Puget Sound

[Scudley Do Right]

One thing @ffb and I both noticed yesterday is that out of most schools that were coming thru there was a few "biters" and the rest couldn't give two shits about our flies. Huge schools would be steady streaming under the boat, maybe 15' under us. You could let a fly sink down and they would all just ignore it. But you could cast a fly over the top of them and as soon as it hit the water you could see the few aggressive ones instantly swim up and start chasing the fly while all the others just beelined south.

Makes me wonder if that happens a lot off the beach as well. School comes through and those biters get picked off first and then the rest of them just continue on their way

Interesting, I noticed them being less aggressive Friday and Saturday while mooching for kings. They would follow it up but we were able to it away from them. The week before if you got it anywhere near them the where inhaling it.

 

[Nick Clayton]

Interesting, I noticed them being less aggressive Friday and Saturday while mooching for kings. They would follow it up but we were able to it away from them. The week before if you got it anywhere near them the where inhaling it.

Yep saw the same thing last week. If you got your fly anywhere near any amount of them they'd basically fight over each other trying to eat it. Yesterday there was way more fish but definitely a different attitude. The overall numbers were up but the percentage of aggressive fish was definitely way down. It was interesting to watch.

 

[speedbird]

Dirty bagged 3 nice ones today, nothing beats uncrowded fishing, calm water, and clean air. I have no idea how many fish I hooked into though, I lost track at 5 but it could easily have been ten-fifteen. For whatever reason I loose more pinks than any other fish, I think it's my tendency to horse them in combined with their soft mouths. Just 90 feet of line on a 6oz sinker with the traditional flasher/mini hoochie. I busted out the fly rod in some open water but it wasn't happening. Gonna give it a go this weekend. I fished near a beach and saw crazy numbers of fish jumping well within casting distance, definitely calling for an after or before work trip. One of the males cut kinda pale, but nothing like a humpzilla I saw one of the gear shops post

 

[Matt B]

The striation and grid pattern looks way too regular for a biological/failed predation event. It is reminiscent of marks from knotted nets, mesh size too small for a commercial gillnet, too symmetric pattern for a tangled gillnet and injury location is wrong for a gillnet escapee (they tend to have abrasions between head and dorsal fin). Purse-seined fish that get pushed in place against the net during hauling can get marks like that, but mesh size looks too small. My best guess is fish got scooped up by a dry knotted landing net from another recreational angler and either released, or just jumped out of the net (second set of striations around adipose to tail).

Either that, or it jumped out of a deep fry basket from the kitchen of one of the gazillion passing cruise ships.

If a net were the cause, that is a really fine mesh net. Who uses a 1-cm knotted mesh net in PS? Also, if a net, how come the length-wise marks cover portions of the fish that the vertical marks do not?

 

[Bakerite]

Out with two friends Monday, we ran to Possession too give the crab traps a bit more time, saw the whale watching boat, a settled in to watch. At first all we saw were a few spouts, then the whale boat moved, while we were drifting and the pod of orca moved our way. They eventually passed within 50 feet of our boat. Just another great day out on the sound. Someone on the Whale watching boat took pictures of us which our captain found on Facebook.At this point we were all watching the other whale!

 

[SKYKO]

Just finishing up a trip on Whidbey Island, where I was able to to try salmon fishing for the first time. No specific species in mind, but “expecting” pinks since that was what everyone around us was catching. But we got absolutely skunked! We’re a group of 3 and combined had 15+ hours of fly fishing in, and not a single salmon, not even a bite… We tried everything we could think of, and tried to implement everything we could read about! We were hitting all the popular beaches… Lagoon Point North, Bush Point, the state park, Driftwood park by the ferry. Our only thought is we just couldn’t get a fly out far enough? Or maybe we were just out competed with the hoards of buzz bombs. Or maybe there’s better beaches suited to fly fishing where the fish come in closer. Bottom line is we were out fished by grannies in lawn chairs next to us, haha.

Anyone want to take some pity on some noob PNW salmon beach fly fishers and give some helpful tips?

Read this entire thread for whatever species you are wanting to target, the amount of knowledge here is incredible from fishers who really know what the hell they are talking about and are willing to share, helped me immensely. Then R&D: Ripoff & Deploy, highest form of flattery really..

For next season, consider purchasing a Tidelog book and start Journaling your trips/sessions. Obviously you can be as brief or in depth as desired - tides, currents, locations, weather, wind, beach structures, patterns, etc. This has started to pay some dividends for me already and I expect will have a significant ROI
(Unlike RIO Lines!) Next year whether for SRC or Salmon.

Good Luck!

