Saturday 10/17: Closing day of Ling Cod season on Coast, & late pm clam dig

I'm already here, so I'll be there! "There" being along the South Jetty at the Grays Harbor entrance, at Westhaven State Park in Westport. This is the last chance to take a ling until middle of next March! I live right here, less than 7 miles from the parking lot. I have no excuses!
Looks like the winds will be right (light SW), high tide at 12:30pm, so I'm going to try to hit the S Jetty mid-morning on Saturday. Around 10ish, anyway. Launching in Half Moon Bay near the Westhaven St Pk parking lot. Throw 'er over the edge and drag 'er down to the water. Might be raining. I'll wear rain gear over my wetsuit.  The chance of rain is supposed to lighten up by later in the pm, with the swell also dropping. Big runnout to the low, around 11 feet. Aiming to quit fishing around 2pm or so, go home and put fish in fridge, then dig clams around 5pm.

Digging Razor Clams on Grayland Beach afterwards, as i have my favorite spot.

Surf & Turf! The other white meats! Forget those bloody Coho... let them run lockjawed through the brackish gauntlets unmolested!

This is your official hedzup, Fishin-T! You asked for it...you got it!  See you out there!

Hunkered down indoors right now with a front blasting thru. It'll be outa here by tomorrow, with conditions improving. I wouldn't try to dig clams in this wind/rain, as I can never see the "shows" on the beach under these conditions.  You almost have to wade out and dig them in the water.

But tomorrow looks to be much better clam digging conditions. Still a "go" for fishing the jetty.

Wish I could be there, but I don't guess this is a good first saltwater experience for a newb.   Please let us know how it goes.

I just checked the latest update and the forecast is beginning to morph into a questionable set of conditions. More chance of rain during the day, and a briefer window of favorable winds. With my luck, I predict things are gonna get worse, not better, for the jetty fishing. I am just gonna have to wait and see. The central WA coast really needs a Doppler Radar to improve the accuracy of the forecasting out here.

Clam digging still a go.

Plans are underway for a NEXRAD radar along the WA coasthttp://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/washington_coast_doppler_radar/

Thanks Drool, I thought I'd heard some good news on that. Hope it gets the rest of the funding it needs.

No jetty fishing today! Everything went to hell. Its raining here now and only slightly breezy, but during the next hour, its supposed to turn really ugly for most of the day.

The "iffy but do-able" forecast I had based my planning on a couple of days ago was nothing like its turning out to be. Nothing. Went from 55% chance of rain and lighter SW winds 7 to 11 mph to a hideous gusty 15 to 25 mph, and solid rain and thunderstorms.

So I'm ABORTING today's mission!  Weather forecast is now absolutely horrible and ugly for along the South Jetty 10am thru early afternoon, when I wanted to fish.  Not my favorite tempest for that teapot!
Damn! Tomorrow looks good, but Ling Cod closes after today. I heard that the rockfish were still biting, though.

I won't go clamming if it is pouring down rain. Hope it lightens up for this evening!

Let me know when you are going after the rockfish. I'd like to join in on that. Maybe Drool can join us and there'd be 2 newbies. I'm headed up the Satsip this Friday, throwing flies!!
Dan   

Looks like I'm going to have to play it by ear. Might go for it today. Conditions are looking OK right now for the afternoon high tide. I'm going to try to be down there with all my stuff, ready to launch by noon or so if the wind stays SE and doesn't go NE on me. Swell is supposed to jack up to big W by tomorrow, but conditions might mellow out to more user-friendly for fishing on the N side of the jetty again on Saturday.

It is proving to be NOT EASY to find the conditions to fish the S Jetty recently. I only want to be out there when the conditions are user-friendly. Since I live here, I can always look at the conditions at the last minute, and either go for it or cancel and do something else. I'm in this for fun and fishing, not trying to prove anything (too old for that).

Conditions haven't been just the way I'm looking for on days that I'm free, so I haven't been able to hit it.  I'll cancel for sure if there is any N in the wind, or if its straight out of the East.  Both those are the wrong wind direction for yak fishing in the Grays Harbor entrance at the Westport jetty. Also, large W or NW swells will break right there at times. I don't want to anchor out there right yet, so I'd get pushed into the jetty by any N in the wind. SW, S, or lighter SE wind is what you want there for an easy drift, as the Jetty blocks the wind for you.  But its looking OK today so far! gotta go!