Posted by Ocean Harvester on Oct 23, 2009 in
Fishing,
General,
Ocean Harvest
Record Year Tuna Fishing on the Harvester
This was the best year ever for the Harvester Albacore fishing. We landed 4600 fish in 36 days on the ocean averaging 16lbs each for nearly 47,000 lbs. Pretty incredible for our small boat since last year we only landed 1600 fish for the whole season. What made the difference?
The Weather!
 Short Video of Jumper School |
 Video: Landing Two Albacore |
This July was the clear and calm nearly all month. It was an amazing month with very little wind so it was no problem fishing so we got a lot more days on the Ocean than we did last year and we found the tuna big time. As you get later into the season you have to change your strategy to find the tuna. In the early part of the Summer, when the tuna are moving in they follow the warm currents so you can have a pretty good idea where they will be. They’re here in the summer to put on weight so early on they’re always biting so its just a matter of finding the warm waters and trolling a pattern through it.
Read more…
Tags: albacore, commercial, fishing, jumper schools, ocean, Tuna Fishing, video
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 16, 2009 in
Fishing 
John Martin, left, Chad Brunick, center, and Sean Metzger, all of Klamath Falls, boat a fall chinook salmon in Chetco on Sunday. AP Photo
BROOKINGS (AP) — Despite having only a sliver of the Chetco River open to angling this month, John Martin of Klamath Falls does not lament the loss of upstream fishing access.
He drops his anchovy into the estuary between the jetties, then motors his small aluminum boat, already loaded with two friends and three adult Chinook. The fish are all around 30 pounds.
They’re trolling, though, through no more than 200 yards of the Chetco.
“Because this is where the fish are,” Martin says.
Though most of the Chetco remains closed to angling to protect a poor return of wild Chinook to this South Coast stream, anglers are finding they don’t need much space to catch fish eclipsing 50 pounds in an ongoing fishery that is as popular as it is maligned.
Estuary waters west of U.S. Highway 101 are the only part of the Chetco open under a restricted bag limit of one wild Chinook a day and no more than two this season. The low wild fall Chinook return is blamed largely on poor ocean conditions, and is expected throughout Southern Oregon streams.
But anglers are making the best of that one wild Chinook a day, hauling in some of the largest salmon seen here in two decades. Tops so far comes courtesy of Carl Johnson of Brookings, whose 58-pounder caught Sept. 30 unofficially is the largest Chinook caught in the Chetco Bay since the early 1980s.
“That was a gorgeous, gorgeous fish,” Johnson said. “I’ve caught several in that category, but none on the Chetco and not in the estuary.”
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Tags: anchovy, brookings, Chetco, Chinook, fishing, salmon
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 8, 2009 in
Crabbing in Oregon,
Fishing Chinook fishing in the Coos River has slowed this past week. But with a forecast of rain and larger tide exchanges, we should see more salmon coming into the river. The wild coho season on the Coos has closed but you may still retain fin-clipped coho.
Chinook fishing in the lower Coquille River has also slowed, but the wild coho season has remained strong with good numbers of fish being caught in the lower river and bay. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates we have taken about 45 percent of our 1,500 wild coho quota. Some fishermen have remarked that wild coho are larger the later we get into the season. The Coquille is also producing some 30-plus pound Chinook, and we still have plenty of jacks in both river systems to keep the fishermen excited.
Salmon fishing on the lower Rogue River in Gold Beach still is producing some Chinook, and there are plenty of fin-clipped coho being caught in the bay.
Read more…
Tags: Chinook, fishing, huting, Oregon, recreation, reports
Posted by Webmaster on Oct 1, 2009 in
Fishing 
It’s not often fishermen catch a 48-pound king salmon, and a fish that size usually isn’t reeled in during your first time out.
Mary Price categorized it as beginner’s luck. After being talked into climbing aboard Lisa and Skip Allen’s boat alongside her husband, Dave Price, Mary caught the only fish that day and it just happened to be 461?2 inches long.
“We estimated it took about 25 to 30 minutes to reel in,” Mary said. “The thing put up a fight.”
She caught the monster fish at Rocky Point boat ramp along the Coquille River in late August. It was her first time fishing out on the boat, despite the fact that her husband is an avid fisherman, and just renovated his own boat.
Mary said she’s a “big city girl” at heart, and never got into fishing. In the past, she’s lived near two major cities, Los Angeles and St. Louis, and is still getting used to the outdoors mentality of the Southern Oregon coast.
Mary, who lives in Myrtle Point and is retired, said her husband helped her a little with the catch, but she did most of the work herself. Claiming to be clueless about the world of fishing, Mary said she had no idea how large a fish had to be in order to be considered “big,” and couldn’t tell how heavy the salmon was when she began reeling it in.
