Marine Yaquina Bay Fishing Reports

[O. mykiss]

Went out last Saturday 10/20/18 for some crabbing and rockfish. Dropped 6 pots for three guys with our favorite trusted crab bait cure about 2.5 hours before high tide.
went out past the bridge bite was very slow to pick up. Right before high slack, the bite kicked on and we quickly picked up around 30 fish keeping our 15 with a mixed bag of smallish coppers and some nice black bass. Picked up the pots after a 3-4 hour soak to find not a single keeper and mostly untouched bait. Everyone was pulling up empty pots. I have never seen crabbing so poor in October, usually easy limits.

 

[rogerdodger]

the last time we had that here on the Siuslaw it was after a hypoxic event that cut the crab population way down...

 

[Irishrover]

We had similar results with the crab, both in the bay and in the ocean. You are right October is usually a fantastic month both in Newport and Waldport. Both area are suffering this year. Hypoxic is what I became after pulling empty pots from 100 feet off the ocean floor.

 

[C_Run]

Nice. Looks like a nice grade of rockfish...big!

 

[4labs]

Hypoxic is what I became after pulling empty pots from 100 feet off the ocean floor.

Time for a power pot puller

 

[O. mykiss]

I went out crabbing from shore in a spot that has been extremely productive over the last few years with 6 crabmax traps Saturday and Sunday with a total of 8 hours crabbed. We caught lots of medium to small red rock crabs and very very few dungeness of any size. We caught one keeper dungeness on the last pull yesterday. I don’t know what’s going on in Yaquina Bay but it has been terrible for months now. If your interested in crabbing, go elsewhere.

 

[rogerdodger]

I heard rumblings towards the end of 2018 that there might have been a hypoxic event that was going to impact the Yaquina/Newport area crabbing. We had a big one off Florence about 5 years ago, killed our crabbing for almost 2 years, then it came back strong in 2017 and got back to 'normal' last year.

Coastal Pacific Oxygen Levels Now Plummet Once A Year

 

[twout]

My buddy just dropped 3 pots in the bay around NOAA and got 8 keeper Dungeness. I have heard of others having luck also.

 

[O. mykiss]

I heard rumblings towards the end of 2018 that there might have been a hypoxic event that was going to impact the Yaquina/Newport area crabbing. We had a big one off Florence about 5 years ago, killed our crabbing for almost 2 years, then it came back strong in 2017 and got back to 'normal' last year.

Coastal Pacific Oxygen Levels Now Plummet Once A Year

ODFW put some test pots down in August or September and when the pulled the pots they were full of dead crabs. Hypoxic zone killed them all. I just don’t get why the Alsea and Siletz are crabbing well. The hypoxic zone encompassed a pretty large area

 

[plumbertom]

At this time, I'm looking forward to getting out on Coos Bay come Monday.
My fishing/crabbing partner is finally feeling up to pulling pots after his abdominal surgery last month.

 

[Bo Peep]

Let us know how you do as I am itching to make a trip myself, I could use some fresh crab and bottom fish.

 

[O. mykiss]

Decided to give waldport a try with my dad and some of his friends this weekend. The results were much better than I have been getting in the Yaquina. We caught a total of 68 legal crab and kept our 60 of clean, hard-shell crab.

 

[Bo Peep]

Wow great catch there, looks like a ton of fun.

 

[Markk]

Decided to give waldport a try with my dad and some of his friends this weekend. The results were much better than I have been getting in the Yaquina. We caught a total of 68 legal crab and kept our 60 of clean, hard-shell crab.

Nice catch!

 

[rogerdodger]

outstanding.

 

[Big Nigiri]

I know it has been slow, but any recent reports from Newport? We have never been fishing up there and my wife really wants to go. We have a few pots to drop and then want to target bottom fish. I am also curios about herring fishing, I hear they may do that as well?

Thank you
Dan

 

[Irishrover]

I fish the area from May until October. I suppose if the ocean is down you could wonder out for bottom fishing, and drop some pots. I know in the spring there is some good bay perch fishing. For herring we use a sabiki rig and go out by the green can located east of the bridge not to far from the Coast Guard Station.

 

[O. mykiss]

Inside the bay holds fish year round. There are many locations that can be covered to find fish. The north and south jetties, all the finger jetties that come off of the south jetty, and all of the sea walls and breakwaters upstream if it’s too windy out past the bridge. Sand shrimp will bring you the widest variety of species with the most common being striped perch and kelp greenling. That being said, I have caught canary rockfish, lingcod, black rockfish, copper rockfish, and monkey faces eels upstream of the bridge. Crabbing has been dismal, I wouldn’t even waste my time.

Tight Lines

 

[Big Nigiri]

Thanks for the information. I'm think I will wait until after the saltwater sportsman show in a few weeks. I have all these weather related websites, but not sure what the information means. I figure there will be folks to ask there. Once I learn how to interpret swell and wave levels, I will feel safer going closer to the mouth and even cross the bar.

 

[O. mykiss]

Thanks for the information. I'm think I will wait until after the saltwater sportsman show in a few weeks. I have all these weather related websites, but not sure what the information means. I figure there will be folks to ask there. Once I learn how to interpret swell and wave levels, I will feel safer going closer to the mouth and even cross the bar.

Inside the bay, say from the second finger and upriver, swell is not a big factor. Wind however is. Anything more than 10-15 mph is going to make fishing difficult. You can run upriver a find protected structures to fish even on the windier days.