Fly rod for Chinook?
- Thread starter Bryan
- Start date
A fun story involving my new bride. On a trip she tagged along as an occasional non-fly angler with a book to read along the river while I fished a new river. The time of year was the 2nd week of September the day after the first significant rain in a month. Opted to fish the top of tide water the first of an incoming tide. The water was clear but new Chinook were rolling so thought my chances of a fish were good. At the time I had had good success with those tide water Chinook and learned that the most effective fly varied from stream to stream (I think that is due to differences in visibility and flows). I found good looking slot and after 45 minutes of experimentation with a number of fly changes found a pattern the fish liked. In the next hour landed several Chinook and asked my wife if she wanted to try her luck (at the time her sum of fishing experience was catching trout on lakes on either a trolled fly or on dry flies after I gave the rod casting the fly for her) so she had some concern trying for a salmon.
I talked her into trying for a salmon for few minutes. After explained the drill I had her stand downstream of me (stream bank left) and after casting the fly I handed her the rod (a single handed 8 1/2 foot 7 weight). The first cast she snagged the fly (a # 4 black marabou) but I was able to free the fly and again explained that after a short pause to let the fly sink to the proper depth (2 to 3 feet off the bottom) to strip the fly (6 inch pulls fairly quickly) back to the rod. After a 2 or 3 more practice casts and retrieves she had the basic process down, so we began fishing in earnest. Me casting, handing the rod off, a short pause, strip -strip and repeat. After maybe 5 minutes I hear a "damn have snagged the bottom again". I started to say are you... when the rod tip dives toward the water the loose line is streaming through the guides and by some miracle no tangles. After my many shouted and I'm sure incoherent instructions she starts gaining control of the fish and after more than 20 minutes of battle more instruction on how to land the fish by sliding it into the shallows so I can tail the fish. A couple minutes later she has her first salmon, a beautiful female Chinook of a bit more than 30#!
Curt
I talked her into trying for a salmon for few minutes. After explained the drill I had her stand downstream of me (stream bank left) and after casting the fly I handed her the rod (a single handed 8 1/2 foot 7 weight). The first cast she snagged the fly (a # 4 black marabou) but I was able to free the fly and again explained that after a short pause to let the fly sink to the proper depth (2 to 3 feet off the bottom) to strip the fly (6 inch pulls fairly quickly) back to the rod. After a 2 or 3 more practice casts and retrieves she had the basic process down, so we began fishing in earnest. Me casting, handing the rod off, a short pause, strip -strip and repeat. After maybe 5 minutes I hear a "damn have snagged the bottom again". I started to say are you... when the rod tip dives toward the water the loose line is streaming through the guides and by some miracle no tangles. After my many shouted and I'm sure incoherent instructions she starts gaining control of the fish and after more than 20 minutes of battle more instruction on how to land the fish by sliding it into the shallows so I can tail the fish. A couple minutes later she has her first salmon, a beautiful female Chinook of a bit more than 30#!
Curt
Jack and John Harrold of Pacific City Fly Fishing...Jack is a hella good man, and best friends with Jay...anything I know about Kings comes from both of these guys
I would love to know where you were fishing on the Samish that had room to fly cast. I completely understand if this is a secret hole, since that rivers combat fishing is in a league of its own. If it's a pay to play hole that would limit potential for crowds by nature, do you mind dming me?
Pink Nighty
Life of the Party
This can be done down at the mouth where all the other idiots fish, but not when all the other idiots are there. They fish the back half of outgoing tides, and they usually like lower tides. If you wanna fly fish there, dont fish those tides. Or wait until October when "all the fish are gone."
interesting, the King rivers I've fished were always best at incoming tide whether at the rivermouth or a few miles upstreamThis can be done down at the mouth where all the other idiots fish, but not when all the other idiots are there. They fish the back half of outgoing tides, and they usually like lower tides. If you wanna fly fish there, dont fish those tides. Or wait until October when "all the fish are gone."
Pink Nighty
Life of the Party
Oh for sure, that's when they push in and and would be the bitiest. The samish river crew, however, cares not for the biting fish, they only care for the confined fish. It's a stationary flossing game. Chuck a 1oz jig across 15ft of river into the pilings, keep your tip low so lots of line sit in the water, set like hell when your line starts to move.
When they cant snag them in the mouth (any tide phase other than the last couple hours before low) the crowds stay away and vibraxs and flyrods can come out to play.
I’ll definitely have to head up there. I’ll go up during the week as well, hopefully further reducing idiot density
This can be done down at the mouth where all the other idiots fish, but not when all the other idiots are there. They fish the back half of outgoing tides, and they usually like lower tides. If you wanna fly fish there, dont fish those tides. Or wait until October when "all the fish are gone."
