Ocean Salmon Flies

Two Fister · 06-22-2005, 08:35 PM

I'm starting to get ready for a late summer trip to Tofino, BC. We're mostly going to be targeting coho in the ocean, but there will also be some big 5 salt chinook lumbering around as well. I guess the chinook tend to be very deep, but the coho can be had up near the surface on a fly rod.

Does anybody know what patterns/colors to use for coho in the ocean? I'm going to start by tying epoxy flies and blue/white deceivers and clousers. Any suggestions or advice would be most appreciated!

Thanks

TF

Ryan Pultz · 06-22-2005, 09:16 PM

A herring fly might work. Rp

Mark Vickers · 06-23-2005, 06:27 AM

Ryan is right. Tie up some bucktails. Most effective colours imitate baitfish. (Green/white and blue/white with some crystal flash in them.)

Riverkeeper · 06-23-2005, 07:22 AM

In my rather limited experience fishing for ocean coho around here, they bite just about anything if you are on top of the fish and able to get to the right depth. I think all of the above suggestions would work.

Mark Vickers · 06-23-2005, 07:59 AM

I'll add on a little bit about techniques...

While somewhat unorthodox, with a sinking line (or one with a long sink tip) you can troll at coho speeds. Just let out 60-80 feet of line behind the boat and troll away. Most coho trolling is done around 3 mph, but you can go even faster and be sucessful. The trick is getting your fly underwater when you go fast. You don't generally want it skipping across the surface like you're fishing for marlin (but I bet that would work anyway).

Once you run into a pocket of fish, stop the boat and just cast as far as you can and strip it in in fast jerks. It'll be one of the hardest takes you'll ever experience.

I have some even more outrageous things you can do with a fly for ocean salmon if you're interested... If I get some time today, I'll post on it.

Abalone · 06-23-2005, 08:07 AM

Two fister:

Are you going on your own or with a guide ?

I have made several trips to West Coast Vancouver Island and have taken my Salt water fly gear each time. Never had any luck at it. The Canadians do a thing Called Bucktaiiing.
Drag a fly behind the boat in the Prop wash. I mean Two feet behind the motor. The Coho come right up to the prop.
It acts as an attractor. You'll see props painted up there just for that reason.

Skien started doing that last year out of Depoe Bay and it works. However: If you are thinking like I am and that's not really what you want to do then here are a few things.

I haven't fish Tofino. I have been to the North Half of the Island. Conditions have to be just right. You have to find the fish. You have to find them on the surface feeding. In some areas up there at certain times the Coho will run near the Kelp. That's the best time and place to hit them. I have encounter big Schools of Coho on the surface. I have had my fly in the water. I have tried every way I knew how but couldn't get a Stike. I think it was because I wasn't deep enough. It's one thing to use a dry line and another to use a sinking line.

I have all weights of Sink tips now. The next time I go out off of the Oregon Coast I am going to try something new.

I am going to try Wind Drifting. Toss my line out and let it sink and then strip it just like for trout.

I think it will work. Fly fishing for Coho in Oregon in the Ocean is a much under utilized method of fishing. I don't think very many people have pioneered it yet.

I know someone that has done a lot of it but that was near the jetties. So I think it is new territory.

I think if you do some research and are really deteremined you could have a lot of fun up there.

Good luck.

I use Clousers but as the man said, anything will work.
I would tie up some patterns with different wieght. Some heavy and some light.

Two Fister · 06-23-2005, 10:40 AM

Mark,
I haven't been teased like that since I was in High School

Tell me all about the outrageous things that you do on the high seas for ocean salmon!

I went through some old striper flies that I have from way back when last night and found a bunch of patterns that I think will work; blue/white/krystal flash, green/white/krystal flash, and white/krystal flash bucktails and clousers, exoxy needlefish, eel patterns, etc. How about red bucktails and clousers for coho?

I've got a Teeny T400 line that has been sitting around for a while that should get me down deep enough as long as GBS's cat hasn't gotten near it...

