Kayak fishing the Oregon Rockfish Classic 6-16

[Noahk]

The largest kayak fishing tournament in the Northwest was held last Saturday out of Depoe Bay. Over 60 yak anglers from Oregon, Washington and California made the trek to the coast to battle out on the Salt for the ORC crown. I showed up in Depoe on Thursday morning to pre-fish with a few other yakers, many for their first time on the salt. The swell was small and despite a little bit of wind it was a nice nice day on the water. The fishing for me could have been better but it was a blast watching the newer guys land their first saltwater fish.

Prefish 6-14
Leaving Depoe Bay

Justin's first fish

First cabbie of the weekend for me, released

First Lingcod

Pretty nice conditions!

Cute little Black rockfish

Nice Cabbie

Greenling, time to get the ultra-light out

Irish Lord

Heading back in after a nice day on the water


6-15
On Friday we headed two miles north of Depoe to do some scouting. We worked a couple of different areas and found some nice spots to hit on the day of the tournament.

A nice 9 lb Cabbie that inhaled my jig and became dinner


Gorgeous day on the water, it really doesn't get much better than that.

Finally able to find a ling

Back to the ultra-lite

Another cabbie


6-16
Game day. The alarm goes off at 3:30 am and we start making our way for the boat ramp. We're greeting to darkness at the ramp and as we prepare to launch at first light. The clock strikes 5:00 and we're on the water. Making the turn to head north we realize quickly that the fog is going to be an issues today. We hug the coast and make our way 2+ miles north to work an offshore reef. We turn west into the fog and it only thickens. I follow the GPS coordinates to an area we did well at the day before and start our first drift. The current has also jumped from a .5 to 1 MPH or so the day before to 2 to 2.5 MPH. This makes each drift faster and makes snagging on the bottom more of a problem. We fish hard but lose a lot of lead with little to show for it. I manage just a couple of blacks but press on. After each drift I fight back against the current to make it back to the top of the different reefs in the area. After nearly 6 hours of fishing I get my first decent hook up of the day. I nice chunky 28+ inch. Not a fish that will win but I'm hoping to break the top 10. After landing that one I fish the rest of the way back to check on the rest of the crew and make sure I make it in before the 2:00 cut off.

The crew in the fog

My biggest Ling of the day, around 9lbs


The official results haven't been posted but I believe I finished 12th. Not bad but I'm gearing up for next year! The winning fish ended up being this 38 inch, 19 lb ling,

 

[cowboysfan]

That is awesome Noah, I could not imagine being out there in the soup for the fact you would be hard to see by a fast moving craft! I loved the thread and pics. Are you taking pics with a phone or camera? 12th not a bad spot out of 60 +

 

[Noahk]

Thanks. The safety flags help but being out in the fog was a little freaky. You could hear all the boats coming though and we were on the same radio channel. The camera is a Fuji XP30 waterproof camera. I'm actually not very high on it, it seems like it takes just as many bad pictures as good ones.

 

[LuckyToBeFishing]

What a great post! The pics are awesome. Some crazy lookin' fish! Thanks for sharing!

 

[bythesea]

looks like a blast !! those are some really nice looking greenling (big),,, It doesn't look like you could fit much more gear on your kayak.that boat thing does sound a little scary ,But I guess their probably going pretty slow too cause of all the fog, Thanks for the post..

 

[bass]

Great report Noah, looks like you all had some good fishing! are quite amazing. However, it looks and sounds like it was kind of scary out in that fog and current. When you are out in the fog can you tell that the current is ripping that fast when you are floating along with it? I really like the angle on the shot of the winning lingcod. The coloring and the red demon eye of that fish are amazing.

 

[JAFO]

Great post and picts. I really enjoyed it.

 

[Noahk]

Hey John. My FF/GPS unit registers my speed, so you can quickly see how fast the current is moving. I can also see what direction I've drifting from the GPS track. I do plan to install a compass as a back up though. The fishing was pretty slow by Ocean standards but still a blast. Let me know if you ever want to give it a shot.

 

[rum runner]

i need to get a yak. growing up there iv always seen people going out on them but i always was like F#$% that lol now i want to do it

 

[Hawk]

Thanks. The safety flags help but being out in the fog was a little freaky. You could hear all the boats coming though and we were on the same radio channel. The camera is a Fuji XP30 waterproof camera. I'm actually not very high on it, it seems like it takes just as many bad pictures as good ones.

Beautiful pics, wonderful story bro...

You did reel good...:clap::clap:

I bought a Fuji Z30 from Amazon, on sale. So far the pics are mostly pretty good, but i'm just an amateur....

 

[bass]

Hey John. My FF/GPS unit registers my speed, so you can quickly see how fast the current is moving. I can also see what direction I've drifting from the GPS track. I do plan to install a compass as a back up though. The fishing was pretty slow by Ocean standards but still a blast. Let me know if you ever want to give it a shot.

Sorry what I meant to ask was if you could tell the current was ripping without the GPS. If your GPS failed (battery ran out, etc) and you were sitting in your kayak moving along in the fog do you think you could tell? Since the current probably runs more or less North to South (or vice versa) a compass would not give you any indication that you were moving. Seems like a relatively fragile link. I had not thought of this before your story (thanks again for posting). I am thinking about getting a Humminbird 597 (with GPS) since my GPS died (20 years old) and my fishingfinder is starting to get condensation in it (20 years old). It seems dicey to be relying on the unit, the battery or a connection not failing to be able to make it back. I guess I have a backup in terms of the GPS on my radio, but still a little bit tense. Do you fish in the fog often? I am not sure I would feel comfortable doing that even with a buddy.

