Catch something

Oregon Coast fishing guides adapt to pandemic

By Emily Lindblom

For the TODAY

On a guided fishing trip in late February, Dustin Kriebel rowed an 18-foot ClackaCraft drift boat through the Wilson River southeast of Tillamook Bay. His clients watched as their bobbers floated along with the current, hoping to see them drop underwater with the bite of a hatchery winter steelhead. The group all wore face masks and kept their distance when they could to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Kriebel dropped the anchor at a bend in the river he knew to be particularly good for catching fish and cast a few times, pausing to give out helpful tips, untangle and repair his clients’ lines and add more bait to their hooks. Other than a gray sky, the group was surrounded by green, with evergreen trees lining the nearby hills and dipping into the emerald waters below.

Though they would have liked to come home with a steelhead, it was the experience they were there for, and the peace of getting to enjoy the river while leaving the rowing and fishing line repairs to their guide. Hours after returning to land, their bodies still felt the sway of the river, and the repetitive motions of casting, reeling, waiting and reeling again seeped into their dreams.

Kriebel, the owner of Drift Northwest Fishing, has been guiding trips like this for the past six years. In addition to using the drift boat for winter steelhead, he takes people out on his 26-foot Koffler powerboat during the summer to catch ocean salmon, bottomfish, cod and crab.

This past year, however, has certainly been different.

“When COVID-19 hit everything shut down and I lost the rest of the steelhead season in March and April,” Kriebel said. “Boat ramps were closed, so a lot of businesses were halted.”

By late summer, he knew he had to do something to stay in business and people were itching to get out, so he opened up again in time for the Buoy 10 fishing bonanza at the mouth of the Columbia River.

“People wanted to go out and recreate and enjoy what the rivers had to offer,” Kriebel said.

In the past, Kriebel would mix groups of people to maximize how many clients could go fishing at once, but during the pandemic he’s only taking single groups at a time.

“I’m definitely not booking as many people as I would, so revenues have been down a bit, but hopefully this summer we’ll get a lot of people out,” Kriebel said, adding that a large salmon run is in the forecast for this year.

SIGGI-G Ocean Charters is another guided deep-sea fishing company that has been operating with virus-related restrictions this past year.

Captain Joe Ockenfels said his business usually runs from March through October, but last year he had to close down right when he would normally start up.

“In the springtime every business was trying to figure out how to make it work,” Ockenfels said. He was able to start taking a limited amount of passengers out to the ocean again by June and into the fall.

“We’ve limited our passenger capacity to accommodate the spacing that we feel is safe,” Ockenfels said. “A lot of things with the COVID protocol are basic standard practices like cleanliness and hygiene, but we’re definitely paying attention to it to a higher degree.”

Masks are required and hand sanitizer is available on the boat.

After taking its usual winter break while crew members work on commercial crabbing, SIGGI-G Ocean Charters is gearing up to offer guided fishing trips again starting this spring. Ockenfels and the crew will help customers catch bottomfish, crab, halibut, salmon and tuna, depending on the season and ocean conditions.

For more information about Drift Northwest Fishing, go to www.driftnorthwestfishing.com.

For more information about SIGGI-G Ocean Charters, go to www.siggig.com.