coho

speedbird

Life of the Party
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So much pink flesh on the upper
Found 3 chromers in the lower river and 1 darkish fish released. Seen about 100 pinks still spawning, some were quite fresh looking.
so much decaying pink flesh up top they I’d have to clean it off my hook every other cast
 

Salmo_g

Legend
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Fished the big river, found a bunch of lock jawed fish holding by marblemount in a pool. Wasted too much time targeting the same fish tbh but my buddy was was too tunnel visioned to be moved. Saw folks catching fish, but it was purely an egg bite. Tried lil Cleo’s, twitch jigs, blue fox with and without hoochie, and some comet flies.

Good spot though, definitely gonna return through November if I have time for B runs, and be up there for springers
Hint: Coho down by tidewater bite between 10 and 100 times better than the ones in the pool. Go ahead and ask how I know.
 

speedbird

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How productive is the November coho fishing in Puget Sound tribs? I should just go up and find out, but my free time is very limited and there are several other very good November opportunities I don’t want to squander if the answer is “not very good”
 

Pink Nighty

Life of the Party
How productive is the November coho fishing in Puget Sound tribs? I should just go up and find out, but my free time is very limited and there are several other very good November opportunities I don’t want to squander if the answer is “not very good”
It ranges from terrible to absolutely lights out. Go fishing.
 

speedbird

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Hint: Coho down by tidewater bite between 10 and 100 times better than the ones in the pool. Go ahead and ask how I know.
Is there a right way to get fish sitting in a pool to bite? Or was I just unlucky enough to come across a school that had no interest in anything. I would cast my spinners/spoons/flies in front of them and w it to drift towards them, or if the current was too weak in certain parts, cast over them and slowly reel /strip towards them. I wanted to try letting the twitch jig sit in their face without reeling it after I dropped but I lost all of them before i could try
 

the_chemist

Steelhead
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Is there a right way to get fish sitting in a pool to bite? Or was I just unlucky enough to come across a school that had no interest in anything. I would cast my spinners/spoons/flies in front of them and w it to drift towards them, or if the current was too weak in certain parts, cast over them and slowly reel /strip towards them. I wanted to try letting the twitch jig sit in their face without reeling it after I dropped but I lost all of them before i could try
Completely stagnet pool? full sink line, 6+ ft leader, and a very small sparse presentation. Let it sink to the bottom and strip it in as fast as you can but never strip more than about an inch at a time. Cycle through colors, sizes and strip speed until you figure out what's working.

Pool with some current? Swap out the full sink for an extra fast sink tip.
 

Pink Nighty

Life of the Party
Is there a right way to get fish sitting in a pool to bite? Or was I just unlucky enough to come across a school that had no interest in anything. I would cast my spinners/spoons/flies in front of them and w it to drift towards them, or if the current was too weak in certain parts, cast over them and slowly reel /strip towards them. I wanted to try letting the twitch jig sit in their face without reeling it after I dropped but I lost all of them before i could try
Either indicator and dead drift just above their eye level with something sparse and shiny, or set your angle so you can cast behind and to the side of the school, then retrieve it so it shows up from behind them and gives them something to chase.

Or, possibly and, curse repeatedly at them. Question the integrity of their mothers. This is essential coho fishing etiquette, and they wont respect you if you're too polite.
 

Salmo_g

Legend
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Is there a right way to get fish sitting in a pool to bite? Or was I just unlucky enough to come across a school that had no interest in anything. I would cast my spinners/spoons/flies in front of them and w it to drift towards them, or if the current was too weak in certain parts, cast over them and slowly reel /strip towards them. I wanted to try letting the twitch jig sit in their face without reeling it after I dropped but I lost all of them before i could try
In answer to that question, I think the answer is no. Upriver coho go on the snap occasionally, but for the vast majority of the time they don't. You can wait around for them to go on the snap, but I decided years ago to just go fish for coho that are on the snap with no waiting around.