 

[jasmillo]

Here’s one I tied up beforehand, but we had many others in the pink and white clouser category. Also tried chartreuse variations of most everything. We tried +/- 1 hour of high and low tides. We were out into the night a couple times and one of was on the water at 6 this morning. Big/small/fast/slow strips, rod under the arm and retrieving fast. Tried to cover all the bases for retrieves. I’d say we were able to get 40 -70 feet out there?

As others have said, probably a combo of bad luck combined with the potential for some less aggressive fish. I am still consistently hooking pinks from shore when they come within casting distance. I have noticed some are already getting humpy and bronzy but not sure that makes a difference. I know people catch them in rivers. Keep at it and it will pay off. Fly fishing is a very effective way to target salmon for the beach. I watched the same fly fisherman out-fish the entire beach by himself (other fly guys, hardware and herring) multiple days in a row recently. Not sure what his program is exactly but it’s working, as well or better than any I have ever witnessed, gear or fly.

 

[Merle]

Hit the beach at 6:30 this morning but only had an hour to fish before an appointment at the Subaru dealer. Went 1/2 on the Pinkertons, the one I landed at the end was a dandy and ran me up and down the beach with my 6wt. Fun!

I used that Finn Raccoon Clouser from the “what’s in your vise” thread and it worked well on the fish but tended to foul itself a lot.

Also, for anyone worrying about not being able cast as far as the other kids… this fish, and the one Monday were hooked super close in. As in, I thought I’d snagged the bottom at the end of my retrieve, gave a tug to free it and was hooked up. I also saw another nice bright fish jump about 10 feet off my rod tip earlier. So they do come in close. Which is good for guys like me who are luckily to get a 60’ cast to land cleanly.

There were also lots of bait, birds and seals out this morning which made for some cool wildlife watching between casts.

 

[Irafly]

Dirty bagged 3 nice ones today, nothing beats uncrowded fishing, calm water, and clean air. I have no idea how many fish I hooked into though, I lost track at 5 but it could easily have been ten-fifteen. For whatever reason I loose more pinks than any other fish, I think it's my tendency to horse them in combined with their soft mouths. Just 90 feet of line on a 6oz sinker with the traditional flasher/mini hoochie. I busted out the fly rod in some open water but it wasn't happening. Gonna give it a go this weekend. I fished near a beach and saw crazy numbers of fish jumping well within casting distance, definitely calling for an after or before work trip. One of the males cut kinda pale, but nothing like a humpzilla I saw one of the gear shops post

John’s by any chance?

 

[Irafly]

As others have said, probably a combo of bad luck combined with the potential for some less aggressive fish. I am still consistently hooking pinks from shore when they come within casting distance. I have noticed some are already getting humpy and bronzy but not sure that makes a difference. I know people catch them in rivers. Keep at it and it will pay off. Fly fishing is a very effective way to target salmon for the beach. I watched the same fly fisherman out-fish the entire beach by himself (other fly guys, hardware and herring) multiple days in a row recently. Not sure what his program is exactly but it’s working, as well or better than any I have ever witnessed, gear or fly.

Did you ask him what his program was? I’d have been in his hip pocket

 

[Grandpa Jim]

As others have said, probably a combo of bad luck combined with the potential for some less aggressive fish. I am still consistently hooking pinks from shore when they come within casting distance. I have noticed some are already getting humpy and bronzy but not sure that makes a difference. I know people catch them in rivers. Keep at it and it will pay off. Fly fishing is a very effective way to target salmon for the beach. I watched the same fly fisherman out-fish the entire beach by himself (other fly guys, hardware and herring) multiple days in a row recently. Not sure what his program is exactly but it’s working, as well or better than any I have ever witnessed, gear or fly.

My 2 cents on reducing "bad luck":
Watch guys who are "fishy" and try to mimic what they are doing.
Get to know them and ask them questions.
Jasmillo has been very helpful to me with increasing my fly catch rate.
I have also gleaned a ton of information by reading this site regularly.
I guy named Glen who I have fished next to a number of times gave me some good information this year: Tie clousers with bigger hooks than I was using, SC15 in size 1 or 1/0. I think the wider gap is hooking better. I also touch them up with a sharpner. That has upped my hooked and landed rate on clousers, as long as I keep a tight line on hooked fish early in the game.
Stonedfish on this site steered me away from using medium bead eyes on my stinger clousers and to switch to small eyes. I can now cast those small eye weighted stinger clousers effectively with my 6 wt.
I have also seen unweighted larger stinger flies on this site. I've tied some up and had success with those this year. I'm able to fish larger flies now with my 6 wt.
I'm relatively new to the beach fly game. My background is gear fishing steelhead. The fly community in general has always been very helpful to me as an angler, from guys doing the 2-hand game for steelhead to the beach fishermen.

