Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fly Fishing Cafe => Topic started by: younggun on May 31, 2007, 08:53:09 PM
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Hey guys, i'm wondering if any one has ever fly fished for springs before? How did it go? What colour/patterns are worth a try?
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All the time. My own patterns.
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What do these patterns look like? How do u fish them, dead drift?
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You can find most of my patterns in the "Compendium Of Canadian Fly Patterns" published by Gale's End Press. I intend to have my wedsite up and running this year and I will have all my flies posted there; with tying intructions and applications.
The list of my patterns you will find in that book are:
Mat Green = Chum
Dec 25 = Chum & Spring
Blue Christmas = Coho
St Nic = Coho
Dolly Whacker = preditor pattern but it also works well for Coho
They also excepted a Pink pattern of mine, but I am no long satisfied with it's performance. If you want to fish Pinks I recomend the Happy Hooker or Randy the Hatch Match'rs pattern
Others I can recomend are;
Coho Blue & Rolled Muddler = Coho
As for fishing these flies, drift and mend works but the wet fly swing works better. Also Coho respond better to a fast retieve.
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Thanks newsman I will have to look some of those patterns up. I did really well with a merci blue last year. And a fast retrieve works awesome. Got to love it when they smash the fly. Even fun when a jack hits it.
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Well went out to the seymour and tried out a couple test patterns that i tied up thanks to NEWS MAN and the coho blue and rolled muddler both got a number of follows and a variation of a blue but skunk fly got a follow. I had 1 hit on the rolled muddler but popped off. I need to perfect my flies a little bit more and mabey i can get a couple to take next time
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What do these patterns look like? How do u fish them, dead drift?
use a tom thumb and dead drift it
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for salmon, talking a dry fly that has no colour or movement? are u sure!?
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nuggy its not the fact that i wont try it, but the fact that i dont think a chinook is gonna rise from a deep run to hit a dry fly, coho are another story. And i've spent alot of hours experimenting with steelhead lures and it's always the simple ones that I seem to always go back too. Mabey this dry fly thing will actully work, that would be awsome.
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follows in the seymour......damn those rocks hit hard eh :-\
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haahha!
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It is possible to get Salmon to hit dries if you can activate their stirke trigger as fry they feed on all the trout foods available. Example Stonefly Nymphs for Red Springs. Tom Johannesen has had great success with his variations of the Pink Pollywog.
The big challenge here is that Salmon stop feeding in fresh water so it is far more effective to trigger their aggression; and thus the reason for all those flamboyant salmon patterns. I have found that there is a ballance to be met between not enough and how much flash. Not enough the fly gets unnoticed, too much flash and the fish is spooked and gone. Add to this each speicies has a different tolerance level which makes it more interesting.
Bottom line guys each Salmon you get on the fly is an achievement. It's a great game! Have fun guys.
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Bottom line guys each Salmon you get on the fly is an achievement. It's a great game! Have fun guys.
It is a great game. I got my first salmon on the fly last year and man was it fun. I can't wait till this fall to do it all over again. This time with a new rod.
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i have never fly fished for salmon and i have a couple questions like...what is the most common technique?...do u always use a float line?....do u use a retrieve ever?....any other little info/tips would be greatly appriciated. ;D
Thanks
Michael
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i have never fly fished for salmon and i have a couple questions like...what is the most common technique?...do u always use a float line?....do u use a retrieve ever?....any other little info/tips would be greatly appriciated. ;D
Thanks
Michael
I've only ever fly fished the Fraser & Harrison, so if your regarding the Vedder my post may be of no use to you......well the most common technique depends on what fly line you use....most of the time I use a full sink on the harrison/fraser when fishing coho, chum, pinks,sockeye.....and my method with this is an upriver mend, gets it down to the fish fast!..using a retrieve is a good idea...that way you get the line in and can bomb it back out there.....on your retrive make sure to keep it at a steady pace (depends on fly)...as salmon like to attack on the retrieve some times...if you see a fish chasing your fly...don't stop, keep going at the same pace....if you stop they will get turned off.....remember to always work your way out...sometimes they might be in tight (depends on species) stand on shore, cast short, than work your way out as far as you can go...than walk down river 10 feet and give it a few more shots......should be 4-5 casts a 10 foot section.....thats what I always do...and it works!
Mike <"))))><
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thanks mike
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I always use a dry line when fishing streams & rivers; helps with line the visual and line control. To get down I use weighted flies or shooting heads.
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My first experience catching springs on the fly was up on the Birkenhead R. about 8-10 years ago. My buddy and I went up there to check it out for trout so we started with 5 wt's. We saw these springs cruising in the water and we had no business even casting to them with this lighter gear. My buddy soon hooked into one and even though it was over 20 lbs. as the the old adage goes...small river=small fight. By rights this fish should have taken him a mile down the river but he played it pretty much where he hooked it.
