River of bait fish

[martyg]

So I am paddling out of GH this evening. I make a left at the Harbor mouth, go North for 30 minutes and turn around and come back.

After about 15 minutes I see this long dark streak in the water. It turns out to be a school of these baitfish in the 6" - 8" range. The school was about 30' - 40' wide and about 200' long, stretching up the shore.

I followed them to the Harbor mouth where they started to get confused and scattered and then something started ripping into them.

I never saw and evidence of predatory fish, but there were threre seals hanging at the Harbor entrance when I went out. You would thing that a school that size would have had some major predatory action going on around it.

[salt dog]

That's pretty cool Marty; always something happening down in the Salt.

Seems to me if you had a 3 wt rod with a small amphipod you might have had a great deal of entertainment, given the size of them. Were you able to ID the baitfish?

[martyg]

I just don't know enough about the sea life in this area to even guess. One observation that I made was that in a swarm of bait that ran like a black river up the shore I saw exposed flesh anywhere that I looked. Something, at some point, was chomping on these guys.

[Luke Filmer]

They are herring.I accidentally hooked one on a fast strip last week.
The silvers are in there, but that's not what is eating the herring. The big cutthroat are following the silvers, and at "mid tide" the herring become very visible on the surface.
They are out there every day.
The cutts are swiping at them.
Try tying a larger Clauser with some blue & purple in the overwing, and drag that through there with your kayak;)

[salt dog]

Good info, thanks.

[Jim Wallace]

Last Saturday a friend of mine went out with two of his buddies from Oly, launched from Arcadia Pt. and trolled tube flies (baitfish immitation, he said) on light spinning gear around Harstene Island and a couple other spots and really got into the cutts. Lots of hard-fighting 16"ers, he said, and each guy was well into the double digits by the end of the trip. They also hooked a couple of coho and a bright humpy! They tried to troll through or by the schools of baitfish they saw. He said it was awesome!
Upon hearing his story Saturday evening, I was green with envy, as I had just gotten back from a frustrating "tight-lipped coho" skunking on a salmon opener on a local stream.

Jimbo

[salt dog]

Dang, doesn't that sound like fun.

[martyg]

I'm on it! Thanks!

[Tony]

Yep herring, I caught 1 Tues. on a clouser and saw 2 others caught by another fly guy at the narrows, there have been tons of them around but not tonight, didn't even see one, the silvers were around though caught 4, 1 about 6lbs a hen the others were much smaller.
tony