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[BladeKid]

thanks mike

[newsman]

I always use a dry line when fishing streams & rivers; helps with line the visual and line control. To get down I use weighted flies or shooting heads.

[mastercaster]

My first experience catching springs on the fly was up on the Birkenhead R. about 8-10 years ago.  My buddy and I went up there to check it out for trout so we started with 5 wt's.  We saw these springs cruising in the water and we had no business even casting to them with this lighter gear.  My buddy soon hooked into one and even though it was over 20 lbs. as the the old adage goes...small river=small fight.   By rights this fish should have taken him a mile down the river but he played it pretty much where he hooked it.

I walked up river a bit and saw 2 more lying out on the other side...a great big male that was closer to me and a female.  On the third cast at the male the female bombed over about 10 feet to nail the fly.  Once again, not a huge fight but once I played it out enough to bring it to hand the fish was holding broadside in the current and when I slowly tried to pull it over to me....bang!!   It was like a shotgun going off.  My rod broke in not one but two pieces!   I got the fish in and my buddy took a picture with me holding the fish and showing the latest in 4 piece rods.

I also had a 7 wt. with me and for the rest of the day we walked and drove the river targeting springs.  I landed 5 more and had a few come off.  When you saw the fish zone in on your fly it was damn scary but very exciting all at the same time.  The fly we were using was a bright pink bunny tail worm pattern about 3-4 inches long with some crystal flash in it.  The water was gin clear and we were using floating lines.  We were hooking them in 2 to 4 feet of water.  Don't know if you can fish for them anymore.  You'd have to check the regs.

[kellya]

Not bein a jerk but in sounds like they may have been on their beds. 2-4 feet deep and paired up. I have no clue i wasnt there but salmon on their beds would hit out of aggression but its not a great idea. Best to avoid fish on their redds.

[Jonny 5]

What do these patterns look like? How do u fish them, dead drift?

use a tom thumb and dead drift it

Funny that you mention that.  I had lots of luck fishing coho with a tom thumb when I ran out of other flies... Never thought it would work, but it was pretty dynamite!

[Jonny 5]

Oh, and here is a video that I was looking for.  Although not really a dry fly, it does show a coho (a nice big red one) taking a polywog as mentioned.   

http://www.lakemarie.com/Silver%20Salmon/Silver%20salmon%20hitting%20a%20surface%20fly.wmv

Bet the guy has 50 hours of video of that thing being stripped in with no fish though 

[younggun]

yah ur probably right. but the chums and pinks would hit it. coho it would be like 1 out of a hundred fish

[newsman]

Check out the article on Dry Fly Coho in the latest issue of BC Outdoors. Figures Pete Morrison would be riding the crest of the newest thing, he has been on the cutting edge of Salmon Fly Fishing off our coast since it's evolution 12 years ago.

Just goes to show me how far out of touch I am. While I am working on perfecting my salmon patterns on my beloved Stave & Thompson, my mentors are out catching Coho with dries in the open ocean. And I thought I had accompished something getting my patterns published along with masters like Haig-Brown, Brayshaw, and General Nole Money. Yah "Who's your Daddy".

[younggun]

Seems like atleast a couple coho will be stupid enough to hit a few of my patterns. Good luck to all of u out there who are gonna be fly fishing salmon with me.

[Mike D.]

Good luck to all of u out there who are gonna be fly fishing salmon with me.

Uh Oh....first your telling people to watch out for you on the chehalis...now fly fishing? you got a lot to back up when you and I have a fly fishing the harrison and chehalis drift fishing challenge this fall..... all I can say is good luck...as I frequent these rivers more times in one year than you have in your whole life   

Mike <")))))><

[younggun]

I'm saying good luck mike so people can catch alot of fish and have fun, not so it can be a competition. And with u it was a joke because i knew that u fish those rivers alot more than i do. I know my limits.

[newsman]

Check out the article on Dry Fly Coho in the latest issue of BC Outdoors. Figures Pete Morrison would be riding the crest of the newest thing, he has been on the cutting edge of Salmon Fly Fishing off our coast since it's evolution 12 years ago.

Newsman, do you mean salmon dry fly fishing has been evolving for 12 years or all fly fishing for salmon? My mentor and a bunch of others have been fly fishing salmon in fresh and salt water for at least 25 years. I probably hooked my first coho on the fly 20 years ago.

I recently hooked up with my old mentor after a long absence from fly fishing and he was telling me about how a few of them have been fishing dries for different salmon species in fresh and salt for the last number of years. A lot of these guys fly under the radar but you might see some of their patterns in books or read the odd article from them.They are low key and possibly some of the best guys you could ever fish with. As with most new trends there is always the few who are pioneers and I know a few of these pioneers are happy without the notoriety and don`t expect or want it. They just love being on the water and enjoying fishing, nature and the company of others. They are not secretive of methods but maybe about some locations. Once you have caught so many fish a certain way on the same flies it`s a natural step to try other things to see if it works. Although I haven`t done it yet, it is apparently possible to catch pacific salmon on dries in both fresh and salt water, I`ll be trying my hand at it once the pinks roll in

Cheers

Nuggy

Yes I was refering to salt. I know there have been pioneers working at it for years, but it never came into vogue until around 12 years ago. Salmon on dries in open water is new, as for fresh to my knowledge it's been going on for 7 years, and Jim Teeny has been successful with dries in estuarys for about ten.