Puget Sound

Fished a beach this morning that I’ve been to before, but never fished it for SRC. I’ll call it FM beach.
Only one to hand but had four other opportunities. Poor thing had a bad case of parasites.
SF

IMG_4469.jpegIMG_4472.jpeg
 
Stonedfish said:
Chum and humpies in rivers or creeks always bring out some interesting characters.
SF

View attachment 171271
Click to expand...
So unfortunate, but so true. I don't know how many 60+ folks I've met on rivers that have "fished" for salmon all their lives yet still get excited about a salmon that "might be in front of the gill plate!" and don't always care whether it is or not when they land it.

For sure, before I learned to find fish that aren't utterly terrified by "anglers" who figure any angle that results in some part of the fish getting hooked is the right one, I sometimes resigned myself to the idea that salmon in rivers bite poorly and got frustrated, but if you can avoid those situations and treat them with even the slightest modicum of respect, I've learned that salmon in rivers are ultimately still fish, which means a lot of them will bite a decent presentation of bait, hardware, fur and feathers, or probably even a cigarette butt. Like people, if you treat 'em right, they generally respond in kind. Of course, back to the "being fish" thing, there are days when you're going to be hard-pressed to find a biter, but the whole experience is so much more rewarding when you treat them like fish....
 
Stonedfish said:
Fished a beach this morning that I’ve been to before, but never fished it for SRC. I’ll call it FM beach.
Only one to hand but had four other opportunities. Poor thing had a bad case of parasites.
SF

View attachment 172130View attachment 172131
Click to expand...
Most of the cutts I catch in the deep South Sound have lots of sea lice on them these days. I very rarely saw any prior to about 10 years ago. Doesn't seem to be hurting them much, but maybe it's one of the reasons I don't catch as many as I used to in my favorite spots. Makes one wonder if the net pens growing resident coho (or something completely different) might be bolstering the sea lice population and in turn reducing the resident cutthroat numbers....
 
Shad said:
Most of the cutts I catch in the deep South Sound have lots of sea lice on them these days. I very rarely saw any prior to about 10 years ago. Doesn't seem to be hurting them much, but maybe it's one of the reasons I don't catch as many as I used to in my favorite spots. Makes one wonder if the net pens growing resident coho (or something completely different) might be bolstering the sea lice population and in turn reducing the resident cutthroat numbers....
Click to expand...

That would be an excellent question for the Coastal Cutthroat Coalition if you are so inclined. I’ve found them to be extremely helpful when I’ve reached out to them in the past with questions.
SF
 
Stonedfish said:
That would be an excellent question for the Coastal Cutthroat Coalition if you are so inclined. I’ve found them to be extremely helpful when I’ve reached out to them in the past with questions.
SF
Click to expand...
I suspect the fact there are at least 3x as many anglers fishing in my favorite spots might also be making them "tougher." I liked it a lot better when I could take any woolly bugger-esque or candlefishy thing out and reasonably expect to land a half dozen and lose several more, but those days are more or less over. I need a boat... but then, the last thing I need is a boat LOL.

At least you seem to be finding them (to include some great quality!). Makes for some solid vicarious living in this shitty weather.
 
Stonedfish said:
Fished a beach this morning that I’ve been to before, but never fished it for SRC. I’ll call it FM beach.
Only one to hand but had four other opportunities. Poor thing had a bad case of parasites.
SF

View attachment 172130View attachment 172131
Click to expand...
Never fished for SRC in the salt, only in coastal streams down here in Oregon but I have yet to catch one with parasites like this. Do they shed these as they enter the freshwater? Or maybe those with bad cases don’t survive to return to the streams? Interesting.
 
Wasatchangler said:
Never fished for SRC in the salt, only in coastal streams down here in Oregon but I have yet to catch one with parasites like this. Do they shed these as they enter the freshwater? Or maybe those with bad cases don’t survive to return to the streams? Interesting.
Click to expand...

It’s my understanding they shed them once they enter freshwater in the spring to spawn. If I’m incorrect on that, hopefully someone will chime in on it.
What I find interesting is you can catch one with quite a few parasites on it and the next one you catch won’t have any.
SF
 
Made the trek to the canal today! Got talked into spending the bulk of the time at a non canal popular chum spot. Unfortunately the fishing was really slow compared to last week. As the run started to build up some gear fishermen showed up and waded out too far spooking them. Did a combination day and looked for sea runs at two canal beaches. The second I only had 20 minutes or so to fish, and while I found some nice bait bubbling could not find any SRC anywhere.

IMG_9496.jpeg

IMG_9510.jpeg

IMG_9505.jpeg

IMG_9519.jpeg
 
Kfish said:
Chum fishing was much slower than last weekend, all that rain had likely pushed the bulk of them upriver.
We had to run around to couple of different places to find a good amount to cast at. @jasmillo had more hook ups than me but we landed at least one each.

View attachment 172179
Click to expand...
Knowing what numbers you guys Usually pull 1 each seems pretty dang slow. Next week might be a cutthroat program for me
 
There were definitely fish around but chum is a numbers game. A 30 fish pod might have 15 biters or 1. Today it was closer to 1 :). The more pods the more biters, and with not as many in the usual spots, it resulted in a slow day. We both hooked a decent number but only landed a small amount. They seemed to be on small stuff today. Size 2 and 4 SC 15 small, so a bunch came unbuttoned. Fine by me. The fight is the fun part and I am 100% fine if they come unbuttoned without me having to touch or net them!

