Fly Fishing Rivers (In Tidewater For Salmon)

T

travrase42

Freshly Spawned
Hey looking for any tips / help on this topic.
I have had some success fly fishing / bucktailing for coho in the ocean. When moving to rivers, the Siuslaw has been my primary testing ground, I have had no success. I have mostly tried trolling / bucktailing for Coho in the Siuslaw. I have been out on several days where coho were jumping everywhere but never had any action on the fly. I am wondering if anyone has tried this tactic outside of the ocean with any success and if not if anyone has suggestions for fly fishing a bigger river like this, in the tide water, for coho or chinook. Thanks so much.
 
Bucktailing is a tactic for actively feeding coho, which you won't find beyond the estuary. Once there, they are in a very different mode, and you need a very different approach to get their attention.
 
@Evan B what would you recommend to get their attention on a fly once in the river? It seems like above the tidewater you can swing flies, but the mystery to me is in this middle zone. Appreciate the insight.
 
travrase42 said:
@Evan B what would you recommend to get their attention on a fly once in the river? It seems like above the tidewater you can swing flies, but the mystery to me is in this middle zone. Appreciate the insight.
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You're talking to a guy who almost exclusively fishes gear for salmon because of how unresponsive they tend to get once past the estuary environment. I'm not the best person to seek advice from :ROFLMAO:
 
So I do a LOT of gear fishing for coho and chinook. Both trolling and casting hardware. I do fish for them on a fly when they're feeding in the saltwater, but that's not applicable here.

A few things I can help you with:

Comfortable fish that are in the froggy water tend to be very tight-lipped. They're comfortable. They have no reason to attack a fly just passing through. You need something to agitate them. If you choose to do that via your presentation, I'd try some fly rattles or something that really makes a racket. These are fish I typically cast Brad's Wiggler plugs to as it is loud, obnoxious, and riles them up. - these are the type of fish that Jim Teeny was famous for agitating by throwing rocks in the water.

Traveling fish tend to be a numbers game. Get something near enough fish's faces and they'll attack it like a cat attacks a feather toy. But you have to get it down and in their face.
 
Coho are a tough quarry in tidewater. During the same years a couple hundred King's made it into my net in tidewater, only hooked a dozen or so coho. They do like pink and orange, and they do like it stripped fast, as in really fast. Fly I had the most luck with was a size 4 Ally's Shrimp on a floating line stripped with the rod between my knees, hand over hand. Retired guide Rich Younger, who turned me into the Ally's Shrimp, liked Pink Pollwog's ripped across the surface as well.
King's are easier...best fishing is on incoming tide, and hard to go wrong swinging #2 Clousers and Orange and Black Comets, aka "The Ramone Salmon Killer." No need to dredge bottom, the biters are up and moving, an intermediate or type 3 head works well in tidewater. The Jack Harrell that Jay is discussing here was my sensei for learning the game.
 
Evan B said:
So I do a LOT of gear fishing for coho and chinook. Both trolling and casting hardware. I do fish for them on a fly when they're feeding in the saltwater, but that's not applicable here.

A few things I can help you with:

Comfortable fish that are in the froggy water tend to be very tight-lipped. They're comfortable. They have no reason to attack a fly just passing through. You need something to agitate them. If you choose to do that via your presentation, I'd try some fly rattles or something that really makes a racket. These are fish I typically cast Brad's Wiggler plugs to as it is loud, obnoxious, and riles them up. - these are the type of fish that Jim Teeny was famous for agitating by throwing rocks in the water.

Traveling fish tend to be a numbers game. Get something near enough fish's faces and they'll attack it like a cat attacks a feather toy. But you have to get it down and in their face.
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Thats good advice. Im looking for cat attacking feather toy type action. Louder more offensive flies. I also wonder if just getting deeper as opposed to fishing the surface could help with getting things in front of their face a bit more.
 
travrase42 said:
Thats good advice. Im looking for cat attacking feather toy type action. Louder more offensive flies. I also wonder if just getting deeper as opposed to fishing the surface could help with getting things in front of their face a bit more.
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Getting deeper is probably the most important thing in the long list of priorities you'll have here. Even if you're seeing them come up and roll on the surface, you are very unlikely to get bit anywhere but near the bottom.
 
