Offshore Flyfishing

[blackswirl]

I did well this year Offshore and at times I was takeing hits while hooking up to my downrigger not just coho either some chinooks in the mid 20lbs range and I was thinking of useing a 9wt 11ft fly rod in a scotty holder pointing out the middle for a third rod and I was wondering if enybody has tried this or is there eny advice on flys or bucktales floating versis weighted sink lines even rod and reel set ups. And I also herd of guys useing a false flasher and flys just above and behind the flasher for sockeye and I was wondering if there's truth to this story. Thanks

 

[jimbob]

I spent lots of time this past summer off Sooke with my 10 foot nine weight flyrod and a 2 ounce weight and a coyote spoon out the back while downrigger fishing. Lots of hits and lots of fish on this set up. Biggest was a 21 pound spring. Typically fished with 50 feet of line out.

This summer I will definitely try to fish the set up from time to time with only a sinking line and a bucktail fly.

Biggest problem is that you have to watch you don't hook up on the downrigger lines of other boats when fising in a pack. I tend to reel in most of my line when in tight quarters and then let it out to 50 feet when I have more space.

 

[kronic_fisherguy]

I used these Luhr Jensen JetDivers with great success last season on my middle rod they work real slick!!

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0000051110139a.shtml
kronic

 

[blackswirl]

Thank you for the reply I thought to myself this past summer that it would be blast to land a fish on light gear. What weight fly rod would you recomend for saltwater trolling like this I was thinking a 9wt something I could use in the rivers aswell so I'm not sure if I want to go to heavey. Thanks again

 

[Pippen]

blackswirl...

I was doing the same off of Kyuquot last summer but not with a fly rod as I didn't own one at the time. Had 2 rods down on the riggers and had a 3rd mooching set up with just a light weight on the line dragging out the middle of the boat. Got a fair number of hook ups and have now been sourcing a fly set up and more info on bucktailing to try this summer.

 

[Charter Tofino]

I did that this summer with a 9/10 wt. I used a big bucktail and dragged it out the back. I had coho come slam it and you could see them finnin behind it liek a shark.Overall i found it an annoyance when i hooked up on the riggers. I would recomend it if the coho were silly thick but when its a hit every hour it can be a pain constantly clearing it.

 

[highlights]

We did the whole fly thing off Sooke waters this past year. Tons of space out in the open water and you could lay your flat lines out as far as you wanted with no real concern for other boats.

We also hit Renfrew with the fly lines. However only one rod as a bonus was set off the transom. Because we were fishing inside the pack at most times we had to keep a short line. We were litterally pulling a bucktail ten feet behind the boat in the propwash. It was very exciting to see big northerns and descent sized springs slam the friggen thing. Actually if you were paying attention it would damn near give you a heart attack. Very violent strikes!
Keep in mind that no weight was used. Just a double tapered full sink fly line. At 3kts the fly was skipping on the surface.

Lots of fun!

 

[Tofinoguy]

quote:Originally posted by blackswirl

Thank you for the reply I thought to myself this past summer that it would be blast to land a fish on light gear. What weight fly rod would you recomend for saltwater trolling like this I was thinking a 9wt something I could use in the rivers aswell so I'm not sure if I want to go to heavey. Thanks again

Another option Blackswirl that we use often is using 8/9 wt rods off of the downrigger using med to large Herring in teaser heads,large spoons or plugs above dummy flashers attached to the cannonballs. The only negative is the rods don't have enough power to manually release off the clip but a real fish has no problem pulling it off. This is very popular with our experienced clients that are looking for a challenge. Our largest fish using this method was a 47lber on a 5 inch plug that twice nearly spooled us during a 55 minute fight.[] Great fun.

 

[dss]

did well of renfrew last year using a 9 wt fly rod with a center pin reel. draging spoons and green/white flashtail ( got 3 shreded to just the hook ) what a blast,out the back just behind the prop wash.

 

[Charter Tofino]

Oh ya another thing we did which was fun. When you anchor up or drift for hali i just threw the rods in the holder and started casting for them. Had a full sink and would chuck all my line out, let it sink until i was in my backing then strip in.

 

[searun]

I had one of my clients bring his fly rod and some beautiful bucktails. They just used mono and doodled the fly in the wake of the kicker with amazing results...first fish was a 15 pound hatchery coho. At first he had lots of fish come up short on the fly, but as soon as he started introducing some jerking action they slammed it. We also try the same thing with our regular mooching gear & spoons with the same results on a regular basis when fishing gets a little slow. It tends to keep the guys busy until the bite comes back, and puts a few extra fish on the line as a bonus.

Searun

 

[Straitsrunner]

If you can locate a school, drift or anchor around the school and cast your fly out ahead of them as they porpoise around. If the bite is on and you have the right presentation you will nail them.

