In the spirit of sharing and helping newer fishermen like Allwaysfishin did with curing single eggs, I like to share some points about effective coho fishing techniques. While steelheading is my first love, coho hunting is just as exciting and satisfying if you can learn to adapt your techniques by the ever changing river conditions during coho season. Non of the techniques require more than 2 ft leader and they are for biting fish. Here are some effective techniques:
1. Short floating with roe - this is the most well known technique and the one of choice during the early season when water is low and clear, and nothing beats it during first light at some lower river runs when coho are actively inhaling the roe in early morning.
2. Spinning, spooning or jigging the runs and pools - when the sun comes out or much brighter in the day, short floating may not produce, then you can try this to get a coho to strike your lure out of aggression instead of feeding. The large buck coho tend to attack due to their territorial instint.
3. Riffling in pocket water - this is when fish are on the move, particularly when water rises but still have some visibility in some riffle water. The rapids offer some good pocket water where fish will rest during travel. Use leader not more than 12" as longer leaders can not keep down the wool. Drop and lift gently without jerking your rod to avoid non-mouth hooking fish. Fish will bite well in highly oxgenated water like the rapids. Use a float to prevent snagging up, and use smaller hooks so that you can let the hook pop open to break free any fish that is not mouth caught.
4. Short floating small pocket run with scented wool - these are small runs or larger pocket waters among fast waters which can allow you to drift but the flow is slow enough for roe or scented wool to work its magic. If the flow is really slow, use really small float with one split shot or 1" pencil lead to help drifting in such slow water. You may have to pre-strip out line to help casting because small weight may be a problem during casting.
5. Spinning small pools or slow deep side channels - these are spots off the main flow which can be too fast or murky but the slower side channels or pools have better visbility due to slower flow. Coho like to park and rest in some of these spots during travel. Use small spinners from size 1 to 3 and try to stay back without spooking the fish with your body or your presentation.
6. Stealth coho technique - this is a deadly technique and I will not discuss how it is done in detail in an internet forum to protect from over harvesting of coho. Suffice to say that it requires a small rod (trout size), light line, a few small split shots, small hooks (size 2 or smaller), totally stealthily dressed or hide from coho's view so that the coho is totally unspooked. This technque requires you to do under hand accurate cast without ever raising your rod so you do not spook the coho during your presentation, something like those bass pro who can land their lure in a small spot among branches or lily pads. Unspooked coho bite well out of instinct when momentarily flashed with a colour which resembles a feed during its life cycle, and that is the essense of this deadly technique.
I always believe that one needs to adapt your fishing approaches due to ever changing conditions of the river. It also adds more challenges or fun to your fishing when you have more ways to effectively take a fish without just sticking to or enshrining just one technique. If any one can contribute some more techniques besides flossing or snagging coho, you may add to this thread.
Good luck and tight lines.
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Topic: Effective fishing techniques for Coho (Read 3831 times)