Me and the "old lady" are taking a road trip in early Oct. We will be flying into Portland renting a car and driving the coast up around the Olympic penn and to seattle to fly home. We got a week and starting on the coast at Reedsport or Coos Bay. Any suggestions on fishing along the way? I have done this trip before in Sept. I fished nearly every river from Arcadia Ca to Port Towsend Wa. Never caught a single salmon. One steelhead. I dont think salmon fishing is what were after. I would love to catch a Bull trout or Dolly varden. How about some suggestions on camping? [
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Any sugestions or stories would be greatly appreciated
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I have great memories of going out on a charter out of Astoria (Red Lion Inn) for Salmon but that was in July -- Oct. is pretty much the end of the salmon season because the water levels in all the rivers will be down. Check [url "http://www.ifish.net"]www.ifish.net[/url] (General Discussion) for great info on possible places to hookup.
You can do some pretty good jetty fishing in Astoria and well as many other river inlets just be careful of the tides.
If you've never seen the Columbia River Gorge - straight east of the Portland airport about 35 miles is Bonneville Dam with a great fish hatchery with sturgeon to 10 foot and the best fish viewing window - from there you can cross the river at Cascade Locks and head to the coast or backtrack to the coast..
Seaside is always a fun place to relax - beaches, tourist stuff, etc.
Good Luck -- have a fun trip.
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Try Bob Sport Fishing in Coos bay 1-800-628-9633 we had a lot of fun when we went with them...
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October's an iffy month in Oregon. You can have either really decent, mild weather or it can be horrible.
Honestly, forget the salmon, trout, and steelhead. What you want to fish for are bottom fish, if the season's still open then. Hook into one Ling Cod of decent size and you'll be hooked for life. Better fight than any other fish I've ever hooked. I'm sure you could go out for Chinook(the Coho season's closed well before Ocotober). I can give you a few different places to try, and I've had excellent luck with all of them for Bottom fish, salmon, and in the case of Astoria, Sturgeon:
Prowler Charters, Bandon
Dockside Charters, Deopoe Bay
Tiki Charters, Astoria
There are also a few others in Newport, Garabaldi and Pacific City that are pretty good, too.
I'd stay away from the Reedsport/Coos Bay/North Bend charter fishing fleet. I'm sure they're very knowledgable, but I also know that they have one of the highest percentages of accidents on the water. A few years ago one of the captains out of Reedsport ignored Coast Guard orders and killed all but one of the fishermen on board his boat. Bad news to say the least, especially with the seas picking up in October.
Also, the rivers are never really all that good, unless you really know where to go, and how to do it. Freshly cured Salmon Roe is a must. A boat also really increases your chances of success. The best seem to be the Coquille and Umpqua, and Nestuca rivers, and they have the best runs of Chinook. The Yaquina gets some nice sea run cutthroats. But, that's about it.
Honestly, I'd recomend going further south, around Gold Beach. Best shore fishing for Salmon the Pacific Northwest has to offer. The Rogue River gets a large run of salmon, too. Right along the Jetty, fishing with large flashy spoons or even herring. You can see all the people lined up catching salmon.
Good luck to ya. I know I'm going up there again this July, August and September. My favorite place in the world to fish.
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