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[Rodney]

After getting a brief sweet taste of coho action on Monday, I decided to toy with my luck one more time this week. This morning, armed with the cooler that is too big for this ambitious angler, I headed to the North Shore hoping to bag another hatchery coho salmon.

Perhaps I was slightly too excited, arriving 15 minutes earlier than Monday. A dozen or so people were already stationing on the beach and chatting away. After standing around for 10 minutes or so, we started whipping our artificials out there. The odd silvers could be seen leaping out of the moon-lit ocean. Although the beach is fairly sheltered, the strong breeze sent constant pounding waves to the beach. This prevented most of us from wading to the depth where we normally would.

15 minutes or so went by, no surface action could be seen. It was somewhat discouraging, even though it didn't necessarily mean no fish were around. Just when my expectation was lowered, I noticed some small splashes directly in front of me. They seemed to be baitfish, jumping frantically about 20 feet in front of me. Just when I was taking a closer look, a few dorsal fins stuck out in between the wave crests. The fish were feeding in 2 feet of water. What to do now? The lure isn't exactly designed to work through that water column slowly. I would have snagged up rather fast. I wished a fly rod was packed with me.

These signs of fish boosted up the expectation once again. It was getting bright. Another 20 or so minutes went by without much action except one wild fish being landed and released fairly far away from me. I spotted some leapers in the horizon, but within casting distance. There was still hope to entice one of those. I twitched and retrieved the lure, so it would look like a baitfish in distress. Finally the sudden tug I longed for happened about 50 feet out from me. I set the hook in a hurry, the spool immediately spun furiously as the fish headed into the deep. I walked back slowly and kept the line tight while it went for a few high leaps. It began swimming from side to side like all the other fish I've hooked or seen hooked. I followed it along the beach. The waves became my advantage as I gained some line. This fish was in the shallows in no time. It went for a few more desperate runs, only to be pushed back by the waves. I carefully slid it up and a silvery 3lb hatchery buck was bagged.

By this time, it was already 7am so after a few more casts, I packed it in to avoid rush hour traffic on the bridge. As I was leaving, Lucky followed after working on a different beach. He congratulated me for landing the only coho salmon this morning.

Now back at the office, ready to grind away. Does anyone not love living in Vancouver?

[Ed]

WoW Rodney beautiful fish.. your 2/2 in the last 2  trips.... i'm still 0/n

[Tee]

Rodney, can I have (buy) the spoon you were using  ?

Thanks for the report once again.

[Rodney]

The lures that I was using were actually bought in Australia in 1994 when I left there. They have been great to me over the years while fishing the saltwater for salmon. The action is similar to a Buzz Bomb or Zinger, so I think those would work just as well. The twitch added into the retrieve makes a big different IMO. I usually just shake the rod back and forth, the amount of movement is only less 1 foot apart but in high repetition. The retrieve has also been fast, almost keeping my lure near the surface. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on my technique though, only two fish have been landed so far. They were probably blind.

[THE_ROE_SLINGER]

Great read rodney! once again nice fish

[BladeKid]

way to go rod...i'm sure this one will be tasting jjust as good

[Tee]

The action is similar to a Buzz Bomb or Zinger, so I think those would work just as well. The twitch added into the retrieve makes a big different IMO. I usually just shake the rod back and forth, the amount of movement is only less 1 foot apart but in high repetition. The retrieve has also been fast, almost keeping my lure near the surface. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on my technique though, only two fish have been landed so far.  They were probably blind.

Actually, I think the action is quite important. When I was fishing for pinks in Campbell river on in the salt chuck, almost everybody was using the pink Zinger but only a few were consistently hooking the fish. I observed the way they created the lure action; it was similar to what you just described.