We headed out from Hammond early to catch the high slack and it paid off! The rockfish are in heavy already with some small ones and some very, very big ones hanging out. We found ourselves limited and releasing about two or three more limits while we tried for more Ling Cod. The Ling Cod are still working their way in, but made a decent showing with 3 released, one stolen by a sea lion, and 3 that were big enough to make it to the dock. We also released 2 cabezon and found a few jumbo kelp greenling. On top of all of that, Bobby somehow managed to catch a massive surf perch.
Today was one of those days where color didn’t matter. The fish bit on orange, white, green, pink, chartreuse , and anything else we put down. Depth also didn’t matter, the fish finder at times looked like I had put it in demo mode with the number of marks showing up. They were quickly confirmed with doubles of rockfish and even one double ling cod pull. Generally I prefer to fish the slack tide for Ling Cod and Rockfish, but we did have to make an extra run back to the dock so we found ourselves on some of the heavier outgoing current. Even with less than ideal conditions the fish were still coming over the rail quickly.
As if the good fishing wasn’t enough, we ended up doing some whale watching as a grey whale chowed down on some of the bait balls near the mouth of the river. While the Bald Eagle on the jetty seemed amused by the whole scene, the sea lions were not exactly happy with the whale’s presence. All in all today was a great day, with a bit of rain in the morning but a relatively calm ocean. I’m looking forward to some more bottom fishing trips this year, I can’t wait to put more of these tasty fish on the boat!
RELATED TRIP: Astoria Bottom Fishing Charter