June24 Crabbing Lower CoosBay

[rogerdodger]

reports of poor lingcod/rockfish bite at Simpson Reef had me switch to a crabbing outing OFF the submerged jetty to buoy5, with fishing as a side quest. low tide was 11am, launched at 7am, limit at 11:15am. Left Pepper home so I could take 3 pots, it was a 'slow and steady day'. I pulled 6 blanks, 2 with two keepers, and 12 single keeper pots. The bow of my Hobie Outback not only holds the crabs but makes a great work surface to tend the pots. Of the 16 legal size, 6 were soft so 4 of them went back.

The best keepers came from that intermediate depth in lower CoosBay, not the deep channel or shallower by the jetty, 25' to 30' shelf was money. Wind came up, as forecast, just as I stacked my pots and headed for the DQ.

I also fished for lingcod, salmon, and rockfish but nothing, despite lots of baitfish (which explained all the big pelicans). Of the other boats trolling or bottom fishing, I did not observe any catching going on. cheers, roger

 

[plumbertom]

Yeah, Rodger, I have been hankering to get out there.
I was kinda thinking Wednesday of this week if the wind plays along. But I won't go out in my low freeboard boat in winds above 9 MPH.

 

[plumbertom]

You know, another thing I've had on my mind is the south side of the bay along that same stretch.
I never seem to see any floats on that side, and I've dropped traps at least once over there.
But I don't get there often enough to know if the low catch rate was common there (which would tend to enplane the lack of traps) or if it was just that day.
I mean, structurally, the bottom on Navionics (https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@13&key=ufrgGpuxuV) looks as good as the north side.
You (Rodger or anyone else) crab that bay more than I do, do you have a view on that?

 

[plumbertom]

Coos Bay is my bay of choice for crabbing.
Mainly because of familiarity, having spent more time on the water there than any others, and the success I've had fishing black rock fish and the occasional legal ling cod.
But's more than a two-hour drive from my home in Eugene, 110 miles away.
I do know that Alsea Bay has good crabbing but poor fishing.
And Newport (almost the exact same driving distance as Coos Bay) has produced for me reasonably well the couple of times I've tried there, although it does seem crowded with crabbers, making it difficult to find an area to drop my string of traps. Also, I've yet to catch any rock fish there, although I know they are there. I think that may be because I've always dropped traps above the crabbing dock as far up bay as the gas tanks, and the best fishing structure looks to be down river from the bridge.
My wariness (due to reading the many reports of trap thefts in Newport Bay) of getting very far from where my traps are tends to keep me above the bridge.
I'm also interested in learning where to crab/fish from Salmon Harbor. I read about good crab catches being had there and that the fishing can be pretty good as well. Having launched there once, before I took up crabbing as my main effort, it was to target the perch run, without much success I might add.
Winchester Bay, if I could learn more about where to fish/crab it, would save me on the fuel costs, which is always a factor in whether I can go or not, and drive time, than the trip to Coos bay.
The Siuslaw river is the closest option for me if I'm only going to crab. I've fished every time I've gone there to crab, but never have even gotten a bite. Added to that is the last three times I went there to crab, the Green crab infestation was awful and the Dungeness crab take was way down.

 

[rogerdodger]

You know, another thing I've had on my mind is the south side of the bay along that same stretch.
I never seem to see any floats on that side, and I've dropped traps at least once over there.
But I don't get there often enough to know if the low catch rate was common there (which would tend to enplane the lack of traps) or if it was just that day.
I mean, structurally, the bottom on Navionics (https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@13&key=ufrgGpuxuV) looks as good as the north side.
You (Rodger or anyone else) crab that bay more than I do, do you have a view on that?

I dropped my pots on the south side one time while I fished the markers at the exit of the Charleston channel, just to get them out of my way. I pulled them up empty probably 30 minutes later and have since assumed the crabs must come in and mostly hug that north side.

 

[Shastabob]

Coos Bay is my bay of choice for crabbing.
Mainly because of familiarity, having spent more time on the water there than any others, and the success I've had fishing black rock fish and the occasional legal ling cod.
But's more than a two-hour drive from my home in Eugene, 110 miles away.
I do know that Alsea Bay has good crabbing but poor fishing.
And Newport (almost the exact same driving distance as Coos Bay) has produced for me reasonably well the couple of times I've tried there, although it does seem crowded with crabbers, making it difficult to find an area to drop my string of traps. Also, I've yet to catch any rock fish there, although I know they are there. I think that may be because I've always dropped traps above the crabbing dock as far up bay as the gas tanks, and the best fishing structure looks to be down river from the bridge.
My wariness (due to reading the many reports of trap thefts in Newport Bay) of getting very far from where my traps are tends to keep me above the bridge.
I'm also interested in learning where to crab/fish from Salmon Harbor. I read about good crab catches being had there and that the fishing can be pretty good as well. Having launched there once, before I took up crabbing as my main effort, it was to target the perch run, without much success I might add.
Winchester Bay, if I could learn more about where to fish/crab it, would save me on the fuel costs, which is always a factor in whether I can go or not, and drive time, than the trip to Coos bay.
The Siuslaw river is the closest option for me if I'm only going to crab. I've fished every time I've gone there to crab, but never have even gotten a bite. Added to that is the last three times I went there to crab, the Green crab infestation was awful and the Dungeness crab take was way down.

Where is a good spot for black rock fish in the Charleston area while i have my pots out? thanks in advance.

 

[plumbertom]

Where is a good spot for black rock fish in the Charleston area while i have my pots out? thanks in advance.

I try and fish any structure I can find for all Rock fish. Mostly I fish the down current side of whatever structure you can find. The kelp is usually a good bet when it's up.
I figure the predators are hanging out close to what they can hide behind waiting for food items to ride the current past, so they can ambush it.

 

[rogerdodger]

Submerged jetty running south from the big green #7 marker. In fact, that's where Pepper and I caught the teal lingcod in my avatar picture.