Have you considered using bigger stinger hooks? There just isn't a lot of gap on a size 6 octopus to bury the hook. Since aggressively feeding coho aren't leader or hook shy, you might give that a try. Especially now that we are getting into prime toad time. Personally I've lost to many fish on small hooks so I mainly use size 2's and 1's stingers now. Good luck out there. SF
good on you guys with the reports. Ill be up there fri-mon chasing them around on your beaches. Black mariners hat and a grin on my face. Love hitting the salt, don't get a ton of opportunity!
Thanks for the suggestions, Toad. I generally don't like to strip two handed, as I find that a super fast retrieve hasn't been the ticket for me, and I don't really like the feel of fishing that way....However if it would lead to more conistent solid hook ups then I'm down to try anything!
Yeah I have used some bigger hooks, I just ran out. I didn't do a very good job of preparing for this salmon season, as I was working so much so I didn't get to stock up on tying supplies for salt flies, so I've been stuck with what I'm able to buy locally and what I had on hand. I have been having my best luck with clousers tied stinger style, and I had a couple tied with bigger hooks but I've dinged them up on rocks and such so I've been stuck using the smaller ones as that's all they had at the local shop. I would go stock up on some supplies to tie my own, but I'm just not willing to give up my beach time right now! lol Is it possible to change a stinger hook without retying the whole fly? I'm prettty new to this business.
Nice work on the fish Nick - nice to meet you too. I only stayed a few mintues after you left. Nothing for me last night. A few shakers, a couple light hits, and one that nabbed my fly a few feet in front of me and bolted away but I never got a solid set and he spit the fly. Conditions are right though and a decent number of big fish cruising around.
I agree with stonefish. I use #1 stinger hooks on all of my adult coho flies. Most flies tied for a stinger including the ones I tie have just a loop of braid sticking out and inch or so short of the tail of the fly so when the hook is looped on to the braid the stinger sits right about flush with the tail of the the fly to 1/2" in from the end of the fly. Try the bigger stingers and make sure they are razor sharp and you will land a lot more fish. Black #1 gamakatsu octopus hooks are my favorite and come ultra sharp, relativley cheap too.
Nothing doing last night or this morning for me. Gonna take a break tonight to go stock up on some flies and look for new waders as mine are absolutely on their last leg. Cook up a nice salmon dinner, then get ready to hit it hard over the weekend!
Glad I didn't take off a half day to go out this morning. I'll be out ther tomorrow though. I've been very happy with my Redington Sonic Pro waders. Very good waders for the price and they sell them at Peninsula. SF and Jonathan: Thanks for the tips on stingers. I have been using #4s as that's what I had. swapped one out last night for a #2 but never got any takers to try it out.
Yeah I've heard nothing but good things about the Sonic Pros. I'm gonna swing into Peninsula tonight and hopefully walk out with a pair of them. I'm heading to Gig Harbor first to see if they have a bigger selection of flies. I should just buy what I need to tie up a bunch for the weekend, but I'm not going to have a whole lot of time between now and then so I'll just go with what they have.
Figured out how to swap the hooks. Also stopped by the fly shop and got everything I need to tie my own. Gonna get busy tonight.
Wish I'd read Jonathan's post before I went out at PNP yesterday morning. Got fishing about 6:45, Great morning and not too crowded on the beach....even less crowded off the beach in my kayak although there were a couple boats doing the drift from the Point with me - far less than I expected. There were clouds of bait there all morning until low slack. I had two good hits on this sort of herring imitation on a sinking line in about 50-90 ft of water. Couldn't get a good set on either one so after reading above I conclude the hook needs to be a bit farther back on this since the fly's a little over 4 inches long. But also, on these tubes which direction should you position the hook on the initial set up? I usually put it in the tube pointed up... in this case I had it down. Does it even make any difference? Thanks
Greg, Hope you didn't take any incoming lead shots this morning from the beach anglers..... As far as hooks go, I always like point up. That is a pretty large, fully dressed pattern, so a larger stinger hook might help as well. Good luck out there. SF
Yeah - every once in a while the eddy would push me in too close... and someone would lob one at me to remind to get back out of there. Next ties on that fly will be a little sparser and I'll find a way to move the hook back - probably longer extension on the tube - and get a #1 - I think this was a #2 if I recall correctly. Thanks for the advice.
I saw a guy in a yellow Yak when I was walking back to the truck yesterday morning. Looked like a fun morning for a cruise on the sound.
