Newport shore fishing during winter

L
Logan77
0
Hi, I am a teenage Washington native, who always visits Newport with friends over winter break and spring break. Usually during spring break we fish the large tide pools and surf at Yaquina head, and catch greenling for some great fish tacos. We have never really tried fishing over our winter break trips other than on charter boats (our favorite large tide pool is usually occupied by hundreds of seals for winter), but this year we want to. Is there anywhere we can catch anything for food from shore? I heard the south jetty can catch is that true? Or is there anywhere to catch something in the surf. Just really anything caught in the salt would be fun.
Any info helps
We're going to be there Dec 28-Jan 5
Thanks
Logan Little and friends.
 
Welcome to OFF.

I don't know anything about shore fishing the ocean, but what about crabbing off of the public piers? It's not great for big numbers, but you'll get a chance.

There's one place on the South side of the bay by Rogue brewing, and other places across by downtown.

Best,
 
South Jetty is probably your best bet.

Be VERY careful on the jetties in winter, and don't go very far out. A PFD isn't a horrible idea (but I don't practice what I preach).

Jigs or bait.
 
I agree with dr.

The south jetty is money during winter, Dangerous though. Be on your toes. I usually fish the inside of the south jetty. I do like to go down a ways.

I would set up a bait on a bank sinker setup with the wieght on the bottom and a couple 2/0 hooks about 16 and 32 in above the weight. If you want black bass and greenlings rig up sand shrimp. If you want a ling cod, which is HIGHLY possible right now as they are coming into breed and are agressvie as heck, put a herring on. My biggest advice is to be VERY carefull and patient netting ling from the jetty. It can be tuff to do without losing your fish or dying-

Merry Christmas Logan
 
Thanks for the advice guys, all of it is very helpful, happy holidays!
 
I might see you out there this afternoon.
 
Won't be out there until the 28th
 
Personally this is one my favorite times of year to fish off the south jetty in Newport. The best time to go is about hour before sunset and fish into the night for sea bass. Some of things I would recommend is a head lamp. It is a lot easier to deal with then a flash light or lantern. Like every one else said be very careful on those rocks they can very slippery and the waves. In all reality thou you don't have to go that far out on the jetty . Go to the very end of the parking lot and go past the gate maybe 100yards or so and start there. You should find a couple of wide spots to get down to the water. That is a great place to start. If the tide is ripping pretty hard then fish in by the parking lot. As far as bait goes the sea bass will hit just about any thing. I have used worms sand shrimp grubs flukes rapalas and even panther martin lures. My personnel favorite bait that I use is 3in white curly tail grub made by Mr twister with a 1/4oz jig head. You can pick that up from bi-mart. Cheap and easy fishing pick up a pack of grubs and 2 packs of jigs. For about $8 you have 20 setups. If you have any more questions just ask. I do A LOT of night fishing on the south jetty. I have to say it is one of my favorite fishery's. I don't know very many fishery's that you can catch 20+ fish in a night. Granted a lot of them are small and I throw them back but still fun as hell.
 
Really? Wow, I'm excited! How far out would you usually cast? Every time I got greenling at Yaquina head they were basically right below me. Do you move around a lot or wait for the fish to come to you?
 
Most of the time the fish are right in front of you. You really don't have to cast that far maybe 20-30 feet if that. During the slack tide they tend to be a little bit farther out. If the tide is coming in or out then they will be closer to the rocks. What I like to do is cast at a diagonal. That way I'm dragging my lure right along the rocks. If the tide is coming in I cast towards the ocean. If the tide is going out then I cast towards land. That way you lure will drift with the tide and you want get to far into the rocks and snag up. Sometimes you want to let it sink to the bottom then start reeling. Then there other times that you start reeling as soon as it hits the water. If you are not catching fish try reeling faster/slower letting it sink/not sink jigging it or any other "technique". If that doesn't work then move to a different spot. Sometimes you don't have to move far. I just like to move around until I find them. They do tend to school up together. So when you do find them you will start catching a lot of them. There also have been times that I keep catching a bunch of little guys (throw backs). Even then sometimes I will move to try and find the bigger fish. I hope some of this information helps. This is all stuff that I have learned over the years and has taken me a long time to figure out on my own. That's one thing that is awesome about this forum. Learn all the different techniques that people use. So that way you don't have to spend years figuring it out on your own.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the advice man, that's gonna help out! How rough has the surf been recently?
 
I don't know how rough the surf has been lately. It all depends on the weather conditions. In all honesty if you are out far enough that the waves are breaking you are to far out. I almost never go out past the beach. I have during really calm nights in the summer and the fishing isn't any better or worse. I have also found out if the waves are crashing or really rough the fish don't like to be in that kind of conditions. I think tomorrow (Fri 12-27) I'm going fishing on the Alsea for a couple of hours and then heading to the coast to do some night fishing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar Threads

Back
Top Bottom