Seattle beaches rpt.

[herl]

Well, I've been hitting some local beaches over the past couple weeks and finally hit pay dirt today- at least my version of pay dirt: two fish in an hour.

I ran into a bunch of fish the other day at this same park (Carkeek), but the seemed to be very selective and didn't want any of the 4 flies I offered them (pink shrimp, white minnow, 2 poppers). I did some looking on this forum to see what was up since I suspected they might be on chum fry. I found Bob Triggs' chum baby pattern and some descriptions of what I though I saw going on.

Well, Bob's pattern is the boss. I tied some up and used it today and even though there seemed to be far fewer fish around, I caught two; a 14" cutthroat and a 12" coho. I'm a believer in the chum baby.

Eric

[SteelieD]

Awesome. Good to have some success, isn't it!:beer2:

[D3Smartie]

good job.. the last two days have been good to me as well. 15+ to hand yesterday and 10 this evening. love the salt :)

[Guillaume]

Bob's chum baby rules! I keep mine with me all the time:)

[Ryan Nathe]

I was in the South Sound yesterday and hooked 15 and only landed 7. I had a real skunk on me for the first 5. I would just get little tugs and than the fish would jump clear or I would see the swirl at the end of my line. Saw some nice fish jumping out quite a ways. About double my best double haul. That is frustrating, but it is always nice when you see one jump and can cast to it and you know you got it even before the tug!

[JSK]

New to the forum, great info... What does Bob's Chum Baby look like???

Thanks

[DB]

Nice one Eric!

It's always the greatest feeling to have 'matched the hatch' especially when a skunk or two has been on the cards. The 'beauty' of it all is that in a few weeks you may to work it all out again :-) Well done and thanks for the report. Bob's fly is a really good one and in my opinion, like most of the other great flies, very straightforward and easy to tie.

Dave

[Les Johnson]

JSK,
Check the WFF archives. Robert Triggs has a significant post on tying the Chum Baby, Pinkie Baby and Chinookie. Haven't tried the latter two but the Chum Baby is a killer based on reports from all who have used it. For those who do not tie, several stores in the Puget Sound area have it in stock (and I'm sure Waters West in PA as well) many of which are tied by the maestro himself, Robert "Little Stone" Triggs. We sell Chum Babies tied by Robert at Orvis in Bellevue and just received our second order.
Good Fishing,
Les Johnson

PS: I'm still pouting over the fact that he didn't have it designed in time to be in my new cutthroat book. There is just no rushing the creative process.

[ChrisW]

This is also a very fishy pattern, even when you're not matching the hatch. It works good in freshwater aslo. A very easy pattern to tie too- good for beginners.

Thanks Bob!

[Jim Wallace]

I've still got one good original tied by Bob, left, so I whipped out a half dozen the other day. They are fairly easy to tie, even for a club-fingered bumbler like me. After setting up my vice and getting the materials organized, the flies seemed to tie themselves! I cheated, however, as I used olive dyed squirrel tail instead of the natural. Still looks good to me, hope it does to the cutties. Other than that, I tried to construct as exact a copy of the original as I could. Keep em fairly sparse.
I'm pulling that last original from my box, so I won't lose it!

Almost forgot: Congrats, Eric!

[SteelieD]

Here you go... very easy to tie.
http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1884

[herl]

Well, your other reports are making my two fish look pretty measly. Good job everyone! I haven't had a chance to get out since but I hope to again soon. How long can we expect the chum fry to be so abundant in the mid sound?

[frankrutledge]

Hit the beach today at Lincoln park and got a few strikes, had one on for a few seconds and saw a number of fish just right in front of me. Over all I wish I would have caught a fish but maybe tomorrow. I did see someone yesterday catch one, Mulligan (aka Stephan(sp)). I also me another guy fishing (Bob). He too hasn't caught a cutt or black mouth but we tried like hell. Anyway better luck next time. Oh BTW, I figured out at the wrong time what they where hitting on. White and light pink zonker.
Frank.

[Jim Fitz]

Attached is a photo of a chum baby (fourth up from the bottom) that is as close as my materials got me to Bob Triggs baby. Not nearly as good a photo as posted above but I thought I'd share anyway - as with any fly, you can have fun varying the ingredients, sparness. etc. This actually two basic flies in the photo - chum babies and another fly that I can't remember the name of - haloflash body with peacock on top and as the tail. Also very easy and looks fishy to me.

Jim