{"id":1868,"date":"2022-07-13T10:51:20","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T16:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/?p=1868"},"modified":"2022-07-13T10:58:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T16:58:29","slug":"gold-beach-adventures-with-nick-young-outdoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/13\/gold-beach-adventures-with-nick-young-outdoors\/","title":{"rendered":"Fishing Gold Beach w\/ Nick Young Outdoors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Years ago, while wrestling giant bass at eastern Oregon\u2019s\nOwyhee Reservoir, I learned\nan important lesson<\/a>: Never miss an opportunity to go fishing with Nick Young Outdoors<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That strategy has led to lots of awesome\nmemories<\/a>, so when Nick called to tell me he was taking his guide business to\nthe Oregon Coast, I couldn\u2019t wait to check it out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick is well known in Idaho circles for his trophy\nbass prowess<\/a>. When the pandemic shut down his Owyhee business, he moved\nsouth to Arizona\u2019s Lake Havasu and quickly found success guiding for bass, stripers<\/a>\nand trophy red ear sunfish. Havasu is a special place\u2014I experienced\nit firsthand<\/a> with Nick\u2019s business partner, Kevin Tucker, over spring\nbreak\u2014but it hits a lull when temperatures soar into the 100s. Nick\u2019s search\nfor cooler weather and new opportunities led him to Gold Beach, a quiet\nsouthern Oregon town where the prime fishing overlaps perfectly with the Havasu\nheatwave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick is already up and running, guiding for salmon in\nrivers and bays that attract some of the best Chinook runs in the West. He\u2019s\nalso planning to offer rockfish and lingcod trips once he secures a bigger boat\u2014but\nwe\u2019ll get to that later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this cool, overcast day, we were trolling\nfor Chinooks<\/a> in the Rogue River Bay. Serving\nas first mate<\/a> was Nick\u2019s son, Jaxon, who is essentially a hilarious,\neight-year-old version of Nick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore salmon are arriving here every day,\u201d Jaxon\nexplained as we launched. \u201cPeak season will be here before you know it!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick rigged up whole anchovies so they spun as we trolled.\nI took a moment to appreciate the redwood forests, ocean rock formations and\nbasking harbor seals surrounding us. Not a bad setting! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our second pass, something fishy bumped my bait. It\ndidn\u2019t act like a salmon, and when Jaxon\u2019s rod went off seconds later, I knew\nsomething was up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure enough, Jaxon and I reeled up a pair of big redtail\nsurf perch. My brother-in-law Steve and I caught\nperch from shore<\/a> during my last visit to the coast, but we were shocked to\nsee them gobbling up six-inch anchovies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAggressive buggers,\u201d Nick smiled. \u201cLet\u2019s put some in the\ncooler.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stayed atop the school and jigged up a dozen nice\nperch in short order. The bigger ones were pushing three pounds! We wanted to save\nour anchovies for the salmon, so I put my chewing gum on the hook, and BAM! Another\nbig perch on. We laughed. And, with dinner in the box, we continued our salmon\ntroll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a slow day for Chinook action, and the next time\nwe reached the edge of the bay, I watched Nick scratch his chin while gazing\nout at a nearly glass-calm ocean. I knew what my friend was thinking before he\nsaid it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a day we could take this boat out there, it\u2019s\ntoday,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you\u2019re here. Let\u2019s do it!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ventured past the breakers and into the open sea. Fortunately,\nNick knew a good spot less than a mile offshore. When we arrived at a promising\nrockpile, we dropped large swimbaits rather than the finesse jigs most guides use.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaxon was the first to hook up. It was impressive to see\nthe little guy handling a 10-foot baitcasting rod like a boss. Moments later, I\nlanded a nice black rockfish. Things went quiet for a minute, but Nick broke\nthe silence with his trademark phrase: \u201cGIANT!!!<\/a>\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grabbed\nthe net<\/a> as Nick battled a monster lingcod. Sadly, it came unhooked before\nwe saw it, but the excitement was far from over. For the next two hours, fish\nwere coming aboard nonstop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lingcod. Exotic-looking China rockfish. Cabezon. And big\nblack rockfish\u2014by far the best quality I\u2019ve ever experienced. On my last ocean\nouting, Steve and I sifted through dozens of dinks to earn\nour limits<\/a> of respectable keepers. This time, I caught 15, and almost all\nof them were 3-to-5-pounders that fought like smallmouth on steroids and fried\nup like a delicious cross between walleye and cod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not even a bout of seasickness could knock the grin off\nmy face. Nick was smiling, too. His swimbait hunch was a winner, and he was\nalready formulating a unique, exciting take on saltwater bottom fishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust you wait, buddy,\u201d he beamed. \u201cWe\u2019re getting this dialed\nin<\/em>! Big baits. Trophy fish. Light tackle. Salmon, rockfish, lingcod, all of\nit. And full throttle fishing, just like always.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have no doubt Nick (and Jaxon) will succeed in Gold\nBeach. He\u2019s as talented an angler as I\u2019ve met, and he knows the grind it takes\nto establish a winning reputation. Before long, I\u2019m sure anglers up and down\nthe coast will learn what I\u2019ve known for some time now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter the water, no matter the species, you should never\nmiss a chance to go fishing with Nick. Tight lines! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to go fishing with Nick Young Outdoors? Call\n(541) 709-1542 to book your own adventure on the Oregon Coast! <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years ago, while wrestling giant bass at eastern Oregon\u2019s Owyhee Reservoir, I learned an important lesson: Never miss an opportunity to go fishing with Nick Young Outdoors. That strategy has led to lots of awesome memories, so when Nick called to tell me he was taking his guide business to the Oregon Coast, I couldn\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1868"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1876,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868\/revisions\/1876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}