Staging chum

[speedbird]

A fish I am very looking forward to hooking on the fly are staging chum. I know one estuary where I can get out and find them at low tide but it is very well known and I anticipate crowding issues. I've done some research on the fishery and learned that it is best approached at low tide, as fish tend to push into the creeks at high tide, between the last week of October until the first big rains of November. Small sparse patterns in green, chartreuse and purple. I've seen conflicting information as whether to attack the fishery with sink tip/sinking polyleader lines, or intermediates. Most importantly, I am told to never cast into the schools, and always around them.

The two things I am struggling with are run timing and choosing good estuaries to fish. Just like we pick coho beaches by looking for beaches in migration paths, beaches with cobblestone, and points that jut out into the sound, what features do we look for in picking chum beaches? There have been far too many times I have been out to an estuary, and either found spawned out chum corpses littering the streambanks, or no fish to speak of at all

 

[jasmillo]

I prefer incoming in most places I fish. In the end….and wait for it because it’s a shocker, I catch the most chum when there are a ton of them around. More fish equals more opportunity to come across an aggressive biter. There are times when chum turn on for some reason and fishing can be amazing. I have not found that to be super common though and I have no idea what causes it. I prefer to fish intermediate lines or floaters with unweighted, fluttery, pink flies. All the colors you listed will work well though. If you fish them in crowded places, don’t feel bad if you are hooking 1 fish for every 10 hooked by others. They are likely snagging. Fishing crowded spots can be rough. Pods get surrounded by the snaggers (fly and conventional) freaking them out and scattering them. It can be aggravating to watch. If you find yourself at one of those places, try and intercept them before they get close to creek mouths where most guys congregate.

In the end, it’s always fun to catch double digit fish that pull hard on a fly rod so close to home. It can be frustrating fishing for a number of reasons though, mainly the behavior of others fishing them. I’ll still do it but not sure for how long, especially at popular spots.