Bottom Fishing

One of the fun aspects of bottom fishing is you are never sure what you will catch. We will target lingcod or rockfish but the catch at the end of the day will also include kelp greenling, cabezone and flounder. All of these are very good table fare. When I use the term shallow water I am talking about water less than 200 feet deep and usually a depth range between 15 to 100 feet deep.

 The structures we fish are sunken jetty's, rockpiles, wrecks, and rock pinacles. Bottom fishing does require some specialized tackle but hooking rockfish and lingcod is actually pretty easy. Getting them out of the rocks and into the boat is not always a foregon conclusion. We use very stout rods and reels with braided line and heavy leader. Rocks and line don't mix so we need to get those fish up and away from the rocks as soon as possible.

  On my boat bottom fishing is a team effort. The currents and waves and the wind seem to always conspire against us. Sometimes the structure we are fishing like a rock pinnacle may be rather small. And so someone has the job of boat control while the others fish. The person driving the boat has several responsibilities. Calling out the depth as we drift up and over structures, keeping the boat in position which usually means stern into the wind and current, putting the motor in and out of gear to slow the drift and watching the line angles to measure the drift speed. We want to fish as directly below the boat as possible. Too much angle on the line and a lingcod or cabezone will dive straight into the rocks and sometimes we get them out, sometimes we don't. The boat operator also has to be sure everyone is ready as we start a drift. Some drifts over the structure are very short. You get one chance to drop your gear and than it is passed. Reel up and run up current and try again.

 So bottom fishing requires a lot of coordination between skipper and crew. We will take turns on the wheel and take lots of pictures. And at the end of the day when we have a stack of cleaned and packaged fish fillet's, we split the catch equally.

Besides all his other responsibilities, the skipper also gets to take the pictures. The best part is he is the boss for the moment and gets to make important decisions and give orders. Like "reel up, time to move again". Usually the crew listens.

I call them reef's but they could easily be just very large rockpiles. Some are man made, most are natural. When we are fishing up current of a reef we will have the kicker motor running at idle just in case we need to clear quickly and the big motor chose that moment to fail. Murphy's Law.So always be ready. In heavy swells and current it is common for the waves to break and form a rip line along underwater reefs. When they get too big to be out there fishing we go back to camp and complain about it.

The up current side of almost any structure usually holds the most fish. This is opposite of what we read in some stream fishing books of the past but in practice it is true. And it is also true when bass fishing. In every pool of the Columbia and Snake rivers which I have fished, it is the upstream side of the structure that hold the most fish. The fish will compete for the best feeding zones. There is a current break right at the face of large boulders or structures. This includes islands, wing dams, jetty's. dense pilings. Almost anything that blocks or diverts current. Just be careful and ready for emergencies if you are fishing the upstream side and in heavy current. On the lower Columbia River we have very long arms of pilings and high currents will roll a boat to pieces along those pilings. Reefs are a little safer as if you totally lose power, you just slide over them.

This rock is actually very large slabs at different levels and the sea lions own this place. It is covered with them all summer long with the largest of course being at the top levels. They are not much of a bother while we are bottom fishing. Salmon fishing is a different story. They are also not boat shy as they will regularly swim by us within just a few yards. These guys are protected by the marine mammal protection act and they are as smart as any dog. And they can weigh several hundred pounds so don't mess with them.

Our standard bottom fishing rig is similar of some variation to the above photo. We will use a section of 40lb line between our mainline (30-65 pound braid) and a 3 way swivel. below the swivel we have a short dropper of 20 pound test that we attach 4-16 ounces of lead to. On the side of the 3 way swivel we attach a few feet of 30-60 pound leader with a large hook and a plastic worm of twintail. The hook size will vary from size 2 if we are using live bait all the way up to size 10/0 if we are using large 10-12 inch plastics and targeting lingcod. The old wise tale about bigger baits mean bigger fish is especially true with lingcod. They do like a big meal. It is not uncommon to hook a 24 inch lingcod or a greenling or rockfish and have a 40 inch lingcod grab your fish while you are reeling him up. They just don't want to let go of their dinner. I thought it was my dinner? If your plastic lures last a few fish they start getting shredded and pulled down on the hook. Superglue is your friend here. Just a drop on the hook shank will hold the plastic bait in position.

So for big lingcod, big baits. For rockfish we usually use 4-5 inch curly tails. Black, white, chartreuse, almost any color works. These fish eat anything. Berkeley power baits also work very well for bottomfishing. Cabezone will also eat just about anything and than drag it into the rocks. For catching greenling, you need a smaller bait and hook. They have much smaller mouths than the other species. Light 3 inch bass grubs with 2/0 leadheads will do the trick. The greenling are almost as plentiful as all the others but with the really large baits we don't catch them because they don't get hooked.

I use Ugly Stiks. I have several as they are inexpensive and stand up to a lot of abuse. For bottom fishing I use 7 foot BWC/AO 2201 and 2202. Rated for 20-50 and 30-60.

These are stout rods and they are paired with Penn 321 level wind reels with 50 and 65 pound braid. Tuff-Line or Power Pro. Both are fine. These set ups give me the muscle I need to pull those fish clear of the rocks. For a light line set-up I have used my bass flippin stick with 30 pound braid. It works well for greenling but is really over matched with a lingcod or large rockfish.

Weather matters also. When you plan a bottom fishing trip, remember you are fishing in the ocean. The weather will be final word on do you fish today or do you sit in camp and complain about wind and surf. We watch the forecasts daily and mark weekends or days with favorable tides and currents. We like as little as possible which is usually still considerable. Some of the best bottom fishing might be an 18 mile run south but I won't make that run if its expected to get rough. Just not worth it. Pick your days carefully and have a good fun.