2010 ORC Prefish & Familiarization event 4/11

For those who haven't fished Depoe Bay before or those who want to re-familiarize themselves with the area, their new yak or equipment I'll be happy to host a few Pre-Tournament events here.

Depending on conditions, this Sunday (April 11, 2010), will be the first of those.
Launch: 9:00 am
High Tide: 11:10 am

Safety:
Depoe Bay has a short and very narrow entrance.  It's also home to a large fleet of active charter fishing & whale watching boats.  Smaller craft are encouraged to use extreme caution and to pass through as quickly as possible.  Power boats generally sound their horns before entering and exiting.  If you hear a horn hug stay alert and move to either side quickly.  The bigger/louder the horn....

Conditions:
As conditions can change with little notice please remember to call Coast Guard Depoe Bay (541 765 2124) for a bar report before heading to the launch.  The closest coast cam is in Lincoln City but will give you a general idea.  I will post conditions the evening before each date but don't rely on that data.  Check for yourself before making the drive.

Getting there:
Depoe Bay Map
Take Highway 101 approx 1/4 mile south of the Depoe Bay bridge
Turn east at the Shell Gas Station.
Make an immediate left just past the mailboxes
Go down the hill and you're there.

Launching:
Please - don't block the ramp
On the eastern-most section at the ramp is a place to load/unload your Yak
Drop it there and find a parking space

Facilities:
Restrooms and a fish cleaning station are conveniently located at the ramp.  The Shell Station has a minor selection of fishing gear.  The next closest (in order or proximity) are Wally World, Freddy's, Harry's Bait & Tackle & Englund Marine all in Newport.  Bi-Mart at the very north end of Lincoln City is the closest to the north.

http://images.google.com/images?sa=N&hl=en&tab=li&q=Depoe+Bay,+OR

         

Awesome! Thanks FS!

Here's a link to the cam of the actual channel at Depoe Bay:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mfr/images/camera/DepoeB.jpg

You can also check the "hole traffic" and announce your entrance/exit on the VHF.  Having a brain fart, but I think its channel 80 or 81 (nice lady at tackletime)? and 16 for any Coast Guard restrictions  I will double check and get back.  Ditto on not blocking the ramp.  A kayaker with gear yardsaled everywhere slowing down launch traffic will not make any new friends.. or at least ones they wanted to

The Shell station in town has most everything you need for basic bottomfishing. At least they used to haven't been by in about a year.

Way Cool.  It's too bad, since this comes from the Coast Guard, they can't impose the condition flags or make the statement "Bar Closed" or something.

Found the source for other cams.  Only took 15 minutes!
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/marine/bars_mover.php

when the bar condition lights are flashing (north side of harbor) there are restrictions of some kind. Contact Coasties on 16 for specifics..

More Info
http://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/coastal_waters/DepoeBay.shtml

FYI - Whistle Stop Shell station removed their ODFW licensing terminal. They still sell a few leadheads and some overpriced freezer burnt herring. New ownership.

The old owner and his wife moved down there from NoPo to get away from thugs, then the Lincoln County methheads were gassing up and dashing w/out paying. Poor little dude tried to hold a few sh*tbirds by himself and ended up eating a few too many haymakers and retired. Vandalism and petty theft run pretty high, cuz OSP & LCS have bigger fish to fry and lots of miles of 101 to patrol. Go ahead and hug your municipal cop today!

Whistle Stop still holds the title of closest place to the ramp to p/u an ice cold 40.

Their LP filling station is gone too.

FYI - Whistle Stop Shell station removed their ODFW licensing terminal. They still sell a few leadheads and some overpriced freezer burnt herring. New ownership.

The old owner and his wife moved down there from NoPo to get away from thugs, then the Lincoln County methheads were gassing up and dashing w/out paying. Poor little dude tried to hold a few sh*tbirds by himself and ended up eating a few too many haymakers and retired. Vandalism and petty theft run pretty high, cuz OSP & LCS have bigger fish to fry and lots of miles of 101 to patrol. Go ahead and hug your municipal cop today!

Whistle Stop still holds the title of closest place to the ramp to p/u an ice cold 40.

Their LP filling station is gone too.

Damn.. I used to always count on picking up some of my favorite "Chovy" swimbaits there. 

Hey FS is there an alternate plan if Poseidon doesn't smile upon us?

There's always Big Creek Resevoir!   

I can't remember the name of the place I checked out last year before our event, but I think it was the "Surf Shop" at the North end of the downtown Depoe Bay area by Fudge Duddy Fudge.   Anywho, it sounded like they were a new group of owners trying to make a foothold in the town.  At the time they had some Ocean Kayak rentals, and had what looked like a good start on stocking some bottom fishing tackle.  Can't remember if they had any coolers of bait or not though?   

I did mention to them about the ORFC 2009 and when it was supposed to take place, but we got blown out last year.  If any of you local boys will, plz go in and see if they still exist and give them a heads up on our 2010 agenda.  They acted like they would be willing to donate some freebies, be it stickers, shirts or whatever.   

Hey FS is there an alternate plan if Poseidon doesn't smile upon us?

If the ocean is blown we could do Big Creek Res. or we could do Olalla Res.  Both have been stocked and Olalla has some steelhead.  We can decide then.

The surf shop in DB is still open.  It's a satellite of the store in Newport and I take yak renters out for them.  I need to go in anyway so I'll check on gear and let them know.

Weatherbug says 43*F, mostly cloudy, chance of precip 21% at launch time, holding steady all day. MSW says 7 foot at 16 seconds. As calm as it has been in many many moons.

I'm thinking about shooting for a launch time of about 7:30 or 8 myself.

Hi,

How far out do you have to go to get into the Rockfish and Lings? I am very interested in making it down but it seems like launching, landing and passing over the bar is only safely doable in the best of conditions.  I have only surfed and surf kayaked the Oregon Coast and every time I went it was always a bit sketchy.  Am I right about this or I am just being a wimp?

Thomas

Wish I could weekends are just no good for me

Tomas, the crossing at Depoe is pretty easy, so long as there isn't any traffic.