Abalone,
I'm going with a group of friends that go every year to the same area. Some years are better than others, but they've been able to get into coho on flies on a pretty consistent basis. If we're not getting them on flies near the surface, I'm bringing all of the heavy firepower of the dark side.

TF, aka Darth Cutplug

Abalone · 06-23-2005, 11:02 AM

Back in the 70's my Cousin was stationed in Newport. Dudley is a dry fly fanatic and would sooner take up tap dancing lessons the use a sinking line. I used to bust out with envy listening to him tell stories of fishing behind the Jetty at Newport catching Coho on a dry line. He told me he caught two 24 # nooks one day on the surface. I have been tentavily pursuing it every since. I always take a fly rod with me but rarely get the conditions I need to try. Usually it's too windy to cast. I even bought several lines and different weight rods.
Of course I have caught limits of Black sea Bass but no Salmon yet.

I took my boat out last night to shake it down. Once I take my boat for a long ride on the Willy and know everything is running I will make regular runs to the Ocean with Fly rod only.

But as it turned out, I had a motor problem last night.
I need a mechanic to go through my Carb. I should have listened last time and installed an inline fuel filter.

I have a Sixteen foot inflatable and it gets me everywhere I need to go.

Abalone · 06-23-2005, 11:03 AM

Mark: By all means give us what you got.

I am getting pumped here........

Abalone · 06-23-2005, 12:25 PM

and I always have a spare seat if anyone is in for some adventure.........

The fun part is busting the waves on the bar or surf.

Two Fister · 06-23-2005, 12:48 PM

Abalone,
I've heard some stories from some of the Salty Dogs about you racing around out there! Sounds like it looks like Seal Team 1 is about to come aboard!
TF

Abalone · 06-23-2005, 01:19 PM

I have had some fun times out there.

Mark Vickers · 06-23-2005, 04:15 PM

Okay, this stuff probably isn't flyfishing per se, but I'll give it to you anyway. You do use fly gear though... We started "tinkering" last summer with stuff we had read and stuff that we had learned with other styles of fishing.

1. First, this is about chinook. You can catch ocean chinook at great depths by running your line off of a downrigger. This is really the same as what they commonly do in BC with the direct drive mooching rigs. To prevent excessive line drag, and since you aren't doing any casting, you remove the fly line and just use straight mono. You run a bucktail or clouser or some similar hairy squid thing. The chore is lifting fish from 150 feet. Fly rods aren't good at pulling fish up.

2. I'll state that I'm no expert in this as we are still in the learning phase. Last year I was getting desperate as I had never caught a coho. Yes, that's right, I had never officially landed one. I had been on the boats when we've limited out, I had hooked them, fought them, and even lost them at the net. This had gone on since I was a teenager, almost 20 years ago. I was getting pretty discouraged. The curse was strong with me. Since I was in the quest for the IGFA Grand Salmon Slam, I needed to land a coho really badly. That desperation coupled with a natural tendency to experiment led to the following:

This was a direct take from what the tuna/marlin fishermen do. Run an array of teasers back from the boat. We ran a "school" of dodgers and ford fenders off the back of the boat 20' back (so as to not get caught in the prop). Behind those, we ran hoochies, coyote spoons, and (my) bucktails. All this action tends to pull in the fish from far away when you're searching the open ocean for the schools. When a fish was hooked, the teaser line is pulled in and the boat is thrown in neutral while the fish is landed. This is the prime time for reeling in and casting the other lines (as long as they don't tangle with the hot fish line) as I had described above.

I'll post some photos of this season as we continue to experiment.

Two Fister · 06-23-2005, 04:23 PM

Hmmm...I LIKE IT! Definitely worth the wait.