I walked up river a bit and saw 2 more lying out on the other side...a great big male that was closer to me and a female. On the third cast at the male the female bombed over about 10 feet to nail the fly. Once again, not a huge fight but once I played it out enough to bring it to hand the fish was holding broadside in the current and when I slowly tried to pull it over to me....bang!! It was like a shotgun going off. My rod broke in not one but two pieces! I got the fish in and my buddy took a picture with me holding the fish and showing the latest in 4 piece rods.
I also had a 7 wt. with me and for the rest of the day we walked and drove the river targeting springs. I landed 5 more and had a few come off. When you saw the fish zone in on your fly it was damn scary but very exciting all at the same time. The fly we were using was a bright pink bunny tail worm pattern about 3-4 inches long with some crystal flash in it. The water was gin clear and we were using floating lines. We were hooking them in 2 to 4 feet of water. Don't know if you can fish for them anymore. You'd have to check the regs.
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Not bein a jerk but in sounds like they may have been on their beds. 2-4 feet deep and paired up. I have no clue i wasnt there but salmon on their beds would hit out of aggression but its not a great idea. Best to avoid fish on their redds.
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What do these patterns look like? How do u fish them, dead drift?
use a tom thumb and dead drift it
Funny that you mention that. I had lots of luck fishing coho with a tom thumb when I ran out of other flies... Never thought it would work, but it was pretty dynamite!
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Oh, and here is a video that I was looking for. Although not really a dry fly, it does show a coho (a nice big red one) taking a polywog as mentioned. ;)
http://www.lakemarie.com/Silver%20Salmon/Silver%20salmon%20hitting%20a%20surface%20fly.wmv
Bet the guy has 50 hours of video of that thing being stripped in with no fish though ::)
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yah ur probably right. but the chums and pinks would hit it. coho it would be like 1 out of a hundred fish
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Check out the article on Dry Fly Coho in the latest issue of BC Outdoors. Figures Pete Morrison would be riding the crest of the newest thing, he has been on the cutting edge of Salmon Fly Fishing off our coast since it's evolution 12 years ago.
Just goes to show me how far out of touch I am. While I am working on perfecting my salmon patterns on my beloved Stave & Thompson, my mentors are out catching Coho with dries in the open ocean. And I thought I had accompished something getting my patterns published along with masters like Haig-Brown, Brayshaw, and General Nole Money. Yah "Who's your Daddy".
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Seems like atleast a couple coho will be stupid enough to hit a few of my patterns. Good luck to all of u out there who are gonna be fly fishing salmon with me.
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Good luck to all of u out there who are gonna be fly fishing salmon with me.
Uh Oh....first your telling people to watch out for you on the chehalis...now fly fishing? you got a lot to back up when you and I have a fly fishing the harrison and chehalis drift fishing challenge this fall..... :-* all I can say is good luck...as I frequent these rivers more times in one year than you have in your whole life 8)
Mike <")))))><
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I'm saying good luck mike so people can catch alot of fish and have fun, not so it can be a competition. And with u it was a joke because i knew that u fish those rivers alot more than i do. I know my limits.
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Check out the article on Dry Fly Coho in the latest issue of BC Outdoors. Figures Pete Morrison would be riding the crest of the newest thing, he has been on the cutting edge of Salmon Fly Fishing off our coast since it's evolution 12 years ago.
Newsman, do you mean salmon dry fly fishing has been evolving for 12 years or all fly fishing for salmon? My mentor and a bunch of others have been fly fishing salmon in fresh and salt water for at least 25 years. I probably hooked my first coho on the fly 20 years ago.
I recently hooked up with my old mentor after a long absence from fly fishing and he was telling me about how a few of them have been fishing dries for different salmon species in fresh and salt for the last number of years. A lot of these guys fly under the radar but you might see some of their patterns in books or read the odd article from them.They are low key and possibly some of the best guys you could ever fish with. As with most new trends there is always the few who are pioneers and I know a few of these pioneers are happy without the notoriety and don`t expect or want it. They just love being on the water and enjoying fishing, nature and the company of others. They are not secretive of methods but maybe about some locations. Once you have caught so many fish a certain way on the same flies it`s a natural step to try other things to see if it works. Although I haven`t done it yet, it is apparently possible to catch pacific salmon on dries in both fresh and salt water, I`ll be trying my hand at it once the pinks roll in ;)
Cheers
Nuggy
Yes I was refering to salt. I know there have been pioneers working at it for years, but it never came into vogue until around 12 years ago. Salmon on dries in open water is new, as for fresh to my knowledge it's been going on for 7 years, and Jim Teeny has been successful with dries in estuarys for about ten.