PC Saturday

I don't think I am a total jinx given it is Wed late and Sunday is improving. I avoid days when the next day is sketchy.  Last weekend was pretty epic. Wondering if anyone is planning on Sat or has been out this week. I am staying in PC for the weekend so will be fishing both days somewhere

I would Love to make it out sunday...but we shall see.  Curious how fog will be in the morning.

I plan on Saturday and possibly Sunday as well. Will probably bring my wife and a friend on Saturday.

Your photos from last week sure were inspiring!!

Hopefully visibility is better than it has been quite often lately. If zero then I probably redirect to Nestucca tidewater or the Siltez.

The smoke will be gone, just need to deal with the fog. Ocean continues to look great. Would be interested in Nestucca tidewater. Launch points, techniques, etc. Lived in Tillamook for 4 years and never got to the lower Nestucca. Might have to be a backup

The smoke will be gone, just need to deal with the fog. Ocean continues to look great. Would be interested in Nestucca tidewater. Launch points, techniques, etc.

I can only help with launch points, but the public ramp by the bridge is one option (intersection of Pacific Ave. and Cape Kiwanda Dr.). I haven't talked to DJ in a couple of years but he used to run Nestucca Adventures a bit farther upstream on Brooten Road (kayak/SUP shop, among other things) and he's happy to let you use his dock as well. There's no ramp to the water there, so you'll be dropping your kayak off the dock - some people like that, some don't.

I'm sure others will have some good intel on tactics. DJ mostly suggested spinners or bobber and eggs, IIRC.

There's a community park and boat launch right next to Nestucca Adventures too. No signs that it's closed but there is a cable across the ramp. I navigated around it a month ago.

Fog didint look too bad this morning.  Looks great out there now, at least from the web cam

I’ll be heading out to PC as well. See you all out there, hopefully.

I am in PC and it is pretty nice. 60 and no wind. Just checked MSW and the afternoon on Sat looks better than the morning. Anyone had any luck later in the day?. Not complaining as I have a 2 min drive versus a 2 hour drive

I'm surprised no one has posted from Saturday or Sunday.
Saturday I wandered about in the fog for a while trolling for salmon, unsuccessfully.
Went out towards the buoy and did the c&r on a couple blacks and nice cabezon.
Made my way back to the crab pot I dropped earlier, 8 nice crabs was my reward for the day.
Sunday looked amazing.

I'll add my report as well:-)
Also for Saturday. My wife and I immediately went for rockfish, whereas most people were chasing chinook (and I heard of quite a few caught).
While conditions were OK they were not as great as I thought they would be and I had a wave smack me in the face when launching. Fishing was not hot but not dead either and we took some lingcod, rockfish and greenling home. We had a bit of a late start (around 9 am on the water) and when shortly after 11 am some fog came rolling in, the wind picked up, water got a little choppy and my fishfinder with GPS died (battery empty? - if so then I need a new battery as it was fully charged) we decided that it was time to head for the crab pot. Luckily visibility improved again shortly after and we had no problem finding the pot. 13 keepers and a few undersized. From the few times that I crabbed in PC the worst pull so far but also the first time that i could lift the pot in the kayak, so i was fine with that. By the time the kayaks were loaded on the car all clouds were gone and the sun came through. So our rush to get the pot pulled in hindsight was not needed. Inspired by the chinook success stories we wanted to go back Sunday...But once home that plan changed....way too tired...The ocean seemed absolutely awesome on the webcams on Sunday though!

I fished Friday and Saturday. Targeted salmon exclusively. Only one bite each day, but I was able to convert them into fish in the boat, so totally worth it. After cycling through a few different rigs, both fish came on about the same thing: I spotted them on my depthfinder, reeled up a whole herring to them, and they ate it.

Friday's fish was a brute buck coming in at 27 pounds and 40 inches. Hooked him around 0830. He dogged me 40 feet down for nearly fifteen minutes before I could get my first glimpse of him. My second-biggest of the season so far. I was a bit nervous about how he'd cut given the big kype and the hint of bronze, but he cut beautifully.

I had to work for Saturday's fish. It wasn't until 1130 when he bit. Instead of bulldogging deep, he put on a fun surface rodeo for a while before I could scoop him. A nice 18 pound clipped Chinook. He had a CWT in his nose, so the ODFW creel checker took his snout. I'm interested to see where he was headed before he saw my herring.

Fish were feasting on abundant sand lance. Some folks had more action than others, though it was on a wide variety of gear and I couldn't really dial in a pattern. In hindsight, I bet a slim-profile bait that more closely resembled a sand lance would get multiple bites. Looks like it'll be blown out for a while, so I was glad to capitalize on what could be my last ocean salmon days of the year. It was cool to put some faces to NWKA names back on the beach as well!

Wow Clayman, nice work! I hit PC on Sunday for a quick in-and-out. It was a total lake. I picked up some black rockfish while trolling but couldn't find lings. As Stinger said, I too had a horrible crab pull with only 3 in a 2 hour soak. Enough for dinner though. I saw someone with a monster nook on the beach, looked like maybe Jeff Hope.

Might be my last salt trip. Looking for some C&R sturgeon updates if anyone has gone lately.

Went out for the first time on Saturday too. Bit rough paddling through the surf for the first time (flipped over once ), but once I was out the water was nice and calm. Dropped off crab pots and continued to troll herring for salmon. Fished about 30 feet deep and picked up a nice rockfish along with a cabezon that I quickly released. Didn't end up hooking any salmon. Had one strike that completely tore up my bait, but it's impossible to tell if it was a salmon or rockfish/cab/ling. Pulled up crab pot and had 11 keepers, plenty for my family.

I'll add my story to this as well.

Went for my first surf launch and saw someone else put their paddle in their hand to get out there so I did the same. Jumped in the cockpit and got flipped. Somehow, I lost my floating paddle. Could NOT see it anywhere so it must've gotten buried in the sand...? I shuffled around for a bit but no luck.
A couple others (Don? and Katie?) gave me some tips on how to launch without the paddle and that did the trick (Let's worry about coming back in later...)

Trolled for salmon for a bit and finally got a bite. Started reeling and she took off, peeling a lot of line. I kept tension on while she tired herself out, then reeled her in. She was a 16 lb hatchery chinook, which is my new PB.

A couple of us then took off to go looking for rockfish. I managed to pull in two really nice Cabazon but they obviously had to go back. After that, I reeled in (and tossed back) an undersized lingcod.

Decided to head back in and was kind of nervous because I wasn't going to be able to steer at the end, having no paddle. First mistake was not timing it right. Just as I was shallow enough to pull the drive and lift the rudder, the biggest wave of the set lifted me up, almost ass over head and I went in again. This time, my fish ruler was floating away so that's another loss. (Yes, I know I need to leash everything down. As was said to me after that experience, "If you love it, leash it." Thing is, I had already learned that lesson on my last trip to Tillamook so leashed more things down this time. I hadn't considered the paddle because I've never had it unsecured like that before, and I had thought the fish ruler was snug under my seat.)

Oh, and on that last tumble into the water, my drysuit "failed" and I was soaked. Someone asked about my relief zipper, and sure enough, it wasn't completely closed. So, the failure was all me, with yet another lesson learned the hard way.

Anyway, despite all that, not a bad day, at least for a first time at PC. Definitely good to see a couple familiar faces and meet some new people.

Next time any of you see me out there, I'll be the guy with more leashes than you can imagine.