I will be fishing Westport over the fourth of july weekend. Although I have fished out of there many times before, it has not been for salmon. Can anyone tell me if the westport scene is a herring/herring & flasher fishery only, or will the same trolling hardware that I use in the sound work just as well? Do they still post the GPS cord. for the day at the docks? What is your favorite set-up for ocean fish? Any input would be appreciated.

The only way i have fished out there was by mooching herring. I have heard people say they get fish with herring/dodger set up. It wouldnt hurt to try something different either.

I know that last year, charters did well by trolling a single hook with 6 - 8 big red and black beads just above the hook about 40" behind a flasher. That's it.

Boy, I guess nobody fishes at Westport anymore. Come on people, how about a little feedback. Even something general would be great. I'm not asking for your best kept secerets. Remember, someday you may want someone to reply to your query. Is my question that dumb? It wouldn't be a first!

I haven't fished there since the 1970's but I doubt it's changed much. They take you to the fish and you drop down a cut or whole herring with a banana weight. A mooching setup. If that's what it turns out to be myself I use about eight feet of leader, longer than most, with a barrel about three feet above the hooks. The barrel prevents twists and stops kelp from sliding down. Pre-tie your hooks, 3/0 4/0 should do. No sliding hooks. Weight wise you should have a 45 degree angle on your line. Tie quality snap swivels on both the main line and the leader so you can change easily. Cut plugging will be the key though. Although you hear it should be tight rolls I like mine to swim in a big flopping circle. Playing around with hook placement can usually produce that.

One more question for you Westport vets. What rules of thumb do you use for crossing the bar there?? What should you watch out for?? Know how to catch the fish just never ventured out into big blue!!
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

Deep 6, 3 feet of leader, green or blue silver hoochie over a hook. Or same set up, no hoochie, whole or cut plug herring.

Stay away from the sunken jetty on the south side.

It doesn't matter what you use if you find the fish. These fish are feeding, unlike estuary fish or fish in the rivers.

I prefer mooching a plug cut but different strokes for different folks.

Cross the bar on an incoming tide. Also, the coast guard broadcasts when the bar is closed for specific size vessels or all vessels.

Good luck and no chumming!!!!

LT

Thanks for the input. Is it ever advantages to use a flasher, or only when you can't find schooling/feeding fish?

Westport is a real easy fishery, I would say alot more so than fishing the bays or rivers... I have had good luck going 12# ultra green 2-4 # weight with flasher bar and about 8 ft leader with just a cut plug at about 18 pulls... I dont go out far just enough to get out of the rough water of the bar then just start fishin! watch that bar though dude it gets hairy I like to cross it on a slack or out going tide, last year I attempted a incoming tide and it wasn't pretty! I had life jackets and bouy's tied all over me trying to get turned to get out of that mess....... dont second guess yourself out there if you dont think the bar looks good dont go into it......