Fly fishing the jetties on the Oregon, Southern Washington, and Northern California coast can be some of the most fun you can have in fly fishing. You get a fish that likes to eat flies and pulls hard, what more could you want? The problem is where do these fish hang out on the jetty. I mean sure they’re all over where ever food is found for them but most fly anglers want some more specifics. Clambering over rocks just searching can be a chore and very discouraging when you are constantly on the move. Hopefully this post will get you on the rocks in the right place and into the fish.
Jetties have two sides to them on the west coast. There is a north jetty and a south jetty. Pretty simple. One of those jetties has access to deeper water sooner becasue how they dredge the river channel. In my home waters, Yaquina Bay, the jetty with that access is the south jetty. In Barview it would be the north jetty, Astoria/Ilwaco either side is good. I use a depth map to find the best jetty if I haven’t gone to it before or you can see where most people recommend to fish. There is some wisdom to listening to the crowd in this respect. That being said there are fish on both jetties but the shallower one will be more challenging or you will need to go further out to find the fish.
Once you’re on the correct set of rocks now what? If you’re in Newport that jetty is approximately a mile and half long. It would take hours checking the whole thing for fish, maybe even days. There is no need for that. Fish are found along the entire jetty. Like in a river or a lake fish orient themselves to structure that makes them feel safe and to the food. The entire jetty offers that. The rocks are large with lots of hidey holes for them to escape predators like seals, sea lions, lingcod, and anglers. And those same rocks are great places for herring, anchovies, sand lances, smelt, sardines, shrimp, and crabs to hang out. Those food sources are there year round, but there are times that pie graph is consumed with one food source more than anything else combined. Think of it like a hatch in freshwater.
So to find a spot on the rocks, you want to look for your personal comfort. Because the rocks are all the same to the fish, find the rocks that you can comfortably get to, set up your gear, and fish from, away from kelp and other seaweeds. This isn’t hard and if you can remember where you fish or pin a location you can keep going back to the same spot over and over knowing it’s a good spot to fish. I have a few spots I like to hit incase there is someone already fishing there. Now how do you know how deep to fish? The short answer is you don’t. Rockfish, specifically black, blue, decon, and copper (the most common out there), are more comfortable in low light conditions. On cloudy days you can find fish closer to the surface. This goes for night time as well. So close to the surface they will feed on and bust baitfish like other, more tropical saltwater fish do. When the sun is out they stay extremely tight to cover, from what I can tell, to avoid predation. Fishing in the day time can be a hit or miss because of this.
So when I get out to the jetty, usually in the evening, I count my flies down to the bottom. Using patterns like jetty worms, clousers, and jigged baitfish to get that deep with my type 5 line. This is tough on flies and tippet so be prepared to check you gear often and to change flies and tippet often. As the sun begins to set or as the clouds cover the sun the fish will move out of the rocks searching for more food. You should start to catch fish as your fly drops instead of on the retrieve. This is a great sign that you can shorten your sink time and begin your retrieve sooner. You can then switch to slower sinking flies like game changers, surf candy, and other weightless baitfish patterns. These will move more naturally and can elicit ferocious takes when there are natural baitfish present. If you’re lucky you’ll even see them of the surface and if you’re insane enough to bring a second rod with you, with a popper set up you can even get them on topwater. If you’re an early bird, like my friend Cooper, then start shallow while it’s still dark and as the sun starts to rise let your flies get deeper and deeper.
The jetty doesn’t have to be complicated. I totally understand the intimidation factor though. Most saltwater fly fishing anglers in the PNW do is on a trip somewhere far away with a guide. This gets you 90% the same experience right in your own backyard. I truly love fishing out there and try and do a fish along on my home jetty once or twice a year. If you are interested in coming out and fishing with me and other brine-curious fly anglers join the Oregon Saltwater Fly Fishing group. That is where people will post their fishing reports, fly patterns, and asking for advice I try and help with. If you are looking for more info on the fly fishing the jetty I have other blog reports on here you can read. I also have some youtube videos out now documenting me out there. There are also podcasts I have done where I get into the nitty gritty of the fishing out there. If you want to hear it all in person you can even have me come and speak at your fly fishing club! Just reach out. With that please leave any questions or comments down below or send me a message through our contact page.
