Westport, Washington Fishing
Here's a fishing trip that can be done with a visit to the northwest coast, whether it's on a business trip, a family vacation, before or after a cruise, or just a fishing trip. I've done this trip for 20 years now, both as part of family vacations and as dedicated fishing excursions.
The fishing is in the Pacific Ocean, and it's done on charter boats from Westport, Washington. Westport is a 2 1/2 hour drive from Seattle, or 3 hours from Portland. Located on the coast west of Olympia, there are scenic mountains nearby to visit, such as Rainier or St Helens. There are also activities nearly every weekend June through August, including music, car shows, and chain saw carving, as well as surfing, hiking, camping, and other fishing. The climate in the summer often stays in the 70's or less, particularly up in the mountains or on the shore, a welcome break from Texas heat.
The charter boats are 35 to 55 feet long, can take up to 22 fishermen, and don't require a minimum party size, the cost per person is the same for one fisherman or 6 in the group. Bait and tackle are provided, and one-day licenses are available.
There are three one day trip types, a bottom fish trip, a salmon trip, and a combination trip. The same license applies to any of these.
For those interested in getting plenty of meat for a fish fry, the bottom trip or combo trip is the way to go. These will get rockfish on light tackle and (in season) lingcod. A salmon trip can provide the exciting, sporty action as well as excellent eating.
I'm partial to the salmon fishing, those are the trips that I go on. The salmon that are fished for are the king, also called chinook, and the silver, also known as coho. These are the top table fare fish, great for grilling, broiling, or baking.
Fishing for these salmon in the ocean is done using a technique called mooching, using long rods, 4 to 6 ounce sinkers, and herring for bait. This is hands-on fishing, and the salmon bite is as distinct as the bass bite on soft plastic, there's just nothing quite like it. The king is a bulldog fighter, constantly pulling, but the silver has an explosive, acrobatic fight, especially if taken right beside the boat.
You can make reservations for the fishing as little as a few days before, those prices are fixed for the season, but other travel arrangements like rental cars, airlines and hotels/motels require longer advances to get the best prices.
Some suggestions: for cars, aa.com or kayak.com; for activities and lodging in Westport, westportwa.com; and for charter boats, the outfit I've always used is deepseacharters.net.
Jim