Navigator
10-22-2006, 09:58 PM
Been forever since I have posted a report. Been spending my time on the dark side as a gearhead. Saw the posts on the Coho challenge and decided it was time to see if I was worth my own salt and see if I could challenge the challenge. (I'm not).
Arrived at 6:45 am - car number 52 in the lot :hoboy:. A bit of a East wind blowing - but waning. Despite the numbers, I found good water and swung a few flies through a nice looking drift. Tried a Skykomish Sunrise, then a pink/blue bunny leech, then a bullet red/black bunny leach. Nothing. Switched to a larger glo- bug - still nothing. The river was just over 8', running fairly clear (some color, but a good 3 to 4 feet visibility). Some gearheads below me were dialing in on drift fishing corkies and fishing eggs under a bobber. So, I downsized the glo-bug to about the size of my pinky fingernail (a large pea) - sticking to orange. Got trouted by a rainbow of about 10". Okay, that is a start. Dead drift presentation. Still nothing. Finally, a spot opened up on a nice run where fish were being stuck - a few casts later, I get bit but miss a good hookset and the fish came to a boil, gave me a good head shake and was gone :( . Yes, I was caught napping. I started to pound that run and a few minutes later - fish on! This was a nice fish - bright. It actually looked like a big steelhead - white, bright belly with pink sides - but likely a Coho. Everything was under control - and I was starting to back up to beach it and the hook pulls and twang -goes over the top of my head. :sick: I hate that. If it was a Coho, it was 10lbs or bigger - would have been my first on a fly and probably my biggest, period.
Needless to say, that was the last fish to stick. I must have seen over 20 fish hooked and landed today - quite a few of good quality. They are definitely in and if you fish outside the combat zones, your changes are good. A lot of the fish I saw hooked were in less than 3 feet of water. Other patterns I tried where chartreuse glo-bug and Andy K's purple shrimp pattern.
Beautiful day - the wind died down, the sun was up, pleasant shirt sleeve temperatures in the afternoon. Just not a day catching.
Arrived at 6:45 am - car number 52 in the lot :hoboy:. A bit of a East wind blowing - but waning. Despite the numbers, I found good water and swung a few flies through a nice looking drift. Tried a Skykomish Sunrise, then a pink/blue bunny leech, then a bullet red/black bunny leach. Nothing. Switched to a larger glo- bug - still nothing. The river was just over 8', running fairly clear (some color, but a good 3 to 4 feet visibility). Some gearheads below me were dialing in on drift fishing corkies and fishing eggs under a bobber. So, I downsized the glo-bug to about the size of my pinky fingernail (a large pea) - sticking to orange. Got trouted by a rainbow of about 10". Okay, that is a start. Dead drift presentation. Still nothing. Finally, a spot opened up on a nice run where fish were being stuck - a few casts later, I get bit but miss a good hookset and the fish came to a boil, gave me a good head shake and was gone :( . Yes, I was caught napping. I started to pound that run and a few minutes later - fish on! This was a nice fish - bright. It actually looked like a big steelhead - white, bright belly with pink sides - but likely a Coho. Everything was under control - and I was starting to back up to beach it and the hook pulls and twang -goes over the top of my head. :sick: I hate that. If it was a Coho, it was 10lbs or bigger - would have been my first on a fly and probably my biggest, period.
Needless to say, that was the last fish to stick. I must have seen over 20 fish hooked and landed today - quite a few of good quality. They are definitely in and if you fish outside the combat zones, your changes are good. A lot of the fish I saw hooked were in less than 3 feet of water. Other patterns I tried where chartreuse glo-bug and Andy K's purple shrimp pattern.
Beautiful day - the wind died down, the sun was up, pleasant shirt sleeve temperatures in the afternoon. Just not a day catching.