Minus Tide Coho Report

[Jeff Hale]

Fished the minus at a beach in North Puget Sound. About an hour before the tide slacked, fish came in close and began jumping, but most seemed small; 18-20 inches. I did hook two smallish Coho around 15 inches that both flipped off right as I was about to release them anyway. Only saw one large Coho jump. Hope it will get better. Jeff

[salt dog]

Nice to get hooked up super-fly. Those resident Coho almost getting big enough for the barbie.

I was out Sunday early at an East Area 9 beach and fished through the Tide change. Except for a couple of small cutts to keep the skunk off, nada, and nothing rising. Some jumpers 400' out, near gulls hitting bait balls, but never close enough to take a shot. Too much tide change, maybe.

Nice morning though, 1 eagle, 1 sea lion, 2 herons, 3 porpoises, and the morning fog kept the strollers away until mid-morning.

[kriscourtz]

Superfly, would like to have seen coho on Sat, even the smaller ones.

Was out on Saturday for the low tide swing at a north beach as well, had similar experience as Jim. Caught a few good sized SRCs, but never saw a coho close enough.

Is the low tide or high tide better for salmon? or does it really make a difference?

Kris

[Jeff Hale]

The low tide and high tide can both be good. It depends on where you are fishing, what structure is nearby, and whether the incoming or outgoing tide causes baitfish and salmon to ball up within casting distance of that structure. There are a couple places that seem to fish best on an incoming high tide about two hours before the flood to a couple hours after, and other spots that fish well right before or after the low. The place I like to fish on a low tide requires a minus for me to access the rips and structure that salmon swim by.

I like to fish PNP starting about 2 hours before the high, to about two hours after. However, even more important than the high or low, seems to be the amount of water moving. Tides with a big change seem to produce much better fishing than tides with only a little change. I like the water to be ripping pretty good. On subtle tide changes, I rarely have much luck. Target the big water movements that correspond to low light hours, and fish close to the tops or bottoms of the tide, and you should see some fish. My favorite is a big incoming high tide that corresponds with early morning. However, if the weather is cloudy and overcast, or if there are just a ton of fish moving through, the time of day is not so important. I've caught plenty of fish in the middle of the day or in bright sunlight during the peak of the run. Good luck. Today, they seemed to want some pretty large patterns. I was fishing a herring pattern on a 2/0 hook with the total fly length about 5 inches. Jeff

[Tony]

I too hit the area9 beaches for the low with about the same results 1st beach nothing alot of bait but no fish no fishermen either 2nd beach saw a bait guy land one nice silver and a buzzbomber hook and lose one 3rd beach I hooked and landed a 17" hatchery fish which was released to grow. I might have seen you (superfly) there, good beach but only on the minus, I only saw a couple of good size fish there, jumping out of reach the one I caught suprised me really hammered my fly I was using a #6 clouser.
tony

[CurtisT]

How do you fish these clousers?? Do you just cast them out and strip retrieve?

[salt dog]

Curtis, most all of the bait fish patterns are strip retrieved, including clousers. A fairly quick retrieve for Coho, say...12" strips, more or less. Varying the rate of retrieve is one of the variables when working a beach, along with changing depth.