A decision I made towards the end of the summer will have a major impact on my fishing over the next few years. After a poor summer of fishing and feeling like an outsider to all the great saltwater fishing opportunities I broke down and purchased a saltwater boat. I'll probably spend the next few years blogging about fuel issues, broken motors, trailer wiring issues, and all the other crap that comes with boat ownership but right now I'm on that post-purchase high (it feels so good I may start hoarding boats).
Back to the point of this post. I bought the boat right as the best saltwater coho fishing season in recent memory was ending. It was a long months wait until we reopened for chinook in Area 6 and then mostly waiting for decent conditions to fish with the pretty dismal weather we've experienced over the past month. I've made it out twice this month to dredge for chinook. I've landed one tiny salmon (12 inch chinook) and multiple rocks.
Right now I am more pleased with the rock catching because it is the only way to tell I am reaching the bottom in 60-80 feet of water. It is amazing how quickly thirty feet of T-17 will sink.
Another thing I am learning is that not casting the head far enough will result in tangles just like a cut plug herring will if the angle between the sinking line (mooching weight) and the fly (cut plug) is not wide enough.
The other thing I am realizing is that the weather forecasts are not to be taken seriously. I read the NOAA marine forecasts daily and often base my decision to fish on them. Too often I make the decision to not go and start dealing with other projects and jobs and then get a glimpse of the water in the afternoon and it is glass smooth all the way to Victoria. Of course I see this with an hour of daylight left which would mean I would get to the fishing grounds as the sun sets.
Yesterday I was not going to make that mistake. I needed to be out on the boat and do some fishing. I ran into some friends at the launch who gave me a report from a few days previously so I decided to take their advice and try fishing a little closer to the ramp. I fished the outside of the hook for around an hour or so. It was nice to fish some varied water depths as the drift was moving the boat slowly from deeper to shallow water. The wind was blowing a bit but I was able to use the kicker motor to keep the boat in line with the sinking flyline and get the fly near the bottom. I did not touch a fish (and neither did the other boats fishing there) so I decided to head a little further west.
I turned the boat towards the buoy and hit the gas. As I approached the spot I had fished before I saw a group of boats (busy holiday weekend) about a half mile away so I figured I would see what was going on. As I approached the shelf they were fishing over I started noticing birds and started seeing bait on the sounder. That is always a good sign.
I slowed down and idled through the boats trying to tell if there was a way to fish amongst them. Some were trolling downriggers but it looked like a bunch were mooching and jigging. I also saw some nets fly so there were definitely fish around. I started fishing but tried to stay out of the other boats way since most were trolling or motor mooching and our drifts were different. I managed to stay out of their way but I also managed to likely stay off the fish too.
The wind started kicking up a bit more so I decided to bail. After I pulled the boat out and started to drive home I noticed the wind dying down and the seas flattening out. Missing on the weather seems to be the story of my season so far, but I'll keep trying until I hit it right.
Showing posts with label saltwater flyfishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saltwater flyfishing. Show all posts
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Kelp Bed Coho
Until this past month the only water type I had fished for coho salmon in the saltwater was offshore. A few weeks ago that changed. I was fishing a rocky point surrounded by kelp. I started by fishing the edges of the kelp and the rips that formed just offshore of the point. I was having decent success but almost all of the fish were small chinook salmon and I wanted to find some of the approximately one million coho returning to Puget Sound in 2011.
The bait was concentrated inside the thick kelp beds. As I was paddling through the kelp heading back to the launch I noticed big swirls deep within the kelp bed. I stopped the kayak and formulated a plan to go after those fish. I quickly realized that I couldn't fish a sinking line or weighted fly because I would be snagging kelp fronds on every cast. I came to the conclusion that the only way to fish this area was with a floating line and a popper. I rushed to switch out my sinking head to a floating head and a gurgler was plucked from the fly box. I paddled into position and started to drift through the kelp.
I started casting. What is different about casting in the kelp from casting in offshore rips is that accuracy really matters. If your cast is off target you will be tangled in the kelp. As I drifted I aimed for the clean pockets between the kelp. It wasn't long before the first coho started following and swirling at the fly. When fishing poppers for salmon the one thing you learn quickly is that for every five to ten boils or follows you will have one solid hookup. Sometimes the hookup rate is better but not often.
It seemed like every two or three openings in the kelp resulted in at least a swirl on the fly. Soon a coho came for the fly and there was weight. What followed was an amazing display. The fish was instantly in the air. Not once, but four times the salmon came out of the water while at the same time wrapping the leader around numerous clumps of kelp. The fly eventually pulled loose while I attempted to untangle the fish. I continued to fish and rose numerous other salmon. I hooked three other salmon that day and all of them put on amazing aerial displays along with hard runs into and around the kelp. Amazingly I was able to land two of them. Looking back I could not remember a group of hotter fighting coho salmon in my years of experience fishing offshore.