I'm going to go home and unearth my fly tying gear right now. I've got a pile of bucktails in a rainbow of colors and a big box of stainless hooks. It's been so darn long since I've tied I'll probably have to evict a family of mice or two, but that's the price you pay!
TF

D3smartie · 06-23-2005, 04:31 PM

pull a pink or chartuse fly in the prop wash... maybe 7-10 feet behind the boat.... should be right at the end of the bubbles. One you find a school of fish you can cast or keep trolling. Work the rip lines and bait balls. There should be plenty of both.
Chartuse tends to be the go to color in the ocean but pink seemed to be the ticket last year. I ran out of pink clousers and we were fishing hot pink bunny leaches at the end. Still caught fish.
a lot of flash is also good in your flies... krystal flash, flashabou, and a myriad of other stuff will work. the flashier the better.

http://www.fly-fishing-neahbay.com/p...ing_salmon.htm

explore Chris' website. He guides out of neah bay and knows how to catch ocean silvers. I highly suggest trying a popper, it is a ton of fun.

MikeT · 06-23-2005, 06:12 PM

TF,
I've fished Barkley Sound, just down the coast from Tofino, nearly every year since 1990. Some years the coho are very thick near shore and would be quite easy to catch on a cast fly, other years they're offshore and deep. Casting a fast sinking line right to the rocks or into bait schools would be the techniques I'd focus on for coho. They tend to school up if they're inshore, so keep moving until you find the fish.
Also, as an aside, I've found that chinook up there are difficult to catch EXCEPT for an hour or two around the low and high slack tides.
I typically fish small hootchies for coho, and year after year the green/white or chartreuse/white 2.5-inch squids are the most consistent producers. The coho like a fast troll or retrieve. If you're looking for a searching technique for coho, a 4-inch chartreuse/white BuzzBomb on a steelhead rod is hard to beat. Try vertical jigging slowly at around 12 feet and you'll catch coho if there are any around.
Another tip for you: Jim Crawford has written a book, "Salmon to a Fly", which is entirely about flyfishing for salmon around the coast of Vancouver Island. Might be worth a read if this is your first time at this.
good luck.....MikeT

Two Fister · 06-23-2005, 09:10 PM

Thanks guys!!

That's some great information. I'm headed over to the enormously enormous book website to see if I can find that book right now.

Dug out my fly tying kit and everything looked like it was pretty intact. Will wonders never cease!

Thanks again for all of the tips and techniques!
TF

Two Fister · 06-23-2005, 09:18 PM

Just ordered a used copy of Jim Crawford's "Salmon to a Fly" from the gigantically gigantic book sellers website for $8.95. Most excellent!

Abalone · 06-24-2005, 10:45 AM

Another tid bit:
Of course I haven't tried this yet but I believe in the theory.

Fish with regular tackle. That is troll a herring, coyote or what ever but have a fly rod on standby. When Coho are on the hook they often have several other fish in tow. I have seen it many times when I have brought fish up to the boat there will be a whole school behind them. Assuming someone else has the fish on, Pick up your fly rod and make a presentation. If the theory holds true two guys could switch back an forth.

Lets hear some more: I think I got my motor fixed.

Bad Gas...... I just bought the new tank and put gas in it back in March ?

Ryan Pultz · 06-24-2005, 08:23 PM

hey Abalone I like that Idea and I think it would work. rp

SilverFly · 06-28-2005, 02:06 AM

Two Fister,

Man am I jealous! I haven't been to Tofino since I was a kid in the late sixties, when I caught my first salmon up there.

The way Dad did it was to troll a "coho fly" behind a small dodger and a mooching sinker. I remember we spent a lot of time working the edges of kelp beds around the many islands up there. The flies were simple, just some polar bear with a topping of green or blue bucktail. I've still got the same chunk of polar bear that Dad tied those flies with, and for some reason I can't bring myself to use what's left.

While what we were doing was not fly fishing, I'm sure we could have caught fish simply trailing the same flies behind the boat on standard fly gear. What I would give to have an 8wt in hand on the lee side of Wickanninish Island!

Good luck and PLEASE take lots of pictures!!!!!!

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