I know I posted it in a different thread a while ago, but holy heck this fly produces Skagit coho:
Freshwater coho flies
- Thread starter Matt B
- Start date
Nice, big, just starting to color up buck this morning, fresh up with the rain we got last night. Must have been one of the many I've heard have been hanging out in the bays waiting for rain. Had a couple other bites that didn't stick. Went a bit upstream hoping to intercept more freshies and found exactly what I expected... CHUMS. They're in on the coast. Never fails with the first decent rain after October 15.
I'll begin with my customary caveat.....silvers confound me. Whenever I start to feel confident, they change the rules...the basturds. 
So I end up reviewing each season with the hopes that something useful will stick in my melon.
This year (so far) my focus has been trying different things....height in water column, fly size, sparseness, color, retrieve rate....pretty much everything to hopefully find something that works.
Prior to this morning, I've gotten one solid grab in about 9 or 10 hours of river time....and in the process re-learned the important lesson to take the time to make sure one's hook is sharp.
Today the high tide was an hour after sunrise so I hit the lower river and started the flogging. I began with a big red & black silhouette and fished it low until full light. Nuthin. I switched to a floater with a long leader and worked my way thru various comets, some flashy stuff, some not so flashy stuff, and a handful of CA Neils...varying the retrieve rate and all that stuff.....still nuthin'.
So then, I remembered Smalma's fave, the burnt orange reverse spider. I went with a 6ips tip and a double arms length leader....and I'll be damned. I promptly lost one on the smaller spider and within the hour netted another on the other one.
so now I have a starting point for the 2026 season...thanks Smalma and everyone else who shared info
So I end up reviewing each season with the hopes that something useful will stick in my melon.This year (so far) my focus has been trying different things....height in water column, fly size, sparseness, color, retrieve rate....pretty much everything to hopefully find something that works.
Prior to this morning, I've gotten one solid grab in about 9 or 10 hours of river time....and in the process re-learned the important lesson to take the time to make sure one's hook is sharp.
Today the high tide was an hour after sunrise so I hit the lower river and started the flogging. I began with a big red & black silhouette and fished it low until full light. Nuthin. I switched to a floater with a long leader and worked my way thru various comets, some flashy stuff, some not so flashy stuff, and a handful of CA Neils...varying the retrieve rate and all that stuff.....still nuthin'.
So then, I remembered Smalma's fave, the burnt orange reverse spider. I went with a 6ips tip and a double arms length leader....and I'll be damned. I promptly lost one on the smaller spider and within the hour netted another on the other one.
so now I have a starting point for the 2026 season...thanks Smalma and everyone else who shared info