 

[the_chemist]

Here's a question. Taking my not super coordinated nephew out tomorrow. Ive been doing fine from the beach and ill have him chuck buzz bombs. I have a 16' smokercraft with a kicker. Is it worth it hauling it to the west side/launching/ect for a couple of pinks? My thinking is to give him some space away from the crowds can make it easier to get him within casting distance of schools.

 

[DimeBrite]

Another nice morning trip to the beach today. 5 for 5 catching coho with one hefty pink buck mixed in. Released a gorgeous wild silver of 4-5 pounds that fought great. Bonked a 3.5 pound hatchery coho for the BBQ. Nice cool cloudy weather and a south breeze made the bites aggressive.

 

[jasmillo]

Did you ask him what his program was? I’d have been in his hip pocket

He’s a nice guy, I’ve fished around him a decent amount over the years but I don’t think he’ll be giving it up easily. Someone asked him in amazement, “damn, what type of fly are you using”?!?

His deadpan answer… “a good one” .

 

[Chucker]

Here's a question. Taking my not super coordinated nephew out tomorrow. Ive been doing fine from the beach and ill have him chuck buzz bombs. I have a 16' smokercraft with a kicker. Is it worth it hauling it to the west side/launching/ect for a couple of pinks? My thinking is to give him some space away from the crowds can make it easier to get him within casting distance of schools.

Of course it’s worth it. You must think so too if you are asking the question.

 

[Greggor]

This morning I was lucky enough to be the guy who had the program! Based on my last experience, and comments on here from others, I continually hooked up high in the water column. Used a floater w/ hover head, and if you can't avoid all the humpies, just hook em up!... with a humpy hooker pattern.

A huge raft of seaweed was swinging in about 100ft out to start, and pinks were jumping both on the inside and outside of it. About every other cast that made 50+ feet earned a solid grab. Later, the raft drifted in, and I was able to fish the outside of it.

I think I ended up 9/12 pinks before they slowly distanced themselves outside of casting range.

My granddaughter took a couple of pics.

 

[skyriver]

Another nice morning trip to the beach today. 5 for 5 catching coho with one hefty pink buck mixed in. Released a gorgeous wild silver of 4-5 pounds that fought great. Bonked a 3.5 pound hatchery coho for the BBQ. Nice cool cloudy weather and a south breeze made the bites aggressive.
View attachment 78999

Gorgeous bonker! I heard it was hot this morning. The tides looked really good.

 

[speedbird]

John’s by any chance?

Yup, didn’t mention him by name because he hot spotted where I was. Not a secret by anyone’s definition but all the boats seem to completely look that spot over in favor of oil docks and shipwreck

 

[DimeBrite]

He’s a nice guy, I’ve fished around him a decent amount over the years but I don’t think he’ll be giving it up easily. Someone asked him in amazement, “damn, what type of fly are you using”?!?

His deadpan answer… “a good one” .

It's not his fly. To attain such a level of saltwater salmon mastery, one must follow the sound of the silent flute and merge with its source.

 

[Wadin' Boot]

Just finishing up a trip on Whidbey Island, where I was able to to try salmon fishing for the first time. No specific species in mind, but “expecting” pinks since that was what everyone around us was catching. But we got absolutely skunked! We’re a group of 3 and combined had 15+ hours of fly fishing in, and not a single salmon, not even a bite… We tried everything we could think of, and tried to implement everything we could read about! We were hitting all the popular beaches… Lagoon Point North, Bush Point, the state park, Driftwood park by the ferry. Our only thought is we just couldn’t get a fly out far enough? Or maybe we were just out competed with the hoards of buzz bombs. Or maybe there’s better beaches suited to fly fishing where the fish come in closer. Bottom line is we were out fished by grannies in lawn chairs next to us, haha.

Anyone want to take some pity on some noob PNW salmon beach fly fishers and give some helpful tips?

Just checking a couple of other things:

a- was anyone chowing on banana during each outing?
b- were there any relatives of Daniel Ocean with you?
c- It helps to have a handsome and disinhibited naked guy walking down the beach, that's part of the reason why Lincoln Park down here in Seattle is so "hot" right now. It could be a way to guarantee success. Plus if no one catches a fish, whichever buddy drew the short straw, well , the stories you will have of that dude walking barefoot, nude, on cobble stone beaches, swinging and swearing away, while those buzz-bombing grannies from Whidbey are wolf whistlin' and raising their tall boys from their picnic chairs, well, those are priceless memories right there.....You know you could/might/should get lucky, and mebbe not just with the fishin'....