Warming up for beach coho...

[SciGuy]

...by playing with these guys.  This one took out my shooting head and about 50 feet of running line so I got to play it on the reel.  Standard issue olive over white clouser.  About 16 inches.

[fozzie]

Aren't they pretty?! Nice job.

Have you ever tried flycasting the wee dick nites?

[Fast- eddy]

Nice specimen there Bill...If I lived on or very near the salt,I would definitely spend a bit more time chasing Cutts. Gorgeous fish! I would assume catching salmon off the beach could get very interesting when you hook up with that occasional King or large silver...... Salt Island Steel told me the story of a nice size king he hooked on the beach and how it darn near spooled him.Sounded like fun.

[SciGuy]

Ah, yes.  Dick Nites are very effective when fly cast.  The purist snobs would cry foul but I do it anyway when trying to get my boys into stocked trout in the local lakes.

I've never hooked a big king from the beach while fly fishing but have landed a few when chucking herring or buzz bombs.  That is my next milestone. A few years ago I saw a ~25 lb king cruise past over the gravel bar I was on and made a decent cast but it just turned and followed for a second or two before moving on.  I tied into a few one night last summer while fishing from a small skiff but didn't come all that close landing one...all I had was 8 lb test and my 6 wt.  This year I'm switching to 12 lb test as soon as salmon opens in MA10 and 11.

[Finfollower]

When you do please post that story! The only thing that would be a close second to getting that fish would be to hear a story like that for sure.

[chrome/22]

Nice cutty, love the lemon yellow fins...........


c/22

[hooknose]

Nice cutt there Bill!  I got a couple this weekend too, sure are pretty fish.  I love how aggressive they are.  The first one I got I was burning my spoon in to shore and it hammered it about 2 feet from the tip of my rod    The second one was about 13" and got some air

[SciGuy]

The cutty fishing continues to be really solid but I'm getting kind of worried. I have not touched a single resident coho yet. Typically I catch one every few outings while targeting cutts in the early season and get into them regularly starting 4th of July weekend. Hmmm...

[hooknose]

resident coho fishing has gotten progressively worse over the years, I think that may in part be due to the fact that they just don't put em in anymore  (net pen fish), at least down south.   Bill, are there still resi coho release programs up in your neck of the woods?

[SciGuy]

resident coho fishing has gotten progressively worse over the years, I think that may in part be due to the fact that they just don't put em in anymore  (net pen fish), at least down south.   Bill, are there still resi coho release programs up in your neck of the woods?

I'm hoping for an accidental release from that net pen just North of me in Agate Pass...that would help my numbers!

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/mar/01/agate-passage-net-pens-full-again/

[hooknose]

Sounds like summer/fall of 2012 will be a good coho year for you!  Those fish were released last summer

Hopefully those fish bite better than the squaxin net pen fish...

[SciGuy]

The same pen is in the pass now full of fish. I'm hoping they keep it going in years to come.   This year it is expected that about 8000 fish from 2008 will return...all I can say is that they ain't hear yet.

[hooknose]

I sure hope the numbers of fish returning along my beaches bounces back, been pretty hit and miss the last couple of years.  Nice to have a close to home fishery!  Those fish they raise in agate pass sound like they are smolted for andromady (sp) rather than residency ?   Are there any programs left that actually seek to create resident coho