Garibaldi fishing reports 2021

[Fishnsleep]

Watching the weather and tides very closely the last few days, planning on bottom fishing out of Garibaldi tomorrow, and drop a few crab pots on the way. Probably head south to Three Arches, I have heard the ling cod bite has been good. The ocean has not provided many opportunities so far this year, I have not been fishing since last November! Anyone else planning on venturing west tomorrow? We will be launching at about 7:00 a.m. Hopefully I will have a positive report tomorrow evening, or Thursday. The photo below is from a prior trip. The bite was good that day, needless to say. We will be in a 20' blue Weldcraft, if you see us feel free and say hi.

 

[Irishrover]

That picture sure makes me miss the ocean, really enjoy those lings deep fried! Hope you did well.

 

[Fishnsleep]

Went to Garibaldi with my friend Chad Wednesday morning. Launched about 7 a.m. to a very nice ocean. Dropped 4 crab pots and
made the trip south about 9 miles to Three Arches. The wind kicked up so I put my kicker down to control our drift. It would not start! Not only that it would not tilt back up. I get real anxious when motors/electric things do not work. We continued fishing, while I assessed the situation.
The main motor was running fine, but did not want to go back with my kicker in the down position. After a bit, tried to tilt the kicker up, and it went up, all the way, now not to touch it! Things getting a little better, but still have one motor, no back up, and 9 miles to go. Fished for a while longer, then picked up the pots, only 5 keeper crab for 4 pots, not good. Also, the wind had kicked up and the ocean was rough. Well, at least we returned safely, with no further issues.

We only managed two keeper ling cod, Chad caught both, on large 9" root beer colored grubs. I caught two black sea bass.

Diagnosing the problem...I had my boat in to have an electric crab pot puller installed. To do this, the shop added the wires to my battery. No one did anything wrong here, there was some minor corrosion on the positive battery post and wire rings, and the crab pot puller worked as it should, when I tried it in the driveway. After scrubbing with a wire brush, problem solved. Before we went, I was really thinking I should do a "shake down" trip, just to make sure no issues, but did not. I do have a very expensive marine battery, which I keep on a trickle charger, and keep the boat inside.

Next time, shake down trip before I start my fishing season, especially if anything with the motors, or electrical has been touched for any reason.
Just happy kicker went up, main motor worked correctly, and we left the fishing area early to avoid the increasing winds.
Now to plan the next trip

 

[Fishnsleep]

Brought the boat down to Garibaldi the afternoon of Sunday May 2nd. Monday AM was set to fish, headed out of Garibaldi Harbor about 7:20 a.m. called for a bar report, no restrictions, at 7:30 the Coast Guard reported conditions deteriorating on Tillamook Bay Bar, restrictions of 26’ and under expected, mariners should head back across the bar now. So… we turned around, and went back to bed. Got up about 9:30 a.m., checked bar report, no restrictions effective at 7:30 a.m. Departed a second time, but due to the late start fished close to tip of north jetty, the Dinner Reef, with no luck. It was kind of windy and rough so we did not stay long. I have total respect for the Coast Guard and am sure the thinking was that the outgoing tide would quickly make crossing the bar dangerous. I would much rather that they err on the side of caution and appreciate the job they do to keep us safe.

The bar conditions prevented us from trying to fish in the ocean on Tuesday, so we headed back to Portland.

 

[Fishnsleep]

With a favorable ocean forecast and an unrestricted bar we headed south to Three Arches, myself, Troy and Scott. On the way we dropped six pots about a mile south of the south jetty in about 55’ of water. The fishing was slow, but we each managed to get a keeper ling cod, and a few sea bass. Troy caught a very nice cabezon which was sent back without injury. We were hoping it was a good sized ling, oh well.

Picked up the crab pots on the way back in, and were quite pleased to have 22 keeper crab out of the six pots. The wind was picking up, as it usually does in the afternoon, I do not like to stay down south too late in the afternoon, can make for a rough ride back.

Troy was excited to try my new electric crab pot puller, this makes pulling up 600 feet of line, 100 feet per pot, a breeze. You have to pay attention though, the pots come up pretty fast. I purchased the Trac line hauler TRC-T10250 from Portland Marine Electronics and had them install it for me.

This was the second time using this puller, and I really like it. PME installed it just where I wanted it, and wired it all up. Installation may require drilling some holes, it mounts on a Scotty downrigger base, SCY-1026. If you are going to have it installed you should be sure and discuss the mounting location and what the expense will be.

 

[Gulfstream]

NICE!

 

[rogerdodger]

Troy was excited to try my new electric crab pot puller, this makes pulling up 600 feet of line, 100 feet per pot, a breeze. You have to pay attention though, the pots come up pretty fast. I purchased the Trac line hauler TRC-T10250 from Portland Marine Electronics and had them install it for me.

This was the second time using this puller, and I really like it. PME installed it just where I wanted it, and wired it all up. Installation may require drilling some holes, it mounts on a Scotty downrigger base, SCY-1026. If you are going to have it installed you should be sure and discuss the mounting location and what the expense will be.

excellent, big lings seem to be hard to find just now.

I'm having a laugh about that electric pot puller zipping your traps up from the bottom. From my kayak, my pots basically come up about 4' at a time on a 12s period. It goes like this- hold the line as the swell takes my boat and the pot up, take up the slack as I drop into the trough, hold the line as I go back up, take up the slack on the way down...thinking about it now, it's using the ocean swell energy to bring up the pot. lol There were 16 keepers in one of my pots back in late April, so doing it this method keeps my arms happy.

 

[Fishnsleep]

LOL, I hear you. My wife made/convinced me to get one, after I pulled my back out last year. It was well worth the expense.

 

[Fishnsleep]

We made a decision to fish some new areas off of Manzanita, about 9 miles north of Garibaldi, we normally would go 20 miles north to Cannon Beach, or 9 miles south to Three Arches. We were able to locate some nice structure in about 120’ of water, and managed to get our limit of lingcod, 2 each. We also caught some canary rockfish and black sea bass. We had a successful day trying a new area, and saved about 20 miles of travel in my 20’ Weldcraft. I was fishing with two friends, Jim and Todd. I find that keeping the jigs as straight up and down helps minimize getting snagged on the bottom, but if you do not get snagged occasionally, you probably are not fishing close enough to the bottom. Sometimes it is necessary to put the kicker/trolling motor in gear to control how fast you are drifting. We were using an assortment of jigs, from bullet heads with curly tail grubs, to plain diamond jigs, and one of my favorites, baseball bat jigs. The more weight you use, the more straight up and down you can keep the line, but it is also a lot more “work” on the arms to jig 24 ounces off the bottom all day versus 8 ounces.

 

[Irishrover]

Nice haul. Like the cleaning table, good thing to have when the public table get crowded.

 

[Gulfstream]

NICE!

 

[bass]

Wow! Not many things feel better than finding a new structure/hot spot!