Took 5 kids to Neah Bay for a spring break fishing trip. Stayed Thursday night at Curley's in Sekiu then launched from Neah Bay and motored out to Duncan Rock. The currents were ripping and every time I got a jig down to the bottom it immediately got snagged. Three of the five boys were also feeling a little sick so we ambled back inside and ended up off the Northwest tip of Wadda island. I still was trying jigs and getting snagged so I switched to an 8 ounce kidney sinker, double hooks, and a whole herring. From that point on it was great action as long as the drift put you over the rocks that jut out from shore.
We caught a little of everything, 3 kinds of rock fish, a wolf eel, a cabazon, and so on, all in about 50 feet of water. Later on we accidently ended up in 95 feet of water (still off the same rocks) and there found a ling cod hole and came away with 3 legals and 5 released. This was not a slam dunk session, but the hook ups were often enough to keep everyone interested. The lady at the resort thought it strange that we could catch fish using herring 'cause that was salmon bait and bottom fish were supposed to be caught on those colored plastic things. Oh well.

Day 2 found us at La Push. Four of my crew opted to build forts on the beach, so with one mate only I went out the river and into the blue. Up around Cake Rock we went and ended up at Carrol Island about 5 miles up the coast from La Push. At this place if you did not have a hook-up in 5 minutes something was wrong with your gear. I had a Lamiglass with braided line.....a sensitive set-up.....and I could feel them start munching on the bait almost as soon as it got to the bottom. We caught 3 monster cabezon 15-20 pounds and several black rockfish. The fish at Carrol Island all seemed to be a size bigger than the Neah Bay fish. Could it be due to the 4 total boats at La Push compared to 40+ boats at Neah Bay???

It was fun to be at both La Push and Neah Bay in the spring and not have to put up with that stinkin fog!!!!

Where's a good place to stay and what's the bar like at LaPush?

You did good with bait, then? Dang, and Go Figure. I also was told not to bother with bait, so I did the jig thing and didn't have much success -- Garbage Pile, Waadah, and the jetty. Toward the end of our trip, I threw a leftover sardine on a hook, and whammo, right away caught a Ling (out of season still so it went free). Unfortunately we had already thrown away the rest of the bait, because "that doesn't work for bottomfish out here."

The nice thing about La Push is that there is no bar. You motor down the river right along the back-side of James island. Once you clear the island you are in the ocean in 60 feet of water. It is probably hard to imagine that, so you might have to go and see for yourself what I am talking about.

We stayed at Forks (15 miles from La Push) at the Olympic Suites Motel. I had a large crew so I got the largest room they had for about 90 dollars. There are several other choices in Forks. There are also cabins for rent out at La Push. You can also find several individual cabins for rent on the Forks web-site. I think the area has a decent following of kayakers who go out in the bay and do their thing.

BarnettM, I know what you are talking about, for the rest of you, check this website out!


http://apps.ecy.wa.gov/shorephotos/index.html

here is LaPush:

http://apps.ecy.wa.gov/shorephotos/scripts/bigphoto.asp?id=CLA0621

Airal photography of all Washington shorline!

great web-site sky-guy. They also have a photo of Sea Lion Rock, which is where we started our la Push bottom fish fishin.

The thing about la push is if the wind starts coming from the south you NEED TO GET OFF THE WATER. No ifs ands or buts about it. The mouth of the river will be dangerous. My grandpa has been fishing there for over 30 years and we always head in when the wind is changing to the south. The only bad experiences he's had out there were caused by a south wind.

We did some bottom fishing there about a month ago and did ok. Plan on doing it this week if the water is good. Do the clam dig thing then grab gramps boat and head down.

Kris

I have heard that too and on the web there is a story about a guy who went out and then got caught in a south storm. While I was there I found out that I could receive the NOAA marine forcast station on my VHF handheld. We could not get cell phone service, however, but we could at Neah Bay. The nice thing about cell phone service is that you can call the "dial a bouy" number and see what is going on down south. If seas to the south are building (per the Columbia mouth bouy report), it is time to head in.

