ESPN Freshwater

DEPOE BAY, Ore. — The ocean coho opener is finally here! It's one of my favorite fisheries — fast, aggressive fish and fast limits! And with a 40,000-fish quota from Cape Falcon south to Humbug Mountain, and we will have plenty of opportunity to put fish in the freezer.

Safety

First off, safety is your No. 1 consideration. There is no need to venture into a bad ocean for some 4- to 10-pound fish.

Know your boat, your crew and yourself! Make sure that you have everything that the Coast Guard requires for a venture into the salt.

Set-ups

One of my favorite rigs for ocean coho is a Delta Diver with 30 inches of 40-pound monofilament to a "O" Luhr Jensen Dodger and a 20-inch, 30-pound leader to a hoochie and mooching rig or a single "Hoochie Hook."

Author Andy Schneider holds a typical Depoe Bay coho, this one caught on the 2004 opener.

Some of my most productive hoochie colors are: the Purple Haze, white, olive-green-with-gold, chartreuse, blue and orange.

On a recent fishing trip with guide Pat Abel (503-307-6033), he informed me of his success using Luhr Jensen's Salmon Bungee last year. He said he uses the black medium-sized bungee directly behind his dodger and his landing ratio improved.

Where to go

My favorite port to launch is Depoe Bay. I will run west/northwest out of Depoe until I find 52 to 54-degree water, usually 4 or 5 miles out.

I then drop the gear down at different depths but no deeper that 15 feet, troll a little faster than you would in freshwater; I like trolling at 2 mph.

I will usually troll north to south, with the drift.

When I launch out of Tillamook Bay, I run due west from Twin Rocks till I hit 200 feet of water, an approximately 6-mile run from the jetties.

I then troll with the drift, more than likely north to south. It seems that as the fish start to spread out after a couple hours of daylight, I can find them again in 160 to 260 feet of water due west of Nehalem Bay.

A run out of Yaquina Bay can be very rewarding as well, because after you fill your limit of coho, there are plenty of inshore reefs loaded with black bass on your way back to port (pick up a reef map from South Beach Marina).

A good place to start fishing for coho is in front of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. I have caught a limit ½ to 5 miles west from the light (and what a great backdrop the lighthouse makes for a picture!).

All retained coho must have a healed adipose fin clip. No more than two single-point, single-shank barbless hooks may be used.

On with the tips

Action at first light can be very fast and quick, with multiple hook-ups and fish waiting to be netted, but this is where you need to take your time!

I almost lost a person overboard a couple of years ago due to a double hook-up, fish slime on the floor and an excited netter! So be careful and take your time! As the day wears on and the schools of coho go deeper and spread out, you need to change tactics a little.

Coho look like little specks of baitfish on a fish finder in the salt.

Make sharp turns in rapid succession. Bring the boat to a complete stop and then start trolling again.

Most of the time you are better off just changing things a little on your school of fish to finish off your boat limit.

Throw something different at them!

Maybe a Coyote spoon or a spinner, maybe a whole herring with a banana weight mooched through the school.

If you are still fishless and getting frustrated with a couple of hours on the salt, look around, find the charter boats and run to them — but only as a last resort and give them plenty of room, they don't slow down to net fish!

A little tip for identifying coho in the ocean

Coho look green in the saltwater whereas Chinook look purple.

Coho will also come to the boat with their mouth open like a baby bird waiting to be fed.

Hope I see you on the water or at the dock with a limit of fish!!!

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