sunset bay thursday 8th

I plan on fishing sunset bay thursday, this will be my 1st time launching at sunset bay, anything I should look out for? I have done Pacific City several times, so am familiar with surf launch just wondering if there is anything  I need to look out for.

conditions looks great, it should be a big smooth lake...there seems to be very little kelp around this year so no worries about that.  I get most my fish to the south, past the Glass House up on the cliff.  The bottom changes from sand to rocks about 100-200 yards before you get to Simpson reef, I almost always find lingcod and large solitary black rockfish at the bottom in that area, sometimes a cabby.  you can also stay closer to Sunset Bay by heading out to the NW towards Baltimore Rock, following the reefs and further out, getting between them.

you should have lots of company there, when conditions are this good, all sorts of little boats will launch there.  cheers, roger 

Last Thursday the forecast called for identical conditions as tomorrow's forecast and the swells were twice as tall (3+ feet) with a shorter period (4-5 seconds) and the wind was 3X stronger.  So... watch out for forecasts that are really off.

It's not a surf launch at Sunset Bay, but if by chance it is, the best idea is to stay on shore.   

 

Last Thursday the forecast called for identical conditions as tomorrow's forecast and the swells were twice as tall (3+ feet) with a shorter period (4-5 seconds) and the wind was 3X stronger.  So... watch out for forecasts that are really off.

It's not a surf launch at Sunset Bay, but if by chance it is, the best idea is to stay on shore.   

Tinker-  this is a great example of why it is often useful to check the forecast for more than just the day you are thinking of going.

Last Thursday was the last decent day with building seas and wind on the following days (Fri and Sat would be 'nope' days for me, not worth the drive), even by noon Thursday was predicted to have mixed 3.5' swells and winds starting to gust, in my experience that is no fun out in that area, I might have gone Thursday day but I would have been there at 5:30am and out fishing by 6am with plans to be done by probably 10am.  No way I would have gone out later on Thursday.

This Friday is sandwiched between equally calm days, plus just 2.8' swell predicted by noon and equally important to me, the forecast for Saturday is slightly calmer, so I'm not expecting to get chased off the water by rising seas that come in a bit earlier than predicted.

I guess my conclusion is, based on the way I am reading it, the forecast last Thursday wasn't really off, I would have been expecting the conditions you describe, especially after about 10am.   cheers, roger

I plan on fishing sunset bay thursday, this will be my 1st time launching at sunset bay, anything I should look out for? I have done Pacific City several times, so am familiar with surf launch just wondering if there is anything  I need to look out for.

Pepper and I would be joining you at Sunset this week but my freezer is full of ling/rockfish and conditions are just too good to pass up trying some salmon fishing here at home, tomorrow is basically a recon trip for me in hopes of getting out here again during the 'any coho' season, maybe get lucky and hook a nook. 

I've been over the Siuslaw bar before in my PA12 and Oasis, if conditions are as predicted, plus the soft tides, it will be smooth and there will be lots of powerboats out there, my only real decision, assuming we don't have low clouds/fog, will be whether to drop my pots before or after crossing the bar.

Good luck out of Sunset!  cheers, roger

Thank you, roger.  That's what the forecast read after I got home (~1:30) but not what it read when I left home (~4:30).  I don't mind 2.5 foot swells if they keep a proper distance from each other, but they were spaced closer to 5 seconds than 7 seconds last Thursday.  I think the exceptional tidal exchange last week was what should have kept me at home.

I was loaded up and heading home - okay, heading into town for lunch - by 10:30.  It was a No Go day, all things considered, and after leaving the Bay to check the open water, I turned around and paddled about in the inner bay looking for flatfish (and if they were there, they just laughed at me).

Thanks for the info Roger. I would change and go with you but I am taking my brother out for his first ocean trip and he doesn't have a salmon tag.

Thanks for the info Roger. I would change and go with you but I am taking my brother out for his first ocean trip and he doesn't have a salmon tag.

excellent, I hope you get into some tasty fish....

Thursday was a great calm day on the ocean, this was the 1st ocean trip for my brother so we fished the north shore of sunset bay and caught 4 nice rock fish. That was enough to hook hook him on kayak fishing on the ocean.  We went back on Friday and Saturday, He limited out both days and caught an undersized ling cod, and I caught my 1st kelp greenling.  All in all a great 3 days of fishing and he is already planning his trip next year.

excellent, that is a big improvement from late-June when the rockfishing outside the bay was really slow.