Some very interesting observations, Tom (and Leland). The effect of
pressure on these fish has, I think, been widely overlooked. Probably
because they don't necessarily completely disappear or get completely
put down. They just get put off. Plenty of fish around; you can see
them everywhere! They just shift gears. Just enough so that they're
just out of range, a little more line shy, a wee-bit more pattern selective,
fussier about retrieves... whatever. The net result is that they're now
just darn hard to catch.
I guess this was one of the "between the lines" messages of my post a
couple of weeks ago: After the 13" cutt, and the occassional tug here
and there, I left the 5-7 person gauntlet in front of Doc's and walked a
mile or so down the beach where I found larger schools, closer in, and
eager to feed!
Make no doubt about it. The secret to my success wasn't a magic
pattern, my marvelous casting ability (I can manage a relatively
unembarrasing 60' cast if it's not windy and I haven't wrapped the loose
coils around my legs yet) or a trove of fishing savvy and saltwater
expertise. The key was virgin fish on a wide-open beach. There was
one boat, with two anglers, when I got there and they fairly quickly
moved on (presumably to even fresher, less sullied opportunities). For
the next 4 hours I had those fish to myself! Even then, I managed to
break up the larger schools, push them a little further out, generally
increase their skittiness and fussiness, and overall make them just a
little more challenging to catch. Fortunately, with a 1/2 mile or so of
open beach, it was a fairly simple thing to reel up, walk a 100 yards
further up or down, and start casting to fresh fish again. There's no
doubt in my mind that if you put 6 or 7 rods on those same fish, you
would have had a repeat of the scene at Doc's: "Lots of fish, but we just
can't catch them."
To my mind, at least, there's a lesson to this: Do a little exploring. Be
prepared to find new waters, new methods, new flies; to walk away
from the tried and true, and the crowds. Take pleasure in discovery, as
well as catching fish, even if it means the occassional skunk.
Trust me, it can be rewarding to explore...
-Wes
Date forwarded: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 01:00:32 -0700
Date sent: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 01:03:31 -0700
From: Tom Wolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Narrows
Forwarded by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 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
>
Wes Neuenschwander
Seattle, WA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