I couldn't get Verizon cell phone coverage at Neah Bay.

We were about a mile off the coast when we made our call using Verizon and a tri-mode Audiovox CDM 8600 phone.

Took 5 kids to Neah Bay for a spring break fishing trip. Stayed Thursday night at Curley's in Sekiu then launched from Neah Bay and motored out to Duncan Rock. The currents were ripping and every time I got a jig down to the bottom it immediately got snagged.

Here's a couple of suggestions that might help.

1. Black, Blue and Yellowtail rockfish are frequently found on the surface or high in the water column above the bottom. These pelagic rockfish can be caught on light jigs (1/2 to 1-1/2 ounce) with plastic curl tail worms, (Black or White are very consistant colors) fishing on or near the surface. If you see bass flipping on the surface, just cast into the school and swim your jig back with a steady reeling.

You can find schools of rockfish haystacked from the bottom to near the surface with your depth sounder. Drop leadhead jigs or metal minnow style jigs like a Point Wilson Dart down until you feel a tick. It is common to hook Blacks and Yellowtail in the top 20 to 30 feet of water where the depth might be over a 100 feet deep.

When fishing with kids or others that haven't learned jigging skills really well, here's a suggestion that works particularly well in deeper water of 100-250 feet depths.

Instead of using a jig, rig a gangion with two hooks with six inch curl trail worms and a eight to sixteen inch drail sinker (torpedo). A gangion is a leader with two hooks, set about 12 inches apart, with a swivel at the bottom end of the leader to which you attach the sinker and a barrle swivel on the top end to attach to your main line.

Sebastes Jigs who are no longer in business first marketed these bottom fish rigs in the 1980's, but you can find a copy sold under the Wally Whale brand in many tackle shops.

Drop the rig to the bottom, then reel up two or three turns and place you rod in a rod holder. Bottom fish, including lings, halibut and rockfish will all nail these plastic worm rigs.

Leave the rod alone until it starts bouncing and the tip is drug into the water. You will not need to set the hook. It is a good idea to let it bounce a bit as double hookups and occurr.

If you want to tie your own, use 40 lb. mono and 7/0 surge hooks and sturdy swivels.

It is important to use a drail (torpedo) sinker as it will slide along the bottom easier than cannon ball or mooching sinkers and will hang up less.

This technique is particularly useful when fishing with a boatload of kids as you shouldn't hang bottom as much. In such cases, its best to not plan to fish much yourself. Be the guide and tackle untangler. Your kids will have a ball and it will be less frustrating for you.

Those are marvelous ideas!!! I would like to have each kid have his own pole and those less snaggy set-ups may be what I need.

Great thread! I hope to get out there in May depending on family circumstances. Casting for seabass is incredible at times with non-stop action. You can check out an article I wrote a couple years ago over at the WashingtonLakes.com Story/Article Archives section. Easy Limits will vouvh as to the steady action we had. The area around Wadda Island holds some nice fish. I'll have to think about LaPush. I wasn't aware how easy it is to get on to the ocean from there. Thanks!

This deals with fishing Rockfish in Alaska, but has a lot of good general information about rockfish and techniques.

http://www.fishalaskamagazine.com/archives/2003/0703_rockfish.htm

If you can find a copy at the library, New Techniques for Catching Bottom Fish by Doug Wilson and Fred Vander Werff, which is out of print and was written in 1978 can give you good insight on bottom fish.

It can also be found on Amazon.com as a used book.

Here's a tweak on the gangion rig: use circle hooks. Then when you do get a bite, just let the rig hang for a while as the first fish won't be able to get off (most of the time) and you can wait for the second hookup. It works for me-- often my son will come in with two rockfish, lings or whatever on that set-up.

Keith

Barnett,

What was it like landing the wolf eel?

Was he like, coiling around like a snake?

I've caught a bunch of different stuff in the salt, but never one of them critters.

slab,

I just so happen to have a picture of it and will post tonight.

Only fish I know of that hits the deck snapping its big jaws at ya!