October

My favorite month. Wish they made more of them.
Got out on the beaches a bit this weekend. Nothing spectacular size wise but fun non the less.
SF

nice fish. I love how the sea-runs still display a bit of blush even in the salt.

My first coho of the season on a fly was just about that size. I let it go thinking there were bigger fish to fry. They've been getting smaller ever since.

What loop knot do you guys use for tying on the fly? I don't use it, but sure want to.

Sam,
Non slip loop knot is what you want to use.

http://www.animatedknots.com/nonslipmono...imatedknots.com

Thanks. Lopls easy.

. . . and when I become Dictator, I will declare the entire months of September and October to be a National Fishing Holiday.

Sg

I'd be pretty happy if September and October could be replayed for most of the year.

A few photos from stomping around my local haunts this fall.




My sis getting her wild life spotting skills tuned up.







Denali from near Wonder Lake.





Denali from Talkeetna.








Skilak lake last week on a family camping, fishing mission.





The dolly's are putting on their war paint.





Ice encased coho









The big freeze has begun







A full day of fishing this time of year usually means prepping gear in the dark and cold in the morning and then cleaning stuff up in the dark at the end other end.







Cold water and little warmth from the sun makes it hard to wade for more than a handful of minutes at a time









But the rainbow fishing has been fantastic













Logged what is likely my last local day of fishing for the season yesterday and it was a good one.




Time to get boats put away and winterized for the year and make some winter travel plans I suppose.

Nice pics CG
Thanks for posting those up.
SF

Time for the goose down and wool ascot Coley!

Looks like the forecast is for another week of reasonably warm temps. Warm for this time of year that is. Might have to drag the drifter down to the middle Kenai this weekend for one last lap.

Wool ascot? That might chap my perfectly moisturized and manicured skin, which of course would be unacceptable. Instead I will double up with one of cashmere from the Isle of Skye and the other of Chinese Silk.

great shots Stone and Coley, very nice!

Played around with some topwaters this weekend.
Tail is black calftail and the body is UV polar chenille. Lots of blow ups....lots of misses even with a two hand retrieve.
I think the head is to big.




A small size 8 orange over white calftail clouser was the best bug of the day.


Calm before the storm.


Did I mention I love October? Searun fishing will only get better.
SF

Sounds like a jolly old time there Stonefish. If I ever happen to be passing through at an opportune time I'd love to join you for a beach session. Seems like a blast.

Not a lot of hook gap sticking out past that ginormous foam head on the Stonygurgler 1.0. Probably the main reason for the misses eh? Think a hangback rig would work? Maybe flattening the underside of the foam to get a little more point out there?

Enjoyed a lovely and surprisingly mild October day on the Kenai yesterday. Quite a rare opportunity for this time of year. Even caught some fish. I'll see if I can find a pic or two at some point.

I'm itching to get back on the water. It's been two whole weeks!!! I was going to go yesterday evening, but, I was dog tired. Sleep was needed more than fishing.

Anwyay, I love the micro Clouser. A Local shop opened up in West Seattle, and I picked up a few. They tie theirs up very sparse. I've been copying them, but, using different colors. I find I like them sparser. If you think it's sparse, take half the fur away, and make it sparser. I need to find me a orange calf tail now.

My go to flies this year for sea runs has been the rolled muddler, and hale bop leach patters. Last time I was out, they seemed to be taking anything I threw at them.

Coley,
Drop me a line if you are in the area and we'll hit the beach.
I think the head is too big. Several of the cutts popped it in the air like a seal playing with a ball at the aquarium. I agree on the gap as well.
Regardless of whether I use a standard hook or a stinger, I seem to miss a lot of topwater fish.
I got some smaller foam today so I'll see how that works. It will ride lower in the water so hopefully that will increase the hook- up.
Here is the smaller foam versus the bigger head.


I've been playing around a bit with the clear Fish Skull Fish Masks. So far I really like them.


Sam,
Sparse is good to a point. Just don't ding the beach as sparse can become a bare hook.

Failure to stick. I think top water is just like that most of the time. It's the same wogging for coho and mousing for rainbows. That having been said, more recently I've noticed that waiting a little longer to come tight and/or dropping a loop and introducing some slack gives the fish a chance to turn and get stuck. Getting bit on the hang down is just the same. Pull back too quickly and I miss sticking a lot of fish.

I know this style of fishing from the beach and getting bit on the strip is a different beast entirely, but perhaps there are some similarities in the mechanics of the bite and line/hook/set relationship?

In New Zealand they say that after a trout takes your dry fly you should say two "God save the queen's" then come tight.

