I'll be fishing saltwater around anacortes/islands area this weekend. Would love to hear some opinions of what the best all-around coho or cutthroat patterns are, and possibly the best places to go close to Anacortes. Thanks!
Patterns: clouser, a clouser, and probably a clouser. Oh, you might want to toss in a couple of Miyawaki poppers, too, for a searching pattern!
I agree. When fishing for coho in the salt, almost anything will work, as long as it's a chartreuse and white clouser (or pink and white). Tie them on the sparse side, in 2-in. and 3-in. sizes.
I've been working pink poppers for the last month or so and the results have been beyond what I expected for both searun cutts and resident silvers. We'll see in the next few months what happens when the big hook-noses arrive. Leland
Don't forget about a olive/white clouser, it can be a killer pattern when Puget Sound coho are actively feeding and even in late summer during the first part of their staging in estuaries. Never hear anything mentioned about Ferguson green(chartruse) silver fly anymore. It was a reliable fly in the 1980's and 90's for silvers throughout the year and even in the Fall.
!!!! Pink! I remember you mentioning that near the end of last season... I assume Icelandic Wool or Fishair in pink, maybe maribou... Ah, hell, I know what to do.... I'm sure we'd all like to hear more on "exceeds expectations!" Tom
Thanks for all the great input. I'm assuming the Miyawaki popper is same as the beach popper, etc. Are the Miyawaki (beach popper) for sale anywhere?? I don't have the time to tie anything! My local shops (Oly) don't carry anything that really resembles this popper pattern- thanks
anything with pink, red, blue, or silver tinsel...that Mirage flash stuff...works real good! I bet the pink color is going to get scarce at the local shops long.
Hi there! You might want to try getting your hands on one of the following flies: Hot lips (blue/silver body with red) Rainy's bubblehead popper Green and Chartreuse Gurgler Slim Purple Gurgler Double Foam Back Gurgler I know that these flies work excellent for Coho on the ocean and there is more information about them on my site if you want to check it out. Tight lines! Dustin
You guys are forgetting Deceivers, Silver Thorns, Puget Sound Sliders, Reverse Spiders, Buck Tails, Surf Candies, Tube Flies of many types such as the coho fly, the lowly woolly bugger and the Cutthroat candy to name a few.
coho are very aggressive in the salt (assuming they are not staging). Retreive is often the critical part. They love to chase, and will follow up to your feet. Strip fast, change direction and pace, pause here and there, and do your best to immitate a wounded and fleeing baitfish.
... i should clarify... YOU are not trying to immitate the baitfish, I was talking about your fly + retrive...
Blue back clousers with a fair amount of flash have been the ticket for me. Area 10 residents have been keying really well on that pattern lately. I agree with Chad that the retreive and the shape of the fly have probably more to do with it than the color.
I was on a certain beach today at low tide and the coho were practically swimming at my feet. Talk about getting your heart racing. I could not get the schools to chase anything pink, chartreuse or orange. (I didn't try blue, though). I landed a nice silver on a black bead-headed wooley bugger with a silver tensil tail. Lots of chases from the resident silvers on that same fly, too. (I assume they were the residents since they were smaller than the big schooling fish). But with the exception of that one large hatchery coho, I didn't get many looks. Any idea why these fish weren't as aggressive to a fly? I varied my retrieve with the same result.
Fishboy, Next time in that situation, try this. As you are stripping in and see the fish behind your fly, swing you rod low and fast to the side. I'm right handed, so if I have chasing fish I'll purposely set up my cast to go to my left. Other times the current will set this up for you depending on how much flow there is and which direction it is moving. As I'm retrieving, the fly will now be coming in from my left. I'll swing my rod fast and low to my right so it is parallel to the beach or even up behind you. That extra acceleration of the fly will at times get the fish to streak in and grab the fly right at your feet in super shallow water. I hooked up four fish this past Sunday doing this. I saw ever fish chasing the fly before they drilled it. Good luck, Brian
As northern coho begin to move through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and into Puget Sound I am armed with a box of pink-over-white and bright green-over-white fliesin sizes 4 and 6. They can be standard bucktails, Clousers, Shock-and-Awe or any other good fly, depending on the water condtions; depth or current, etc. These colors however are topnotch for coho at this time of year. I still have both Lambuth Herring and Lambuth Candlefish patterns along for the coho that are still feeding voraciously. When their appetites abate though, the attractors will very often be the ticket. Good Fishing, Les Johnson
