Around last October my brother and I logged in well over a hundred hours trying to catch these salmon that ran in a local river. We tried all kinds of stuff but they just didn't want to bite. Every time you threw any kind of bait out there the cutthroat would steel it and the water is so low and clear they were scared of any kind of metal lures I even tried using flies but I still had no luck. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what I should use this year. I was thinking about making a plunking rig and just letting something artificial dangle in front of them. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

The locals around here have a solution to your problem. They've found that 50 yards of nylon net and a boat with an outboard works wonders in these conditions on the Nisqually and McAllister Creek. Sorry about that crack but I've become a little disenchanted with our fellow stewards of this resource.

I'm not sure what system you are referring to, but it sounds like you might be dealing with two problems. Fish in the late fall that have gone into their spawn mode have generally stopped eating and strike mostly out of irritation or aggression. Bait might not be the right choice if this is the case. Something with more action like a spinner or a plug might work better.

Also, if the water is very clear, the fish might just simply be spooked. If you can see down into their world they can surely see into yours. My dad drilled something into my head when I was young that, surprisingly, not many fishermen seem to think about. Never approach a hole from the top end. Always approach a hole from downstream. Every fish in the river will be looking upstream into the current. If you approach from upstream and can see them, odds are they've likely seen you.

I'd try a jig if the water is suitable. Small black jigs have caught lots of kings and silvers for me when they didn't want anything else.

I have good luck semi plunking (drag drifting) eggs and a small corkie to keep them suspended above the bottom. Cast the gear to a area that will spook the fish the least and slowly drag it into you target area and wait. Cutties won't get the eggs every time. Line size can be a big factor in your sucessful hookups( 6-8# test). Use a sliding sinker so you can feel the slightest ...tap tap!! Some will just outright grab it and run.

I also agree with jigman ...sometimes black is the ticket to a good day.

Tight lines



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Marty
www.steelheader.net
marty@steelheader.net

Some more clear water King tips to try: If you are fishing from a boat with any current present, quietly anchor far above the fish and use floats to bait fish down thru the holding water. Try different depths than just right on bottom. If you have egg &/or sandshrimp robbers, try cured whole prawns commonly used for Springers- threaded on a single 4/0 hook with as light of 36" leader that you have a chance to land a King with (most Kings aren't shy of 10# Maxima leader even in real clear water). Another trick I use down here that you rarely see is to use a raw jumbo prawn tail (greyish shell & opaque meat), with the shell segments on & then follow with the shell peeled off and a little pink yarn added (a bit expensive, but often worth it). If you are bankfishing, I like the idea mentioned above of casting your floats upstream to drift down into the fish. From above again, after you have tried bait, try size 30 blue/silver Hot Shots & also sardine filet wrapped K14 Kwikfish with a 50" leader to 22" lead dropper ratio- use as light of lead that will allow you to get it downstream to the fish and keep it near bottom. If enough current, slowly backreel them with action downstream from anchorup. If not, float or cast them down into the fish to hover. If still not enough current for proper action, float or cast the plug or cast the Kwikfish way out below the fish & slowly reel these up thru the holding water with proper action. Hold the plug rodtip low to the water, or if it's quite deep put the rodtip down into the water about 3' & slowly reel up thru the fish - this works great for slow clear water Kings. Smaller size 3 steelhead spinners can work in these conditions as can salmon streamer flies on a sinktip line- drift & swing them thru or slowly twitch and strip them in. Excuse the long ramble, I get like that. - Steve Hanson

Don't be afraid to run 12 or 15 pound main line with a 6 or 8 pound maxima ultragreen leader. Use a longer rod with slower action, and fine wire hooks. We catch lots of kings on size 6 and 8 green caddis nymphs, or green rock worm patterns that are dead drifted right in front of their melons. Size 4 and 6 black stones work well too. Yarn flies the size of a pea with a 1/4' zonker strip above your hooks work real well. Small (size 6) black and red wooly boogers, and framus flies work well too. You can find the framus fly on www.virtualflybox.com Make sure you don't line those fish, or they'll be gone forever and develop a serious case of lock jaw. Chocolate brown and black yarn about the size of your pinkie nail can be killer on these bruisers. Ooops

For Coho, not sure how well this works on Kings I'd beef up the gear for them though. Try 2 small corkies, with a piece of yarn tied to the leader above the corkies, this will keep them from sliding up the leader in the slow fall water. I normally use light colors, like pink and pearl and peach. with white or green yarn. I use about 30" leader and 2/0 gammies normally 10lb Ultragreen.If it's really clear lighten up your leader. And remember, if you can see the fish, they can see you. When I was a kid I used to ambush coho from behind trees and through brush. Maintain a low profile, I've even resorted to belly crawling. you might look funny, but it does work and I think worth it.