Of course, since that day I have returned to that location many times attempting to recreate that tide change. The best I have done since is have four rises and two fish on. But in keeping with the first day of fishing the kelp beds each fish hooked displayed the same great fighting ability.
This morning I returned after a bit of a drought at this location. The recent windy weather hasn't helped but the fishing seems to have really slowed down. This morning dawned very chilly with a brisk wind. I paddled out and tried fishing the outer rips for a bit before coming back in to the kelp. The wind was blowing a little stronger than I would have liked so I paddled up on top of the thickest clump of kelp I could find and just sat and observed the water for awhile. I was convinced that the wind would likely die down at some point so I spent about an hour enjoying the sights. It is amazing what you see fishing out of a quiet and slow watercraft. Earlier in the morning a family of river otters was feeding out in the kelp. The seabirds were dive bombing the abundant schools of herring swarming the area. Herons were perched motionless on the floating mats of kelp waiting to ambush any bait that swam too close. A large number of turkey vultures circled a thermal just inland.
Soon enough the wind did start to diminish ever so slightly. I decided to take advantage of it and start fishing the kelp. Casting the gurgler to open targets resulted in nothing on the first drift. I paddled back and started a little closer in to the rocks. After about ten casts I saw a fish charge at the fly. The slash came from the side. The salmon missed but I kept the fly moving and he came at it again and missed. I continued the retrieve with little hope the fish would come back for a third time. Luckily I was wrong and the third time was the charm as the line came tight to a coho salmon. After a couple surface head shakes the fish bolted. He was on the reel instantly and instead of running underneath the surface I could see his back out of the water the entire time he was running away from me. It was as if I had hooked him in a foot of water instead of the twenty foot depths he swam in. Eventually the running stopped and immediately the line went slack. I will never know if he started running back towards the kayak or if the hook pulled out but the fish was gone. I eventually got the fly untangled from a piece of kelp the salmon wrapped the line on and started fishing again.
That was my only fish of the day but it was a memorable one. I think I have a new favorite place to catch coho salmon in the saltwater. I really enjoy fishing deep within the kelp. Not only for the challenge of the casting but the extra fight the salmon seem to have when they have to battle from deep within the kelp forests.
The bait was concentrated inside the thick kelp beds. As I was paddling through the kelp heading back to the launch I noticed big swirls deep within the kelp bed. I stopped the kayak and formulated a plan to go after those fish. I quickly realized that I couldn't fish a sinking line or weighted fly because I would be snagging kelp fronds on every cast. I came to the conclusion that the only way to fish this area was with a floating line and a popper. I rushed to switch out my sinking head to a floating head and a gurgler was plucked from the fly box. I paddled into position and started to drift through the kelp.
I started casting. What is different about casting in the kelp from casting in offshore rips is that accuracy really matters. If your cast is off target you will be tangled in the kelp. As I drifted I aimed for the clean pockets between the kelp. It wasn't long before the first coho started following and swirling at the fly. When fishing poppers for salmon the one thing you learn quickly is that for every five to ten boils or follows you will have one solid hookup. Sometimes the hookup rate is better but not often.
It seemed like every two or three openings in the kelp resulted in at least a swirl on the fly. Soon a coho came for the fly and there was weight. What followed was an amazing display. The fish was instantly in the air. Not once, but four times the salmon came out of the water while at the same time wrapping the leader around numerous clumps of kelp. The fly eventually pulled loose while I attempted to untangle the fish. I continued to fish and rose numerous other salmon. I hooked three other salmon that day and all of them put on amazing aerial displays along with hard runs into and around the kelp. Amazingly I was able to land two of them. Looking back I could not remember a group of hotter fighting coho salmon in my years of experience fishing offshore.
Of course, since that day I have returned to that location many times attempting to recreate that tide change. The best I have done since is have four rises and two fish on. But in keeping with the first day of fishing the kelp beds each fish hooked displayed the same great fighting ability.
This morning I returned after a bit of a drought at this location. The recent windy weather hasn't helped but the fishing seems to have really slowed down. This morning dawned very chilly with a brisk wind. I paddled out and tried fishing the outer rips for a bit before coming back in to the kelp. The wind was blowing a little stronger than I would have liked so I paddled up on top of the thickest clump of kelp I could find and just sat and observed the water for awhile. I was convinced that the wind would likely die down at some point so I spent about an hour enjoying the sights. It is amazing what you see fishing out of a quiet and slow watercraft. Earlier in the morning a family of river otters was feeding out in the kelp. The seabirds were dive bombing the abundant schools of herring swarming the area. Herons were perched motionless on the floating mats of kelp waiting to ambush any bait that swam too close. A large number of turkey vultures circled a thermal just inland.
