Westport Jetty Fishing from a Boat?

[MuleDeerCrazy]

My dad was interested in trying it out and was wondering if anybody might have some pointers.  He has the boat and gear, just wanted to chat with somebody that's done it a little.  If anybody's willing to talk with him, PM me and I'll get him connected with you.

Thanks!

[Da stump]

I have done it but make sure you have a weather window, it can be rough. We casted a white worm into the rocks and picked up black bass, an occasional rockfish, and a couple of ling. Tried putting out crab pots too but did not do well there. Mostly small crab
 

[gasman]

 

Weather and tide are important to watch. Made 4 trips last year and got kicked off the water 3 times by the coast gaurd.
Thought we a good weather window, but it changes 

[MuleDeerCrazy]

I assume by weather you're mostly meaning not too windy.  What's the preferred tide to fish, outgoing so it's not shoving you into the jetty?

Thanks for the pointers!

[Fungunnin]

WATCH THE TIDE!
You don't want to be fishing the jetty on a strong ebb. That is when the bar is going to kick up the strongest and you will be drifting very fast.

[gasman]

Current conditions or speed of current is most important.

[MuleDeerCrazy]

So try to fish small tide change days?

[gasman]

So try to fish small tide change days?

I'm general, yes.

[trophyhunt]

Fished it a couple years ago, didn't puke till we fished the part of the jetty that is under water.  That is where we caught the lings, but the waves got me sicker than crap.  It was fun pulling crap pots while puking my guts out, no mas!!!

[LastLookTaxidermy]

Hi guys, first post, just joined this morning.

Looking to learn about hunting, but ran across this westport post. I happen to fish A LOT more than hunt. So am going to chime in.

Westport Jetty fishing is going to be mostly dependent on weather and tides. Look for a days with the least amount of tidal exchange. For example
 M   29     High   4:34 AM     8.8   6:57 AM    Rise 12:07 AM      70
    29      Low  11:00 AM     2.1   6:01 PM     Set 10:17 AM
    29     High   5:29 PM     6.9
    29      Low  10:41 PM     3.4
would be a decent day. But weather dependent. You want a day ideally with a south wind and try to hope for a day when the weather guy predicts 5-10mph. Always have someone watching the rocks and your drift. About 3/4 of the way out the jetty has a portion that will sit about 4ft underwater at high tide that you wont see, so you dont want to get too close to it. Towards the end of the jetty can be better fishing, there is a submerged jetty out there but it can be rough. And always check the swell report. Magicseaweed.com is a good one. Lingcod wont open until mid march and there is a minimum size. But if you want to go before the opener you can generally bet on catching a lot of black seabass and some cabezon. I like to use 1/2oz jigheads and zoom flukes in any silvery color for sea bass. Cast them out let them hit bottom, drag it a little then twitch it up at a slow retrieve. Dark colored curly tailed grubs or berkley gulp grubs in "new penny" color dragged along the bottom will get you cabezon. And if you like greenling, smaller cousin of the ling, drop shot a chunk of clam or shrimp. Once ling season opens in march make a point to go, that is when the adults are in breeding along the jetty, you can catch some real monsters. Be safe!

[elkfins]

I assume by weather you're mostly meaning not too windy.  What's the preferred tide to fish, outgoing so it's not shoving you into the jetty?

Thanks for the pointers!

I fish out of Westport regularly during the season.  Outgoing tide is the worst time to be on the jetty... especially if you are unfamiliar with running your boat in the ocean and across that bar.  The outgoing current hits the ocean swells and stacks them up... makes them steep and causes them to break..  The bigger the tide swing, the more pronounced this effect is.  Last couple hours of incoming tide to high slack is best.

Beechedshark posted some good info.

[BullPacs]

Hey Beechedshark and elkfins, would you care if my dad gave you a call.  I'm sure he'll have more questions when I start trying to relay info to him.  If you'd be fine with that, maybe PM me your numbers and I'll have him give you a ring.  He'd love to tag along to learn the ropes a little too if anybody had an open seat... and he'd be happy to buy gas and bring lunch.

Thanks for all the input!