Depoe Coho Run, 7-19-2024

Launched out of Depoe yesterday and pedaled west, looking for coho. Bay water was around 51-52 degrees, but I hit a temp break around 180 ft, where it bumped up to 55-56. There was a nice rip line out there too, moving back and forth from 195 to 180.

Ran a full-size Brads Cut Plug in Blue Hawaiian, triangle flasher, 10 oz lead, 25 ft on the line counter. I trolled around the rip line and any floating scum/bubbles/debris patches I could find. Bites came in little spurts: when I'd get a bite in a spot, I'd flip around and troll through it again and usually get another bite. Handful of boats in the general area seemed to be doing the same. The bite wasn't hot for anyone, just a steady pick.

In all, I had around ten take-downs. Landed five coho, but only one of them was clipped. They were your standard-issue 5-7 lb July coho. The fish I kept was packed with crab larvae, which probably explained the big fuzzy bait balls I was marking around 20 ft down. I trolled my way back towards shore for one more drive-by at about 160, but then nothing all the way back to the reef. Banged out a limit of nice black rockfish on the reef before heading back to the harbor.

Fog came and went yesterday. At one point, visibility was down to 200 feet. I'm confident in my navigation skills in the fog, but I always worry about getting run over by other boats. The big Depoe Bay charters were zipping around looking for whales during their midday whale watching tours (whales were AWOL), and I had to keep my head on a swivel to ensure they didn't run me over as I made my way back to port.

With the strong north winds and cold inshore upwelling, this has been a very slow July for ocean salmon fishing. Hoping the weather turns around next month. If anything, at least inshore bay fishing will be available in August.

right on, right on, right on...