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The Wenatchee's open for Chinook

Spey 
3K views 21 replies 11 participants last post by  Flyborg 
#1 ·
We have this debate: these fish aren't eating, but rather attacking something that flashes in front of their face. Two questions: first, which is it-trying to eat or attacking, and second, do you think they'd go after a spey fly?

The Wenatchee's really rolling now, so floating is the safer option, but as soon as it goes down a little, casting the big rod might be worth while. do any of you think a 7 weight would handle one of these fish?
 
#2 ·
The Wenatchee's really rolling now, so floating is the safer option, but as soon as it goes down a little, casting the big rod might be worth while. do any of you think a 7 weight would handle one of these fish?
Whether attacking or eating... I guess I don't really put much thought in to it anymore. They are responding to something in their space and that often involves putting it in their mouths. In any case, they're not feeding (they can't. they can't metabolize it at least), so who knows what they're doing.

I've swung kings on a 7wt spey. It was a little undergunned. 7wt single hander, probably adequate for only the small guys ( < 10lbs )
 
#3 ·
We have this debate: these fish aren't eating, but rather attacking something that flashes in front of their face. Two questions: first, which is it-trying to eat or attacking, and second, do you think they'd go after a spey fly?

The Wenatchee's really rolling now, so floating is the safer option, but as soon as it goes down a little, casting the big rod might be worth while. do any of you think a 7 weight would handle one of these fish?
7wt 2 hander should be fine. But keep in mind my "King on the fly" experience is limited (one King, not a Spring fish). I have seen a lot of Springers caught this year and most are in the 28" - 34" range. So, 12#- 16# tops?

AND the 7 wt I would use many consider a slightly light-8 wt (TCX).
 
#12 ·
I swing flies on the icicle especiall a little later when the water drops ,6 yrs ago when I was moving down from alaska I started fishing this river again ,got a lot of funny looks swinging a fly and then it happenned-------------- right by the boat ramp I nailed a hen and she spent more time out of the water than in it , woulda thought she was asteelhead, buddy had a net w/ scale she was aprox 15 lbs ! what a show then to throw salt in all the plunkers wounds I revied and released her knowing as she had been stung she would shoot for the hatchery rules and rude bankies be damned she earned it smitty
 
#14 ·
You're going to need to fish some heavy tips and big bugs to get down in these flows. That along with the high water I would say fish a 8 or 9 if you can. Has anyone swung a springer on the Wenatchee this year? Grew up there and its killing me not being home to fish it. With the recent popularity of spey fishing if its happened it could quite possibly be the first springer caught on a spey rod in the history of the Wenatchee?
 
#17 ·
if you are going to swing on the icicle right now I usually start at the launch if it is empty or I go all the way up to the boundary hole and work down to the handicap ramp this area is a rock garden so plunkers do not usuually use it then around the bend from the boat ramp is the drift hole there I usually fish the tail out as there are usually drift fisheres in there all in all there is water if you scout it and work with th eplunkers . Now as to a remark above"Way to live up to the elitist fly flicker stereotype" this was years back when the fishery was a good display of rude behaviour and catch a fish at all costs , I find after many years absence that it has mellowed out a bit in fact have had quite a few inquiries as to my gear (bamboo spey) "elitist"? never I fish in all manner that is legal w/o a lot of the snobery that goes on which can be quite entertaining and to really stir up the purists in really heavvy water I use gear to drift my flies because once you set up a fly rod to handle all that you are not really fly fishing enough of the rant time to prepare for tomorrows dance of whispering death oh and I'll try not to be too much of an elitist LOL smitty
 
#19 ·
I agree with you on the mainstem of the wenatchee as the wenatchee does support a population of wild stock however I stand by my previous actions of yrs ago on the icicle which is a TERMINAL fishery and also at that point in time there were no regs as they are today whereas if you are seen cnr a hatchery fish in a watershed that is open to EMERGENCY rules then you wil be cited unless it was a self release by the fish or you committed an error in the landinding of said fish the gamies are real observant of which is intentional or accidental .I have been reading the back and forth wars of wild vs hatchey as to genentics and how it affects wild stocks mostly on the steelhead side of things if this is truly such an issue then maybe it is time to curtail the hatchery programs altogether, which I realize would really get a growl going with the meat hookers not being able to retain . The wenatchee itself is a very inviting river that I used to fish regularly before all the changes about 20-25 yrs ago it was great to fish tumwater and for the most part with me it was cnr in the canyon so being as we cannot please everyone it looks like hatcheries are her to stay . Having lived many years in alaska there are very few hatcheries there and for the most part you are fishing over wild fish but also by greatly fewer people than in the lower 48 a total dependency on wild stock in the lower 48 would not work as yoy have to share a 3 way pie ,tribal,commercial,sport same in alaska only there it is commercial,sport ,and subsisitance.
smitty
 
#20 ·
The salmon "not eating" is old observational non-wisdom repeated by a century of frustrated fishermen. (And I get that frustration, but I delight in busting old wives tales). Recent studies and field observation by biologists have shown that a percentage of salmon do continue feeding after entering freshwater, and while the production of digestive enzymes nearly shuts-down, they don't shut down entirely, nor does that stop them from continuing to feed. Survival instinct is a hard thing to subvert in nature, and our desire to eat food is as primal as propagation.

Steelhead are similar, except their digestive enzymes restart when they think they're going to return to the ocean.

Start busting open the stomachs of fish you catch. You'll find that even the occasional tule chinook has an atrophied stomach full of caddis, smolts, eggs, or bits of plastic.
 
#21 ·
The salmon "not eating" is old observational non-wisdom repeated by a century of frustrated fishermen. (And I get that frustration, but I delight in busting old wives tales). Recent studies and field observation by biologists have shown that a percentage of salmon do continue feeding after entering freshwater, and while the production of digestive enzymes nearly shuts-down, they don't shut down entirely, nor does that stop them from continuing to feed. Survival instinct is a hard thing to subvert in nature, and our desire to eat food is as primal as propagation.

Steelhead are similar, except their digestive enzymes restart when they think they're going to return to the ocean.

Start busting open the stomachs of fish you catch. You'll find that even the occasional tule chinook has an atrophied stomach full of caddis, smolts, eggs, or bits of plastic.
When I whack hatchery steelhead in the upper Columbia tribs, their stomachs are almost always empty. Even during the big chinook spawn, I hardly even find eggs in the stomachs. Weird for fish that are otherwise pretty aggressive and grabby.
 
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