Garibaldi Fishing Reports

Fishnsleep · May 28, 2022

Finally, a good ocean forecast for two days in a row, Sunday and Monday. Tides a bit large, but they did not present any issues. Went down Saturday night and early Sunday morning headed to Three Arches with Jeff and Inna. The bite was very good. We got all of our ling cod, (6), and limits of bottom fish, (15). We were back to the dock before noon, and having our fish cleaned. An eight ounce copper pipe jig, 5 ounce flutter jig, and 8 ounce bullet head jig with a grub all produced equally well. It was a great day, nice to be back on the ocean again. Tons of bait fish, the fish were gorged, and the birds were seen working schools of fish, herring, anchovies, needle fish?, I do not know the answer. Things are looking good.

On Sunday, my friend Todd and I went back down to Three Arches. The bite was good, but nowhere as good as the prior day. We got limits of lings and rockfish, but had to move around and work to find them. We had dropped three crab pots on the way out, with yesterday’s carcasses, in about 55’ south of the south jetty, and were pleasantly surprised to have 26 keeper crab out of the three pots. Two were released along with several females and sub legal size. The crab were very full of meat, and delicious.

Now, to make plans for Memorial Day weekend, although the ocean forecast is not looking very friendly. I think Friday and Saturday may be doable, but Sunday and Monday are not looking feasible as of now.

Casting Call · May 28, 2022

What a meat run!!! Nice to show that anybody can catch the same with right equipment. BTW ice bags are the ONLY way to go. Fill with catch, add sea/fresh water, part zip it up to drain or carry. Easy peasy with handle or shoulder straps Congrats Tony 10%er

DOKF · May 28, 2022

I thought that was an old gym bag ... Didn't realize it was a special purpose "ice bag"

DOKF · May 28, 2022

Nice haul of fish ...

Casting Call · May 28, 2022

Back in the day dad always used 2 canvas army O.D. duffel bags. One for Dunge. crab the other for rock crab and surf/pier perch. Bags had side handles sewn on and body length shoulder straps. You old salts know what Iam talking about. Sholder strap to carry, handle to swing on to the bed of the truck. Tony 10%er

Casting Call · May 28, 2022

Use a diaper bag, I don't care try a recycle bag, gunny sack, a bag is a bag. Tony 10%er

jamisonace · May 29, 2022

I got out too but I don't think our conditions were as favorable out of Coos Bay. The forecast changed on us last second but we kept our plans to get out first thing in the morning. It was super bumpy going over the bar and then again in front of Simpson Reef. We found calmer water to the North of the exposed rocks but the fishing was much better to the West of them. We should waited a couple hours to launch because by the time we were done cleaning these the fish everything had calmed down just like the forecast called for it to do. The bass fishing was hot. When we found them they bit and it never took too long to find them. Unfortunately, my friend was really nervous out there in a his boat that he's only had out a couple times so he wouldn't fish when he was at the wheel. After I got my limit, I took over at the wheel and we limited him out pretty quickly with both of us fishing. I would have stuck around to get ling cod but the wind picked up pretty good as soon as we had our two limits of bass so we thought it best to head back. Definitely not worth the 3:30 am drive to Coos Bay from Roseburg for 5 bass but they'll make a nice fish fry tonight.

Casting Call · May 30, 2022

jamisonace said:
I got out too but I don't think our conditions were as favorable out of Coos Bay.

Another nice meat run. Tony 10%er

Fishnsleep · May 31, 2022

Nothing worse then when the wind kicks up and you have fight it heading back to port.

I love a south wind out of Garibaldi, then it is at your back returning from Three Arches. On really nice days, with south winds 5 or less, have gone down to Pacific City, that is fun. But the wind needs to be right, only happens once or twice a year for me, if I am lucky.

