Pacific city fishing in February. I dutifully chewed my Dramamine last night and zonked out. Popped another at 6 am this morning and I'm ready to go. Jump into the boat and throw on my life jacket as we drive on to the beach we see the dories are out in force. The ocean is like glass with barely a wave or puff of wind. The back end of our captain Mark Lytle's boat underwent some major surgery this offseason and he is anxiously glancing back at as we get flipped around and take off past the cape. The new back end is solid and the Mercury outboard roars to life. The wind picks up for a few moments as we get an incredible closeup of Haystack rock and the hidden parts of Cape Kiwanda. The sun is out in a spotless sky as we find our spot and drop our lines down to the reef. Lytle deftly jumps back in forth between the four of us as we start pulling up rockfish and some monster cod. He's unhooking fish, knocking 'em on the head with a beautiful "PING", then resetting our gear when it gets hung up or tangled - all the while he's giving us pointers on form and cheering us on. It's like watching a well rehearsed play with him performing so well you almost don't even notice he's the piece holding it all together. We limit out in no time at all - just over an hour and a half. We peel off some layers and take in the gorgeous winter day before zooming back to the beach. Mark coaches us on our hunkering positions before we slide on to the beach. When we hit, slide and stick no one goes flying. Mark is as quick on land as is he is on the boat and before long the dory is trailered and pulled up to the shop a short mile away. The sweet sound of an electric knife carves up our catch and we bone and fillet them. Cleaning the fish takes longer than catching them! Now I'm headed home with more vacuum packed goodies than I can carry and great big smile on m face. What an incredible day in pacific city in February. This place is full of surprises and good-hearted, skilled, and hardworking people like Mark making the most of the most beautiful beach on the Oregon Coast.

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