Nothing worse than trying retrieve your center rod when you have a fish pop off the downrigger and going bananas. Two seperate fisheries if your a fly fisherman.

 

[blackswirl]

Thank you for all the replys guys I'm pretty excited to try out a few things when the fishings hot I could see that fly rod getting in the whey if I let that bucktale or spoon out to far but keeping it close in the prop wash would solve that. I don't think it would take too mutch longer clearing the gear for the big one. Some of those agressive strikes are worth eny trouble I guess. I especially like the idea of fighting a 47.5lbs spring on a fly rod what a hoot that client that landed the fish must have been glowing with satisfaction a teaser off the downrigger would make a good top rod for sure. Thanks again Bud.

 

[tofinofish]

by mid season, all of our boats were fishing Fly rods and/or Trout rods for extra surface action. We did pop a few 8 weights and maybe 1 9 weight fly rod, but that is pretty minimal compared to the numbers of fish and client satisfaction.

Fishing straight plugs or spoons set way back from the D.R. clip gave us enough time to get the light surface gear out of the way most of the time.

The inshore Fly fishery was hot, but offshore was just as good many days. It will be another great year to mix it up with light tackle/flies offshore, so good thread start Blackswirl, hopefully helps anglers think outside the box and lighten things up......

Sink tip/Sinking line is likely not as necessary offshore like it is inshore/casting as I find that if the fish are surface feeding in that deep of water, they will see your fly.

Tofinofish

 

[blackswirl]

Tofinofish I have herd of a new to me technique I'm gonna try this year around Mctush in june for sockeye and it's different. The bottum rod on the riggers the standerd flasher and a squirt but the top rod set reel close to the gear on the bottum and alittle behind with a fly it sounds crazy but those sockeye are so squirly and on a flyrod it would be fun and probably increase the sucsess rate for landing them as the action in a fly rod would be gentler on there mouths I think but those mooching rods are long enough to it probably wouldn't make a difference just lighter gear I supose. So what do you think sounds nuts Lol.

 

[JayDee]

jimbob, kronic_fishguy & kelly + any others who could offer advice, I posted a new posting instead of a reply to this posting. Please take a look at SALMON FISHING by JayDee at 15:28:15 on 01/19/2010. Many thanks.

 

[tofinofish]

quote:Originally posted by blackswirl

Tofinofish I have herd of a new to me technique I'm gonna try this year around Mctush in june for sockeye and it's different. The bottum rod on the riggers the standerd flasher and a squirt but the top rod set reel close to the gear on the bottum and alittle behind with a fly it sounds crazy but those sockeye are so squirly and on a flyrod it would be fun and probably increase the sucsess rate for landing them as the action in a fly rod would be gentler on there mouths I think but those mooching rods are long enough to it probably wouldn't make a difference just lighter gear I supose. So what do you think sounds nuts Lol.

Doesn't really seem nuts to me. I have tied and fished my own flies behind a flasher down deep or just above attractors for years.
There were times that I would fish 2 "flasher flies" that would pound Springs and Coho as well or better than the chovies or spoons. I matched the bait nearly identical - usually Needlefish - and worked well, especially as new synthetic materials have come out.
-A quick story..My 11 year old son has been tying flies for a few years now, and my 6 year old daughter has also followed along with some pretty creative patterns. One particular pattern of my daughter's turned out looking like a hot pink Needlefish, that I encouraged her to put a few extra coats of cement on all over, and to seal the eyes on better. The next week she wanted to fish with dad, and said she wanted to use one of her flies. We fished in Clayoquot, 20 minutes from Tofino for Coho for about 4 hours. I put on my "hot" combo on one side, and her fly tight behind a mini Oki on the other side. Out of 9 fish hooked, 7 were on her hot little Needlefish tied on a #1 hook. We had a blast and she was pretty proud of her fly that made it all happen. She took it to show and tell when school started. I've got some great pics from that day, that will be mounted on the wall beside my son's first Whitetail buck from this fall. Really cool memories there....
So now you can imagine how simple a plankton fly it would take to fool a sockeye or Coho.....you might try it with some scent as well.
The fly rod idea is great as well, the lighter the better.

Tofinofish





Tofino B.C.'s most recommended Fishing Outfitter.
www.tofinofishing.com

 

[blackswirl]

Well tofinofish that story hit home thanks for it my two girls are 3 and 6 months and Caity the oldest has alreay fished barkley with me and the canal and Lilah the youngest will follow suit I'm sure and my dream is to one day spend time on the water and involve my family. The more I learn about fishing the more I'd like to involve my family to the point of oneday my girls helping my own guests with cleaning and packaging and taking care of the boat for sumer work as to help them build apreciation for the water and the values of working as a youngster building flys and enjoyoing the catch and release the satisfaction it would be priceless the values I'm talking about are right there in your post. Thank you for the tips I'm glad I'm on the right track now I just gotta learn how to build flys Lol.