Fishnsleep · Jun 12, 2022

Was at work Friday afternoon, when I got a text from Todd, want to fish Saturday was the question. In looking at the forecasts earlier in the week, I had ruled out any ocean fishing. I checked the forecast again, and texted him back, sure let’s go! We went down Friday night, and stayed in my travel trailer. We were on the way to Three Arches by 5:00 a.m.

The black sea bass bite was great, best I have seen in a long time. We got all of our bass, and 3 lings, had to work for the fourth ling, but we got it. Some of the lings had whole herring, green label size, in their mouths when caught. To match the hatch, we switched to five ounce flutter jigs. It was only about 10:00 a.m. and we headed back to Garibaldi. Let’s stop and troll for salmon, Todd said. He keeps two back up rods in the boat. We managed to find a very old can of tuna, opened it without the aid of a can opener, and mixed in some bloody tuna. We then deployed 3.0 Spinfish in about 140’ of water, a few miles south of the Tillamook Bar. Hey, Todd shouted, you just had a takedown, really? I said. A few minutes later Todd caught and released a native coho. Then my rod went off, a beautiful 11 pound chinook, weighed on a scale. I forgot how well they fight. Now to get Todd a chinook, after releasing four more coho, Todd got a chinook.

I was about 1:00 p.m. at this point, so we called it a day, and made the trip back to Portland. Now, to plan for next weekend, which is the opening of the selective coho season. I hope the weather cooperates.

Diehard · Jun 12, 2022

Nice fish looks like your in for some great meals

Fishnsleep · Jun 13, 2022

Yes, had fresh chinook Saturday night. I do love ling cod and bottom fish too though.

Fishnsleep · Aug 15, 2022

Had a friend, Steve, from work fish with me Saturday morning. We left the dock at about 5:30 a.m. with the navigation lights on. Headed out to 240’ off of Twin Rocks and started trolling SW. It did not take long for us to get our four hatchery coho, I do not think we even touched a native, but we did lose a few fish, which is very common with coho fishing. We were using Spinfish Lemon Head Glow, a 3.0 and a 4.0. Both sizes appear to work equally well. We fished from 23’ to 35’ on the line counter, mostly at 35’. It was a great day, and we were back to the dock by 10:00 a.m. or so. We did not drop crab pots, only fishing on this day.

On Saturday night, my friends Jeff and Inna came down, and we left the docks again about 5:30 a.m. The water had gotten very cold, 48 or 49 degrees overnight, and this did affect the fishing. We started at about 180’ with no luck then tried 240’ and 320’, all with limited success. We ended the day with five hatchery coho, and released several natives. We were using Spinfish fishing from 19’ to 45’ on the line counter. We did drop 3 crab pots and were quite pleased to find 32 keeper crab in them! The crabbing is definitely improving. We are coming up on a month with an R in it, which are supposed to be the best months for crabbing. The pots were dropped in about 40’ of water halfway between the North Jetty and Twin Rocks.

Fishnsleep · May 16, 2023

We began Thursday by heading south, down to Three Arches, about 9 miles from Garibaldi. My friend Jim and I fished at various depths on the reefs, from about 90’ to 160’. It was a tough bite, but we did manage to get our limit of 4 ling cod and only 4 rockfish. We also lost a lot of gear on the snaggy, rocky bottom, which happens, this day just seemed like it was excessive, lol. One thing I knew for sure, Friday we were not going South.

Friday, we ventured north, off of Manzanita, where there are some nice reefs to fish, if you can locate them. I have the Navionics chip in my GPS unit, which shows the bottom structure very well. The ling cod were biting, and there were some big ones in the mix. We got our ling cod limits on these reefs Friday and Saturday in a fairly short amount of time. The bottom fish bite was slow here as well, but we did manage a few each day. I was amazed at the ebb chop we encountered on returning. The tide swings were not that great, but the crossings were not calm on any of the days. You have to make sure and monitor the conditions, or you could be “stuck” outside waiting for the bar to calm down. The Coast Guard updates bar conditions on a regular basis.