“My husband said I was calm,” Mary said. “I guess I was in the moment. I didn’t know what a big fish really was.”
Her friends said the line might have snapped had Dave not tied a knot in it before casting.
Read more…
Tags: 48 pound, king salmon, Myrtle Point, Rocky Point
Posted by Webmaster on Sep 18, 2009 in
Fishing Local lakes: We’ve experienced our regular large fall hatch of flying termites in the past week. Look for rainbow trout and pan fish to be feeding on the surface. Anglers fly fishing in the early evenings have been reporting good action on local lakes and ponds. Matching the recent hatch is a sure way of getting a bite. Anglers trolling the lakes might want to slow-troll a fly behind the wake of their boats.
Local rivers: Fall Chinook fishing on the South Coast is still in full swing. Rough bar conditions over the weekend slowed the bite down a bit, but by early in the week, new schools of fish started to move into the lower Rogue and Coquille rivers.
Local river guide Rick Howard (347-3280) had a great weekend fishing the Coos River near the Marshfield Channel. He and his clients had a 14-fish day trolling on the Coos on Saturday. Anglers are reporting good coho salmon fishing mooching near the Coos Bay bar in Charleston. Anglers mooching the bar at Winchester Bay have been catching coho and some king salmon. The majority of the coho have been natives and have to be released in the Umpqua River system. Jon Vining of Bandon caught a nice 27-pound king salmon on the lower Coquille recently. Early this week, we weighed 36.5- and 48-pound kings that had been caught by trollers on the lower Coquille, as well. My baby brother, Bob Roszkowski, caught three nice jack salmon last week on the Coquille. I guess there’s hope for all of us.
There is still a large number of jack salmon being caught on the Coos and Coquille systems. A few coho are starting to move into the Coquille River. Remember: This fall you can keep one non-fin-clipped coho per day and five per year until the 1,500-fish quota is met. Summer steelhead fishing on the middle Rogue River is starting to pick up. Anglers fishing below Agness are catching plenty of half-pounders, with a few big fish mixed in. One angler reported catching a 6-pound summer steelhead last weekend.
John from Turman Tackle is reporting a good sturgeon bite on the lower Umpqua River near Scottsburg. This can be a great time of year to hook a sturgeon on the South Coast. Anglers fishing for salmon add to the sturgeons’ diet by re-baiting and leaving lots of herring behind.
Pacific Ocean: Rough ocean conditions kept most boats in port over the weekend. By early week, the ocean had calmed down and anglers were concentrating their efforts on rock cod. Sunday, Sept. 13, was the last day anglers could retain cabezon, which will remain closed on the ocean until Jan. 1. Salmon fishing south of Humbug Mountain also closed on Sept. 7. The only reports coming in on the ocean coho season north of Humbug Mountain have been from the Port of Newport, where anglers are still catching a few coho. Good ocean conditions also have anglers going offshore for albacore, which have remained in the range of 30 to 50 miles offshore. Area shellfish: Boaters crabbing in Coos Bay and the bay at Bandon are still bringing in some nice Dungeness crab. Boaters crabbing the ocean are reporting great crabbing and an awesome quality of crab. A series of minus tides this week is good news for bay clammers. With the swell coming down, look for beach clammers to target local razor clams.
(Tony Roszkowski has owned and operated Port O’ Call — TonysCrabShack.com — on the Bandon waterfront since 1989. Many South Coast anglers rely on his fish and shellfish reports. Hear more from Tony on ‘Oregon Outdoors’ Thursdays on KWRO 630 AM.)
Tags: Bandon, Crabbing in Oregon, fishing report, ocean, shellfish
Posted by Ocean Harvester on Sep 11, 2009 in
Fishing,
General,
Ocean Harvest,
Recipes 
Diablo Roja up close thanks National Geographic
What horrors from below haunt the dreams of Captain Nemo? Diablo Rojo – the Red Devil – stalking fish, man and beast alike in and among our Oregon Coastal Waters, voracious and aggressive sometimes topping 100 lbs and 7 feet long the Humboldt Squid (Dosidicus gigas) is on summer holiday looking for a snack. They can swim up to 20 mph and use their tooth lined tentacles to grab their prey (including divers!) and gnosh on them with an impressive beak. They are called red devil because they flash red and white when attacking or getting hauled up on the boat.