Soon enough the wind did start to diminish ever so slightly. I decided to take advantage of it and start fishing the kelp. Casting the gurgler to open targets resulted in nothing on the first drift. I paddled back and started a little closer in to the rocks. After about ten casts I saw a fish charge at the fly. The slash came from the side. The salmon missed but I kept the fly moving and he came at it again and missed. I continued the retrieve with little hope the fish would come back for a third time. Luckily I was wrong and the third time was the charm as the line came tight to a coho salmon. After a couple surface head shakes the fish bolted. He was on the reel instantly and instead of running underneath the surface I could see his back out of the water the entire time he was running away from me. It was as if I had hooked him in a foot of water instead of the twenty foot depths he swam in. Eventually the running stopped and immediately the line went slack. I will never know if he started running back towards the kayak or if the hook pulled out but the fish was gone. I eventually got the fly untangled from a piece of kelp the salmon wrapped the line on and started fishing again.
That was my only fish of the day but it was a memorable one. I think I have a new favorite place to catch coho salmon in the saltwater. I really enjoy fishing deep within the kelp. Not only for the challenge of the casting but the extra fight the salmon seem to have when they have to battle from deep within the kelp forests.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Herring
It has been a fun week fishing a local spot where the kelp is loaded with small herring. The herring brings in the salmon, birds, seals, and porpoises.
The fishing has been a mix of coho and immature chinook salmon. Most of the coho fishing has been deep within the kelp forests fishing surface patterns. So much of the saltwater game is fishing subsurface that one forgets what a visual smorgasbord fishing on the surface is. You will have many salmon follow the fly swirling multiple times at it before either taking it or turning away. Sometimes you will have fish that come out of nowhere and mug the fly. Landing fish deep within the kelp is a challenge as every fish seems to aim for the thick kelp. Tangles are commonplace as the fish continue running and jumping while you are focused on trying to get your fly line untangled from a mat of kelp.
Hopefully the Puget Sound coho run is as large as forecast and the fishing holds up through the end of October.
Monday, September 5, 2011
In Defense of Saltwater Fly Fishing
Recently I have spent a good amount of time casting flies along our coastal salmon migration highways. I have not always seen success but have found good fishing and have just started to scratch the surface in learning about some new places. Learning these areas when you're dealing with tides, currents, and migratory fish takes time. This is where it gets interesting. Does the learning curve increase or decrease by using non-fly fishing techniques?
The technique most often used to search for salmon among "fly fishermen"is called bucktailing. Bucktailing is trolling a fly behind a moving boat. If you weren't familiar with this area you might wonder why a trolling technique gets so much attention and press in the Pacific Northwest fly fishing community and press.
When discussing bucktailing it comes down to one simple question. What defines fly fishing to you? For me fly fishing is first and foremost about the cast. Whether the cast is aerialized or cast using water borne anchors we use the weight of the fly line and not the fly to deliver our flies to waiting fish. We can argue for days about the definition of flies with all of the new synthetics and weights we use to construct flies these days but without fly casting we're not having any of those arguments.
Does bucktailing help someone learn how to become a better saltwater salmon fly fisherman? Does bucktailing help a fly fisherman learn the water types salmon prefer? My belief is that is answer to both questions is no. No amount of trolling a fly around is going to help you become more proficient in casting or learning which retreives work.
Like most fly fishermen in the Pacific Northwest I had always heard that bucktailing was the way to fly fish the Pacific Ocean and Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is how I started fishing for salmon at Neah Bay. I quickly found out that I not only did not enjoy trolling flies but I wanted to actually fly fish for salmon. I stopped trolling flies and my education truly began. I slowly started to learn how to read the water and slowly started to have success. As I gained knowledge of the fishery the good days started to outnumber the poor fishing days. Not only did I not bucktail personally but I was able to successfully guide fly anglers for years with zero bucktailing.
What I find interesting in the fly fishing communities acceptance of bucktailing is the lack of acceptance of other methods that are far closer to fly fishing than bucktailing. Bring up fishing beads for steelhead on any Northwest fishing forum and watch the sparks fly even though fishing beads is closer to fly fishing than motoring a boat with a fly dangling in the prop wash.
