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No coho river threads this year?

2K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  SeaRun Fanatic 
#1 ·
I am very surprised there are no river threads this year for coho. I talk to a lot of gear guys at work who are just doing fantastic and hope to do so the next couple of weeks. I know that this is the saltwater forum, but it is a saltwater fish. If anyone is out there hitting up rivers with regularity, I for one would love to hear about it and maybe gain a little knowledge on how to tackle the big water. :D
 
#3 ·
I'm sure the gear guys are doing well...They always do well cause they floss them (corkies and yarn)and snag them. Coho can be caught in rivers, I've done it but you've got to find the right river, a river the fish haven't had to go through a gauntlet of gear guys before you get a chance to actually fish for them, at least around here.
 
#6 ·
Put in a lot of time on the water. There's no simple answer to how to get them. It took me and a good fishing buddy of mine several seasons to even start catching fish. It's dependent on the river conditions, and several other factors. I'll tell you what the least effective thing to do is, and that's swinging for them in steelhead water like most fly guys seem to want to do.
 
#10 ·
Many choose not to target salmon once they have reached their home rivers. I fish for salmon in the lower rivers near the saltwater on occasion. The salmon in the lower rivers are still bright and strong, and they are not spawning yet. Also, these newly arrived salmon bite flies better. You should thoroughly read the freshwater salmon chapters in Les Johnson's Fly Fishing for Pacific Salmon (Volumes 1 & 2) to learn effective tactics.
 
#12 ·
well, gear guys are not doing super hot on the Sky and it's not because their leaders are too short or they ran out of spark plugs; fishing has just been tough this fall. I've seen boats hook fish on plugs and spinners but bank guys have had it rough. Fish present throughout the river but it's tough to get them to bite. I've had success with Mepps spinners and very flashy jigs when the river is medium-high (3.5-7k cfs). Heavily weighted flies with long leaders on floating lines work great for frog water from the bank because the flies get a good jigging action with the retrieve. Sinking lines with unweighted flies (comet, christmas tree, or pretty much any pattern- you never know!) are good if fishing faster water or if fishing from a boat. Met a guy who landed three from his float tube using a large silver/red christmas tree pattern when the river was high so go flashy when water is colored up.
 
#14 ·
Theres a few smaller peninsula rivers with HUGE COHO that will give you a good schooling as to how to target them in the fresh H2O, Were talking tiny rivers, barely a roll cast wide that have up to 20lb ho ho hos ready to play. Small and flashy flies with a twitch strip swing retrieve gets the job done. A welcome addition to the excitement anyday. Coho are bulldog fighters for sure!
 
#15 ·
I read and re-read FFPS II's freshwater section a couple weeks ago, hit the vice and then headed to the river. I spent hours trying to coax a river coho into a strike on the fly. I built 3' and 6' tips of T-14 for my 8 wt, added them to a 6 wt Outbound Short Intermediate, twitched, swung, jigged, stripped fast/ slow/ erratic.... and then picked up the Rainshadow spinning rod and threw a Blue Fox. Fifth cast to the same stretch and I got a great strike from a nice buck. Landed him and hit the water all over again with a fly without a nudge. Brutal.

Water Vertebrate Plant Fisherman Lake
 
#18 ·
There is no shame to throwing hardware for river coho, beats getting skunked over and over. However, there are rare occasions when a fly rod will produce more fish so I always bring both to the river! Blue, green, and orange #4 or #5 Mepps spinners are my favorite hardware followed by 3/8 or 1/2oz Brad's jig heads tied with black, cartreuse, pink, and/or purple rabbit strips.
 
#21 ·
Ten80 is right. when we had the dry spell there thousands of fish in the Snohomish system. but not very many would bite. even now with all the rain they are not very grabby. was on the lower sky this week. first hole looked dead, then 1/2 hour later counted 8-12 fish rolling and not one caught between boats or bankers.
just the way it is sometimes. gear guys fishing below the highway bridge on the snoho are pulling plugs or back drifting bait.
Good news, some Chums are in and being caught.
 
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