Brookings Oregon News, Sports, & Weather | The Curry Coastal Pilot
Fishing report for the week of August 20-26
Last week the Port of Brookings Harbor fillet station was once again
abuzz with electric fillet knifes as anglers cleaned and filleted a
plethora of seafood delights.
Rockfish and lingcod made up the majority of their catches. The
rockfish were a good grade of fish and the anglers reported catching
them on a variety of lures such as shrimp flies, twin-tail plastics,
grubs, leadfish, and bait.
Lingcod bellies are bulging and getting fatter by the week as they
are getting more filled with milt and roe. The lings were caught on the
same lures folks were using for rockfish. Big herring used on a mooching
leader in combination with a banana sinker also produced a good portion
of the lings.
There were also plenty of hitchhiking lings that swallowed anglers’ rockfish. Remember to have your gaff locked, loaded and ready to do some serious sticking when these babies come to the surface, because the only reason why they are holding onto the fish is because they cannot let go of them.
The lingasaur’s inwardly curved teeth cannot release a fish as long as anglers keep their rods bowed with a tight line. Most lings that are hooked this way are lost at the surface because that’s when an angler tends to ease up on the rod’s tension thereby allowing the lingcod to release its grip on the fish and swim away.
If this happens to you, don’t worry. Immediately kick your reel back into free-spool, slowly dropping the bait back to the bottom. Nine times out of 10 the same lingcod will hit it again on the way back down.
Just remember to gaff the ling quickly when it comes to the surface. I prefer to use a long-handled gaff because if the ling does come off, you have a few extra feet to stick it with.
California halibut showing up
I have had several people call me up reporting that they had caught some California halibut last week, and all of the anglers seemed to have had at least four of the flat-siders apiece. Practically all of the fish were caught in relatively flat water on semi-foggy days. California halibut count against your 25-fish flatfish limit.
Most of the fish have been coming from relatively shallow water, between 5 and 8 feet deep in sandy areas straddling rocky structures. Most anglers caught the majority of their fish on herring, but a few people caught them on ordinary rockfishing gear.
My favorite outfit is a deep-diving hard plug trolled paralleling the beaches, always making sure that the lure is digging into the sand.
The Rogue Bay
Fishing for Chinook in the Rogue Bay was somewhat slow last week because the majority of fish that were in the bay shot upriver when water temperatures cooled down. But that is expected to change this week.
“It’s heating up inland and that will probably hold the fish down here, so I’m looking for the fishing to be improved in the next couple of days,” said Sam Waller of jotsresort.com.
Sharks outside
the port
There have been several reports of thresher sharks within a mile from shore. Thresher sharks are incredibly good eating.
When a thresher first makes its move on a bait, it usually swats it a few times with its tail to stun it first (hence the name thresher), before zeroing in on the bait with its mouth.
That’s exactly what happened last week to Captain Jim Bithell who’s hooked and lost the same shark so many days in a row he’s named it. What did he name it? “Hooked in the tail,” naturally.
The Slam’n Salmon Derby
Next weekend marks the start of the Slam’n Salmon Derby and the end of the regular ocean salmon season.
My good friend and neighbor K. Saadat was asking me where the fish were this year, as were many other people. I remember K. asking me the same question this time last year and he ended up winning the derby with his 39.8-pound monster king.
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