Taking boat to saltwater

[tototojo]

Hey guys so I will be heading to nehalem Bay in 2 weeks and will be taking my 76 12 foot valco aluminum boat and my 77 15 hp Johnson outboard with trolling motor and everything. Is there anything I should do to get it ready before then? I will be washing it down and flushing the motor with fresh water after every use so would that be good enough or anything else I should do? Any info is great. I will be there about 4 days. Or anything about trailer.

 

[shaw520]

Flush with Salt Away,.. or something like that.

 

[GA_Boater]

Trailer trip for 4 days. Just wash her down and do a good fresh water flush. The motor won't be in the salt long enough to build up salt and the Valco won't melt below the waterline.

 

[tototojo]

Awesome that's what I was thinking won't be long enough to do anything harmful just a flush and wash her down after each trip. Just new to all this and didn't expect to even take it onto some saltwater lol. Thanks for the advice

 

[Ned L]

Only Four days(????)......... As GA said, enjoy the boat and give it a wash off afterwards.

 

[SeaDooSam]

Make sure you grease trailer bearings before any trip.

 

[sphelps]

Catch some fish !!

 

[jwall116]

4 days! My boat has lived in salt water for 21 years. It looks better than some boats being in salt for only a year.

Wash it and flush it at the end of the boating day (if its out of the water). Any salt deposit in your engine will be flushed out when you return to your fresh water normal fishing area, wouldn't worry much about it. I would hose off the entire trailer and engine after the fishing day is over though.

Don't over think it, it will be JUST fine.

 

[Clever screen name]

My favorite.

 

[Pusher]

Listen to the marine forecast every mornjng before leaving the dock. Are you planning on leaving the bay? That's a small boat for open water, especially when you shear the prop pin.... Good times.

If you run through kelp beds make sure you don't have kelp wraped around the water intake plugging your cooling system.

Like said above, wash your trailer down good on the last day including the inside of the frame.

 

[tototojo]

No I don't really plan to leave the bay since the weather doesn't look to be the best. Light showers with winds 5-10 mph. I want to fish definitely just trying to figure out what kind of fish to look for in nehalem bay lol. Yeah it's a smaller boat but I have confidence in it. I don't think it will be anything it can't handle.

 

[Pusher]

Yeah, 5-10 should be fine in in the bay though I have no experience with that water. You've done flounder fishing before right? I don't want to assume everyone's fished saltwater before.

 

[tototojo]

Nope this literally will be my first time ever fishing in the ocean with a pole!

 

[Pusher]

Oh, you must be pumped then!

I don't know how the fishing is in that neck of the woods. My experience is in the straights of Juan De Fuca up here in Washington. I'd suggest looking into drift fishing for flounder with bait at about 50 feet in sandy areas. Clams and shrimp both work great.

You can also jig for bass/greenling/cod using 3-6" dungeness stingers or white/yellow rubber jigs in 30-50 feet of water off of jeddies and kelp beds.

Perch seem to like bait (especially shrimp) off of jetties or peninsulas with current.

The shrimp tend to be soft and fall off your hook so if you want to try them then bring some old socks. You can pull the elastic out of the bands and wrap the shrimp onto the hook to last 2-3 times longer.

You might even want to buy a clam gun to dig for shrimp instead of paying for the bait if there's no season on doing that. (If you haven't gone razor clamming you should definitely look into that. Perch season is usually in full swing whenever clamming season is going on too, so that's a plus.)

Have fun out there!

 

[Pusher]

@tototojo
Hey toto, not sure when you'll get this, but thought I'd check in and see how things turned out.

 

[jbcurt00]

Hasnt been back since Nov 10, after your last post here.

 

[Texasmark]

I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, far enough inland to have the best of both worlds, fresh and salt. I had separate tackle and boats for each. Seemed to me, some 50+ years ago (yes things have changed) that no matter how hard you wash and all that, salt gets into things and doesn't come out! Just my experience.