Puget Sound

[JayB]

Personally I bucktail anywhere from 4 mph to 7 mph and 20ft to 40ft back from the boat. I use an 8wt, sinking line and shortish (4-6ft) leader. Days when the sun is not on a calm water (foggy, early, late, cloudy, nice coho chop wind/wave coditions) seem to work best. I look for birds, edges of surface bait, foam wakes of larger boats/ships, tidal/weed lines. If I can, I hold the rod on my hand with the tip pointing to the water, every so often I either lift the tip up or strip a bit to sort of hop/skip the fly a bit. If busy with something else it goes on a rod holder pointing straight back and I try to make some U, S turns to keep it interesting. I use large flies that won't spin at speed, so not clousers for me, either traditional bucktails or the conehead fly of the earlier post. Whatever I use, it has to work for casting too in case I found some good action to quickly transition to casting instead of bucktailing without changing gear. Some useful links below. Hope it helps!

R

Post in thread 'Bucktailing'

Jul 25, 2023

For awhile now I’ve been wanting to bring a fly rod along on our boat. The issue is we have a sailboat and casting would be flirting with disaster so we’ve always used trolling gear and deep sixes. I’m wondering about bucktailing in our wash while we are trolling under way to get my fix. I’ve tied up a couple Tofino Special type flies for coho and humpys. Should I be using a floating line or one of my sinking beach lines for this? Am I OK with a six weight as long as I’m trolling a little slow?

Bucktailing:

As Nick noted, folks I know who have tried bucktailing in Puget Sound...

• Richard E

• 

Bucktailing For Coho—A Vancouver Island Tradition - Island Fisherman Magazine

Bucktailing was invented and developed in the Georgia Strait. How to catch coho salmon on a bucktail: techniques, gear, and history.

islandfishermanmagazine.com

Easily the most helpful bit of intel I've come across regarding this technique, and very much appreciated. Definitely a technique that I need to incorporate when I'm out there puttering around looking for the usual indicators or puttering back to the ramp.

 

[JayB]

When do most folks throw in the towel when it comes to pursuing coho in the salt in MA10-13? All the way to the buzzer?

 

[Sam Roffe]

When do most folks throw in the towel when it comes to pursuing coho in the salt in MA10-13? All the way to the buzzer?

I’m in the same boat. But this week has been hectic so I haven’t been out, recently, and then I will be out of town for the next 10 days. We’ll see how I feel when I get back.

However, you never know what you may get when you go out. I was blessed with one of the biggest cutthroat I’ve gotten on an evening when I stacked another zero for salmon. I’m just not seeing them in my area, and I’ve been too lazy to venture into more productive waters. That’s on me. So maybe I shouldn’t complain.

 

[Bambooflyguy]

Not giving you a “like” for no salmon Sam….but for a big SRC!!

 

[Sam Roffe]

Not giving you a “like” for no salmon Sam….but for a big SRC!!

You're too kind.

 

[Paige]

There is still coho out in Neah and Sekui heading in, I have caught fresh coho in January in PS rivers, it aint over!

 

[JayB]

Music to my ears. It's been a mighty busy year with very little fishing, but things are looking up from now through the end of the year so that's great incentive to keep trying to sneak out when I've got a time-window right up until the closing bell.

 

[Stonedfish]

When MA 9 was open in October, catching a Halloween coho was a lot of fun.
Weather, especially wind will be a real factor on when and where you’ll be able to fish from 10 south.
SF

 

[KFCDAVE]

1/1 this morning, a little too small for me so it went back to swim another day. One more day of MA9 left

 

[Wadin' Boot]

One searun,
One almost silver
One can of King Oscars
One slice of cheddar
Two pieces of bread

the almost silver unbuttoned just when a sealion made himself known.

 

[albula]

Though a bit more pricey the Patagonia Lemon/Caper tinned mackerel is pretty tough to beat. As are the Coconut/Curry sardines.

 

[speedbird]

Happy last day of area 9 folks! Disappointed in myself for not being able to target coho on the fly this year, planned to hit the beach everyday after coming home but life problems got in the way. I’ll still be at it in the salt first week of October, will have to fish the rips in the area 10 spots I’m familiar with and see if i can tempt one from the boat

 

[JayB]

When MA 9 was open in October, catching a Halloween coho was a lot of fun.
Weather, especially wind will be a real factor on when and where you’ll be able to fish from 10 south.
SF

Anyone remember the rationale for closing 9 at the end of September?