In Bob's boat, it says "wait, wait, wait, pull"'or something close.

Old habits die hard and I am a serial hook setter in reform. More often than not these days I'm noticing that fish are pretty good at hooking themselves when you let them. Fishing with bobbers is certainly an exception and there are many others I'm sure.

Probably nothing new and I'm not sure if there are any parallels on the beach. Just some simple stuff I've been trying to tune into as of late.

Airmail!

Fishing from a boat will solve that problem.

Good info Coley.
On the beach, I just keep stripping till they either hook up or lose interest.
Where I fish cutts there isn't hardly any current, so I'm not sure stopping will keep them interested.
I rid myself of the lift the rod hookset while fishing the salt years go but even the best strip strike fails most of the time on the top waters.
SF

Didn't figure there was much if any applicability in those ramblings.

Are you doing the rod under the arm double handed strip method or single handed stripping? The only time I've ever fished in that style was in Belize a few winter back where the guide told me to strip as fast as I could. Even at my fastest he was still yelling at me to strip faster. It was a new game to me for sure.

Coley,
Two handed strip for surface action, single or double for subsurface.
The two handed strip really eliminates any wild upward hook sets.
SF

Brian,

I took your cue and tied up a couple micro clousers, but didn't have orange in hand, so I used yellow. Seemed to work great this evening. 3 Cutts to hand.

I put the boat away and broke my rods down, except for one. It was a extremely high tide, so I started to cast off my parents boat ramp. I think I caught 2 juvenile chums, about 6" long. A forked tail like a chum, but bright silver and quite slimy. Would they still be in the sound this time a year on their way out to the ocean?

Also caught a 18" black mouth off the ramp. Foul hooked though.

I'll have some with me tomorrow.....


Good job Sam. Hard to beat yellow or orange for cutts this time of year.

Pretty fun day on the canal today.

The predicted wind never hit by the time I called it a day at 2:30. Wet but pleasant.
Brought a little less then a dozen and a half cutts to hand and missed quite a few as well. Nothing over 15" to hand, but missed several big fish that either eat the popper or jumped and spit the hook.

Got fish on the popper, bead head orange polar chenille bugger, peach marine worm and the Fish Mask baitfish I posted.
The fish shredded so much material off the baitfish that the mask wouldn't stay on the front of the fly any longer. It kept sliding down the hook.

A few pics from today.

Righteous! Strong work Stone. Sounds like an epic day man.

Last week on the Kenai.

Brian,

When hooking those cutts where they taking it a little deep? The three I caught on the micro closer they all got hook in the roof of the mouth, but, I drew blood on each. I'm not sure I like the hook riding up. What's there to prevent that?

Great looking bows Coley.

Sam,
I'd rather have them hooked in the roof of their mouths versus their tongue or gills if possible. That is actually what I like about clousers is the hook up presentation.
If they are hooked roof of the mouth and draw a little blood, they should be fine upon release.

Yes Coley, great looking bows. Love your photo essays. Better than the grip and grins I take.

I agree with your take on hooking them. I just was surprised I was drawing blood. The other night was the first night I had any success with the clousers. Other flys I've caught them on typically just get them in the lip. But, I've released a few this year with the fly still in their mouth.

Well, can't wait for another calm evening to go chase some cutts.

Last nights blow sure was something. I went down to my parents house and we barricaded the garage door on the boat house. It's got a southern exposure, and when the tides up, it can do some serious damage to the door. Fortunately, the wild wind was a few hours after the high, and calmed down before this mornings high.

Yes Coley, great looking bows. Love your photo essays. Better than the grip and grins I take.

I agree with your take on hooking them. I just was surprised I was drawing blood. The other night was the first night I had any success with the clousers. Other flys I've caught them on typically just get them in the lip. But, I've released a few this year with the fly still in their mouth.

Well, can't wait for another calm evening to go chase some cutts.

Last nights blow sure was something. I went down to my parents house and we barricaded the garage door on the boat house. It's got a southern exposure, and when the tides up, it can do some serious damage to the door. Fortunately, the wild wind was a few hours after the high, and calmed down before this mornings high.

Here is my contribution to the October thread. First pic is a small native steelhead that took a skated dry fished with a 6wt on the Grande Ronde. (Fish got in one last flip that hit the camera lens)



This one is a nice rainbow from the Yakima that took a stonefly nymph fished with a 4wt last week.



God didn't make enough Octobers, though the last few days have felt more like Nov.

Very nice js!

Sweet!

Splendid summary, gentlemen. Only a couple more October days to get after 'em....