Let me defend myself (not another arguement!) for the use of poppers. 1. I didn't see one fish jump, so I didn't know if there were fish around. 2. It drives me absolutely nuts to fish blindly and not even know if fish are around.
That's precisely why I fish poppers. If I approach a beach I know, suspect, or think fish are present, my popper will bring them up – 100% of the time. If nothing rises, I move on, 'cause the fish have also moved on. Leland.
Don't get me wrong, I think poppers are great... but I'd rather hook a few fish on a floating line and weighted fly than one on a popper. Fishing from a boat you can still see the strike pretty often anyway. I guess its all about your mix of quality v. quantity. Maybe I am just a bit more skewed towards catching more fish. I've only fished poppers a few times though, so I'm sure Leland's average is higher than mine. In support of fish crazy aerial strikes though, this fall I had a cutthroat take my fly just as I was picking it up off the water at the end of my retreive. The fly was probably 3 or 4 inches off the water and he still got it. Pretty cool to watch!
100%?? Geez, that's a little extreme isn't it?:rofl: I have definitely hit fish (both coho and cutts) subsurface after getting nary a boil on a popper. Of course, I fish subsurface waaaay more than on top, so I'm sure I don't have the popper technique perfected... but still... no such thing as 100% IMHO
I had an old secret popper that my dad made back in the boyscouts. I used for like 2 years, and then it finally gave up the ghost!!! I caught soooooo many cutties with that fly!!! I had a fairly large searun break the shank in half!! Boy I miss that fly. later Ryan
To all interested: Great to hear the resident coho fishing is good. I need to know about clipped and unclipped fish numbers. How many did you look at, how many were clipped? If you would give me date, numbers and average size that would be great, location also good as well, but understand the sensitive nature of that information. Contact me at work, if that helps. 902-2663 Roger is correct (of course, I think he knows more about this topic than I do), the fish size is large for this time of year, the next two months will tell the story, if they are going to move north, it will be between now and March. Big fish now mean there should be bait to hold them (hope). Keep fishing and keep looking for clips! Fisbio
okay so suck is the wrong word usage.... lets put it like i dont like popper fishing for coho..... there we go... and to answer that other dudes question, i have heard of the miyawaki popper but it doesnt hook enough fish because of the hook coming off the top... i prefer the puget sound slider when popper fishing
Fishbio, I'm not seeing any clipped Coho in the small pods hanging around Snohomish County beaches, but they're healthy, and chunky as well, around 14-15". I'll start keeping tabs if data from that area is helpful to you.
Salt Dog, et al. I was told by a person working in a fly shop that the practice of rearing, clipping, and late releasing coho for the purpose of creating "resident Coho" has not happened for a few years. He further said that if I was catching smallish Coho in the Sound it proved that they had established themselves, on their own, as a non ocean going kind of fish. Well now I am very confused. sb
Jim, I would be glad to get data from farther north. As there are not any major delayed release programs that far north, estimates of residents in that area may mean a good year for resident coho all around (blackmouth as well). As you may know, our delayed release program doesn't make all the fish resident, it only increases the percentage of fish that hang around (from a normal of about 5% up to 25-30%). Historically, the sound had resident coho supported by wild popualtions, when those began to decline in the late 50's, Frank Haw and others developed the technique of holding fish past their normal migration timing (April-May, until June-July), usually in net pens, but we do some at freshwater sites (Minter). We have been making efforts the last 5 years to increase resident coho after they again began to disappear in the late 80s and 90s. I hope those efforts are paying off. Good fishing and look for those clipped fish. Andy
sb, happy to help with some information. See reply to Jim for other info. The Squaxin net pens (coop with Squaxin Tribe) has been releasing "delayed" coho since 1976 (June release). Historically we did about 2.7 million, plus 250,000 from Fox Is. net pens (now closed due to budget cuts). Minter ck hatchery also did 250,000 delayed coho (July release). That program was stopped in 1992. Currently, we still do 1.8 million from Squaxin Is net pens, (we actually worked to reduce the number because we thought the drop in resident coho in the 90s may be due to a shortage of feed in PS) and brought back the 250,000 at Minter ck hatchery (historically, they were very good producers). Fox Is still closed. (A study to evaluate this was funded by the Puget Sound Recreational Enhancement Group, who get money from license sales). The evaluation is why I have been asking folks to let me know what the clipped to unclipped rate is for fish they catch. All hathcery coho in south Puget Sound are clipped (even Nisqually tribal coho). (All WDFW coho statewide are clipped). So if we are still seeing a lot of unclipped residents, we will know that significant wild (or at least naturally spawning coho are contributing) Hope that helps, Andy
This thread has piqued my interest. Here's a question from somebody that has never set foot in saltwater with a fly rod. Is there a particular type of beach one would be looking for, or is anyplace I can get a good cast into the water worth trying. Also, just in case I decide to give it a shot, will the salt water cause my trout gear any problems? I realize I would give everything a thorough rinse at the end of the day but just want to be sure. Thanks... Steve A
