Local Saltwater Essentials
- Thread starter Stonedfish
- Start date
For cooler/wetter weather I like to wear disposable nitrile gloves under fingerless ragwool gloves. Extends the amount of time I can feel my fingers 2-3x.
There is really nothing, food wise, that swims perfectly straight and even in Puget Sound. Dont get in the habit of what I call "robo stripping". Think about what your fly is doing, give that thing some action. Vary the speed, and make it erratic. And for the love of God don't be afraid to move it! When in doubt, strip faster. You might be surprised at the results.
ARecher
Smolt
Fishing gear, rotators/buzzbombs w/ sm. hoochies or even herring for that matter, if I get a hit and miss it, sometimes I'll just stop reeling and give it short twitches--kind like it just got wounded or something. They usually try again. Or maybe it's another one, who knows, but it seems to work!
Ahhhhh yes, the coho stop!
So anyone who has fished coho much, both smaller winter rezzies, larger summer rezzies, or returning ocean fish will notice how often coho will follow a fly right to the rod tip.
Something that has worked very well for me is stripping the fly right up to close to fly line/leader junction, then simply stopping the fly and hanging it in the current. When I do this I keep my line hand up near the first stripping guide on my rod, and I watch the fly. For some reason that fly just suddenly stopping and hanging in the current is too much for them to resist as their momentum takes them into the fly, and they will open their mouth and grab it. Since my line hand is near the first guide I'm in prime position to strip set. This technique has resulted in a ton of solid hookups for me off the beach. It also works well out of the boat. In the boat you can often see much better and really see those followers. Prey that suddenly stops is often just too much for them to resist.
@Stonedfish also uses a sweep that can be extremely productive as well.
In 2019 I took out a husband and wife from North Carolina on a North sound pink Salmon trip. They had no salmon experience, but were die hard bass anglers back home. They also were not fly fishers so I had them set up with light spinning rods and the smallest Buzz Bombs I could find.
What those two did to the pink Salmon that day was simply not fair. They could twitch and pause those little buzz bombs like I'd never seen. No doubt stemming from their bass experience (all day they talked about how often they twitched jigs for bass back home). I actually counted fish caught that day, starting mid morning anyway, and they were well into the triple digits.
Their subtle twitches and pauses were like black magic. The pinks just couldn't resist. We were fishing near a very popular beach fishing location, and there were a good number of boats in the area as well, and everyone who wasn't fly fishing was fishing Buzz Bombs that I could tell. Everyone was catching some fish, but those two put on a clinic the likes of which I can hardly describe, and it was all about those subtle twitches and pauses. A really nice chinook also fell victim to their technique, although we lost that fish near the boat when the guy ended up tip wrapped.
I'll never forget that day. I doubt the pinks will either.