Any jetty fishing advice?

NeoBlackdog

My wife and I are going on a little camping/fishing excursion on the southern Oregon coast the first week of September and I'd like to stop and fish along the jetty's. In the past I've fished 'em when the salmon were running and had good luck pitching a herring beneath a bobber. Any advice on catching the bottom fish, lingcod, cabezon, etc.?

317wc

What type of gear will you be taking with you? I have never fished from a jetty/pier specifically, but I have several years experience saltwater fishing.

Personally, I've always had good luck with metal jigs, large Kast-Masters, and other such as rubber octopus rigs or large rubber curly-tail worms. I've almost always had good luck with white or hot pink. Make sure you use a beefy enough swivel for the size of fish you will encounter.

I've actually never really used bait except for halibut fishing and we mainly used salmon belly.

NeoBlackdog

We'll have an assortment of rods/reel combos. I'm thinkin' the ones we'll likely use most will be 8 1/2' medium action spinning rods loaded with 20lb Spiderwire braid. I guess what I need most is good advice on the terminal tackle for bait fishing and what types of bait seem to work best.

1BigGuy

I've seen clam necks (which are real tough and stay on your hook) and sand shrimp (which aren't and don't) both used effectively in Washington. The hardest part for me is keeping the bait/lure out of the rocks of the jetty and getting snagged and lost; especially for bottom fish.

NeoBlackdog

Thanks, 1bigguy. How do you rig the terminal end of things? Weight on the bottom with multiple hooks above, or a slip sinker type arrangement?

317wc

Sorry Neo, I can't really help with bait. I would look online for some ideas as to what you might need. I like TackleDirect, you can check out their bait-rigs, hooks etc. to get an idea of what you need.
Don't forget the size of your bait (overall weight) will have to depend on the heaviness of your rod. When I think M action, I think of lures up to maybe 3/4 ounce in weight. Of course it is different with a stationary bait, but I still don't like the rod to be overloaded, since I can't feel bites as well.

My go-to inshore rod is a 1 piece Shimano, MH, 7'. It works well with lures up to 1.5 ounce. I have it paired with a ABU 6500, and I normally use 15-20 pound braid. If I am casting anything heavier than that I use a saltwater casting rod, 80 pound braid, Avet casting reel(which are fantastic reels), and I can go up to about 6 ounces with that.

MMOMEQ-55

I use Penn 140 squidders on 12' rods spooled with 4# braid with 3# leader. Usually fish finder rigs with enough lead to just hold bottom with circle hooks. This is my heavy surf rig for Drum, sharks basically anything over 20#. I use Penn international bait casters on 10' rods with 20# braid, a double dropper rig w/small hooks with 17# leader for small fish under 20#. Flounder, Spots, small Drum, Croaker.

Baits include cut bait for Drum, sharks, blood worms, shrimp for smaller fish. When I target flounder I use a white buck tail with Berkley Big Gulp shrimp, live shrimp or live finger mullet.

Fish such as Mullet, Spots, Croakers set the hook as soon as you feel a pull or jerk. With Flounder, they will play with your bait before taking it. If you wait a few seconds you will increase your hook sets.

With Drum (Reds) sometimes they will pick up the bait and run and sometimes they will play with it. I just set the hook and hope for the best.[:0]


The joy of surf fishing is that you never know for certain what will take your hook. I have caught Tarpon in Florida from the surf. Expect a lot of small sand sharks and skates.

wpage

Best advice for jetty fishing is to keep good footing....

Do not fall in!!![:o)]