Was meaning to ask this earlier and I hope Wes doesn't mind. One of the
coho caught was filled to the proverbial gills with sand shimp. With as
many that were in his stomach I was surprised he was still interested in
eating.
Anyway, are sand shimp a known food source in some areas of the south
sound or had this fish just taken advantage of some bait guy?
-sean
Wes Neuenschwander wrote:
> Fished The Narrows yesterday with Sean Ransom. Arrived at Doc's around
> 10:30 to the sight of a large trailer parked at the far end of the lot
> emblazoned with a "South Sound Fly Fishers" banner. Several club guys
> taking a break in the lot, everyone looking pretty laid back; things looking
> pretty slow.
>
> Fortunately there's a lot of beach and everyone one was pretty well spread
> out. We worked down toward Pt Fosdick, taking advantage of the rapidly
> ebbing 4.5' tide to round the points and downed trees. Very few fish
> spotted until just before the turn of the low tide when the first decent
> school of coho I've seen this year came porpoising through about 60' off the
> beach. We fished small euphasid/amphipod imitations - of varying sizes and
> colors, and with various lines and retrieves - for nearly two hours to these
> cruising fish with only a single take. In addition to being extremely
> fussy, they were also acutely line shy, typically tolerating only one or two
> casts before they dived and dispersed. Very frustrating. We did manage to
> collect several small copepods (they were fairly abundant) and one small
> amphipod from the slack water nearest shore. The amphipod was 1/4 long with
> a pronounced pink color (especially through the abdominal and thoracic
> cavity). The copepods were a dark yellowish-olive and came in two distinct
> sizes: about 1/16" and 1/8" (with bodies extended).
>
> At low slack, the pods scattered and the cruising pattern shifted to a more
> aimless wandering through the large slack water pools that had formed along
> the shoreline. Very skittish fish; one cast and they were gone. Finally
> managed to get one good tug on a small baitfish imitation, and then by the
> first of the flood it was all over. Walked back to the parking lot, talking
> to several club anglers who reported the same thing: not many fish and even
> fewer takes.
>
> Spent the rest of the day exploring new waters, finally finding reasonable
> numbers of less picky fish (including some cutthroat) in a nice little bay
> nearby.
>
> -Wes
>
> Wes Neuenschwander
> Seattle, WA USA
