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[BCfisherman97]

I was fishing an area where the river splits off due to an island, fished the deep stretch with only a few pinks to show, but then moved to the over half which was almost like a side channel. Me and my buddy could see the fish constantly pushing in their little group. The larger chinooks would come in 5-10 at a time, and just push through like torpedo's in a few seconds. Then the pinks would come in large schools and go by a little slower. I started to wonder where the coho were because in the last two years I have been catching them in decent numbers around the last week of September. Looked a little closer the you could actually see a few coho in the schools of pinks. They were noticeable because the pinks were travelling closer to the surface than the coho, the coho were thicker than the pinks and were traveling almost along the gravel. Managed to hook and lose one on a blade but they were there with the pinks. Probably going to get check out that spot where we fished together last fall Milo, either that or hit the Thompson again. I assume that there are fish resting there so I guess its worth a shot.

Cheers

[HOOK]

I catch fish with any method. I do enjoy fly fishing more and spey casting even more than that 

I use my gear during times of the season when gear is going to be more effective. I then use my fly when I feel it will produce more. a lot of the time during the fall im actually carrying both on the water depending on where I will be fishing.





HOOK - will put his fly rod down to help a gut chucker land his fish...................sometimes   

[Every Day]

I also disagree with the whole fly fishing is a progression. If it is... I guess that means I have progressed and now de-evolved.

I toss pin, level wind, spoons, spinners, fly and spey. I can say that out of all those methods, the ones I enjoy most now a days are spoons and spinners on a small spinning outfit. Is the reason I like it because I catch more fish? No. It's because I enjoy the method, I love only having to carry a box of spoons and leader. I love how light they are, how easy they are to cast and how accurate they are. What I love most is the ability to keep moving and cover water faster than anything else, and of course I love the bone crushing hits. It's not at all about the fact I catch less fish on the fly, or don't know how to fly fish properly, it's about what each individual enjoys most as far as method goes.

I fly fish all summer for summer runs, and all fall for coho. To be honest, I wouldn't if it weren't for 2 reasons. 1) I find flies more effective for them than anything else (small sparse patterns and a long leader means fish see the fly first with nothing else around - float/weights - and many times the fly imitates exactly what they (steelhead) are eating). 2) Half the time I am fishing fly fishing only rivers... if they weren't fly fishing only, I'd be chucking metal at em.

Do what you like best, and what you find works best. Any fisherman that tells you they don't ever want to catch fish is lying, so if you are limiting your fish catching abilities because you feel elitist and want to stick to one single method, go for it - but don't push that opinion on new fishermen who haven't caught a bunch. I personally take multiple set ups, fish flies first, metal second and then bait if I'm really hurting. Most days I don't make it past flies if it's for coho.

[Sandman]

It is interesting, after reading your posts, magician and ED, but I don't think either of you are actually disagreeing with me, since I never once said that Fly fishing is "better" than bait fishing, I just said it was more challenging.  I am not sure why people read more into my post than what was there.  I also never said that you could not enjoy hooking a fish using other methods, or that you could not "evolve" or switch from fly fishing to other methods, I just said I feel more satisfaction hooking a fish on a fly. I do not think anyone could convince me, given that fishing any method is still a challenge and bait is no guarantee you are going to hook fish drift fishing, that tossing a baited hook with lead and a float, or a blade for that matter, is not going to be easier to reach more fish than casting a fly. I welcome you to try. I have read your blade adventure stories ED and I know that one reason you like fishing blades so much, other than the heart stopping strike, is your ability to cover water more quickly and efficiently than other methods including a fly (and I am also pretty sure your fly box is probably smaller and lighter than your box of blades, so that can't be it).   I also take exception to the fact that someone who on the one hand argues people should fish using whatever method they choose, tells me in the same breath that I must feel elitist because I prefer one method and would rather fish that method and not catch fish than carry a back up rod to fish if the first does not produce a fish.  No one is "Pushing" one method on anyone.

[Ian Forbes]

Backing up what Sandman just said... And, although I hate posting the same thing twice, I think this is appropriate here...

[bigblue]

Looked a little closer the you could actually see a few coho in the schools of pinks. They were noticeable because the pinks were travelling closer to the surface than the coho, the coho were thicker than the pinks and were traveling almost along the gravel. Managed to hook and lose one on a blade but they were there with the pinks.

That is a very interesting observation BCF97.
I wonder what would be the best method to selectively target the cohos and avoid hooking the pinks in this kind of situation?

[Every Day]

I do not think anyone could convince me, given that fishing any method is still a challenge and bait is no guarantee you are going to hook fish drift fishing, that tossing a baited hook with lead and a float, or a blade for that matter, is not going to be easier to reach more fish than casting a fly. I welcome you to try.

It may be easier to reach more fish, but it doesn't mean it's more effective.

Casting bait at fish in low clear water spooks them in my experience (if float fishing). Casting spoons under the same conditions can also spook them (I find 50 % want to kill it and 50% take off the other way). Flies I very, very rarely spook fish and find as long as I can hit the fish (not an issue in smaller flows) the fish will bite almost every time. This past weekend I went 10 for 10 sight fishing individual steelhead on the fly, not sure I would have done that with a float or with a spoon at the end of the line in the crystal clear, very low water.

I still stand by the fact that if you can present a fly to them, steelhead, pinks, and coho are more prone to take a fly than anything else. Chinook on the other hand, you'll never see me tossing flies for, because it just doesn't work all that well unless you're off a beach somewhere. Same thing with sockeye, bait all the way.

[Sandman]

Same thing with sockeye, bait all the way.

I used to think so too, until my recent trip to the Harrison.  A old friend of mine recently caught his first spring on the fly on the Vedder the other day.  You can bet he was thrilled.

[clarki]

I used to think so too, until my recent trip to the Harrison.  A old friend of mine recently caught his first spring on the fly on the Vedder the other day.  You can bet he was thrilled.

Good idea for a thread, Milo re. salmon behaviour, although it has gotten a little off track... Two things to offer. One from personal experience, and one not.

In late August I retained a hatch buck coho off the beach. When gutting him, his gut was completely empty, so I presumed that he had stopped feeding prior to his upstream spawning run. In mid Sept, my partner retained a carbon copy hatch buck coho, except his gut was packed full of stickleback. We counted approx 50 inch long stickleback in his gut, some partly digested and some quite fresh. So I learned two things: 1) coho might not stop feeding when I think they do. Typically in late summer/early fall I "up" my gear for coho (bigger spoons, bigger beach rod), however seeing that some coho are still actively feeding on small prey I may be wise to continue tossing the smaller spoons that I typically use for cutthroat throughout the summer. 2) In 20 years of fishing this beach I can only recall seeing needlefish in the gut of the fish I have retained. Seeing stickleback was an eye opener.

Many years ago a well known Fraser Valley anger wrote an article about his "underdog theory". One day on the Chehalis, using polaroid glasses, he observed a small group of coho hiding underneath and just behind large group of chum that were holding close in the clear water. He observed the coho darting forward under the chum and then returning to their postiton in the rear. He presumed that they were feeding on loose chum eggs. His solution was to gear down, use a longer leader, use a single Jensen egg or tuft of wool in a colour that would not attract chum (i.e. peach or cotton candy), cast above the chum, and drift through them to target the coho behind.