Hello Leland-
I found it very interesting that the fish at Doc's place have turned off
lately and have noticed a few things going on that could account for their
behavior. I watched the fish slowly move out to the docs place working their
way to the Narrows starting around February. They had very little pressure
from shore or boat as the schools got into their amphipod rhythm of being
tightly packed and working their way back and forth on the beaches. The 20 -
30 fish days were expected. As the majority of fish settled into the Doc's
area...the pressure increased from shore and boat and slowly the constant
trolling, casting, motoring and being chased by seals has modified their
behavior enough to put them constantly on guard. Doc's has never seen this
amount of shore pressure before as access was limited to folks who would make
the walk down from the bridge. I have counted as many as 17 rods in the water
on the weekends in a fairly short section of beach. I have always felt the
need to rest a school of fish and go to another fresh batch when the action
died This has proven to be very effective for me. Having a day off on Saturday
we fished the Docs house for a good 2 hours getting many casts in front of the
fish only to be ignored on every pass. Then motoring a short distance to where
fish had not been cast to all day, we had hook ups on our first cast and every
time the fish came with in casting distance and ended the day early somewhere
in the teens. We changed flies to more challenging patterns with the same
results. Some fish hit within 15 ft of the boat. I don't care to use a dry
line on the fish unless they are hitting surface flies as I have seen the
schools turn off at the sight of the lines. The Euphasiid is a fast moving
creature moving 2 to 4 feet in a single burst at times. On Saturday Euphasiid
was down about 2 feet from surface. Presenting the fly at a 45 degree angle to
a moving school on a rapid strip and pause retrieve is deadly most of the
time. The amphipod mostly drifts with the current swimming in circles and
should be fished at a more relaxed pace. A coho will stop chasing a fly that
stops dead, and a hop retrieve of 3-4 inches is plenty. Other foods I have
been noticing are large amounts of copepods that become very active at slack
tides, and a small one inch worm that I havn't identified as a food target
yet. I believe that these are the same fish that came to the Doc's place a
month ago...and they will stick around here until the candle fish show up in
earnest. If the candle fish don't appear then they will make another small
migration. I know this because I go scout for them when I can. In years past
its been north. Don't get me wrong about the added pressure the easy access to
Doc's has put on the fish. Its very good to see the new interest in the
fishery and hopefully some strong voices about its future.
Happy trails,
Capt. T Wolf
Leland Miyawaki wrote:
> This has been a very interesting last three days at Doc's:
>
> Picture schools of 10 to 20 fish moving fairly quickly down the beach about
> 100 yards with the tide, turning around and heading back up again - back
> and forth for about an hour or so. Picture the rise forms to be the same as
> midging trout, sometimes 10 feet off the beach and sometimes 60 feet out.
> Picture the current pulling your fly when you know a dead drift is what's
> needed, particularly when the salmon totally ignore a small and sparse #16
> krill/amphipod tie. Picture the reward when you make a long cast, downtide,
> well ahead of the approaching school, and you've timed the swing just right
> when current pulls the fly into the lead fish of the school just as drag
> sets in. It only worked this way twice saturday and twice today. I lost
> both fish saturday and lost one and landed one today.
>
> Here's the crazy part of it all. On friday morning, the beach was dead calm
> an hour before the low slack with no fish showing anywhere until the
> change. The schools showed up as if by magic. On saturday - nothing at all
> until about two hours into the flood. Then they hung around until we had no
> more beach for our backcasts. Today, they were in the fog one hour before
> the low slack and disappeared two hours after the turn.
>
> My theory is that they are not the same fish showing up time and again for
> their euphasid meals, but rather, schools that are passing through at the
> tide changes and if they find food, they stay. If not, or when they've
> depleted the source, they move on.
>
> Another thing is that they are really skittish when they are in close. If
> you can reach them when they are further out, they seem more likely to
> take. It may be that they feel the safety of deeper water.
>
> Also, on friday, I was fishing a slimeline and on saturday and sunday, I
> switched to a dryline and a 15' leader with a 4x tippet and the same #16
> fly. The reason was that on friday, I crouched down into the water as a
> school passed and I saw that they were taking the feed in the top three to
> four inches of water. Since you would spook the school if you didn't cast
> well ahead of their approach, the intermediate sinker was too deep when the
> fish passed over the fly. The unweighted fly on a dryline was just the
> ticket. I cast straight out, 50' ahead of the approaching school (you must
> be uptide), and let the current swing the fly down to the fish with NO
> RETRIEVE. I found that if the fly swung through the school, I had no takes.
> And believe me, when I tell you that I learned this well. I had to laugh
> out loud as that scene was played over and over again. It was maddening.
>
> Anyway, I hope this helps those of you who have been doing the dance at
> Doc's. I will be leaving for my first bonefish trip next friday. Maybe the
> Narrows' fish will be on REAL FOOD when I return.
>
> Leland.
