Last year, in the middle of July, I caught many smelt on herring jigs in the Yaquina bay off of the fishing pier. I thought they were herring, but they turned out to be smelt. The schools were shimmering in the bay. I watched a probably 40 or so pound halibut come up through one of schools. Amazing. Pretty tasty and easy to catch. I tried the same thing in the Alsea and kept catching salmon smolts. So I stopped jigging, be aware of what you are catching.