 

[Stonedfish]

Anyone remember the rationale for closing 9 at the end of September?

I think most of it had to do with Snohomish wild coho numbers.
SF

 

[SteelHeadDave]

Happy last day of area 9 folks! Disappointed in myself for not being able to target coho on the fly this year, planned to hit the beach everyday after coming home but life problems got in the way. I’ll still be at it in the salt first week of October, will have to fish the rips in the area 10 spots I’m familiar with and see if i can tempt one from the boat

MA10 has some beaches where you can get them on the fly. It’s not too late.

 

[the_chemist]

I think most of it had to do with Snohomish wild coho numbers.
SF

Which is funny since you can bonk wild fish on the snoho.

 

[Stonedfish]

Which is funny since you can bonk wild fish on the snoho.

You could also do the same in MA 8-2, though they stopped that via an emergency regulation. The last week in MA 9 also allowed unclipped retention.
I think they allow it if the wild forecasts hit a certain number. Above 50K if I recall correctly.
SF

 

[Semper_Fly]

Tried my luck for Coho in MA9 yesterday before it closed for the season. Hit one beach right before low tide and fished for about 2 hours. Only a few hits so I decided to close it up and focus on SRCs for the rest of the morning. Was a bitter sweet goodbye as I had landed a few Coho earlier in season, all wilds, but yesterday wasn't the day.

Beach two was quiet with people. Hit the water right in the middle of the incoming tide. It only took about 1/2 hour before the party started. All super clean, nothing under 12" with the biggest being around 16" or so. All fought hard and took a white over olive clouser. I fished for about an hour before I forced myself to call it and head back home (family time).

Because of the quality and size of the fish I lost count of how many got to the net. My guess is over a dozen but I'm just gonna call it ten. At the end of the day it doesn't matter. Mental bucket filled. Ready for more Fall days.

 

[speedbird]

Planned to fill my friends limit on the rigger this evening then spend the rest of the daylight throwing flies off the boat, but the fish didn’t cooperate. Only coho was a 12 inch resi that didn’t live to tell the tail, but the blackmouth numbers and quality were phenomenal. Hooked another fish like this one, and two sublegal sized that fought like a much bigger fish

 

[jasmillo]

Final MA 9 weekend wrap up.

Summary, tough beach season. My landed adult coho numbers dropped almost 2/3rds from 2023 when I landed 116 adult coho. There were reasons; my hooked/land percentage dropped by 10% and I spent 9-10 of my fishing days targeting salmon on gear to learn some new techniques. Mainly for kings. Still though, I big drop so not a banner year.

The positives, I caught coho using 4 different techniques! Fly, jigs, trolling with a diver and herring from the beach. That was cool. Last year every one of my fish, coho, pinks and kings were on a fly so expanding the techniques in my repertoire to target these fish, especially kings. Some on this site may see this as a regression but for an east coast kid who only started targeting salmon 8 or so years ago, I saw it as a learning opportunity . I can catch coho on a fly. Until this year, I had only caught coho on a fly. I never learned other techniques those who have been here awhile know (next year, mooching !). In the end, I wanted to learn techniques I could use in the future, especially when casting a 7 weight into the wind 8 hours a day becomes uncomfortable. I love nothing more than catching fish on a fly but I am a fisherman first and foremost. If it ever comes to a point where I cannot fish as much as I do now with a fly rod, I want to be ready to use other techniques. Hopefully that is not a reality until decades from now (late forties). Some of you old timers give me hope!

Now that I’ve justified my dirt bagginess… last weekend MA 9 wrap-up.

Friday Afternoon 0-1 (fly)
Saturday 3-7 (herring), 0-1 fly
Sunday 1-3 (fly)
Monday Night 0-1 (fly)

The 3 fish myself and my herring “mentor” kept Saturday. Three size classes. Smallest was probably 3.5 lbs and largest was close to 6 I’d guess. Interesting stomach contents in the bigger fish. A 5+ inch salmon smolt with the tail cleanly bitten off.





Last MA 9 fly caught coho of 2024. Not a monster but a keeper.



I’ll still fish 10 a bit the next couple of weeks. Especially from the boat. Already looking forward to 2025, though the body is looking forward to some nice, relaxing SRC fishing. With maybe a mean chum or two thrown in .