SurfnFish said:
Coho are a tough quarry in tidewater. During the same years a couple hundred King's made it into my net in tidewater, only hooked a dozen or so coho. They do like pink and orange, and they do like it stripped fast, as in really fast. Fly I had the most luck with was a size 4 Ally's Shrimp on a floating line stripped with the rod between my knees, hand over hand. Retired guide Rich Younger, who turned me into the Ally's Shrimp, liked Pink Pollwog's ripped across the surface as well.
King's are easier...best fishing is on incoming tide, and hard to go wrong swinging #2 Clousers and Orange and Black Comets, aka "The Ramone Salmon Killer." No need to dredge bottom, the biters are up and moving, an intermediate or type 3 head works well in tidewater. The Jack Harrell that Jay is discussing here was my sensei for learning the game.
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Okay so it can be done!! Targeting Chinook makes sense. What type of water are you typically fishing? Do you need to look for anything in particular or your just catching them as they cruise up the main channels? Thanks for the help.
 
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travrase42 said:
Hey looking for any tips / help on this topic.
I have had some success fly fishing / bucktailing for coho in the ocean. When moving to rivers, the Siuslaw has been my primary testing ground, I have had no success. I have mostly tried trolling / bucktailing for Coho in the Siuslaw. I have been out on several days where coho were jumping everywhere but never had any action on the fly. I am wondering if anyone has tried this tactic outside of the ocean with any success and if not if anyone has suggestions for fly fishing a bigger river like this, in the tide water, for coho or chinook. Thanks so much.
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There's some great information being shared and this is a subject that I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about. I believe that coho that just arrived in tidewater are far more likely to bite than fish that have staged for several days or weeks. I try to fish as close to the mouth of a bay or estuary as possible, hoping to intercept new arrivals and have had some good days doing this. I've caught them on Ramone's Salmon Killer (SurfnFish's post) but my favorite coho fly is a sparsely tied white over pink clouser a la Jack Harrell. Good luck and let us know how you do!
 
I find my success with coho is directly related to how sharp my hooks are. If you find them in numbers and unmolested (the biggest challenge imo) then they will chase a lot. Rare is the coho that bites hard in the river though, and sharp hooks turn curiosity into hookups.
 
I would go with something in the 3 in. range or smaller in orange, pink or the ungodly super flashy silver down low. Up around Mapleton you could go smaller-1 in.- 2 1/2 in. Make sure to but some UV flash in your flies as these fish are highly receptive to it. If fish are showing themselves cast to them do a count down and strip back ultra- fast and if no fish are showing (doesn't mean they're not there) cast to structure along the bank/under the brush and limbs-think in terms of bass fishing. Like everyone says "they're like a cat and love to ambush their prey and they love the chase. If you want to troll, try using the wigglefin Action Disc with a flashy silver UV makeup/with a purple back (our version of a brad's wiggler plug) or close to a color that the gear guys are using. A couple of good books -The 2023 Steelhead and Salmon Flies of Jeff Hunter Elmira, Oregon by Jay W. Nicholas and Jeff Hunter and the 2nd. book The Honest Flies of Stan Davis Port Orford, Oregon by Jay W. Nicholas and Stan Davis.
 
The biggest problem people seem to have with coho in tidewater is that they can’t tell what a take feels like. If you can find a spot where you can see the fish and see your fly, you will realize that you get lots of follows and takes, and hardly feel any of them. Maybe 1/20 feels like a hard hit. I think this is because the fish are going faster than the fly when they take it and they keep moving at that speed, so the only indication that you get is a very slight reduction in resistance as you strip in. If you can learn to strip strike at that (and, as said above, your hooks are really, really sharp) you will catch coho. If not, you won’t.

If you fish with a spinner it’s a bit easier to detect, because when the fish takes it stops the blade spinning which greatly reduces the resistance. Having said that, most people seem incapable on setting the hook on a negative cue like that.
 
Chucker said:
The biggest problem people seem to have with coho in tidewater is that they can’t tell what a take feels like. If you can find a spot where you can see the fish and see your fly, you will realize that you get lots of follows and takes, and hardly feel any of them. Maybe 1/20 feels like a hard hit. I think this is because the fish are going faster than the fly when they take it and they keep moving at that speed, so the only indication that you get is a very slight reduction in resistance as you strip in. If you can learn to strip strike at that (and, as said above, your hooks are really, really sharp) you will catch coho. If not, you won’t.

If you fish with a spinner it’s a bit easier to detect, because when the fish takes it stops the blade spinning which greatly reduces the resistance. Having said that, most people seem incapable on setting the hook on a negative cue like that.
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That... is really fucking good advice and I'm currently realizing how many coho I've missed. I definitely don't set the hook when the feeling changes subtly and I absolutely should be
 
Weirdly, this came up on my YouTube feed today - or maybe not weird, because they are always watching. Anyway, this is the best video I have ever seen of coho doing their thing. I guess he has a camera attached to his line to get these shots.

 
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