Center console in southern Oregon? Or should I sell?

F
FlyFish
I have a 17 foot center console SeaStrike with a 70hp Johnson. Love the boat to chase Stripers on the East coast... but we are relocating to Southern Oregon - Medford. I notice a lot of photos of drift boats - and I suppose that is the boat of choice. Would my Center Console be useful to me for chasing salmon and steelhead on the Rouge? If not - would this boat be useful at all? I would hate to literally drag her cross country only for her to become a lawn ornament.

Many many thanks in advance for any replies.
 
S
SantiamDrifter
What degree haul is she?
 
F
FlyFish
Fiberglass Vee - Boston Whaler flats type boat. Draft is about 1 foot...and she weights about 1000 lbs.
 
M
Markcanby
Im know expert on boats or the Rouge but I would think it would be nice to have at least for fishing the bays. And remember you can't drive 2hrs here without crossing a river. So dont limit your plans to the Rouge.
 
F
fishindude
As a resident of Ashland ,I would say that your boat would be great for the mountain lakes in the region. The is some great flyfishing in most of em.:) Sounds like a great boat for Gold Beach . Coos Bay and even the Chetco bay at Brookings . BTW welcome to OFF and southern Oregon :):cool:
 
T
Thuggin4Life
Tidewater trolling for fall chinook i can't wait and you will be fine. also many lakes around oregon. and crabbing. keep it for a lake/bay boat and if you must run the river get a cheap drift boat or a sled. or sell it and just get a big sled. also don't rule out the ocean. bring it. if you change you mind you can always uprade later.
 
D
dude young
Hey Fly, welcome to the forum! Where are you moving from? I moved out here (Portland) about a year and a half ago from N'Ampsha. Grew up in Joisey. Spent many hours on the "Other" ocean chasing Stripers, Blues, and Flukes. Not as many as I would have liked, but plenty for sure.

My gut reaction to your quandary is, if you can sell the boat there, do it. It may be a nice boat, but it is certainly more valuable on the East coast that out here. From what I have learned, aluminum and shallow runners are the name of the game here on the rivers. For lakes and bays a deeper vee will be the ticket (either glass or Al), and similar for the open sea (although if I were to do an ocean-specific boat, it'd be glass for sure). You are going to want a top for the boat. We fish 365 here, and let's face it, it is the PacNW. It rains here. And when it does, it is a cold rain. I am not sure what your boat is worth there (but, if it's a Whaler, the name alone carries a premium back East), but I would check Oregon Craigslist out to get a feel for what you may be in the market for would cost you. Then, gauge whether you can get close enough to that for your boat. Don't forget, you are going to need to drop some coin on new gear for the new feesh you are going to be chasing. So, factor that into your budget.

I just bought my new (to me) sled. PM me and I can send you some photos and info about it, kinda as a benchmark for what things go for here.

Hope that helps. Oh, and, there are Stripers here. In fact, you are going to be in the right area for them. The southern OR coast and it's rivers/bays are the Northern extent of their range. If you do bring that boat out here, let's hook up and try to kill a couple.

Good luck!

DY
 
F
FlyFish
Thanks for the welcome and feedback. I am a New Yawka (Yankee Fan) living in Maine... you can only imagine how annoying it is to live amongst Red Sox fans ... and they say the same about me :) I am going to be totally green to this whole experience of fishing the PacNW - so I am looking forward to it and this board is GREAT! I am pretty clueless on the species of fish in the saltwater of the Pacific and what is available to catch in the bays. In freshwater - I can catch trout - but New England stream style (aka 4 wt flyrod and a 17" fish is a TROPHY). It also seem that there are even different species of Trout to battle (outside of Rainbows, Browns and Brookies). Bull trout? Red something trout... Supersized Rainbows? ..... seems a little too good to be true.
 
T
the_intimidator03
for fresh water salmonids we have cutthroat, rainbows, redband, lohantan, brook, brown, bull, lake, i think thats about it we also have kokanee salmon, Chinook, coho and steelhead. As far as bays and jetties you can get several kinds of sea bass, sea trout (aka kelp greenling), lingcod, cabezon along with crabbing for dungeness and redrock crabs.
 
D
dude young
FlyFish said:
Thanks for the welcome and feedback. I am a New Yawka (Yankee Fan) living in Maine... you can only imagine how annoying it is to live amongst Red Sox fans ... and they say the same about me :) I am going to be totally green to this whole experience of fishing the PacNW - so I am looking forward to it and this board is GREAT! I am pretty clueless on the species of fish in the saltwater of the Pacific and what is available to catch in the bays. In freshwater - I can catch trout - but New England stream style (aka 4 wt flyrod and a 17" fish is a TROPHY). It also seem that there are even different species of Trout to battle (outside of Rainbows, Browns and Brookies). Bull trout? Red something trout... Supersized Rainbows? ..... seems a little too good to be true.

I may have been the only Giants fan in NH when they won the SB. You could hear me scream for MILES! Don't care. I know your pain. Pats/Sox Nation, worse than Pittsburg fans.

Where 'bouts in Maine. I have friends in Machias. If I ever had to return to the East coast to live, I would not live south of Bar Harbor. Or west of it, for that matter.

I have a buddy that worked for KTP for a while. I even made the bragging board for Touge (they call them Mackinaw here) through the ice. You ice fish? Keep your gear. I did. We can find some hard water fishing next winter. Show these guys what it's all about.
 
F
FlyFish
Giants!! My wife will love that. J-E-T-S for me.. so, that is why I fish. Football season is generally over after week 4 (although last season was respectable).

Ice fishing... no. Smelting - yes. Something about sitting in a shack with a wood stove and Alan's coffee brandy just seems right. After a while, catchin' bait, rollin 'em in corn meal and stickin' 'em in the frying pan is really quite fun.. and tasty. But - I suppose after several swigs of Alan's (followed by a wild turkey chaser) fried blood worms would taste good too.

I decided to take the boat. Just watched some youtube video of people haulin' salmon out of the mouth of the Rouge the size of small children. Seemed pretty easy - drift, set the hook, reel, dodge 50 other boats, reel some more, net fish - eat sushi. Oregon is going to be fun.

Wassup with the bears and rattle snakes? Is that something you encounter often?
 
T
Thuggin4Life
were you are moving you will never see a rattler. as far as i know hey are mostly up in the higher elevations but then i hear they are in the coburg hills.
 
K
kaimuki49
i love maniacs !! welcome.
 

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