Westport July 4,5

I love Gulp!! That stuff just catches fish period.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried it jigging or mooching salmon?? It's sure as hell smelly enough.

I love Gulp!! That stuff just catches fish period.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried it jigging or mooching salmon?? It's sure as hell smelly enough.

We'll find out tomorrow.   

Fog was thick today, but the water is the warmest its been all year, hitting around 59 F. Wind started off from the NW, but was moderate (around 10 mph) WNW most of the day and even straight W at about 7mph for a little while.  Surf was small and short period, but will start building tonight. Supposed to be 6' @ 8 or 9 seconds tomorrow, then building to 8' @ 12 seconds Monday, and maybe to 10' after that.

One thought that I had was that if the surf wasn't big, light NW winds wouldn't be any problem beyond the tip, fishing out over the sunken jetty. One could just drift and jig over the sunken jetty and then paddle back into starting position and do another drift.

However with thick fog and a building swell, I don't want to head out there into aqua incognita! TTM pulled off his raid during a nice window of mellowness.

I'm headed down for a final check and bike ride.

I rode my bike down to the nearest beach approach just before dark. Humidity is 100%...don't know whether to call it "light drizzle" or "heavy mist," but my wind shell got soaked, and I had to stop and dry off my glasses several times. The fog is still here, too. Wind was a good 10-12mph from the NW.

Wind forecast looks like anywhere from NW 6 to 10 mph in the mid-morning, picking up to 15mph+ after 4pm.

There's a minus 1.9' tide at around 7:10 am, and a 7.3' high at 1:40 pm.

Fog is supposed to thin out mid day, but expect the wind to kick up from the NW around 4pm. Fog will probably roll back in.
Not ideal conditions, by any means. Wind could stay down and westerly. I'm going to see what it looks like early.

I have an alternate plan of paddling back up in the Elk River estuary, and a couple other backup plans after that!

Well, it drizzled all night, I think.
Currently, its overcast with a very light misty drizzle, but little fog at my house, less than 1/3 mile from the ocean. Still some patchy fog out over the water. The wind is now a factor. Looks like light west wind of 6 to 9 mph all morning (not bad!) until 1pm, when it notches up to 16 mph+ (bad!).  Any fog is supposed to clear out of here by noon.

A jetty go-out is posssible this morning, with the idea of paddling in between noon and 1pm as the wind starts notching up. Anybody still heading down here for it?  Tide is low now, and it will blow out at high tide. Barely enough time for a good fishing session unless you were here already, preparing to launch. I'm still eating breakfast!

Need some feedback asap, or I'm just going to go paddle down in the North River area down in Willapa Bay, where the wind is forecast to be lighter.

I'm abandoning any plans for paddling up in the Elk estuary today, as its wide open back in there and gets slammed by any higher winds. I was hoping to do some fly fishing in the afternoon, but the wind is gonna wreck that!
The wind can be gusty and whippin' out some bad venturi as it funnels upstream in the creek beds and main river bed, like rambunctious rivers of air. No problem unless you're trying to fly fish! Can be some fun paddling, too!

Tried sand shrimp with no love, then went to a Gulp shrimp that nailed several Black Rockfish.

Yeah that Gulp! Ghost Shrimp will catch pretty much anything that swims.  I always have a pack or two handy.

BorderYakker, you did all right from the rocks!  I'm going to have to break down and try some of that Gulp ghost shrimp. I found that sandshrimp work better when doused with shrimp oil than they do plain. The gulp sounds like its easier and less messy.
That's a nice female Kelp Greenling your buddy is holding up.

Another method that sometimes works great for the rockfish is tossing Carolina rigged soft-plastic anchovies, (cast in close to the rocks, if you're in a yak).  Use the 4" ones with black backs earlier in the season. 5"ers might work better later in the season, since the baitfish keep growing. Soak 'em in anchovie oil/scent.

Didn't get any confirmations for meeting up and fishing the jetty, as the conditions were so marginal. It was still foggy and misty, but the wind wasn't too bad. Could have been done, but I wasn't really too excited about it.
I decided to head down to the North River area on the N end of Willapa Bay, where fog and mist aren't a problem...they may actually improve the cutthroat fishing upstream in the creek or river.
I paddled around the North River/Smith Creek estuary and then up Smith Creek to see how the winter floods had re-arranged things. Fished a small spider pattern off a long leader and floating line. C&R'd a couple Coho fry and connected with a few small cutthroat upstream. Nothing up there, so I fished my way back down, not seeing any evidence of any returning searun cutts the entire way. Still too early there.

Back downstream in the lower creek at low tide in the evening, I switched to a sparkly white Reversed Spider and a clear intermediate sinking line and shorter leader, and worked the woody structure in my favorite low-tide water. I C&R'd a couple of 7" cutts that appeared to be smolts (on their way to searun status), had some hits from a couple other small cutts, and soremothed a large Peamouth Chub (one of the few chub species that can exist in brackish tidal water). No sign of any returning searun cutts there in the estuary either.

It drizzled off and on, with a low overcast all day.