outback.  I tried fly fishing the north jetty first thing with no luck, then fished by the NOAA boats to get some herring.  I was across the channel from the NOAA boats when the sealions came by.

I have always wanted to try the jetty fishing at night, but never have. That sounds fun.

Great report, thanks for sharing!