Squid Washing up on Victoria Island
Once confined (more or less) to southern waters near Mexico and the Sea of Cortez these monsters have been moving north over the years following the warm waters associated with El Neno first showing up in Northern California and now more and more in Oregon and Washington waters. On the Harvester we hooked a Humboldt in 2001-2002 albacore season and brought it in to show off and nobody had ever seen one before. What was once rare is now common for us up north. Here they are washed up on the shore up in Victoria British Columbia, which even a few years ago would never have happened.
Video: Night Jigging for Humboldt Squid on The Harvester
A lot of tuna boats and sports boats jig for squid at night, but you can catch them in the day too if they are around. Most people cut them up for bait (which they do make great bait) but they’re pretty tasty too if you prepair them right.
The key to eating a Humboldt is to make sure to skin them really good — that outer membrane is really tough then cut them into strips across the grain (like you would a flank steak). Then I usually put them on skewers and marinate in sweet chili sauce (Vietnamese or or similar flavors) and grill fast and hot. Gotta cook it quick or its tough as nails and cutting against the grain helps on that front too. You could also bread with panco or batter and deep fry like Calamari. Just don’t over cook them or you’ll be eating rubber.
Eating the tentacles is hit or miss. We’ve been meaning to smoke a bunch up with teriyaki or soy sauce mix but haven’t had the time to try that out.
So if you are buying fresh tuna off the docks ask around if anyone has a fresh Humboldt and give it a shot, or maybe catch one of your own!
Keep fishing,
The Harvester Crew
Tags: humboldt squid, Tuna Fishing
Posted by Webmaster on Sep 2, 2009 in
Fishing,
General 
As the water termperatures continue to cool down, the fall Chinook salmon will continue to work their way into the Rogue River.
Michael Becker, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Gold Beach, said the waters are about 67 degrees currently, and more Chinook will move upriver as the temperature decreases.
About 35 to 50 catches of fall Chinook per day are being reported, Becker said, and numbers look normal for this time of year. The two-year-old jacks are also starting to appear.
Becker said that the bay still is best for fishing, but steelhead fishing is beginning to slow down, although you can still catch some adult summer steelhead. Becker said it’s important to make sure that the steelhead are fin-clipped.
Many 16 to 20 pound fish are available in the area, as well as three-year-old fish, Becker said. One person reported catching a 481?2 pound fish.
The ocean should be good for fishing next weekend, Becker said, when the waters are calm. Fish for bottom fish, especially lingcod.
Tags: Chinook, fishing, Rogue River
Posted by Ocean Harvester on Aug 29, 2009 in
Fishing,
General,
Ocean Harvest Well its been quite a season so far. Hit and miss.. great opening but now the warm water is getting harder to find. We’ve been out of computer range for a while but now we lost the hydraulics on the last run, so time to get all the action together for a big world newspaper blog post right while the boat is getting a fix yeah? Ahem ..
A certain Captain *lost* at least 2 gigs of albacore video off the SD cards from this season. Well he’s been busy and we’re pretty sure either it got some bacon drippings on it so could well be the dog ate it or maybe baby Hannah munched it down .. we’re checking the diapers. Like Capt Tyler said ” F*ing things need to be 5″ square like the good old days” — true but the camera would also be 10 inches wide and weigh 30 lbs!!
Read more…
Posted by Webmaster on Aug 24, 2009 in
Fishing S
AN PEDRO, Calif. — If the tide is high, the weather is warm, the clock is approaching midnight and the beach you’re standing on is in Southern California, it’s a given that romance is in the air — or the water. In these parts, it’s a time for grunion love.
The California grunion does something no other fish on the planet is known to do. It surfs a wave right out of its world and into ours. Then it plops itself down on the sand to lay and fertilize its eggs before waiting patiently for another big wave to carry it home.
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Tags: California, grunion run, San Pedro
Posted by Webmaster on Aug 17, 2009 in
Fishing The 10th-Annual Coos Basin Amateur Salmon Derby will be held Sept. 12 and 13 on the Coos River in Coos Bay.
Tickets cost $20, and can be purchased at England Marine in Charleston, Bite’s on Tackle Shop, Coos Bay Marine and Y Marina in Empire, and BNT in Coos Bay. Tickets also can be purchased the day of the derby at Eastside, California Street (North Bend) and Dora’s Place boat ramps. Free tickets for children ages 16 and under will be available at any of the boat ramps on the day of the derby.
A total of $1,000 in prize money will be distributed among first through fourth places and the biggest fish in the Junior Division.
Proceeds go toward the Salmon Trout Enhancement Program in Coos County.
For more information, call the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at 888-5515 or Valerie Pena at 759-2709.
Tags: 2009, Bite’s on Tackle Shop, Coos Salmon Derby, Englund Marine, ODFW, salmon
