Fishing the north coast this Sunday 4/28

Hey all,

I've been wanting to fish the coast (Tillamook, Cape Kiwanda, any other recommendations) but have never been out on a kayak anywhere near waves or tides for that matter. I've only gone out on rivers and lakes alone, but I don't want my first time in salt water to be solo. I've got a healthy amount of fear and respect for the ocean.

Any experienced kayak anglers up for showing me the ropes on fishing the coast? I'd love to camp out on Saturday night to get an early start on Sunday (driving from SW Portland). I'd gratefully buy you a beer and dinner at the end of the day.

Send me a DM if you're up for meeting up!

Read this: http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=21345.0;topicseen

I live in Central Oregon and I am in the Tillamook area this weekend.  I nearly always bring my kayak when I come to the coast to go fishing, but intentionally left it home this weekend because of the conditions.

What I look for if fishing Tillamook Bay is a morning low tide an hour or two after daylight.  That way the tide works with you going out to the fishing area.  I fish through the low slack tide and use the incoming tide to return.  Having an afternoon low tide you are taking a big chance having high wind.

Looking at the ocean forecast, there is nothing about the ocean conditions that look doable for this weekend.

Be patient, good conditions will be here soon.  There are often people watching for the right conditions and make a post for people to join at Tillamook Bay.

I might be down for showing the bay ropes after I recover from moving storage, I’ll keep an eye on conditions cuz I really need to fish!

Thanks guys! I'll be patient. Just itching to get on the water!

Try not to get itchy this early in the year.  It could be June before things start to settle down this year.

Looking out a ways on Magic Seaweed which I know doesnt mean too much. Attached is the forecast for Wed 5/7. To the untrained eye, that seems like a pretty decent day and both days on either side are almost the same. Just checking my logic

I know most folks here use MSW to check what the ocean looks like, but all surfing forecasts are for what to expect within a couple hundred yards of the beach.  If you checked a surfing forecast (or the current report) for where I live, it'd tell you it's all small, long-period waves - and that would be accurate - but 300 yards out, just beyond the shelter of the headlands and just outside the surf zone, it's solid 4-6 foot whitecaps all the way to the horizon.

There's a lot of information for cross-guessing a surfing forecast, and right now there's nothing about the winds in open water or in mid-ocean that would suggest May 7th will look anything like the MSW forecast, but it's way too early to count on any forecast coming true.

But hypothetically, if today were May 7th, and if what you're showing us isn't a forecast for inside a bay (which MSW also forecasts), there will be secondary and tertiary swells that are not wind waves (they don't align to the wind) coming from close to the same direction, but that direction is at a right angle to the primary swells.  Plus the secondary and tertiary swells will join every twentieth swell or so to form a larger swell, potentially three feet tall.

Even in small swells, that can be a bumpy ride.  "Decent" would depend on how strong your stomach is.

I'm in for a Tillamook Bay trip real soon.  Workload is starting to lighten up. 

Looking out a ways on Magic Seaweed which I know doesnt mean too much. Attached is the forecast for Wed 5/7. To the untrained eye, that seems like a pretty decent day and both days on either side are almost the same. Just checking my logic

MSW is a great tool, but IMO it's the most "forgiving" forecast site.  I recommend using other forecast sites to act as a check on MSW forecasts.  A couple of my favorites include Storm Surf and the classic NOAA buoy reports.  There are many days where MSW will describe a decent day, but the other sites do not--those are generally the days you want to avoid.  But when all the sites are aligning, it's go time!

When it comes down to it, you can always pull the plug on a trip at the last minute.  I've done this a few times: shaky forecast, I'll park near the launch and watch the ocean for a while.  If I don't like what I see, I don't launch.

Fish the ocean enough, and you'll eventually find your upper tolerance limit for confused seas and wind.  Everyone likes those "2 foot swell @ 20 seconds, variable wind" days, but if you wait for only those days to fish, you probably won't fish much that year  .

I'm in for a Tillamook Bay trip real soon.  Workload is starting to lighten up.

5/5-5/9 are all doable tides with the later launch you get shorter fishing time before the wind blows you off the water.

Looking out a ways on Magic Seaweed which I know doesnt mean too much. Attached is the forecast for Wed 5/7. To the untrained eye, that seems like a pretty decent day and both days on either side are almost the same. Just checking my logic

MSW is a great tool, but IMO it's the most "forgiving" forecast site.  I recommend using other forecast sites to act as a check on MSW forecasts.  A couple of my favorites include Storm Surf and the classic NOAA buoy reports.  There are many days where MSW will describe a decent day, but the other sites do not--those are generally the days you want to avoid.  But when all the sites are aligning, it's go time!

When it comes down to it, you can always pull the plug on a trip at the last minute.  I've done this a few times: shaky forecast, I'll park near the launch and watch the ocean for a while.  If I don't like what I see, I don't launch.

Fish the ocean enough, and you'll eventually find your upper tolerance limit for confused seas and wind.  Everyone likes those "2 foot swell @ 20 seconds, variable wind" days, but if you wait for only those days to fish, you probably won't fish much that year  .

Clayman, and anyone else who wants to answer, do you have a good backup spot for kayak fishing near Tillamook if you do pull the plug last minute? It's about a two-hour drive for me to get out there, so if the ocean isn't looking good, I'd still love to fish.


On another note, I got out on the Willamette at Sellwood. Very crowded but it was a beautiful day. No fish sadly.

Clayman, and anyone else who wants to answer, do you have a good backup spot for kayak fishing near Tillamook if you do pull the plug last minute? It's about a two-hour drive for me to get out there, so if the ocean isn't looking good, I'd still love to fish.

Could try the Trask River for spring Chinook, or the Nestucca for springers and summer steelhead.

There’s always the bay as long as the lie tide is between 0800 and 1000 gets windy in the afternoon around here.