I’ll probably won’t fish tomorrow so I can spend the day with my wife, but have Monday and Tuesday off. Thinking one day a dedicated SRC day and one a combo SRC/chum day. Not quite over but the writing is on the wall. I always appreciate these guys though. They are big, abundant, eat flies and put up one hell of a fight. Don’t care if I don’t want to eat them. I fish for a lot of stuff I don’t want to eat and none of those species put up anything close to the fight Mr. Chum does.

IMG_1864.jpeg

IMG_1865.jpeg
 
jasmillo said:
There were definitely fish around but chum is a numbers game. A 30 fish pod might have 15 biters or 1. Today it was closer to 1 :). The more pods the more biters, and with not as many in the usual spots, it resulted in a slow day. We both hooked a decent number but only landed a small amount. They seemed to be on small stuff today. Size 2 and 4 SC 15 small, so a bunch came unbuttoned. Fine by me. The fight is the fun part and I am 100% fine if they come unbuttoned without me having to touch or net them!

I’ll probably won’t fish tomorrow so I can spend the day with my wife, but have Monday and Tuesday off. Thinking one day a dedicated SRC day and one a combo SRC/chum day. Not quite over but the writing is on the wall. I always appreciate these guys though. They are big, abundant, eat flies and put up one hell of a fight. Don’t care if I don’t want to eat them. I fish for a lot of stuff I don’t want to eat and none of those species put up anything close to the fight Mr. Chum does.

View attachment 172188

View attachment 172187
Click to expand...
I've been spending a fair amount of time on a Grays Harbor trib recently, and while the coho fishing was decent early, 4 out of 5 fish hooked since mid-October have been chum. Feels like you're snagged on something until they figure out they're hooked, and then they pull like hell. They used to annoy me while trying to catch coho, but these days, I'll take a hookup, no matter what's on the other end. I will say I always know when I've hooked a coho this time of year, because they are absolute sissies compared to the chum. Of course, I still prefer hooking coho, but some days, a bite is a bite.

Only problem I have with chums anymore is that they don't move out of the way of lures they don't want, and that leads to a fair number of foul hookups when they are present in numbers. Biters are fun, but the ones who refuse to get out of the way of stuff they don't want end up snagged all too often, which is no fun at all and is hell on your gear.
 
Shad said:
I've been spending a fair amount of time on a Grays Harbor trib recently, and while the coho fishing was decent early, 4 out of 5 fish hooked since mid-October have been chum. Feels like you're snagged on something until they figure out they're hooked, and then they pull like hell. They used to annoy me while trying to catch coho, but these days, I'll take a hookup, no matter what's on the other end. I will say I always know when I've hooked a coho this time of year, because they are absolute sissies compared to the chum. Of course, I still prefer hooking coho, but some days, a bite is a bite.

Only problem I have with chums anymore is that they don't move out of the way of lures they don't want, and that leads to a fair number of foul hookups when they are present in numbers. Biters are fun, but the ones who refuse to get out of the way of stuff they don't want end up snagged all too often, which is no fun at all and is hell on your gear.
Click to expand...

Foul hooked chum are no fun at all. It’s like a different fish when you hook them fairly. Hooked fairly, they often won’t even make it to the reel. They dog the crap out of you but easily handled by a 7 weight. Foul hooked and they’ll often get in you backing in seconds. Such a PIA. No good for gear or thumbs! From last weekend. Landed a fish that got in the reel, loosened the drag to let line to cast and forgot to tighten again. Next cast, foul hooked chum that took off for the pacific and knobbed me :).

IMG_1866.jpeg

I do have a new release technique I’ve deployed for foul hooked fish this year though. Pull them close with your tip pointed directly at them. When they get close slide the rod tip down to the fly, give it a quick pop and 95% of the time the hooks pop right out. Now, I’m using. GLoomis IMX Pro which a beast of a fly rod durability wise. Great chum tool! I also have a spare tip as well…..not something I’d do with many other rods I own.
 
Kfish said:
Chum fishing was much slower than last weekend, all that rain had likely pushed the bulk of them upriver.
We had to run around to couple of different places to find a good amount to cast at. @jasmillo had more hook ups than me, we landed at least one each.

View attachment 172179
Click to expand...
The buck said: "Come on, Flyologist, stick your fingers in my mouth to get your fly, I Triple Dog dare you!"

Great picture!!
 
jasmillo said:
I do have a new release technique I’ve deployed for foul hooked fish this year though. Pull them close with your tip pointed directly at them. When they get close slide the rod tip down to the fly, give it a quick pop and 95% of the time the hooks pop right out. Now, I’m using. GLoomis IMX Pro which a beast of a fly rod durability wise. Great chum tool! I also have a spare tip as well…..not something I’d do with many other rods I own.
Click to expand...
Someone showed me that trick at Chico many years ago and it does work!

I related it in a thread last year here and everyone said I was crazy and that the fish would bite the rod tip off. But that’s never happened.
 
Buzzy said:
The buck said: "Come on, Flyologist, stick your fingers in my mouth to get your fly, I Triple Dog dare you!"

Great picture!!
Click to expand...

Here's a stupid question: How hard will a chum bite if they do manage to get a hold of your finger? Minor annoyancewith a little blood, or someting uglier?
 
Merle said:
Someone showed me that trick at Chico many years ago and it does work!

I related it in a thread last year here and everyone said I was crazy and that the fish would bite the rod tip off. But that’s never happened.
Click to expand...
Sure seems like a way to snap a tip but I will defer to you guys that successfully do it! (I've been know to snap a fly rod tip with a conehead fly.)
 
Yeah...
Not something I'd do
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top