Fishing around Ft Stevens Park

I am planning a visit to Ft Stevens park in early March and was wondering what fishing opportunities would be the best bet at that time of year?  There is the big salt on one side and Young's Bay on the other, also lots of little and not so little lakes.   Looking to get the skunk off of my Outback with some aquatic creature.  Any recommendations/suggestions for very early season outing.   And if a group would like to get together for an outing that would be good too!!
Thanks for the help!!

When I get my kayak hopefully the first week of march I will fish for bass in Cullaby lake.  Coffenbury is mostly all trout fishing when they start stocking it.  Some rivers will still have late steelhead (necanicum in seaside).

Mitch

I'm not super familiar with the area but I think most of the best options in the area are later in the fall. The Necanicum might be a good steelhead option but probably best fished from the bank. Drifting it can be pretty dangerous. The salt might be an option but the seas are usually still too big around then. Coffeebury is right at the campground and should have some holdovers in it if they haven't started stocking it. Google Oregon trout stocking for the schedule. Another option would be lost lake off hwy 26. You'd back track a bit but its a really nice little lake. It will be cold though. They stock that one ad well. It's 1000-1500 feet though and sometimes is snowed in for a week or so if there is a heavy snow. Pop this up as we get closer to the date.

I'm also curious about this area.

I popped over to ifish a while back and saw people talking about dropping crab traps between buoy 20 and 22.  I drove out there last time I was in the area and found you can drive right up to this area...right on the beach at the end of Jetty road.  Buoy 20 is near the mouth but still a ways in from the jetty.

I know currents can get crazy fast here so I've not attempted anything yet...figured I would ask first.  It would only be a short paddle from the beach (maybe 100+ yards) and you could drop crab traps if you kept a close watch on tide and current predictions.

Anybody been out here before?  Is this a bad idea?

Insayn and I fished the north jetty last year and caught some sculpin and surf perch. Lots of crabs tried to steal our bait, you can almost get them out of the water then they let go.  I hooked into something on the river side that spooled me hard and broke my line.  we were using fresh sand shrimp as bait.  Both sides have plenty fish.

Edit: we were fishing on the jetty not our kayaks. Wind and waves were strong that weekend. Be careful out there.

I've been out there a couple times in a powerboat, but I wouldn't recommend kayaking the ocean side. There is a rip line that is as strong as anything I've ever seen. It flipped the 20ft alumaweld around a full 180 in the blink of an eye.

The protected jetty side wouldn't be bad, I've fished there (also sans kayak) without luck, but had a blast with crab snares. I also saw a whale five feet from the jetty chasing a school of bait fish. (Looking a whale in the eye is a weird / awesome encounter.)

I've been out there a couple times in a powerboat, but I wouldn't recommend kayaking the ocean side. There is a rip line that is as strong as anything I've ever seen. It flipped the 20ft alumaweld around a full 180 in the blink of an eye.

The protected jetty side wouldn't be bad, I've fished there (also sans kayak) without luck, but had a blast with crab snares. I also saw a whale five feet from the jetty chasing a school of bait fish. (Looking a whale in the eye is a weird / awesome encounter.)

So you think the spot marked below would be fine?

Disregard what I stated with "ocean side" since looking at the map again, I'm wrong. We were still in the tidewater in the powerboat and fishing the oceanside from the jetty. (lot C)

Honestly, your marked spot is almost exactly where I remember the rip being, but the sand changes constantly and could be different now. We've dropped pots all along that area and it gets nasty quickly on the outgoing tide. Take a look on google at the satellite image and you can see it.

The lagoon is nice and big and should be protected, I've fished that from the bank and I hear that salmon like to hang out in there.

Honestly, your marked spot is almost exactly where I remember the rip being, but the sand changes constantly and could be different now. We've dropped pots all along that area and it gets nasty quickly on the outgoing tide. Take a look on google at the satellite image and you can see it.

Cool beans...kind of what I was thinking.  Thanks for the info.

I'd steer clear of that area. The tide rips through there super fast, it wouldn't take much to get sucked out the jaws.

Both sides were rough when we were there. Ocean side one day and river side the next. If it looks too rough just fish from the jetty. Not worth having to be rescued.

I wouldn't fish the "river side" of south jetty from a kayak if I were you the current gets ripping pretty hard through there, if you want to crab the river than I would recomend going to the washington side and putting in at wikiki beach and dump your pots below the lighthouse, Its usually a really easy surf launch and there are a TON of crab to be caught plus you can fish north jetty...Or I would go on the ocean side of south jetty its also great crabbing and fishing and usually fairly calm.. 

I wouldn't fish the "river side" of south jetty from a kayak if I were you the current gets ripping pretty hard through there, if you want to crab the river than I would recomend going to the washington side and putting in at wikiki beach and dump your pots below the lighthouse, Its usually a really easy surf launch and there are a TON of crab to be caught plus you can fish north jetty...Or I would go on the ocean side of south jetty its also great crabbing and fishing and usually fairly calm..

+1

You have about an hour of each tide when the marked spot is safe for a kayak.  That's a choke point on a really big river and currents move fast there.  Also, on the tide change, deep water is moving at a different speed (and/or direction) from the shallow water.  That's a recipe for disaster if you're pulling crab traps on a kayak.
You can crab the shallow water right in front of the beach access road.  The point of sand to the west of the access creates a nice eddy. 

If sturgeon are open, fishing the shallow bars above the Megler bridge during the outgoing can be good.

-Spot-

I wouldn't fish the "river side" of south jetty from a kayak if I were you the current gets ripping pretty hard through there, if you want to crab the river than I would recomend going to the washington side and putting in at wikiki beach and dump your pots below the lighthouse, Its usually a really easy surf launch and there are a TON of crab to be caught plus you can fish north jetty...Or I would go on the ocean side of south jetty its also great crabbing and fishing and usually fairly calm..

I'm not at all familiar with the WA side...only passed through on the way to Long Beach a couple times.  Is this where you're talking about:

I wouldn't fish the "river side" of south jetty from a kayak if I were you the current gets ripping pretty hard through there, if you want to crab the river than I would recomend going to the washington side and putting in at wikiki beach and dump your pots below the lighthouse, Its usually a really easy surf launch and there are a TON of crab to be caught plus you can fish north jetty...Or I would go on the ocean side of south jetty its also great crabbing and fishing and usually fairly calm..

+1

You have about an hour of each tide when the marked spot is safe for a kayak.  That's a choke point on a really big river and currents move fast there.  Also, on the tide change, deep water is moving at a different speed (and/or direction) from the shallow water.  That's a recipe for disaster if you're pulling crab traps on a kayak.
You can crab the shallow water right in front of the beach access road.  The point of sand to the west of the access creates a nice eddy. 

If sturgeon are open, fishing the shallow bars above the Megler bridge during the outgoing can be good.

-Spot-

Thanks...glad I checked first.