Coho and chinook

[Big_Nate 0]

I will be trying to catch my first coho or chinook this year on a fly in southern Ontario. I'm just wondering what are some go to patterns for them. Any info or help would be great.

 

Cheers.

[mnorton 0]

try an estaz egg pattern or nuclear egg pattern of swing spey flies.....there is all kinds that work...good luck

[utyer 0]

I keep it simple. Eggs, and sucker spawn are quite easy, and cheap to tie. These fish are not feeding, so your just trying to get something to their level. Often times the fly and leader will just drift into their mouths. This technique is call flossing.

 

Simple streamer patterns will at times stimulate aggressive responses from the salmon. Don't get too complex, just a Clouser or bucktail will do.

[Big_Nate 0]

Thanks a lot guys

[Christopher K 0]

Just so you know, the practice of flossing is really looked down upon in Ontario, it's a cheap way of catching half dead fish and borders illegal. If you want to fish salmon either cast streamers in estuaries and off of piers with the smaller streams or swing larger rivers like the Saugeen to actually get a hit. Flies like comets, egg sucking leeches, small intruders and spey patterns work well in the bigger water.

[mikechell 0]

Being a southern boy, and never having fished for salmon ... I am incredibly confused.

On one hand, I always hear that salmon running upstream to spawn will not feed.

On the other hand, why tie flies that they'll eat, if they AREN'T feeding?

If they aren't actively feeding, isn't every fish caught actually hooked by "Flossing" or some other name for snagging?

[heavynets 0]

I recently returned from a trip to Alaska where I did a lot of fishing for salmon. According to our guide, pink and sockeye (red) salmon stop feeding when they enter fresh water, however, coho (silver) and chinook (king) salmon will occasionally feed and can be caught on a fly.

 

When everyone else was using salmon spawn while trying to catch coho, I insisted on throwing a streamer of my own design. I was rewarded by seeing a coho leisurely come up and take the streamer that was just under the surface. It was NOT a hard, aggressive, reflex or instinctive hit. It was very purposeful. The others took far more fish on spawn, but that one fish, caught on a fly I tied and a rod I built, made my whole trip worthwhile. The point of all this is coho will feed (eggs and/or baitfish and their imitations) while on their spawning run.

 

I have also witnessed chinook hit streamers in the Pere Marquet. They are frequently caught with various egg patterns, stone fly and other nymphs fished under an indicator. The takes I have seen by chinook seem opportunistic. They seem to feed on an egg, but won't go out of their way to get it. If all they have to do is turn their head and open their mouth, they will. More effort than that, they it it go past.

 

Here is some research that further proves the point that at least some salmon do feed during the spawn.

 

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/amazing_revelation_some_pacific_salmon_do_feed_during_spawning_run

[ditz2 0]

Many years ago Tom McNally published an article in the "Fishing Bible" on a streamer pattern that is very similar to a Deceiver called the McNally Smelt. It was a little more complicated than a deceiver. It included polar bear hair which was still legal but the main difference was it had something like a guiney feather for a cheek. It had no added weight. I collected the materials and tied one up on a stainless hook. It ended up about 4 to 4.5" long and he swore it would catch coho and especially Chinook in the Great Lakes feeder streams that have salmon runs. I never got up there to give it try.

[Big_Nate 0]

I'm going to look into it more guys. If flossing is a shady way of catching fish don't really wanna venture down that road.

 

Caught a nice pike today 12lbs and of course I left my phone in the truck.

[phg 0]

Being a southern boy, and never having fished for salmon ... I am incredibly confused.

On one hand, I always hear that salmon running upstream to spawn will not feed.

On the other hand, why tie flies that they'll eat, if they AREN'T feeding?

If they aren't actively feeding, isn't every fish caught actually hooked by "Flossing" or some other name for snagging?

Why spawning salmon take flies is a hotly debated topic, but, the fact remains that they do. I have been to Alaska 3 times, and I have caught hundreds of pinks, coho's, chum and sockeye, all on the fly. Admittedly, a few were snagged (and released) as that is almost impossible to avoid, but the majority were hooked in the mouth when they "took" the fly -- for whatever reason.

 

I found the best way to fish, to minimize snagging, was a downstream swing to a pod of holding fish. It rarely takes more than a couple of casts before one of them will grab the fly.

 

(Not very challenging, but an absolute blast on an 8wt....)

[ihang10 0]

I've been back from Alaska for about a week, first time there and pink/purple & white/pink Dolly Llama's and black or purple egg sucking leeches worked awesome. Silvers and Chums were all over them.