In reviewing Dan Blanton BB: http://www.danblanton.com/bulletin.html I found the following story. This is something that may be worth a try. Many times SRC's and silvers will follow right behind the fly w/o biting it. This maybe just the enticement needed. Mike Santangelo Posted by Dave Sellers on July 27, 2000 at 16:50:10: I fished this morning with Lee Haskin at Capitola this morning. Lee only had about 4 hours to fish and managed a small WSB. I foul hooked a few anchovies. No success reported from any boat other than the odd halibut or rock fish. I returned Lee to the pier at around 10:30 a.m. I decided to salvage the day by trying to catch jack smelt. They are everywhere and followed my fly in on virtually every cast. I tried a lot of things and discovered the hot fly combination was a large deceiver, or clouser(I don't think it matters), followed by a prince nymph size 12....beleive it or not. I caught a fish every cast and almost all were at the boat when I let the flies hover. They were enticed by the deceiver but ate the prince. Not all small flies worked. There was something about the prince they liked. About an hour into my happy fun, I saw a torpedo grab my fly and run, about 10 feet from the boat. It was a giant green torpedo with black spots. The fished turned slightly sideways, shot me a chrome flash and a wink (kidding about the wink) and took off..with my barbless prince nymph dropper. The nymph was attached with 6 lb. test. I loosened my drag as he pulled out all my stripped line. I knew he would break me off if I didn't let him run. And run he did. The reel sang as he peeled of line, at least 60 feet into the backing until he finally slowed down. I reeled him in and he felt dulled and tired. About 20 feet from the boat he shot off again, this time jumping twice and taking all my running line again. After about 15 minutes, he arrived at the boat, tired and sideways. I tried to boga him and discovered that salmon arn't built for a boga. I grabbed his gills and pulled him in. That's when I discovered all the blood coming from my fingers. I must have been holding the line as he ran his first run and the line actually cut through my stripping guard and deep into my finger. Anyway, he weighed in at 18 pounds, a lot heavier than he looked. I did keep him as my wife loves salmon. I was glad that Mort Cohen...a fly angler from Berkley was around to take a picture and document my strange experience. Dave
