Thanks, I'll give it a shot!
Puget Sound
- Thread starter Stonedfish
- Start date
Ha, that person this morning was me
.The gull picked my unweighted fly right off the water flew and away with it. I did my best to bring him down gently in the water and not head first into the beach and for the most part was successful. The angler to my right was kind enough to hold my rod while I used pliers to gently remove the barbless hook from his beaks without getting pecked to shit. First ever hooked gull..ha
Overall, 1-2 this morning for me. The one “landed” technically popped off as I was beaching him but that was sort of by design. Unless it was a bigg’n I was not planning to keep him (it was a typical 2-3 lbr) since I had to go to work, so I took my sweet time getting him to the sand. Popped off as his side hit the bottom at waters edge. The other gave me a few head shakes and was gone.
I also believe I hooked a dogfish as well this morning. Righ at first light I hooked into something heavy that gave me a few lackluster head shakes then just swam horizontal to shore for 5 seconds before popping off. There were bunch of dogfish finning right in front of me. I assume eating the bait that had gathered around some salad where I was standing. Bummer that dude killed that dogfish. Annoys me. Native species. Wtf.
No way! Nice to kinda meet you. My wife got a kick out of the video I took. I suppose I should have been a little more helpful, I was just kinda in shock by it.Ha, that person this morning was me
The gull picked my unweighted fly right off the water flew and away with it. I did my best to bring him down gently in the water and not head first into the beach and for the most part was successful. The angler to my right was kind enough to hold my rod while I used pliers to gently remove the barbless hook from his beaks without getting pecked to shit. First ever hooked gull..ha
Overall, 1-2 this morning for me. The one “landed” technically popped off as I was beaching him but that was sort of by design. Unless it was a bigg’n I was not planning to keep him (it was a typical 2-3 lbr) since I had to go to work, so I took my sweet time getting him to the sand. Popped off as his side hit the bottom at waters edge. The other gave me a few head shakes and was gone.
I also believe I hooked a dogfish as well this morning. Righ at first light I hooked into something heavy that gave me a few lackluster head shakes then just swam horizontal to shore for 5 seconds before popping off. There were bunch of dogfish finning right in front of me. I assume eating the bait that had gathered around some salad where I was standing. Bummer that dude killed that dogfish. Annoys me. Native species. Wtf.
Ha, no worries. It was much less difficult unhooking him than I thought. I’ve seen that go sideways a number of times on the beach
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Coho are absolute magicians. I've never met a fish better at spitting a hook. Losing fish is just going to happen, even when you do everything right.
That said, IMO, the best thing to do with coho is land them as quickly as you can. The longer they are on the line the higher the chance they find a way to spit that hook. Fish a stout leader, a sharp hook, keep tension at all times and put the wood to em before they find a way to pull their disappearing act. You'd be surprised just how aggressive you can be with those fish.
That said, IMO, the best thing to do with coho is land them as quickly as you can. The longer they are on the line the higher the chance they find a way to spit that hook. Fish a stout leader, a sharp hook, keep tension at all times and put the wood to em before they find a way to pull their disappearing act. You'd be surprised just how aggressive you can be with those fish.
As I have posted before i have found best success (fish landed/fish hooked) by using sticky sharp fine wire hooks. The hook style is also is important with significant differences in that success ratio depending on hook style. For me hands down the most successful hook style has been the drop shot hook by Gamakatsu. I use them for stinger hooks and also on some single hook flies and for the last 15 years they are my back hook on all my mooching leaders (for both Chinook and coho).
Yes those finer wire hooks dull quicker, bend easier, etc. but given the time and money most of us spend for our passion spending a dollar or two a day on replace hooks or flies for increased landing success for me seems to be a good trade off.
Curt
Yes those finer wire hooks dull quicker, bend easier, etc. but given the time and money most of us spend for our passion spending a dollar or two a day on replace hooks or flies for increased landing success for me seems to be a good trade off.
Curt
Second for keeping your line angle low and something other than straight at the fish. The more line you have in the water, the more tension is working against the fish, which helps to keep it pinned and wears it out quicker. Also helps to prevent losing fish when they jump, as it minimizes slack between you and the fish. Won't help you catch every one, but it should improve your landing ratio somewhat.
Thanks for the feedback y'all! I'll do my best to put it in to practice next time out!
What size do you prefer?
For a stinger typically a size 2 and sometimes a 1/0.