My simplified theory of coho: Salt water coho are mostly always on the snap, even when stuffed with bait and a herring or anchovy hanging out of their mouth, they'll snap at one more just cuz they're coho. Coho in river tidewater are still on the snap. I'll fish for coho upstream from tidewater, but only hours from it, not days. My unscientific wild azz guess is that coho are only half as snappy as the day before for each day uptream of tidewater. So why waste time fishing for coho that aren't likely to bite?
 

speedbird

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In answer to that question, I think the answer is no. Upriver coho go on the snap occasionally, but for the vast majority of the time they don't. You can wait around for them to go on the snap, but I decided years ago to just go fish for coho that are on the snap with no waiting around.

My simplified theory of coho: Salt water coho are mostly always on the snap, even when stuffed with bait and a herring or anchovy hanging out of their mouth, they'll snap at one more just cuz they're coho. Coho in river tidewater are still on the snap. I'll fish for coho upstream from tidewater, but only hours from it, not days. My unscientific wild azz guess is that coho are only half as snappy as the day before for each day uptream of tidewater. So why waste time fishing for coho that aren't likely to bite?
I mainly like fishing upriver because it gets me prettier nature and oftentimes less people, but I guess I'll save that for Springers and Steelhead
 

speedbird

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Either indicator and dead drift just above their eye level with something sparse and shiny, or set your angle so you can cast behind and to the side of the school, then retrieve it so it shows up from behind them and gives them something to chase.

Or, possibly and, curse repeatedly at them. Question the integrity of their mothers. This is essential coho fishing etiquette, and they wont respect you if you're too polite.
I think this is the main issue, I was not vigorous enough with my choice of swear words
 

_WW_

Geriatric Skagit Swinger
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Is there a right way to get fish sitting in a pool to bite? Or was I just unlucky enough to come across a school that had no interest in anything. I would cast my spinners/spoons/flies in front of them and w it to drift towards them, or if the current was too weak in certain parts, cast over them and slowly reel /strip towards them. I wanted to try letting the twitch jig sit in their face without reeling it after I dropped but I lost all of them before i could try
If the Champion spark plug doesn't work, then use dynamite.
 

speedbird

Life of the Party
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How many fly lines do you guys use for freshwater salmon haha! A bad wind knotted leader broke my full floater and I am shopping for a replacement but hesitant to pull the trigger on anything without a good idea of what to get. Part of me wants to just by a full intermediate and fish it like I am fishing the sound except with slower strips
 

Matt B

RAMONES
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How many fly lines do you guys use for freshwater salmon haha! A bad wind knotted leader broke my full floater and I am shopping for a replacement but hesitant to pull the trigger on anything without a good idea of what to get. Part of me wants to just by a full intermediate and fish it like I am fishing the sound except with slower strips
When I want maximum jiggy action, I use a full floater, heavy fly and long leader.
I often use sinktips to get down during a swing/strip/pulse presentation in places with a bit more current.
I can't think of a time where I wished I had an intermediate line in FW for salmon, but that's just me.

p.s. how did a wind knot in a leader break the floating line? Also, you can pretty readily find 8 and 9 weight floating lines on closeout. I have a pretty inexpensive SciAnglers Air Cel in 9 weight on an 8 weight rod and it's a fine all purpose floating line for the money.
 

the_chemist

Steelhead
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How many fly lines do you guys use for freshwater salmon haha! A bad wind knotted leader broke my full floater and I am shopping for a replacement but hesitant to pull the trigger on anything without a good idea of what to get. Part of me wants to just by a full intermediate and fish it like I am fishing the sound except with slower strips

$20 full sink casts great.

$20 Full weight forward with 3' of t7 also casts fine on a 7 & 8# glass rods.


Priciest thing is getting extra spools/reels so swapping out is quick but you can find cheap reels if you keep an eye out.
 

speedbird

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When I want maximum jiggy action, I use a full floater, heavy fly and long leader.
I often use sinktips to get down during a swing/strip/pulse presentation in places with a bit more current.
I can't think of a time where I wished I had an intermediate line in FW for salmon, but that's just me.

p.s. how did a wind knot in a leader break the floating line? Also, you can pretty readily find 8 and 9 weight floating lines on closeout. I have a pretty inexpensive SciAnglers Air Cel in 9 weight on an 8 weight rod and it's a fine all purpose floating line for the money.
A really bad cast with a 9ish ft leader tangled it up in the backcast and while trying to untangle it I pulled the wrong tag end and pulled it tighter, cracking the line.
 
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