I think that the best advice so far is sneek up on the fish. The rivers I fished last year for fall fish were small and if the fish saw you first you were going to have a hard time catching them. My son will not agree with mehe would sight fish for them. Chrome corkie yellow yarn some eggs then he would cast and drift it down and bump them in the nose. I am not sure who caught more fish but the ones I caught were brighter.

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dank

I notice that Ramstrong is from NW Ore. also- don't know him. Anyway, it's interesting that he also suggested heavier tackle for the Kings. I assume he likely fishes for fall Kings in the coastal rivers & around Tillamook as I do. When I see a couple of suggestions to use 6 or 8 lb. mono leaders for Kings it makes me currious. Is this the norm for clear water Fall Chinook salmon in the NW Wash. region (I assume in relatively snag free water)? In Tillamook, fishing the lower Wilson, Trask, Nestucca, & in most tidewater areas there are a lot of natural snags as well as other anchor lines to contend with when fishing 20 to 50 lb. (average 25 to 30#) fish fresh in from the ocean. The very lightest leaders the local guides ever use in those areas is 15#. However, in the deeper holes even when gin clear they successfully use 20 or 25# leader and those big hogs aren't usually leader shy, especially for moving lures. What size Kings are we talking about when using 6 to 8# leader for them and how snaggy is the water (silvers/coho are a diff. matter of course)? What % do you land big Kings on that light of leader? Do you notice a drop off in hookups using around 12# leader in real clear water? I've landed a few over 30# bright fall Kings on 8# Maxima leader, but the water was relatively clean where this occured and took a long time (don't try it anymore- not enough fish & want to get them in). No way for light leaders down lower on our coastal rivers. Would appreciate feedback on this for my tech studies. Thanks much. - Steve

I've got a great idea for you. I guarantee it will work the best because I was born and raised on rivers that got really small during the fall. I'm assuming that you are fishing on fish that are in slack water. If so you must have a spinning rod or for a drift rod one with a high quality reel and some length so you can cast well and long. The setup I use is a GLOOMIS 1141S in the IMX package its a 4-8lb rod thats 9.5 feet long. This is a ton of fun on silvers and large kings. In low water conditions I've landed fish up to 40lbs on this setup. Or if you are meat fishing go with a GLOOMIS 1025 or 1084C with a good casting reel like a Shimano Chronarch or Calais. Start with top quality eggs. I would love to share my recipe but a good one to start with is Red Pro-Glow. Eggs cured correctly will never be outfished in low clear water, especially when the water temp. is above 50 degrees. Good Luck and if you need any other help give me a call 360-600-3113.

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Every year a buddy and I go up and stay in our boss cabin on the Sol Duc the last week in October. We fish our rearends off for a week. We have had really good luck I guess considering we have had 3 good years in a row. The Quilayute was low last year in the fall so the fishing was a little tougher. Suprisingly enough the best days were on the weekends(when the tribe wasn't netting)! Our best day we hooked 17 fish, mostly silvers. We did get a couple of Kings the biggest was in the mid 40's, yeah a toad! We found the fishing fast and furious at dusk and dawn. Caught 90% of the fish on pixie spoons and blue fox spinners. Man what a time watching a 12lb coho come rippin in and smoke your lure 10' from the boat. We don't plan on missin this trip anytime soon!

The reason for the light leader is more for the coho than the kings. The kings don't seem to care as long as their not spooked. I also have the best sucess early and late in the day. That may be due to nobody spooking them yet.
I have never kept track of when slack tides coinsides with the bite in the river, but have had others say it makes a difference. In the salt water there is definately a "bite". The fish may get programmed to feed at those times. Anybody keep track of this in the river?

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Marty
www.steelheader.net
marty@steelheader.net

Our kings typically top out at about 25 pounds, and very seldom come in to the river in a "chrome" condition. More of a battleship grey to olive coloration. I have no problem landing kings in the 20 to 25 pound range on a rod rated up to 12 pound line,while using 10 pound main line and 6 or 8 pound leader. We must be talking about 2 different critters here, because our kings will tolerate about 4 or 5 passes with bit, fly, etc, and then they head off for somewhere else. These fish in the Midwest are extremely line shy. You have to understand that many times they are being fished in three feet of water or less, very clear, slow moving water, and tons of people harassing them all day long. I don't think I would dare fish kings in a "chrome" condition, in a river with decent flow, with this type of rig. Just passing on what works for us here in the Midwest.