For my mooching leaders a 2/0 for PS coho and Chinook and 3/0 for larger Chinook and/or bait.
speedbird
Life of the Party
I've seen a lot of people tie a 3/0 as the lead and 2/0 as the trailer while mooching, do you do this or keep your hook sizes the same?
Yes, I use a size larger hook on the lead hook for my mooching leaders. For that front hook my go to hook is the Mustard Ultra point (92604NP-BN).
Divad
Whitefish
Fish were not easily found today which made for a LOT of casting. I worked hard for the 4 for 5. Caught a nice cabezon too.
This first fish was hooked within 5 minutes at beach 1. I thought it was going to be a fire day.
9 hours later I hooked into 3 within 45 minutes and kept two. Nothing crazy for size, one is probably 2.5lbs and the other 2.
Fido had fun too.
Explored some beaches for the first time this yr and got into fish at spots on atypical tides.
This first fish was hooked within 5 minutes at beach 1. I thought it was going to be a fire day.
9 hours later I hooked into 3 within 45 minutes and kept two. Nothing crazy for size, one is probably 2.5lbs and the other 2.
Fido had fun too.
Explored some beaches for the first time this yr and got into fish at spots on atypical tides.
Messing around in the minus. Scouting mudflats. Sometimes they are walkable, sometimes not so much. Fishing was not really the focus so much as just getting out for a paddle and take some photos. Small cutts in deeper, faster and murky water, sorta expected, once confirmed, left them alone.
1/3 today. The strong outgoing tide combined with the fog that rolled in around 8:30 made for beautiful conditions until about slack. Coho slashing through baitfish 10 feet in front of me gets the heart racing Biggest fish of the year so far for me, weighed 3.5 bled and made a nice run.
Biggest fish of the year so far for me, weighed 3.5 bled and made a nice run.Word. Always keep as much line in water as possible unless there are objects that can get the line tangled. Hold rod perpendicular to fish and as low to water as possible. Keeps tension on the line when they run at me while I move to the side a few steps to take the slack back up. My landing rate went up hundreds of percent when I started keeping my line in the water and some sort of tension steady at all times. Also matters a lot in choppy wind driven water as the line will skip off wave tops unless held onto the surface or under it. When the line skips off a wave it leave a lot of slack.
David
Smolt
what kayak is that?
A quick weekend salmon report. Started the “weekend” on Thursday fishing a few hours before work. Went 1-2 on coho from the beach, and 1-1 on gulls as documented by @Gary Knowels a few posts back . Friday AM, I did some jigging for kings with @Tallguy. No kings for me though Tallguy got into a couple. Learned a lot though and enjoyed the time on the water. Jigging is new to me so I appreciated the knowledge he had to share. Saturday, hit the beach with @Kfish and though it was slow early, we both ended up having some success. Some chunky coho and a rare beach king that got me in my backing on the trusty 6 weight. In 7-8 years of beach salmon fishing, the first salmon to get me in my backing. Even other kings of similar size. Finally, Sunday kfish and I went out with @copperJon in his boat, to fish the one day re-opening of MA 9 for kings. Slow early though I broke off a nice fish with a shit knot. Re-rigged and at low slack, hooked into an 11 and 10 lbr. First ever jigged up kings. Fun stuff. Shortened seasons aside, got to love salmon season in WA .).
Chunky coho from a beach fly session Saturday.
Fly caught beach king Saturday.
Jigging up some kings today (thanks for the action shots Lou).
. Friday AM, I did some jigging for kings with @Tallguy. No kings for me though Tallguy got into a couple. Learned a lot though and enjoyed the time on the water. Jigging is new to me so I appreciated the knowledge he had to share. Saturday, hit the beach with @Kfish and though it was slow early, we both ended up having some success. Some chunky coho and a rare beach king that got me in my backing on the trusty 6 weight. In 7-8 years of beach salmon fishing, the first salmon to get me in my backing. Even other kings of similar size. Finally, Sunday kfish and I went out with @copperJon in his boat, to fish the one day re-opening of MA 9 for kings. Slow early though I broke off a nice fish with a shit knot. Re-rigged and at low slack, hooked into an 11 and 10 lbr. First ever jigged up kings. Fun stuff. Shortened seasons aside, got to love salmon season in WA .).Chunky coho from a beach fly session Saturday.
Fly caught beach king Saturday.
Jigging up some kings today (thanks for the action shots Lou).
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