south sound coho

[Jake Bannon]

Not more than a week or two ago I couldnt keep the res cohos off my line so I go back down therefor the past 3 days and Im using the same fly(olive over white clouser) and then changedflies a bunch but still I catch nothing. Do they filter in and out of the sound because I used to see them jumping everywhere and now I dont see any.Are they feeding on a different bait and am I not finding it. As you can tell Im a bit confused on why they almost dissapeared, any info will be much appreciated.:)

[Tony]

The fish follow the food as it moves so do they this being the case it often times will be here today gone tomorrow, now some places seem to hold fish pretty much constantly and it could be a tide thing rather than no fish. I fish the narrows which is one place that fish cruise most of the time but sometimes its in 10' of water real close to the shore and then an hour later the fish will be way out beyond anyones casting abilities. I would recommend finding a number of places to fish and if one doesn't produce try another, I have spent an entire day running from beach to beach searching sometimes going back to the one I started at only to find fish there on my return. Another thing try the search on this site there is mass info archived under coho, salmon, beach fishing ect you could easily spend a day reading it, not being an expert I spend alot of time researching archived info on this site.
tony

[Jake Bannon]

I am fishing 400yds from a bridge that gets a lot of current out on the point I fish, and at the head of the lagoon there is a creek with a high population of chum fry so I thought they would be going for that but that wasnt what happendI will be down there tomarow on the out going tide to try my luck once more. Any reccomended fly patterns would be much help on tomarrows outing.

[SeaRun Fanatic]

Welcome to South Sound coho! My buddy and I hit well over 25 fish 2 weeks ago and could only manage 4 yesterday in the same area on a similar (though larger) tide. Average size dropped, too, from around 17-18" to more like 12-14". My boat crapped out from bad gas, too, so that didn't help, as it cut our fishing time and range dramatically.:beathead: I'm thinking our fish moved to a creek area, as the closest chum creek is a few miles from where we've been fishing. Heading over there was plan B before the boat died. Oh well... chalk it up to dues, eh?

[Jake Bannon]

So it spounds like Im not the only one having problems, I would like to get a pontoon for the spot I fish since theres a boat lauch with in 300yds but my mom says the tide and currents are to strong, Ive told her that since I could row the entire upper humpulips in our drift boat I could manage the beach but still a no, oh well guess I cant wait to move out. second thought mabye not.:(

[Roger Stephens]

Pacific Steel:

When fly fishing on Puget Sound it is an ever changing fisheries from day-to-day because of varying conditions mainly tide and weather. It is part of the challenge and beauty of this fisheries. I couple of thoughts that may be possible explainations for your questions IMHO.

1. During the last couple of days there have been big ebb tides. Over the years at least for me, fishing for resident coho and sea-run cutthroat tends to tail off during big ebb tides at many prime locations(except for a few) as the tidal current is often too strong. IMHO these big ebb tides tend to scatter the fish to who knows where. Moderate tidal exchanges are best as was the case the previous week when the fishing was excellent.

2. Resident coho have a tendancy to "lock into" a location often for a month or more when the food source remains available at a location. In many cases, they will be active at a location only during either the ebb or flood tide but not both. Over the last two months there have been a couple of spots where the resident coho are only active during the later 1/3 of a moderate ebb tide. At these locations I would come back 2-3 times during the ebb tide until I finally figured it out that the resident coho would only be there the last 1/3 of the tide. The fish were feeding on baitfish that would get "blown" past these locations by current at that part of the tide exchange.

3. It sound like you are fairly new to fly fishing on Puget Sound. Keeping a detailed fishing journal over time will greatly help you to begin to understand this fisheries. It is a life-time of learning that never reaches an end!

Roger

[Jake Bannon]

Thanks Rodger and all the other replies I think you guys made it easier to me to understand the learning process for a beginner fly angler and puget sound flyfishin:) .

[Steve Rohrbach]

Pacific, one never stops learning when fishing Puget Sound. Just when you think you have somewhere figured out it throws a skunk and you are off to the next spot. Jon Aqui and I had a slow weekend catching, so we turned our efforts to exploring. We have two new beaches to show for the lack of fish. One of the new spots turned out a few fish but has lots of promise for the fall. Welcome to the game.

[miyawaki]

Pacific,

Keep looking and fishing. One of my "never fails" failed today. I'm certain there will be fish there tomorrow. Maybe.

Leland.

[gt]

fishing in the salt is totally differnet that fishing for trout! saltwater fish do not hang out, they move with the tides, current and available food sources. here today, gone tomorrow is the normal modus operandi. either you move to find the fish or no fish for you. that is the hard part of chasing any saltwater fish, tropic or local, you have to continue to move to find the fish.

[Smalma]

Tony has it nailed - the fish follow the food. As they fish grow and they food sources and preferences change the fish adapt. For decades it has been pretty common to see a northward moving of resident coho during the late winter spring. Many years it is pretty common to see large schools of feeding coho in MA 10 and 9 during the spring. On years of poor feeding conditions many anglers feel that the fish continue to move will out into the straits during the winter and spring.

During the summer it seems to me we see the reverse migration and find some awful good fishing on much large fish - typcially 2 to 5 #s in late June and July in 9 and 10. That summer fishery often winds down in late July or early August when the majority of the population make their final migration - to our barbecues.

Tight lines
Curt

[CovingtonFly]

As for the tides, I read in one book that suggests that tides of + or - 3 feet are preferred. Don't get too concerned finding the right tide or time of day. If you have time to fish then go out and fish.