Depoe Bay 4-17

I had the pleasure of fishing out of Depoe Bay with Spot yesterday. It was my first time in the Ocean in a kayak and it was a great to be able to head out with someone as experienced and patience as Mark.

We hit the water a bit after 8:00 and paddled out of the harbor toward the first buoy. I dropped a 4 ounce jig in about 40 feet of water and jigged it along the bottom. This was my first time rock fishing in nearly 15 years and I was trying to figure out how to do it again. After a couple of drifts without any action I moved out a little further. At the end of my third drift I had let out a good amount of line and was starting to pull it back up in slowly, bouncing the bottom as it went, when I thought for second I had hung up, until I felt the unmistakable feel of a fish. Fish on! After a decent little fight I got my first Ling of the day to the surface. Not a monster but a nice 24 incher. After working to unhook the fish and get it into the fish bag the rolling of the waves were starting to take a toll on my stomach. Paddling back up toward the buoy and keeping my eyes on the shore helped and by the time I got back to start my next drift I was feeling better. I dropped gear and started the drift again and when I was over nearly the same spot, wam! I set the hook and zip, zip, zip the fish made a decent little run. After working the fish to the surface I had my second ling of the day, a nice 28” 8 lb fish. After unhooking the fish and taking a quick photo I made the newbie mistake of letting go of the fish for a brief second. The ling immediately starts flopping around like crazy and near knocked over my box of jigs before I got a handle on him again. Lesson learned, do not let go of Ling Cod before they are on the stringer!  The day continued and I ended up catching 3 more lings. All probably in the 26-28” range, which made me wish I had thrown back the first one though! Spot did well, picked up a number of lings, a really nice cabezon, a number of lings, and a China Rockfish. I’m sure he’ll post up some better pictures once he gets off the water today.

It was a great day on the water. I’m really glad I was able to go out with someone experienced. The younger and dumber me probably would have headed out on my own and gotten into some serious trouble. A HUGE thanks to Spot for being such an incredible resource and a great ambassador to kayak fishing. I'm hooked and need to get back out there again soon! Here are some pics from the day.




Buzzed by the Coast Guard


Second Ling

Nice job Noahk! Looks like you guys did very well. Those lings are really cool looking fish with the blue and green colors. Looks like you had a kick ass day. You may want to invest in some lip grippers. The leather gloves help, but cautious of those jagged teeth. One quick chomp followed by an angry spin and your day could be cut short with a need for stitches. Great report Noahk! I hope to see more responses and pics from the others tonight. Cheers!

Great report and awesome pics!  Congrats on having a very successful first!

Nice!!!

Someone needs a lip gripper.   

-Allen

Way to make the most of a trip to the ocean! .... Lip grippers are a definite plus! If you don't have then the next place to grab a ling is behind the head. This will control the fish much better. Secondly, cut the gills when you get them on the stringer. Should drain most of the blood out of the meat.
Keep it up! You had a great coach.

Wow, The conditions looked way better then here. Good thing because it was kinda nasty here.

Good job on your first outing. You did well! always nice to not get skunked on your first trip.

Thanks for the tips! Yeah among everything else I learned yesterday was the need for a lip gripper. It’s definitely on the shopping list for next time, plus a proper fish stringer. I also got schooled on gill clipping at the fish cleaning station and from Mark once we got back in. We were lucky enough to run into a gentleman that was super handy with a filet knife at the cleaning station. Mark and I both got some really good tips. The guy was pretty amazing to watch.

The conditions certainly worsened the longer we were out there, at which point I stopped taking pictures as I was mostly concentrating on not puking    

Thanks for the great report and pics! 

I'm looking forward for my first trip to the WA coast...hopefully soon.

Way to make the most of a trip to the ocean! .... Lip grippers are a definite plus! If you don't have then the next place to grab a ling is behind the head. This will control the fish much better. S

Or ... you can just grab a ling on the outside of the mouth, like you're holding the lings mouth shut.  Those big lips make for an easy handle to hold onto.  Of course that doesn't help you when you want her to open wide so your can get the deep hook out!

-Allen

Tough Day of Fishing.

Met up with Kiwandajr and Lingbanger at the dock.  Kiwanda ran to his truck and came back with a HUGE box of jig heads for the ORC.  THANK YOU!!!!  Expect to find an assortment in your schwag bags folks.

By the time we hit the water the wind was already blowing 5 to 10.  By noon, the corral was wide open and sheep were roaming everywhere. 
The fishing was slow by ocean standards but I managed 12 fish in all.  4 Keeper size lings (the best was only 24"), one China, 3 Cabs and the rest were underlings.  I was sure we'd find some blacks on one of the south mounds but they just weren't there.

It was a workout trying to keep my jig on the bottom.  The wind was pushing us SSW at 2-3 MPH unless we paddled into it.  Noah did great.  The conditions were a little sporty with a decent mixed swell keeping us on our toes.

A little fish porn for y'all...

Nice fish guys.  Noahk, I like the cardboard tackle box. 

Dayng Spot, 25"!?!?  That's one helluva piggy!    Nice!

Nice fish guys.  Noahk, I like the cardboard tackle box.

Haha, yeah another item to add to the shopping list.

Nice fish guys.  Noahk, I like the cardboard tackle box.

Haha, yeah another item to add to the shopping list.

Oh yeah ... comment on Noahk cardboard box ... but how can we ignore Spot's ziplock tackle box and baby blue lip grippers!!!   

-Allen

I love that head-on pic in the footwell!!!