It’s mid April and the focus is shifting to our dory and the many opportunities that await just offshore out of Pacific City. Trips will be starting in early May. As you can imagine there’s a lot of work to do before then to prepare for the season. It will be a busy couple weeks as upgrades to the boat are made, flies tied and gear is prepped.
The rockfish season is full of opportunities to cast and strip flies to eager fish that will put the wood to any 7 wt. The reefs we fish are located just minutes off the beach from Cape Kiwanda. These reefs are anywhere from 30-65′ deep with the rockfish suspended in water normally 15-45′ and on occasion they can be found feeding on the surface where we can throw poppers that get destroyed shortly after hitting the water.
On most days we’re throwing medium size baitfish or clouser patterns from 6 – 8 wt. rods using sinking lines. As you can see from the screen shot above, once the rockfish are located the action can be fast and furious with hundreds of hungry fish below the boat. It’s not uncommon to have multiple hook-ups from hard fighting rockfish. Occasionally, after the rockfish grab your fly and head back to the reef, they pick up a hungry lingcod. We refer to this as a hitch hiker and lingcod don’t like to let go of their prey. After a good battle, this usually ends with a lingcod AND rockfish in the boat.
If your interested in trying something different, this fishery is for you. There’s nothing like jumping in a Pacific City dory and heading over the surf, into the open ocean to target fish just offshore. The action can be fast and furious and these fish are not only fun on the fly, they taste great too. Reserve your day before it’s too late.