Not sure if I will ever make it out to the salt. The family loves the coast so much it is pretty much impossible for me to head to the coast without taking everyone - including the dog

 

[Noahk]

Thanks. It might just be the pictures I'm trying to get it to take. It always seems to focus on the background lighting and makes the subject really dark. Like in the forth picture from the top.

 

[Noahk]

Sorry what I meant to ask was if you could tell the current was ripping without the GPS. If your GPS failed (battery ran out, etc) and you were sitting in your kayak moving along in the fog do you think you could tell? Since the current probably runs more or less North to South (or vice versa) a compass would not give you any indication that you were moving. Seems like a relatively fragile link. I had not thought of this before your story (thanks again for posting). I am thinking about getting a Humminbird 597 (with GPS) since my GPS died (20 years old) and my fishingfinder is starting to get condensation in it (20 years old). It seems dicey to be relying on the unit, the battery or a connection not failing to be able to make it back. I guess I have a backup in terms of the GPS on my radio, but still a little bit tense. Do you fish in the fog often? I am not sure I would feel comfortable doing that even with a buddy.

Not sure if I will ever make it out to the salt. The family loves the coast so much it is pretty much impossible for me to head to the coast without taking everyone - including the dog

Oh yeah, you can tell when you're peddling against it or from your line scope. Or if you just drop you line you get an idea of how fast the current is going. If the GPS failed I would just head east until I struck shore and then hugged it back to the harbor. This is the first time the fog has been any sort of issue. I also have my radio and iphone that I could also use in a pinch.

Dude, Pacific City would be perfect. Just park your rig on the beach and set the family and the dog on the beach. If the weather is crappy they can just go up to the cafe and watch you fish. The salt is a completely different experience. Just think of your best Sturgeon day and multiple it by 100.

However, you should still not head out there alone, but I think that goes without saying, right? NWKA is still there if you decide you want to come back.

 

[Hawk]

Thanks. It might just be the pictures I'm trying to get it to take. It always seems to focus on the background lighting and makes the subject really dark. Like in the forth picture from the top.

I haven't used this but i'ved heard about Photo Shop..
You can change your images, enhance, lighten, darken, etc.

 

[Noahk]

Thanks, I will have to give that a shot. However, I'd still like to not have to worry about it.

 

[bass]

Oh yeah, you can tell when you're peddling against it or from your line scope. Or if you just drop you line you get an idea of how fast the current is going. If the GPS failed I would just head east until I struck shore and then hugged it back to the harbor. This is the first time the fog has been any sort of issue. I also have my radio and iphone that I could also use in a pinch.

Dude, Pacific City would be perfect. Just park your rig on the beach and set the family and the dog on the beach. If the weather is crappy they can just go up to the cafe and watch you fish. The salt is a completely different experience. Just think of your best Sturgeon day and multiple it by 100.

However, you should still not head out there alone, but I think that goes without saying, right? NWKA is still there if you decide you want to come back.

Interesting, I would not have thought dropping your line would tell you much. I figured the kayak and bait would be going about the same speed so that the lure would stay fairly straight down.

My best sturgeon day by 100, hmm I am not sure I want to hook an 800 foot fish

I have fished the ocean a lot, just not from a kayak. Fishing in the ocean is fun, but it is hard to beat catching fish you measure in many feet. The last sturgeon I caught was huge. I am pretty sure it was bigger than the one in December. It was bigger around for sure. Thanks for the tip, I may check out Pacific City with the family at some point this summer.

 

[Noahk]

Interesting, I would not have thought dropping your line would tell you much. I figured the kayak and bait would be going about the same speed so that the lure would stay fairly straight down.

My best sturgeon day by 100, hmm I am not sure I want to hook an 800 foot fish

I have fished the ocean a lot, just not from a kayak. Fishing in the ocean is fun, but it is hard to beat catching fish you measure in many feet. The last sturgeon I caught was huge. I am pretty sure it was bigger than the one in December. It was bigger around for sure. Thanks for the tip, I may check out Pacific City with the family at some point this summer.

Your weight hits the bottom and stops moving It's usually non-stop action out there and the variety is awesome. You never know exactly what you're going to catch. Halibut, salmon, lings, cabs, blacks, etc. If the lings aren't biting it's a blast to grab the ultra-lite and hit some blacks on the surface or some greenling. Plus, you can actually eat these fish and they're damn tasty! But to each their own, you are certainly the George Rogers Sturgeon master.

 

[bass]

Your weight hits the bottom and stops moving It's usually non-stop action out there and the variety is awesome. You never know exactly what you're going to catch. Halibut, salmon, lings, cabs, blacks, etc. If the lings aren't biting it's a blast to grab the ultra-lite and hit some blacks on the surface or some greenling. Plus, you can actually eat these fish and they're damn tasty! But to each their own, you are certainly the George Rogers Sturgeon master.

That makes a ton of sense with the weight hitting the bottom.

You make a lot of appealing points about hitting the salt. I will have to see how the summer plays out. See out on the water again one of these days.

 

[DYJ]

that's very cool. We were even in Depot that Saturday around 4:00. I would've loved to see you guys go out. Those Kayak's look pretty trick, probably wrap up as much money as I have into my DB into one of those... I'd love to do it.

 

[CoastieFlo]

Do they make those kayaks in xxxl for 6'5 300lb guys?