Puget Sound
- Thread starter Stonedfish
- Start date
Dweddy89
Smolt
Reactor compartment…
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
Looks like very large piece of concrete culvert
jeradjames
Steelhead
I’ve been totally obsessed with catching these fish lately so I decided to try a spot near my work for an hour before I had to go in…and I got one!
Nothing special but so cool finding them so close to where I work in the North Sound area.
Nothing special but so cool finding them so close to where I work in the North Sound area.
I hit the ferry this morning to go check out some kitsap peninsula beaches. No luck, though some decent strikes and toilet bowl flushers.
Were the toilet bowl flushes from fish missing a topwater pattern?
SF
flybill
Life of the Party
I love the Popper and fish it most of the time.. I do fish with Leland and worked with him for years at Orvis! I've played with the popper on lakes just to see if I can raise a trout, bass or whatever..
However I do have other flies and have occasionally used sinking lines. Shhh, don't tell Old Man River..
The topwater game is in my opinion is a high excitement / low reward endeavor unless you enjoy counting misses.
For me, Roger Stephens floating Delia Squid has provided the best topwater hook-up ratio followed closely by a gurgler.
Just my thoughts, but I think the stationary hook on both of the above patterns give you a better hook-up ratio then topwater patterns tied with a stinger.
SF
jeradjames
Steelhead
Have you guys found your stripping pattern to make a difference on hook ups? I now do a quick two handed hand over hand retrieve and found it's a lot more effective versus stripping the line in with just one hand. When I was using one hand I found after I felt a bite my natural reaction was to slow/pause my retrieve and the hand over hand has eliminated that reflex.
flybill
Life of the Party
Yes on stripping.. I've tried to mimick Leland with his popper and still struggle.. it's always fun though to be on the beach and give it a go. Might head out on Monday..
David
Smolt
Yessir, the famed beach popper.
roger stephens
Steelhead
Thanks for the compliment! In the past I have had a 40 to 60% hookup ratio if a sea run cutthroat attempt to strike this pattern. I have landed many fish in the 20 inch range. I fish top water patterns over 90% of the time and it is my go to top water pattern. In the near future I will post a picture and tying instruction for this tube fly pattern.
I have also had excellent success with two other tube top water patterns(sandlance and pile worm). The hookup ratio for the sandlance and pile worm patterns have varied from 25 to 35%. The largest sea-run cutthroat which I have landed was on the top water sandlance pattern and measure 23 1/2 inch. The strike was a classic toilet flush That I can still vividly remember ever though it was over 10 years ago. The initial time that I used the top water pile worm the first three casts I landed three 16 to 17 inch sea-run cutthroat. It is large pattern and catches large sea-run since it to much of a mouthful for smaller fish.
IMHO almost any effective subsurface pattern can be tied as a top tube pattern with a foam head and should work reasonably well.
Roger
Good to hear from you Roger it’s been awhile since you’ve posted. Hope your doing well.
Roger,
Good to hear from you. I’m looking forward to you posting your tying instructions tutorial and pictures to see if you’ve changed anything on how you tie your patterns.
I still use the flies and instructions you were kind enough to send me as models for tying your patterns.
As mentioned, great to see you around, hope all is well and you are getting out on the water.
SF
Had the itch so I went out for an hour and a half before work. No cutthroats but one little coho and I believe a little blackmouth. (Hope he puts a few pounds on this winter!)
View attachment 85904View attachment 85905View attachment 85906
Spot the pink buzz bomb
Finding buzz bombs these days is like finding $5 bills on the beach.
SF
That's the smallest shaker King I've ever seen, does anyone know how big yearling/stream type Chinook are when they down migrate to the sound? I ask because I know a lot of the subyearling/ocean type fish will mill about in estuaries before migrating further. (My local beach is a great place to observe that).
Really pretty fish, hope to see him in my cooler in 3-4 years. Gorgeous coho too
Really pretty fish, hope to see him in my cooler in 3-4 years. Gorgeous coho too
Considering that they are being sold for more than $5 nowadays, it's a good way to stock up.Finding buzz bombs these days is like finding $5 bills on the beach.
SF
DimeBrite
Saltwater fly fisherman
Umm... please interpret this as a well intentioned suggestion. Posting pictures and descriptions of juvenile chinook encounters should be avoided. If you catch undersized blackmouth, move to a different spot and don't put it out into the public. Our fishing seasons have been diminished in order to protect juvenile chinook.
