Puget Sound fly fishing seminar

Dave McCoy, the head guide of Emerald Water Anglers shared tips and information on fishing the expansive waters of Puget Sound. The seminar, held Saturday, Jan. 21, was part of series of seminars put on by Northwest Flyfishing Outfitters in Portland.

About 20 people attended the seminar listening and writing down notes as Dave talked about access, tides, flies, rods, reels, lines, water temperature, seasons, etc. The primary fish being targeted are searuns and resident salmon since they are the most consistent fish in the sound. He noted that the sound is a year-round fishery but March through June and September through November are the best time to fish. With such a large body of water, it would be easy to get intimidated when trying to figure out where to start fishing. My goal was to learn more about this fishery since it is a natural for kayak fly fishing. You can cover more water than fishing from a bank, you can follow the fish as they move up and down the beach and you can get to fish further farther from shore. Dave did point out that kayakers are starting to explore this fishery especially the area near the Tacoma Narrows.

Here are a couple tips I picked up:
  • Fish the incoming and outgoing tides and eat lunch during slack tide.
  • Fish will move up and down the beach following bait.
  • Look for areas that have structure and creatures - such as sand dollars and such.
  • Cutts eat about anything so be prepared.
  • Floating lines with normally weighted flies offer the most versatility.
  • Some beaches have netting on the bottom to keep birds away from shellfish. These areas can be good and you can walk on the nets.
  • Top water flies will work even in winter.
  • Keep your tip in water and use 18 inch retrieves.
  • 12-pound test and 8 foot leaders are fine.
  • Use flies that imitate bait fish.
  • Knotless leaders are a must.
  • Remember weighted flies, especially cone heads, do not act like bait fish because the go up and down unless stripped very quickly.
  • Keep an open mind when fly fishing the salt - be creative and think.
  • Use nets to land fish and remember fly anglers care about the fish so be careful with every fish leave the beach cleaner that you found it.
Dave stresses that this fishery needs to be better understood and protected and he is happy to share his knowledge. Don't hesitate to contact him through Emerald Water Anglers. I look forward to exploring this water soon with a kayak and fly rod, hopefully with Dave.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Starting The Season With A New Fleet

Image
The blog has received little love over the past year, so it was time to write a post. It's not that I have been fishing less, it's that I haven't taken the time to post and work on the videos. The 2022 salmon season was not nearly as epic as the 2021 season especially with the limited fall salmon season. This was mainly due to a unique hatchery Tule Chinook salmon return where the Spring Creek Hatchery upstream of Bonneville Dam had about 100,000 Chinook return - twice the average. The Tule is an endangered species in the rivers below Bonneville Dam and due to some complicated issues,  caused a closure in the lower Columbia River during the height of the season. Hobie PA17t The 2023 salmon season is off to an unseasonably cold start with winter holding on and March coming in like a lion and going out like a lion. No lambs this year. Hopefully better days await in April and beyond. I did reorganize my fleet buying and selling some kayaks while still ending up with a tandem, ...
Read more

A Productive Salmon Season in a Year of Low Returns

Image
This year has proven one of my best yet for putting salmon in the kayak. After a slow start in March and April, I hooked eight and landed six spring Chinook "Springers" on the Willamette River. All were hatchery fish and most were 30-plus inches. They were all caught with my red and orange hand-tied spinners and Pro-Troll 360 flashers. The Springers were caught in May and June, typically the end of the season. These two months seem to be my most productive. Two years ago, I landed six, and had two, two-fish days. This year, I never hooked two fish on the same day, although I had more days catching fish. Most days were spent focusing on the tide changes, and I was usually off the water by noon. I was fortunate because the run was about 25 percent lower than expected and many anglers had a rough season. I spent July fishing for smallmouth bass in the Willamette and Columbia, and spent a few days in August anchored in the Columbia fishing for fall kings. The fall season p...
Read more

Looking towards 2021 while glancing in the mirror.

Image
A limit of springers caught in July! As the fall salmon season was coming to a close, I anxiously waited for another disaster in 2020 while hoping to catch one more fish on the kayak.   Starting with a pandemic, the year seemed like it was forged in strife with racial injustice protests, political conspiracies, hazardous air quality, massive hurricanes, melting glaciers, financial disasters, and finally an election where unproven accusations and lies caused the first breach of our nation's Capitol in more than 200 years. Yep, 2020 was certainly a year we got a clear view of our country's past, present, and future.  Through most of the chaos, I enjoyed many days on my home waters fishing for salmon with my buddy Mark. The kayaks proved a great way to social distance and the Willamette and Columbia Rivers offered opportunities for salmon, steelhead, bass, sturgeon, and shad close to home.  The first half of the salmon season was tough and it wasn't until May that I fin...
Read more