Roger Stephens
01-01-2006, 06:45 PM
My fishing buddy and I have been targeting resident silvers since mid-Nov. and the fishing has been good but challenging. Usually fishing for resident silvers varies from year to year which makes flyfishing on Puget Sound so interesting and enjoyable.
In most cases this year, the fish seem to be scattered in small groups which show themselves by ocassionally jumping or slashing on the surface. So it has been a challenging cat and mouse game to determine where the fish are headed and try to get ahead of them. We have not seen much amphipod feeding active by the resident silvers except at one location from mid-Nov. through mid-Dec. We have been finding resident silvers at locations where they have only ocassionally hung out in past years. The strategy to find fish has been to cover a lot of water looking for the ocassional jumping fish. Hopefully, in the near future the resident silvers will show up in larger schools somewhere!
We have found resident silvers at four locations with adequate numbers of fish.
At one spot, there were numerous nice sized schools of resident silvers feeding on amphipods. These fish were moving along a 1/2 mile shoreline. If we could get ahead of them, we could pick off 1 or 2 fish with a little luck using a shrimp pattern. These fish locked into the area for over a month but have since moved on with only a few jumpers showing themselves. These small groups of fish would aggressively take a small baitfish pattern but it was a cat and mouse game.
At the three other locations, we would see only the ocassional resident silver jump or slash on the surface. The fish were in small groups and again were moving along 1/4 to 1/2 mile of shoreline. It was challenging since it was difficult to determine where the fish were headed. Again, if we got lucky, we could land 1 or 2 fish(14-15") on a small baitfish pattern before the fish move on. One fish puked out a 2 to 2 1/2" baitfish(herring or sand lance?) near the boat when landing it.
May the New Year be a good one for you and may the Christmas spirit be with you the rest of the year!
Roger
In most cases this year, the fish seem to be scattered in small groups which show themselves by ocassionally jumping or slashing on the surface. So it has been a challenging cat and mouse game to determine where the fish are headed and try to get ahead of them. We have not seen much amphipod feeding active by the resident silvers except at one location from mid-Nov. through mid-Dec. We have been finding resident silvers at locations where they have only ocassionally hung out in past years. The strategy to find fish has been to cover a lot of water looking for the ocassional jumping fish. Hopefully, in the near future the resident silvers will show up in larger schools somewhere!
We have found resident silvers at four locations with adequate numbers of fish.
At one spot, there were numerous nice sized schools of resident silvers feeding on amphipods. These fish were moving along a 1/2 mile shoreline. If we could get ahead of them, we could pick off 1 or 2 fish with a little luck using a shrimp pattern. These fish locked into the area for over a month but have since moved on with only a few jumpers showing themselves. These small groups of fish would aggressively take a small baitfish pattern but it was a cat and mouse game.
At the three other locations, we would see only the ocassional resident silver jump or slash on the surface. The fish were in small groups and again were moving along 1/4 to 1/2 mile of shoreline. It was challenging since it was difficult to determine where the fish were headed. Again, if we got lucky, we could land 1 or 2 fish(14-15") on a small baitfish pattern before the fish move on. One fish puked out a 2 to 2 1/2" baitfish(herring or sand lance?) near the boat when landing it.
May the New Year be a good one for you and may the Christmas spirit be with you the rest of the year!
Roger