Getting ready to head back down tomorrow, May 17, and repeat the process. Until the northern spot stops producing, that will be where we are headed. The crabbing has been slow, but appears to be picking back up. While fishing Friday, we saw lots of very very small crab floating, less then the size of a dime. Some of the sea bass we caught also had these crabs in their throats.

Fishnsleep · May 24, 2023

Went down Wednesday night, put the boat in the slip. My friends Todd and Jim joined me for a somewhat late start, about 8:30 a.m. Thursday. We headed north towards Manzanita. Found some nice looking structure and did two drifts, about 15 minutes each, not one of us had a bite. Time to move, we found another reef a little south, and must have dropped right on a school of black sea bass. I got a triple, we had doubles, etc.. and in a few minutes we had our limits, 5 bottom fish each, total of 15. After this, we took off our shrimp flies, and put on heavy jigs, baseball bat jigs, bullet head jigs with grubs etc. We did not want to catch any more bass, were targeting lings. This was very effective, and we had our six ling limit in about an hour. The lings were on the same reef as the bass, but at the very bottom. While fishing for the bass, you could feel them strike the shrimp flies on the way down, pretty cool!

On Friday, I went back with my friend Mike to the same area, we managed 3 ling cod, and a couple of bottom fish, but the wind was finally too much. We headed back to port early, about 9:30 a.m. Saturday I ventured out with another friend, cleared the jetties, and we both decided it was just too rough, the wind was blowing hard and constant. Headed back to Portland Saturday afternoon, knowing Sunday would not be fishable. The forecast for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend does not look great, so we will see what deveops.

Fishnsleep · Jun 28, 2023

Went down on Thursday the 22nd and got an early start to fishing for coho Friday morning, fishing with my friend Troy. It was rough, some boats turned back at the jaws, although the bar was unrestricted. We ventured west, and hoped it would calm down as we got a little more west. It did indeed calm down a little, but not “calm” by any means. We deployed triangle flashers with 4.0 Spinfish, Lemon Head Glow, used 10 oz of weight at 32 on the line counter. After about 20 minutes I began to wonder if any coho had arrived yet. Then., fishon!, Troy had a nice hatchery coho. From this point, in about 200’ of water just south of the south jetty we had constant action, and at least four doubles. Every time one rod went off, the other did also with three or four seconds. We ended up with our four hatchery coho, after releasing some natives, fairly early and headed back to the dock.

On Saturday I fished with my friend Todd, we only went one for three, and it was a native which we released. That’s the story of fishing early coho in Garibaldi, it can be vey hit or miss early in the season. From here the fish should become more numerous and start getting larger. Hoping the ocean conditions will allow us to access this incredibly fun fishery next weekend.

Fishnsleep · Jul 10, 2023

Fished Garibaldi on Friday and Sunday, spent Saturday in Portland. On Friday, met my friend Rich at the dock at 5:30 a.m. We were stuck inside until about 11:40 a.m. The large tide had made the bar rough, and it was restricted to 32’ and under until then. We fished between the jetties, a little in the west channel, and made two passes in the Ghost Hole, not a bite. Went back to the dock, rested a bit, and headed back out and waited for the bar to open. We were the first ones out when the Coast Guard announced no restrictions. We headed north to about 185’ and trolled Southwest. We managed to land two hatchery coho, and released two native coho. The late start, plus a huge amount of bait in the water, seemed to make the coho somewhat indifferent.

On Sunday, went with my friend Todd, on his 19’ Arima, I caught six coho, all native, fun and frustrating at the same time, as you cannot retain wild coho. Todd did land one very nice hatchery coho, we fished until middle of the afternoon, I would rank the bite as slow and spread out. Next weekend forecast and tides are looking really good, hopefully some more hatchery fish arrive soon. Reports are bottom fishing is slow at Twin Rocks and Manzanita, but a better bite to the north.