Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey, just looking for any stories or input on La Push. My wife and I have a reservation at the lodge in La Push to do some surf and jetty fishing there. Not many people talk about this type of fishing, but its one of my favorite types cause you never know what kind and how big of a fish you can catch. We might also hit some of the local rivers as well, but really looking forward to surf and rock hopping. Its an awesome experience that never gets much fan fair. So, anyone that has done this anywhere along Washington's coast please feel free to chime in.

Thanks
Dan

I just fished Westport yesterday for the first time. I'll share what I learned.

Check the surf report before you go out. Pay attention to swell height, wind speed and direction, and beware of those rocks if they are wet. You probably already know all of this part...but just in case.

For westport, I found that 3/4 and 1 oz were both too light for jigs. I know there are a lot of factors in play here...but the swells were low yesterday and my jigs were still all over the place. From what I've found out, if there is a tidal shift of about 10 feet or more the day you're fishing, the currents are going to be very strong, so maybe bring a plunking rod, or if you're gonna jig, bring some heavier lead...maybe 1.5, 2 and 3 oz jig heads.

For some reason, the Gulp grubs really do seem to outfish the others. I went through various colors and styles of grubs and plastic swim baits yesterday, and both of my fish were caught on the 6 inch saltwater Gulp grubs in new penny color. And it wasn't one after the other. I caught my cabezon, and then didn't catch my sea bass until a couple hours later and I had tried various other jigs in between. Maybe it's a coincidence they both latched onto the Gulp grubs...maybe it's not. I hear white is always a go to color as well. That's freely published on the web.

Other than that, it sounds like you're fairly familiar with jetty fishing...without knowing your current experience level, I could share other stuff...but it may be redundant if you already know the info. What else are you looking to learn?

I contacted the Quileute and asked if i could fish the ocean from thier land while staying out there a few years ago. I was told no at the time, could only use the marina. The only jetty i know out there is from thier land. There are beaches off tribal land not far away for surf perch but i haven't tried it. Good luck and be safe in the surf if you try it.
Might be worth checking to see if the policy has changed, the # to thier natural resources official is on thier website.

TroutTaker,

Maybe you should clarify your post... I think the one guy who replied to you is talking about his fishing the Westport Jetty recently? I am not aware of a Jetty off of the La Push area beaches, but I'm not beyond correction.
I think the other guy was talking more about La Push area beaches, like you spoke of in your initial post.

The way I took it was he wasn't familiar with jetty or surf fishing in La Push, or Washington in general. The last line said he would welcome input from anyone who has surf or jetty fished the coast of Washington. Maybe I was wrong?

Kind of confused on about this post lol. There is a lot of talk about surf fishing. Especially off jetties. Lots of info and lots of threads. I have stayed at the lodge you are talking about and fished out there. The only jetty I could see was near the marina and that was very small at best. Still fishable. Best place is the beach that is north of la push. Just fish from the beach. You are mainly going to be going for surf perch.

Hey everyone!!! Thanks for all of your replies. I'm talking about fishing both the jetty and the beaches. Why say "or"? LOL. Yes I have experience with this type of fishing all up and down the west coast. I was hoping for some specific info on La Push and Washington coast in general. Love the jetty fishing with the wide variety of species available, but I've also seen a lot of those pics with perch. WOW, never seen them that big anywhere south of Washington. Yes, its a small jetty at La Push, but I'm hoping its not that heavily fished and it looks like the swells and tides should lay down enough this weekend in the afternoons and evening to be very good for fishing. Going to check out crabbing there as well. But, I will make sure the regs, especially the tribal regs. are adhered to as well. Thanks again for all your input. Any other info and experiences would be greatly appreciated. I will be sure and post what happened when we get back.

Trouttrakr wrote:Hey everyone!!! Thanks for all of your replies. I'm talking about fishing both the jetty and the beaches. Why say "or"? LOL. Yes I have experience with this type of fishing all up and down the west coast. I was hoping for some specific info on La Push and Washington coast in general. Love the jetty fishing with the wide variety of species available, but I've also seen a lot of those pics with perch. WOW, never seen them that big anywhere south of Washington. Yes, its a small jetty at La Push, but I'm hoping its not that heavily fished and it looks like the swells and tides should lay down enough this weekend in the afternoons and evening to be very good for fishing. Going to check out crabbing there as well. But, I will make sure the regs, especially the tribal regs. are adhered to as well. Thanks again for all your input. Any other info and experiences would be greatly appreciated. I will be sure and post what happened when we get back.

Thanks Trouttrakr, I'd be interested to know if you had any issues fishing off of reservation land. My wife loves it out there, it'd be really cool to be able to fish right there.

TroutTaker,
Just go to the Tribes web site. Most of the tribes have their fishing/hunting regs on their website. If you find yourself in the Olympic National Park at all, they have their own regs within their own site as well.

I am actually going Jetty fishing this weekend as well. Most likely Westport.
Tell us how you do!

Here was an interesting link that speaks to a few different jetties around the state, and does mention the La Push jetty.

http://riptidefish.com/lingcod-jetty-fi ... ashington/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry it took a little while tell update you guys on what happened out at La Push. First of all, the lodge is amazing both inside and out. What an awesome view. We planned to fish Saturday afternoon/evening/night due to the tides. So, we spent the first part of Saturday exploring back-roads on the Bogie and Duc for future references. Very nice fishing in both once you get into the back roads. Should be incredible come springer time just around the corner. But, as luck would have it, on our way back here comes the rain, wind, and massive waves. Happened in about 20 minutes and lasted all night into the next morning. I researched and it looked like it might be some hit and miss light showers here and there, but nothing like what came in. Oh well. But we did have an amazing time all weekend and well worth it. We will probably be back there in a few weeks to try it again. Sorry couldn't give you more then that. But, that's the Northwest, right?

Trouttrakr wrote:Sorry it took a little while tell update you guys on what happened out at La Push. First of all, the lodge is amazing both inside and out. What an awesome view. We planned to fish Saturday afternoon/evening/night due to the tides. So, we spent the first part of Saturday exploring back-roads on the Bogie and Duc for future references. Very nice fishing in both once you get into the back roads. Should be incredible come springer time just around the corner. But, as luck would have it, on our way back here comes the rain, wind, and massive waves. Happened in about 20 minutes and lasted all night into the next morning. I researched and it looked like it might be some hit and miss light showers here and there, but nothing like what came in. Oh well. But we did have an amazing time all weekend and well worth it. We will probably be back there in a few weeks to try it again. Sorry couldn't give you more then that. But, that's the Northwest, right?

Bummer! Please do report back if you get some surf perch fishing in.

SO... this October (last month), we stayed at the La Push Beach cabins and the rivers were running high, so I had the idea to go to Rialto and fish the jetty off the National Park. When I bought herring to drift, I asked the local Quileute at the marina and he stated that ALL the land was owned by the tribe. That we couldn't fish there and that if we had any questions to go to the natural resource center, which was closed.

I went to the National Park and spoke to the rangers and they were a little confused about the park boundary stating that they thought the Rialto Beach parking lot was now on Indian land since the river moved over the last three years.
I was in dis-belief since I can't figure that 100 yard Rock wall moving anywhere ever.

Even if you did fish, you would have a long hike over the rocks to get anywhere you could make an effective cast.

Just sharing.

Makscoot out.