Westport Marina & South Jetty, WA (Coho & Ling Cod)

I have gotten pretty good at crabbing out here but have also seen a bunch of people fishing for sea bass or other fish. My buddy let me in on some knowledge that they actually plant hatchery coho right in the marina. When the fish return, they have no idea where to go and so they do laps waiting to be caught. Said buddy Paul and my friend Dalton came out and we decided we would give it a shot. Why not do a little crabbing while you are trying to fish as well. The lure of choice by locals is a Flying-J by Mapps but I prefer a pixie. Basically what you do is you claim a section of dock or a bridge to a pier and sit and wait for a school of coho to swim by. When you see them you cast in front of them and try to get there attentions. It's pretty cool because you can see the whole thing unfold and as your lure passes by they will ignore it or one will break off and hammer it. Which in my case I was able to do! During our time there we maybe saw three schools pass. Doing this at high tide makes it much easier because of the distance from the pier or bridge to the water and gives you good opportunity to crab. You must keep in mind that there are barnacles on all the piling and a braided line is recommended.
Eventually Dalton's brother got bored and we packed up and went to fish the jetty. Out on the jetty we drift fished a bobber with a jig for bass or put on some hearing to try to catch some ling cod off the bottom. I had no success but Kevin was able to land a pretty nice ling cod.

Summary:
Location: Westport Marina & Westhaven State Park/South Jetty, WA
Time: 9am - 5pm
Rod: Mid-Light Salmon Rod
Tackle: Green, orange, or pink pixies or flying-j for coho, jigs for sea bass, and hearing for ling cod.
Fish: 2
Species: Coho & Ling Cod
Biggest Fish: 6lbs
Smallest Fish: Legal Ling Cod, I saw it through a bag
Rating: 9/10

 

Skies out thighs out!