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[ray]

 Hi: This is my first post so bear with me. I am heading up to the stave this week and was wondering what flies would work and what type of line i would need. I have an 8wt tfo signature series rod with a bfr395 reel with 130 yds 0f 20 lb backing a floating and a type3 sink tip. i picked up a 14' clear intermediate Air-Flo poly leader and a 5' super sink. Is that going to be alright for the rivers in the LM or will i need something else. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[reach]

I hope someone can chime in here - I've been wondering the same things.

I was up there on Saturday and tried with a couple of "coho flies" suggested by Michael & Young with no success (well, one small trout).  I was using a homemade multi tip system and tried the floating line in the side channels and the 5' sink tip (made from Cortland LC-13) in the main channel.  No cohos for me.

[Sandhead]

Silver xmas tree patterns work well for coho and chum

[newsman]

There was a guy older than me (that's rare) fishing just up from me this afternoon, slaying those Chum on black Leach patterns. Go figure.

[reach]

Fished the Stave just above the highway bridge for about 2 hours late this afternoon.  Tried a black bead head wooly bugger, a Christmas tree, and a gold tinsel bodied bead head coho fly.  No action at all - not even a chum.  All the fish jumping and finning around me (some of the jumpers sure looked like nice bright cohos) were doing the fish equivalent of laughing and pointing, I'm sure.

Can't wait till next Saturday and the Anglers West fly fishing for salmon course so I can find out what the heck I am doing wrong.   

But then again there were plenty of people there chucking spoons and I didn't see any of them get any hookups either.

[FlyNut]

Can't wait till next Saturday and the Anglers West fly fishing for salmon course so I can find out what the heck I am doing wrong.   

reach, sounds like the course I need.  Where do they take you?  I am going to look into it tomorrow.

[Fish Assassin]

From talking to Scott, the course will be held In the Harrison River.

[dboy]

I would guess that you wern't fishing deep enough.
Not sure about you're 5' sink tip but I would recommend a 12-15 foot type 6 sink tip for most of the flowing water on the Stave with a 5 foot leader or so.  In the slow/still water a type 3 (Clear is best) 12-15 foot with a longer leader for the spooky coho.

With a type 3 and 6 youll be covered in almost all situations. 
For the heavier water just add a split shot or two or use a weighted fly.

[reach]

Thanks for the tips dboy.  The sink tip I was using sinks like a rock (13 ips?) and I was using a bead head fly, so I thought I was getting deep enough.  I have a heck of a time trying to cast the 10 foot tip and where I was there was no room for a back cast so that's why I had the 5 footer on.  I expect you're right though - I probably didn't have my flies in the right place.

Down by the highway bridge I was using a floating line, 9 foot leader and a bead head fly.  I thought that would get deep enough as it wasn't all that deep where I was fishing.  Since nobody else was getting any either I don't feel all that bad about getting skunked there.  You might be right about not being stealthy enough.  But hopefully I'll get some fresh ideas to try on Saturday.

[fluidcoast]

I was at the Stave on Wednesday, I was fly fishing in one of the slow moving side arms just to the left of the main arm and got into a couple of chum with some large bead-head purple marabou steelhead flies. I was using a floating line with about a 10 foot leader, just letting it drift with the slow moving water... No coho though and I lost the hot flies when I tried to battle the chum on my light 5wt tackle, I was halfway through my backing before I knew it!

[TtotheE]

My dad fair hooked a chum on the Stave once.  The thing pulled so hard the rod straightened out infront of him,  he couldn't keep the rod upright at all to even let the rod arc.  There was no fighting butt on the rod btw.  After that he went out and bought an 8/9.

From my experience with chums,  the males like to hunker down if they don't end up peeling off your backing.  The females like to get acrobatic,  which can be fun with a lighter rod.

I personally like to use a stout rod in order to play the fish quickly,  so as not to stress the fish too much in case it will be released.  Which can be the dilema when trying for coho where chum are present.  You don't want to overkill for the coho but don't want to be too weak for the chum.

[fluidcoast]

birdman: Didn't come close to landing either of them. I saw the one about 10 ft away then it just bolted downstream!

TtotheE: I had some arc in my rod, but I quickly realized there was no way I could bring the dawg in. I was targeting coho (or I thought) but the chum were biting...  I have a 7-8 wt rod I'll take next time, and I've bumped up the leader and tippet.

[dboy]

Normally chums hold in different water than coho, especially on the stave. Strip a fly through frogwater such as at the toilet bowl or sections of the lower river if you want coho. Coho love to mill around in these areas. Personally I have never caught a coho in any of the "flowing" sections of the stave although Im sure it is possible.  It also helps to fish for the coho after the chums have mostly died off. The stave can be quite productive in mid-late november

Reach:  Im sure youll slay'em this weekend. Chums should be thick in there right now. Perfect time to go as in a week or two it will be getting pretty nasty out there with all the spawners

[north]

I mainly fish the Skeena tributaries, and I agree with dboy. Stripping your fly through the frog water for coho.