Trolling for Salmon

I picked up the book ConeHeadMuddler suggested and it is full of great info.

Here are a couple of points for educational purposes directly from "Fly Fishing for Pacific Salmon II" by Les Johnson and Bruce Ferguson with Pat Trotter, Frank Amato Publications Inc, 2008.

Points of Land: "The tide runs in one direction past these points when it is rising and reverses when the tide is falling.  The angler simply switches to the side where the eddy forms when the tide turns as the bait will also move to the other side of the point to once more find protection from the tide flow" (pg.60)

Tide Rip: "A tide rip is where two or more moving currents running at different speeds will create a slower moving face that tends to concentrate zooplankton and baitfish.  Tide rips most often form a line on the surface where the divergent currents meet.  If there is drifting material gathered on one side of the rip the other side will be clear.  It is along this clear edge that you concentrate your casting as your fly line will not gather annoying flotsam and the salmon will be there darting in and out under the debris, because as with an eddy on the down-tide side of a point, they find the bait captured in rips to be extremely vulnerable prey." (pg.60-61)

Kelp Beds: "When the veteran salmon angler sees a kelp bed, two things come quickly to mind: fast moving currents and drop-offs, both of which are attractive to salmon since they are beneficial in two ways; the kelp invariably will hold concentrations of baitfish and zooplankton and it provides cover for feeding salmon.  A fly cast between a kelp bed and the beach, especially when bait is breaking the surface is most often productive near the high turn of the tide.  The outer edge of a kelp bed, best worked from a boat, is generally more productive on a low turn of the tide." (pg.61)

Water Depth: "Both resident and migrating salmon display a strong preference for feeding and travelling along the shoreline...generally salmon prefer to hold in water from 6 to 30 feet deep or more in these locations during daylight hours...feeding salmon, at least those within range of the fly-fisher, are usually found from the surface to 40 feet down and they seem to be reluctant to move up or down very far from their selected feeding level of the moment...if you find the level where the feed is holding, you find the fish". (pg. 61-62)

Surfacing Salmon: "Whatever rise form the salmon presents, one thing is certain: an actively surfacing salmon will be far easier to catch than endlessly casting blind in hopes of connecting with one that has not given it's position away...think that there is only the fish you see and cast well ahead of it." (pg.62-63)

Sea Birds: "Diving, circling, screaming concentrations of marine birds have long been a well known clue to the location of pelagic game fish throughout the world.  This holds true for Pacific salmon." (pg.63)

This chapter (5: Finding the Salmon in Salt Water) continues with topics of migration routes, run timing, light conditions, tides, wind, time of year, and river mouths and estuaries.  Chapter 7: Saltwater Fishing Techniques is a lot more technical (hence it's title  ).  The book is money well spent, and is filled with colour pictures and illustrations as well.

So this morning I went fishing for the first time in the salt off the shore of West Vancouver trolling a crab larvae and caught a piece of seaweed!   Just as I was returning to the beach, salmon started jumping about 50 meters off the shore but no dice.  I switched to a baitfish pattern (herring I think) but still nada.  Next time.

Using a spinner ahead of a trolled fly sometimes provides the additional action and flash that coho like. Back in the 1970's, my Dad and I fished this way in the Strait, and also off Possession Point. It was occasionally more productive than herring.

Tom