Fished the Hood Canal today with Mike. Got several nice photos of him with cutts (see attachments). He landed 10, I only got two. All fish taken on intermediate lines and sculpin patterns. Wet day, but the fish didn't care! Jeff
Seeing as i live on hood canal....looks like i have some fish to find. Gotta decide where to start. Nice reports though.
Got them about 10 miles south of the Hood Canal Bridge on the West side of the Canal. However, I have caught a few right around the bridge off the bank. Hit one small coho that flipped off right as I was going to land and release him. Thanks guys. Good luck. Jeff
Good for you, Jeff, and thanks for sharing! If you're going to get soaked, I'm glad to see some grip-and-grin photos! You recommended the Outbound line to someone in a post elsewhere; is that what you are using? If so, on what rod, and are you lining it with the matching line weight?
Hey Jeff, did you notice fish moving or any surface activity at the spot you fished before you fished it. Or is it just a spot you know and hit it without noticing any fish movement? Just curious about that...Thanks for the timely report. Sounds like you guys had a great day.
Congrats on the good day! I really need to get out and not get skunked! I hope I have a ten fish day coming soon. Good on ya for getting out, and gettin' fish!
Beautiful fish, Jeff, I've caught many of my biggest fish on sculpins as well. Do you use green or brown? A heads up though, Big Brother is watching. It's now illegal to remove "must release fish" from the water, even briefly. A friend of mine in knee deep water lifted a native steelhead up on request by a reporter from The Olympian long enough for a quick Kodak moment a couple of years back, and they put his picture in the sports section, along with his name. A couple of days later WDFW showed up at his door. Most thinking folks would agree that you didn't harm your cutts, but I'd hate to see someone rain on your parade. Pun intended. Thanks for the detailed and entertaining report.
I did notice some surface activity and it was about an hour before the incoming tide. We fished Brown/olive sculpin patterns with gold colored flashabou in them. After the slack high, the bite dropped WAY off and we didn't hook much after that. We didn't have time to wait around for the tide change, but I am sure the fish would resume feeding once the water starting moving again. Thanks for the heads up about removing fish from the water. Regarding Richard's question about the line: it is a Rio Outbound with an intermediate head and floating running line for a 6 weight. I fish it on my TiCrX 6 weight or on my medium fast 6 weight Scott. Can get quite the distance with the Scott as I can with the TiCrX though. Jeff
Not to stir the pot but jeff has done nothing illegal. Nice catch man! :thumb: and the definition of salmon is
Doug, an intermediate line is a fly line which has a portion of the tip that sinks at a slow rate of descent. Normally the tip is clear, or sometimes referenced as “camouflage”. The entire fly line can be intermediate, but most frequently just 8-15 feet of the tip is, and the remainder of the fly line is floating line. The Rio Outbound has an intermediate tip section that is 37.5' long, designed for beach fishing. The tip, or head, is longer than normal to allow quicker loading of the rod, and the sink rate, about 1.5" per second, is designed to just get it, and the fly, a few inches below the surface of the water to avoid wave and wind action pushing on the line and fly. I fish the Rio OB with 4 feet of tippet material, about 8-10 lb test, without using a leader with it; as it is clear, a leader isn’t necessary, and may actually keep the fly from sinking. Faster sinking lines or tips are usually designated as TYPE I, II, III, etc., to designate increasingly faster sinking rates, but they are not clear. The clear line may help with spooky fish in clear water too. 90% of the time I go to the beach with just two lines, a dry and the RIO intermediate line. You can usually get bye with just the floating line and throwing a fly with some weight in it, but there are times when an intermediate line is just the right tool for the job.
Nice job Jeff. We should get together sometime. I was out today in the drizzle as you were yesterday and beached about 9 fish also. I'm at Seabeck. I'll trade you your sculpin pattern for my Kilowatt Red.
Right on, Larry. Let's do it. I can't ever get enough cool sculpin patterns. PM me if you want to hook up with my crew and we can wreck some havoc on the cutts. Jeff
Hey larry, i have been to seabeck before but never really looked around for fishing spots. Is there a public access around there, i know there is a boat launch and stuff, at least i thought there was. Thanks
