Bass fishing near Waldport?

[elmucho]

Greetings,
By a magnificent stroke of good luck, I'll be living in Waldport for weeks at a time periodically throughout the year. I prefer fly fishing but I have absolutely no problem fishing with conventional gear if the conditions call for it. Are there any relatively close (say an hour's drive) bass fishing spots (my favorite are smallmouth but I have no problem cranking on largemouth) from Waldport? Not looking for any secret spots or anything just hoping to get pointed in the right direction. Thanks!

 

[C_Run]

Eckman Lake is right there in Waldport. I never fished it but there are supposed to be bass there. Other than that, there is Olalla Reservoir near Toledo with largemouth.

 

[elmucho]

Excellent! Thank you very much I will be up there in December - I'll report back.

 

[O. mykiss]

Have you tried sea bass? They are plentiful, delicious, and readily hit flies. They will hammer clousers and bunny leaches that imitate a bait fish. Around sunset off of the south jetty fishing can be no less than epic. Time your trips around small tidal exchanges and either high or low slack

 

[elmucho]

Great! I'm actually more of a saltwater fly fisherman than trout - or bass. We fly fish calico and spotted bay bass around here with occasional corvina and corbina on the sand beach. Thank you for the detailed information - I have loads of clousers and calico flies with zonker strips. I really do appreciate all the info you have shared and just can't wait to get up there and start working the water.

 

[troutdude]

Other than that, there is Olalla Reservoir near Toledo with largemouth.

YES! Please remove as many bass as you can from there. It's a favorite trout lake of mine. ;-)

Have you tried sea bass? They are plentiful, delicious, and readily hit flies. They will hammer clousers and bunny leaches that imitate a bait fish. Around sunset off of the south jetty fishing can be no less than epic. Time your trips around small tidal exchanges and either high or low slack

X2. Surface plugs retrieved very slowly will also nail them!!! Be sure to slide your thumb under their tongue, to make them paralyzed. Just like inland bass. Be aware that their dorsal fin bones are like SPIKES and are very painful. Don't ask me how I know that. But hey...I was only 19 when I figured it out. ;-)

There are many lakes in the Florence area that have bass populations.

 

[elmucho]

Ok so I'm getting the feeling that I'm going to be in a pretty fishy area! The sea bass fly fishing sounds fun to me - my favorite kind of fly fishing is target casting up against structure and then getting whacked. I've got an 18' Klamath with spot lock trolling motor - we use it down here to hold us in position against jetties and kelp- I think that would also be a good thing for fishing jetties (but only on very calm days). I won't be there until right before Christmas - hoping there's something to yank on when I get there (crabbing too!). We're in Bayshore and from Google Earth is looks like there should be some fun beach/perch fishing there as well.

 

[O. mykiss]

The Alsea bay at waldport is one of the best coastal bays in Oregon for crabbing. You’ll have a great time out there

 

[jamisonace]

Whatever you do, don't try steelhead fishing on the Alsea. You'll never go back to anything else.

 

[elmucho]

You guys are killing me! The only crabbing I've ever done was off the pier in Crescent City - took two days to get three legal crab. They were delicious. I'm super fired up to crab up there in Waldport- and hopefully I can avoid getting bit by the steelhead bug (ha!) I just don't know what the better half would do if I picked up another "fishing sickness". Thanks again for all the info and when I'm on a more regular schedule with being up there (I'm a high school teacher so I can only come up during our breaks) it would be great to go fishing, or crabbing.

 

[O. mykiss]

I would say limits or near that of crab in Waldport can be expected if conditions are good.

 

[elmucho]

Love it - thanks again for all the info and if anything comes to mind regarding fun spots near Waldport - I'll pretty much fish anything from stunted smallmouth to jetty ling cod... I see that Newport is only about 20 minutes to the north and Yachats a few more minutes to the south... seems like lots of potential.

 

[troutdude]

From a post of mine a few years ago.

"I've not personally fished in that lake. But according to Pete Healy, in his book "Oregon Coast Fishing Maps" comes this excerpt...

"Most of the fishing pressure is directed at the trout and Sutton has a surprising number, of native and carryover rainbows that will measure more than 15-inches in length." But Pete also notes that, most of the trout average 12-13 inches.

He also states, in the same book, that...

"Both still fishing with bait, and trolling flasher and bait combinations work well...."

In addition...

"Bass weighing more than 6 pounds are pulled from Sutton every year."

If you go, let us know how you do."

SIDEBAR: I am not sure how to acquire Pete's books these days. We used to order direct on his web site. But Pete sadly passed away a few years ago. But if you can find any...grab them! They are full of maps and tips.

 

[elmucho]

I think I read the post that you wrote because I went on a search for that book and I couldn't them anywhere. I'll hop on the search train again and see if I can locate that. Thank you all for your patience. I'm getting the feeling that it's safe to say that ANY body of water that I can find is worth giving a shot for trout or bass. Looking forward to exploring and I will report back.

 

[troutdude]

I'm getting the feeling that it's safe to say that ANY body of water that I can find is worth giving a shot for trout or bass.

There's a lot of truth to that right there.

 

[Flyfisheress]

Hi. We moved here from Texas to a place on the South Coquille. I understand there is a problem with small mouth bass eating up the salmon smolts. I have never fished for small mouth, only fly fished for Guadalupe Bass on central Texas rivers (we call them green trout) and largemouth in ponds and lakes. First time in my life I ever fished for largemouth I had waded out and cast a frog fly back into some cat tails. Reeling back in got a follow by a swimming snake. Isn't nature great? In Texas I also fished for White bass. Big schools of them swim from lakes up the rivers to spawn. This is a major traditional family camping deal with redneck types Anyway, what do you use for small mouth here? Clouser minnows? Chartruse?

 

[jamisonace]

Clousers, Wooley buggers, leaches work well but I've caught them on everything. My favorite has been chernobyl ants.

What part of the S Coquille are you on?

 

[elmucho]

I live most of the year in San Diego (Imperial Beach, actually) and will be spending holidays in Waldport - I fish smallmouth in the summer at the John Day river - I'm looking forward to seeing if there's similar smallmouth fishing near Waldport. I'll be there for three weeks this summer - before going to the John Day. I've had lots and lots of fun fly fishing with small poppers for smallies. I especially like a popper pattern called the "Stealth Bomber" easy to tie, easy to cast - and the smallies were demolishing the brown ones that I had. Funny, I switched to a black version of the same fly and a large mouth blew up on it! I'm going to try fly fishing nearby jetties and the Asea River.

 

[Flyfisheress]

I like to see the slashing takes so it will have to be brown Bombers and ants. East shore of the South Coquille on the white deer mile. Right now a lot of driftboats are going by.

 

[jamisonace]

I like to see the slashing takes so it will have to be brown Bombers and ants. East shore of the South Coquille on the white deer mile. Right now a lot of driftboats are going by.

There will not be a shortage of takes, the river is over run.

Are you trying for steelhead?