Hookey, anyone?

The weather forecast for the coast this week is great, and I've got some vacation days burning a hole in my pocket.  Anyone interested in playing hookey one day this week?

Depends on the location and day, but sounds interesting. Probably a last chance opportunity for a while.

I am most familiar w/ the Tillamook and Nehalem areas, but I am open to exploring elsewhere.  Nestucca?  Siletz?

Nestucca is about equidistant; you're in PDX, right? Wednesday would be the right day for me. Sounds like the fish are coming in pretty good, probably for the next couple of days, so that would probably work out ok.

How's that sound? Anyone else?

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Mike

I was hoping for Thursday... let me see what I can do about getting out of a meeting tomorrow.

I've never fished Nestucca tidewater.  I've got a random assortment of spinners, wobblers, and spoons.  That do the trick?

Thusday would be a better day for me to take off from the office, but yesterday it looked like the rain was coming in Thurs. The updated forecast now calls or rain Wed.

Soooo... I'm okay with Thursday.

I'll email you my phone number.

>I've never fished Nestucca tidewater.  I've got a random assortment of spinners, wobblers, and spoons.  That do the trick?

Yeah, the usual suspects in tidewater seem to be the general rule. Locals talk about blue fox spinners and quik fish, but everyone has an emotional favorite.

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Mike

The Nestucca would be OK if someone can promise we can get away from the combat fishing. Until now, I have been looking at the back of Tillamook Bay and possibly running my boat down the Trask. I like the Trask because it's bordered by a lot of private property - good for boats.

A few other things:
Cape lookout state park currently has campsites available.
Saturday's forecast looks good enough to get out on the ocean.
Crabbing has reportedly been good and I have three traps. Anyone ever tried hauling in a loaded crab trap from a kayak?

Anyone ever tried hauling in a loaded crab trap from a kayak?

What kind of traps do you have?  The lighter folding ones (Promars or Danielsons) work pretty well and aren't too hard to haul in from a kayak.  You can, with some difficulty, haul one of the smaller commercial traps, but carrying even one on the kayak is a bit difficult.

Here's an article about kayak crabbing from Northern California.  Most of these crabs are caught in 40-80 ft out in the ocean, not sure how tidal water crabbing might or might not be much different.

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?page=18

I'm about 60% of the way out of all of my work commitments for Thursday.  I can't do an overnight then (gotta be at work on Friday).  Might be able to join some folks for the weekend.

I've never fished the Nestucca, so I can't speak to combat fishing there.  I'm really interested in learning more about fishing Tillamook tidewater rivers via kayak (as well as the Nehalem).

Speaking of crab rings, Fishermen's Marine had some kinda neat collapseable crab rings on sale while I was there tonight.  Basically your standard ring set up, but instead of the larger top hoop being made of metal, it was made of either kind of hard rubber or fiberglass (they had two models).  They basically collapsed down twisting the hoop into a small circle (roughly 12" across).  Very lightweight, and came with a harness.  They were on sale for $25 bucks... I was sorely temped to try a couple, but I thought it wise to get other's opinions before I did (I've never actually been crabbing).

Haven't seen much in the way of "combat fishing" in the Nestucca. The 2 weekends FFTW and I were there were pretty mellow, and there were quite a few boats and shore fishtermen, although there weren't that many fish to fight over, either. I've read the same reports of belligerent jerks fishing in some of the coastal areas, including Tillamook and Nehalem bays, but haven't seen them yet. But I don't think you'll get any takers on making a "promise" that you won't run into any no matter where you go.

Right now I'm about 80% committed to Thursday on the Nestucca or Salmon. As for fishing outside the surf, Saturday is out for me, but Sunday is a possibility.

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Mike

Getting close to jumping off time. Mike, am I right in guessing you will do an early Thursday start?
I may start the day in Tillamook since I want to try a couple things I scouted last weekend. If you hit either of the other streams, maybe we could check in later, have an exchange of info and make a plan for the afternoon?

Who's going where and when?

Yeah, that sounds good. My intent is to be at the guard rail boat ramp (GPS: Brooten Rd @ 45.193170, -123.954910):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=13549993356137099189,45.193170,-123.954910&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=&daddr=Brooten+Rd+%4045.193170,+-123.954910&sll=45.192653,-123.954921&sspn=0.009224,0.015235&ie=UTF8&ll=45.193167,-123.954899&spn=0.009224,0.015235&t=h&z=16&om=1

by 0700 tomorrow (Thurs, 10/25) morning. I'll peddle/fish downstream .5 - 1.5 miles from there.

I'll send you my cell# and we can connect to exchange reports and make other plans.

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Mike

How does it look for you 3weight?

I may be delayed a bit... mom in law is in the hospital (seems to be OK), but I don't really want to show up to fish. Since the news came late, I don't have another soft seat lined up and might try to grab a site at Cape Lookout tomorrow.

CRRRRAP! I hate getting old!!!

As I was literally loading my yak on my car tonight I re-remembered a family commitment tomorrow that my fatherly instincts won't allow me to bail out on. I left messages (and apologies) for FTO and 3Wt, but after making such a strong committment felt compelled to admit my incompetence here as well.

Maybe Sunday....?

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Mike

Sometimes, I hate my job.  Someone elses major project has a deadline of Friday, and almost nothing is done on it.  Guess who gets to fix it?  No fishing for me tomorrow, or Friday.  MAYBE I can do something on the weekend.

This sucks!!!  Sorry for the sob story, but like Wannabe, I have to cancel for tomorrow. 

Fulltime, if I can get free, I could maybe join you for something on the Trask on Sat or Sunday.  I've got a Hobie with the mirage drive, so my kayak is pretty much restricted to tidewater.