David and friends, I have been reading this forum for a while and decided it was time to jump in. I fish Puget Sound regularly and also get up into BC and Alaska to chase salmon on a fly.
While fishing central sound beach last weekend for Coastal Cutthroats it was just thick with Chum and Pink Smolts ranging from 4" to 5". After catching two smolts I was not setting the hook to avoid injuring them. On the third soft take, my rod jerked four times with big head shakes and I watched a large Blackmouth swim off without my fly.
I am planning to try some of the hot area 11 beaches this weekend. My question, do you have any go-to flies for Blackmouth? My take last week was on a Jim Dandy. I have been tying a lot of epoxy head baitfish with Angel Hair. I also found a new product from Cascade Crest Tools called Crystal Mirror Flash that I am excited to try as it really throws off a lot of light and color. I look forward to hearing from you guys and sharing my experience.
Good fishing, Steve

I really belive that it is more a matter of putting the fly in front of the fish. Most of these fish are agressive and if they see anything that resembles a wounded baitfish they will take it. Dark back, silver/white body and some nice eyes... add some flash and it should catch just about anything in the sound.
Olive and white clousers have always done well for us as well later in the summer on returning Kings and blackmouth.
Love the mirror flash. Finally got a bunch of it in at the shop. When using it i only use a couple strands down the sides. Too much seems to be bad in my experience.
Had some huge kings/blackmouth crashing bait in front of my dad;s house the other night. they are out there Also saw some nice schools of res. silvers on sunday morning. Of course salmon fishing is closed in that area of the sound...

as for you joining....its about time... i cannot gain access to the other forum anymore while being logged in. no idea why and have recieved no help, so here i am
I know you sent me a PM a while back but i cannot get on to read it.

Let us know how you do...I would love to pick up Saltwater flyfishing for salmon...

David and Fish Hunter, thanks for the nice welcome. I like what you guys are doing on this forum. I am headed out Sunday morning with my buddy Roger Stephens. We will give it a go and let you know about our results.
Check out the summer issue of Northwest Fly Fishing. There is a feature article by Leland Miyawaki on fishing his popper in Puget Sound and Jack Berryman of the WFFC has a good article on fly fishing Tasu Sound up in BC. Both articles go me fired up and counting the days for this summer.
David, what days are you in the shop this week. I might have to drop over to compare notes and patterns.
Good fishing, Steve

i am in the shop today, friday and saturday.

we crushed the silvers last year on poppers. hopefully it will be as good in areas 9-11 as it was last year.

Smartie,

What rod are you using, just getting some opionons on rods. Currently in Portugal where they never heard of flyfishing. (for the most part)
Cant wait to get back to Ireland.
Anyway, anytips on salt rods are welcomed.

When fishing the salt i like a fast action 9' rod. We usually fish a Sage XP, Xi2,or TCR. All of them are very fast and can punch big flies through the wind. antyhing from a 6 to an 8 weight rod. Some guys like 9'6" rods but i dont find them to be any better for me than a 9'
I think a lot also has to do with the lines. I like a big agressive WF head. Something like the rio outbound. The big heads will load a rod and allow you to shoot a lot of line.

Dang this forum gets attention all the way over in Ireland and Portugal!

Thanks for that D3, you say you will be in the shop, which one cuz maybe you can ship me something. Do ye have a web site. Tackle over here is through the roof. The shipping more than makes up for it most of the time.
Fish Hunter, I'm a yank, lived in Seattle for 10 years, fished from BC to Oregon, used to have a pontoon, blah blah blah. So i'm so jealous that I still check in from time to time. As you probably know the fishing just isn't the same here. Count yourselves very lucky.
O ya, can't you tell by my number I'm so old school, can't believe how this forum has taken off over the last 5 years. great success for Bob and crew. Good luck.

I'll send you a PM.

I second David's comments on the Rio Outbound. I have the floater and the intermediate on my 6, 8 and 9 weights. The line really allows you to reach out from the beach. I can't recommend them highly enough.

Yea well Headshakes I feel bad for you if you have no good fishing there...But hopefully you can come back to the states sometime and do some fishing here

thanks, smartie, will check it out.
FH, ya being a virtual fisherman is lame. like stated back to Ireland soon to chase mostly those brownies. mostly sea bass in the salt to. who thought i'd ever miss fishing the meat holes and the comedy involved in blue creek, carbon, reiter, etc.... good luck to all and hook'um up for me.

Yeah, me too. Too bad I know soooo little when it comes to bug tossing. I can cast and read water, though. Seems like it would be fun.

I'd like to see a coho rise for a popper.

I was at Camp Casey this weekend for a lacrosse clinic and took my fly rods. I fished the beach off Casey for three hours Saturday afternoon during a strong ebb. There was an incredible amount of bait jumping everywhere north of the ferry terminal. I did not have a strike although a very large blackmouth (estimate 12 to 15 pounds) jumped about 100 feet up the beach about 75 feet out. There were numerous swirls out in the rip that appeared to be large fish. It was a great day to be out watching the eagles as seeing on of them connect with a good sized fish.

Great info gents. What paterns do you like for src? Glenn

Glenn, SRC are aggressive feeders and will attack almost any fly when they are present. I like angel hair baitfish patterns with epoxy heads, the Knudson Spider, Johnson's Beach Fly, Jim Dandy, and Leland Miyawaki's Popper. Les Johnson's book, Fly Fishing for Coastal Cutthroat Trout has great patterns and info that will shorten the learning curve on SRC. Also, Pugetsoundflyfishing.com has a great fly archive that has lots of good patterns. Most local fly shops, particularly Puget Sound Fly Company and Patrick's Fly Shop have great saltwater selections. I would guess that the NW Angler Fly Shop on Bainbridge where David works has great SRC flies as well.
Good luck. Steve