Salmon fly critique ?

[Steve L.]

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/small_squid.JPG

this is a fly I came up with after seeing various other streamers for Chinook.
#1 Daichi heavy hook
Rabbit stip
light green and purple crystal flash

The aim here was to create something in a good Chinook color that might look like a squid / shrimp for tidal work.
What do you think ?

[Stew]

Very nicely done :applause:
The only thing I might suggest is to use some contrasting colors.
This fly would be great for chum salmon :cheers:

[fishnfun]

Looks good to me!!
Good job :cheers: :applause:

[lilnorthfork]

Looks fishy Steve. Any plans to do some field testing?
lnf

[Mark Vickers]

Okay, from the book "What Fish See" by Colin Kageyama, he suggests blues and greens when salmon are in ocean and tidewater as their eyes are adjusted to that. Reds and oranges come into play as the fish go higher in the river and their body starts breaking down. With that in mind, I'd change out the crystal flash to be blue or silver if you're talking about fishing tidewater with this.

[Steve L.]

Stew - Hmm, don't we get a Chum run on the Miami or Kilchis ?

Lnf - I'm planning on having an eye problem on weds. (can't see going in to work) and fishing either Nehalem tidal or the Trask as close to the mouth as I can get without a boat. I'm new to the Chinook game so now is searching out the spots part of it.

Mark - I'll have to check out that book, sounds interesting. Have you found it to help ? I've got a lot of flies in purple, pink, black, orange and a blue and silver I was experimenting with. My boxes show what happens when one has more time to tie than fish :hoboy:

[Mark Vickers]

I found the book to be a fascinating read. The physiology of salmon eyes was probably one of the better parts. And yes, I've found the color recommendations to be spot on.

His research (he's an opthomologist by trade) is backed by a ton of anecdotal research that long time fishers have found to be true. For instance, he points out that local fishermen off the Oregon coast years ago came up with a special brine for their herring which essentially made the fish more shiny and blue. Look at many of the herring brine recipes here on Ifish; most of them have a bluing agent. In Puget Sound, many old timers dye their herring green. They get more hits than plain herring. That is because the salmon (and many oceanic species) have eyes that are tuned for green and blues, the predominant colors in the oceans.

The other thing that he does a lot of research on is using contrasting colors depending on lighting and water color. There are dozens of photos in the book that are taken underwater of different flies, corkies, and lures.

The downside of the book is where he talks about flies. He pans a lot of the tying materials as being inconsistent in color in water. His photos do seem to back this up though, although he doesn't seem to spend much time in this area. Also, he tends to [petunias!] his own spinner series that Mepps makes. I could do without the sales pitch.

[SilverFly]

Good looking fly Steve. It's got a simple profile with lots of movement and flash, all elements of an effective pattern. It looks like a great fly for aggressive fish. Don't be afraid to downsize it (sometimes a LOT) if the fish aren't real aggressive and also try other colors as Mark suggested (thanks for the interesting info!).

[Steve L.]

Mark, SF, based on your input ( good stuff :applause:)I'm going to do three things;
1) get that book and read it
2) tie some up on # 4's, this was a # 1
3) get some cement on the threadhead of the green with blue krystal flash I just tied moments ago :grin:

If anyone cares to fish with a rookie Chinooker I'm going out Weds to try these flys and my new 10 wt

btw Fo17, thanks for the moral support :wave:

[BroCam]

Anal Glaucoma ( can't see my a** coming in to work )is very common in certain NW regions.

Very nice fly. Thanks for sharing your innovations.