This morning I was faced with the decision of were to go throw a line. After much thought I decided on fishing off of the jetty in Yaquina Bay. Yaquina Bay is located in Newport, Oregon. This is a fishery that I have fished on and off my entire life. It is also a 15 minute drive from my house so it will be the location of many future posts. While Yaquina Bay is home to many species of fish (Lingcod, Greenling, Flounder, Pile Perch, and many others) today's journey was in pursuit of Black Rock Bass.
High tide was at 2:30pm so naturally I was there before 1:00. You have to be rigged and ready if you are planning to fish the jetty because the tides wait for no one. Most times you fish hard and when the tide goes slack the bite turns on like a light switch. This is exactly what happened to me today. But as quickly as it turned on it switched off. I did, however, manage to land two hard fighting bass. Both of a respectable size.
Fly selection for this kind of fishing is easy. An 2-3" minnow pattern will work but I like a tan or blue Clouser Minnow. I also use custom cut shooting heads that get my fly down quickly and keep it there. The hard part about jetty fishing is "rock hopping". You have to cover alot of jetty sometimes to find the spot where the fish are actively feeding. When you find that spot fish it hard because there should be more than one fish there. More often than not I like to fish the jetty at night with lanterns. The light brings in invertebrates which bring in baitfish which bring in bigger fish. Fishing the jetty at night is a dangerous affair however and should be done in the company of a fishing buddy. Day time trips can be productive too and the jetty is a quick fix when you NEED to wet a line.
On a comedic note, I found this "vessel" washed up on the South Jetty. If you can't tell that is a motor at the lower left hand corner of the platform. It appears that someone needed a boat and decided to make their own. Not a big surprise I found it where I did. You might be a redneck if you..............
