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Quick Neah Bay Report

2K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  fish farmer 
#1 ·
We fished Neah bay this past week and it was really slow for salmon. My wife hooked a few the first day, we got none the next day and then hooked quite a few the 3rd day by running out to swiftsure. The silvers were small out there at swiftsure and the action wan't hot but it was consistent. We'd hit fish pretty regularly bucktailing and then some casting once we located fish. Clearly they were not very thick. We landed only 1 humpie on the whole trip. We got (and have been getting) consistent rains and indications are that there is not too much bait around. It could be that conditions aren't the best for holding salmon out there this year.

In fairness, it is early.

The rock bass action was consistent on the rock rises near slack current and up by the kelp most any time. Good fun. It was exceptionally easy to get the rock bass up to the surface this trip. Using a simple big tube popper on a dry line, I brought fish to the surface every cast for about 1/2 hour one day and about the same amount of time the day before. Great fun.

One day my wife had just hooked a rock bass and after fighting it for a few seconds, the line started peeling off big time. She was into her backing before the thing broke her off. I'm guessing a ling grabbed her. Another time we had a bunch of bass next to the boat chasing our flies and down below was a big old ling cruising. I hooked one of the bass and let it run around down by the ling but it wouldn't grab it... Bait fishing with the fly rod.

Here are a couple quick videos my wife shot on our camera after she landed a bunch and was taking a break. Resolution isn't great but you can see the take.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1lipr/..._2005_07_07.MOV
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1lipr/..._2005_07_07.MOV

Cheers,

-tony
 
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#3 ·
I will be up there on the 15th, 16th, 17th staying at the Tyee hotel. Mr Bellows will probably tell you to use green clausers :) Any sort of baitfish should work though, they're not really picky. I use shock and awe's with a conehead. I think a weighted head for the jigging action is the most important aspect. As for color, chartreuse, pink, blue, green, those are the colors I like the most. I've caught fish out there on red black yellow and some other colors, but I usually stick with the ones listed above.

I've found that rabbit seems to work a little better for lingcod then rockfish. I'm sure Chris will have a lot of advice for you too.

Good luck! Holler at me if you see me...
 
#4 ·
Seriously, any fly seems to work for those rock fish. In the videos above, when I was casting a dry line, I was using a big herring fly ~5" long with a popper head. Big stuff works great on those bass. Small stuff works great too. Seems like big flies pull them up to the surface better than small.

For ideas, check out the tube fly book by Les Johnson et al. for some nice ideas.

But if you are looking for a quick answer, if you can't hook them on a green & white clouser, then they aren't around.

Cheers,

-tony
 
#6 ·
Thats sounds like a blast. Here's a flurry of questions for ya:
What weight rod do you use for the rock bass and lingcod. Could I throw some giant deer hair poppers I use for large mouth and have success?
What size boat were you fishing from? I have a 17' Boston Whaler Montauk—will that handle the conditions up there if I use some common sense, although I have to find some first.
Nathan
 
#7 ·
I use a 7wt for the rockfish, lingcod, and salmon. If you get a big ling you're pretty much at it's mercy though. They will burrow into the rocks or around the kelp, I think I loose roughly 75% of the lings I hook. If you can keep them out of the rocks after their initial first run they're not that bad, but that first run, man, they're bulldogs.

The topwater action for bass can be pretty slow, I would invest in a sinking line, I use a 250 grain Rio Striper line, for all species out there. I usually bring a 2nd rod along that is strung up w/floating gear and a popper in case I see fish feeding on top. Any baitfish pattern will work with the sinking line. Check out my gallery if you want to see some pics of lings, black rockfish, and fly patterns.

As for boats I run a 2004 17' montauk. Unless you have a ton of confidence in your outboard I wouldn't go out there w/out 2 motors. VHF is handy, or a verizon cell phone.

Pic of my boat and a seabass taken on the surface from last weekend attached...

Edit: Check out a video of neah bay coonrad made to http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3579&cat=500&page=2

Good stuff!!
 

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#10 ·
Ibn, thanks for the info.That bass is sweet looking and the boat aint half bad either, it's only 27 years newer than mine. I have three motors on my rig and a paddle if the shiz really hits the fan. I'm gonna head up that way sometime soon.
Thanks :thumb:
nathan
 
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