The only thing bucktailing shares with bead fishing is an attempt to speed up the learning curve. Unfortunately it doesn't teach you how to fly fish and the only thing it helps with is hooking a few fish on a fly rod. Of course, what is the point of using a fly rod if you are not going to fly fish?
The technique most often used to search for salmon among "fly fishermen"is called bucktailing. Bucktailing is trolling a fly behind a moving boat. If you weren't familiar with this area you might wonder why a trolling technique gets so much attention and press in the Pacific Northwest fly fishing community and press.
When discussing bucktailing it comes down to one simple question. What defines fly fishing to you? For me fly fishing is first and foremost about the cast. Whether the cast is aerialized or cast using water borne anchors we use the weight of the fly line and not the fly to deliver our flies to waiting fish. We can argue for days about the definition of flies with all of the new synthetics and weights we use to construct flies these days but without fly casting we're not having any of those arguments.
Does bucktailing help someone learn how to become a better saltwater salmon fly fisherman? Does bucktailing help a fly fisherman learn the water types salmon prefer? My belief is that is answer to both questions is no. No amount of trolling a fly around is going to help you become more proficient in casting or learning which retreives work.
Like most fly fishermen in the Pacific Northwest I had always heard that bucktailing was the way to fly fish the Pacific Ocean and Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is how I started fishing for salmon at Neah Bay. I quickly found out that I not only did not enjoy trolling flies but I wanted to actually fly fish for salmon. I stopped trolling flies and my education truly began. I slowly started to learn how to read the water and slowly started to have success. As I gained knowledge of the fishery the good days started to outnumber the poor fishing days. Not only did I not bucktail personally but I was able to successfully guide fly anglers for years with zero bucktailing.
What I find interesting in the fly fishing communities acceptance of bucktailing is the lack of acceptance of other methods that are far closer to fly fishing than bucktailing. Bring up fishing beads for steelhead on any Northwest fishing forum and watch the sparks fly even though fishing beads is closer to fly fishing than motoring a boat with a fly dangling in the prop wash.
The only thing bucktailing shares with bead fishing is an attempt to speed up the learning curve. Unfortunately it doesn't teach you how to fly fish and the only thing it helps with is hooking a few fish on a fly rod. Of course, what is the point of using a fly rod if you are not going to fly fish?
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Salmon with Live Bait
This morning I decided to head out for some local saltwater fishing. I didn't wake up early or rush to the water and missed my favorite tide change but sometimes getting out is enough.
It was a beautiful sunny day with not a breath of wind. The rainshadow was in full force with low clouds to the west, thicker clouds to the east, and big puffy clouds building over the Olympics.
The fishing was slow for everyone but I did have a quick pulse of action. I hooked a tiny chinook (eight inches) and as it got close to the kayak I could see six or seven coho swirling around it trying to eat it. The coho were keyed up and after I slipped the hook from the shaker chinook I quickly flipped the fly ten feet from the boat. One strip and I could see the coho take the fly. I set the hook and felt weight but the fly did not stick. I could still see the fish swimming under the kayak as I quickly flipped the fly back into the water. Just as quickly as before I had a coho on the end of the line and just as quickly it came unhooked. I so wanted to inspect the fly and make sure the hair wasn't fouled but I knew these fish would be gone as quickly as they appeared so I roll cast the fly back into the water. One strip and another of the coho inhaled the fly and turned. This time the hook held and I was able to quickly land the fish. I wish I could say that the action remained hot, but that was the last I saw of any adult salmon.
I'll try to remember this beautiful warm sunny day on the water in a couple months when it is cold, wet, and gloomy.
It was a beautiful sunny day with not a breath of wind. The rainshadow was in full force with low clouds to the west, thicker clouds to the east, and big puffy clouds building over the Olympics.
The fishing was slow for everyone but I did have a quick pulse of action. I hooked a tiny chinook (eight inches) and as it got close to the kayak I could see six or seven coho swirling around it trying to eat it. The coho were keyed up and after I slipped the hook from the shaker chinook I quickly flipped the fly ten feet from the boat. One strip and I could see the coho take the fly. I set the hook and felt weight but the fly did not stick. I could still see the fish swimming under the kayak as I quickly flipped the fly back into the water. Just as quickly as before I had a coho on the end of the line and just as quickly it came unhooked. I so wanted to inspect the fly and make sure the hair wasn't fouled but I knew these fish would be gone as quickly as they appeared so I roll cast the fly back into the water. One strip and another of the coho inhaled the fly and turned. This time the hook held and I was able to quickly land the fish. I wish I could say that the action remained hot, but that was the last I saw of any adult salmon.
I'll try to remember this beautiful warm sunny day on the water in a couple months when it is cold, wet, and gloomy.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)