I love Salmon Fishing but the Salt is calling

May 21, 2020

Today was the first day of all depth Halibut fishing in the central Oregon Coast subarea. My friends Pedro and Gabriel braved the ocean and got their daily halibut limit. Although I’m not giving up on spring Chinook, if the ocean conditions are really good I will put a line in the salt and try for Halibut.

The Springer bite has been on and off this week. As the water level drops the bite picks up and as it starts rising again the bite goes away. Last weekend I had two friends fishing on Saturday. I saw them at the Head of the Channel around 5:30am. Both put in more than 12 hours of trolling. The first boat saw one fish caught for the entire day and the other landed two fish in their final half hour of fishing. It goes to show, if you put in your time you’ve got a chance. With such a small number of fish in the system you’ve got to be very lucky to find a biter. The water is expected to rise over the weekend so be prepared for more slow fishing. Here’s a few tips that may help this weekend (Troll Fast):

• Troll between 2.5 and 3.0 SOG.
• Use 16 oz of lead to keep your gear down.
• Increase the length of your bumper to slow down the “pulse” of your 360 flasher.
• Spinners and superbait have been successful but don’t be afraid to put a whole red label herring 36 inches behind a 360 flasher.
• Enjoy your day and hopefully you’ll find a biter.

Tight lines.