I'm really enjoying this discussion - thanks @Bryan for starting it. I don't really have any entertaining stories like @Smalma's but what I will say is that virtually every river system along the Oregon and Northern California Coasts that support chinook runs will have dedicated group of fly folks pursuing them in tidewater. Some of these fisheries are well known and others, not so much. I'm guessing it's the same along the Washington Coast. I am grateful for those (including one forum member here) that have shared their knowledge and helped to flatten the curve. There's been some pretty good advice given in this thread and lots on the internet.
As for how I fish, it's almost always out of a boat, usually (but not always) with a full intermediate line. I swing, strip, hang - you never know when you'll get a grab. My fly box has classic tidewater salmon patterns like boss's, comets and clousers in various sizes and colors. My strategy tends to be to avoid the crowds which means fishing times, locations and conditions that I'm certain compromises my overall success. I love a challenge...
As for how I fish, it's almost always out of a boat, usually (but not always) with a full intermediate line. I swing, strip, hang - you never know when you'll get a grab. My fly box has classic tidewater salmon patterns like boss's, comets and clousers in various sizes and colors. My strategy tends to be to avoid the crowds which means fishing times, locations and conditions that I'm certain compromises my overall success. I love a challenge...
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flossers = to the bone dirtbags
Pink Nighty
Life of the Party
Not gonna sit here amongst our dirtbag brethren and say my knowledge of that game comes from observation. Nay, my good sir, that knowledge was honed via participation.
For those wanting to try it for the first time, its soooooooo much worse than you can imagine. Worse even than it used to be. 300 dudes, 200yds of river. Street parking only, no bathroom facilities. It's a shit show.
Ha! We are getting off topic but as long as we are confessing - I did it as well. Probably 20 plus years ago at the mouth of the Klamath River. Our experience sounds similar - 300 dudes and 200 yds of river where it flowed through the barrier dune. A complete shit show! I got exposed to it by my buddy that was a California Game Warden working undercover. He wasn't citing flossers - California hadn't regulated the practice at that point.
From what I have read online it is sometimes a literal shit show with public defecation.
As for Samish river flossing, it is a ludicrous evolution of flossing. You toss heavy jigs, usually plastic curly crubs and let it sit. You wait until a fish bumps into one of the 300 lines in the water, and then when you feel a bump snag the fish.
In this explains how to fight a big fish
SSPey
loco alto!
I use a two-hand 13’5” 9 wt when wading rivers (mostly pure swings) and a single hand 9 wt fishing from the boat (swinging and stripping). My 9 wt single handers are saltwater models with some strength to fight fish, not the less beefy “all water” 9wts. As noted above a 10wt comes in handy when windy or special places with lots of grabby fish. I own shorter sub-12’ 9wt two-handers, but don’t prefer them from a boat, find the fighting butt gets in the way of a controlled retrieve.
Choosing the correct line for any given fishery is more important than having the correct rod (as far as connecting with fish, landing them is a different story). I usually have 2-4 rods rigged with different shooting heads.
Choosing the correct line for any given fishery is more important than having the correct rod (as far as connecting with fish, landing them is a different story). I usually have 2-4 rods rigged with different shooting heads.
brownheron
corvus ossifragus
I used a 14' 9wt up in the Skeena which was great for throwing the really heavy tips we were using all day long. I didn't hook anything massive, up to about 20lbs, and the big rod seemed overkill for the actual fish fighting. Another guy on the trip almost got spooled with a similar rig on the Copper but no rod was stopping that monster. It looked like a porpoise going downriver. He was yelling at the guide, "lets chase it!" and the guide just gave him WTF look and told him to break it off as it was about 300yards and around a bend by that point...
bc_king
Here in WA, I use a Sage Method 8119 for everything swingwise. Also used it on Kodiak for some pretty decent sized chinook and never felt outgunned but those flat gradient rivers don't have much current to deal with. I have a custom centerpin for WA springers on a Method 9119 blank and it handles them easy. I used my steelhead pin rod built on a Sage X 7126 blank the before I got the 9119 and it was fine too, just had to be a bit more careful.
AR15
bc_king Here in WA, I use a Sage Method 8119 for everything swingwise. Also used it on Kodiak for some pretty decent sized chinook and never felt outgunned but those flat gradient rivers don't have much current to deal with. I have a custom centerpin for WA springers on a Method 9119 blank and it handles them easy. I used my steelhead pin rod built on a Sage X 7126 blank the before I got the 9119 and it was fine too, just had to be a bit more careful.
AR15
Russell
Steelhead
It was about 30 years ago when I fished the moth of the Samish for Kings. I remember using maribou flies and a sinking tip line and like I said, everyone I hooked schooled me quickly. I don't actually remember that much of a crowd down there back then. Only fished it a few times so maybe just was there when the crowd wasn't.
The mouth of Whatcom creek was what I remember as an entertaining fishery.
Andy Mills also explains how he caught a Tarpon on 4# test tippet in the DVD Chasing Silver 1 or 2
