By KATHLEEN O’CONNOR/YachatsNews
Those fishermen and crabbers in kayaks on Alsea Bay look so precarious. How do they stay upright when they have a fish on or are pulling up a crab pot?
Waldport resident Greg Anderson has been fishing and crabbing from his kayak for more than three years and looks forward to going out on the bay or river whenever he can.
It started when he accidentally came across a YouTube video about kayak fishing. It turns out there are many YouTube videos about kayak fishing, and Anderson was so intrigued that he watched them all. Before long he bought a kayak and never looked back.
The kayak took the place of the boat that he and his wife, Amy, owned.
When they first moved to Waldport from Redding 12 years ago they went crabbing regularly off the dock at the Port of Alsea marina, catching a few crabs almost every time. Then a couple of his new friends took Anderson crabbing on a boat. They got three limits in 45 minutes and he immediately decided to buy a boat himself. But over time it was more and more apparent that a boat has maintenance and cost issues, which is not true of a kayak.
Besides fishing and crabbing from his kayak, Anderson spends three days a week working at the couple’s JillyBeanz ice cream shop.
Question: How do you keep from tipping over in your kayak?
Answer: Fishing kayaks are made differently than recreational kayaks. They are wider and heavier, and they have a place for all the equipment you need to fish. Some of them are very fancy, but mine is pretty simple. There’s a spot for my pole, my net, a clip to hold my fish, and a small fish finder. When I am crabbing I can take two regular square pots on the back.
Almost all fishing kayaks are pedal driven, meaning that you use your legs and a rudder to position it in the water. The pedal drive can be removed if you want to paddle. My kayak has never tipped over, but just in case, I always wear a life jacket.
There are two hard parts about using the kayak. The first is getting it up onto the top of my car to transport it. It’s very awkward because the kayak is 12 feet long and weighs about 85 pounds. I lean it up against the back of my Subaru first and then push it onto the roof on a rack system I created out of PVC pipe. The second thing is dragging it in when I’m done, and everything is muddy and messy. The kayak launch site at Don Lindley park is literally just a notch in the bank of the river. I usually put in there or at the west end of the Port of Alsea parking lot, near the fish cleaning station.
Q: Where do you kayak?
A: As far as fresh water goes, I mostly kayak in the Alsea River or bay, but I’ve also been out in the lakes around Florence and in the Olalla Reservoir. Last fall I caught six salmon in the river, the year before 10.
In the Willamette River there’s an annual event called the Sleigh Ride where a group of kayakers go out to fish for sturgeon. They must be released, of course, but they are amazing to catch. We fish for them near Swan Island, and the kayaks are dwarfed by the shipping vessels. It’s a little nerve-wracking. I have gone out three times into the ocean from Depoe Bay. That’s a totally different experience, with the ocean surging around you and whales fluking and spouting in the distance. I did that with several other kayakers … I wouldn’t want to do it alone. I belong to a loosely organized social media group of fishing kayakers. People come over regularly from various towns in the valley and we go out together.
Q: What is the most unique thing you’ve seen while out on the water?
A: I once noticed a small movement on the south bank of the river, which turned out to be an elk. She entered the river and was followed by a whole herd of elk, 25 or 30 of them. They crossed right in front of me, swimming to the opposite shore. It was a spectacular thing to see. I see river otters all the time, and all types of water birds and raptors. And there’s the occasional seal looking to steal a fish. They don’t routinely come near the kayak, but I have had a couple of them bump into me.
Q: How did you come to live on the central Oregon coast?
A: We took the long way home to California once in 2010 after visiting our son in Seattle. We stayed in Waldport on a cold, wet, gray day. Our opinion of the Oregon coast was not high that night. But then, the next day, the sun came out, we made our way to Yachats, and we changed our minds completely. We needed to move away from Redding … it’s impossibly hot there. We live four miles up Highway 34 now, and we have the best of river and ocean life.
Q: What do you like to do besides kayak fishing?
A: Well, there’s the time I spend at the ice cream store. I love that because people come in happy and leave happier. And I keep in close touch with our two sons, Calvin and Brendon. Also, I’ve been an amateur photographer for a long time, though now I mostly take pictures with my cell phone. I recently learned this is officially called mobile photography. In the spring and fall I forage for mushrooms. My newest interest is learning to use a slingshot … there are dozens of YouTube videos about that, too, just like there are about fishing from a kayak.
Tell us a secret.
I would absolutely love to see a whale fluke or breach right next to me while I’m kayaking in Depoe Bay or see a pod of orcas up close. It’s such a different world out on the water close to the ocean.
- Kathleen O’Connor is a Waldport freelance writer who can be reached via email at kmoc8916@gmail.com
Very cool. Stay safe, Greg.