Sandy summer on the spey

[wfocharlie]

After a couple days at the Sandy spey clave I was ready to go fishing and try some of this stuff out and waddaya know it worked. Taken on a pink and orange hobo spey with my beulah 11'6'' 6wt "baby spey" rod. I had been missing grabs and got some advice to "do nothing" when you feel a grab which is the hardest thing to do, even though I have heard it before. When the fish started taking line I lifted and she was mine. Ed took the photo when I saw him down at the next hole and tried to get a grab with my rod on some stubborn fish that were in there. Ed is a pretty good spey caster. Who knew?
Nice photo Ed. You chromed it up for me with the flash and the tilt.:cool:

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae116/wfocharlie/003-13.jpg

[Arctic]

Bitter yo!

[Twise95]

Alright, way to go Charlie! What a nice fish. I want to try that spey fishing sometime :D It looks really fun.

[spactrukn]

Charlie, I like that hat dude! The nice chromer fish is pretty nice too. That whole spey thing is still for me at least, a crazy beast and can't figure out how the heck you can get a fish to bite... I dunno, I'll check it out one of these days but you seem to be adapting to it very, very well. Hat's off to you Charlie..

[Chedster]

Nicely done! Good to see some of that advice from the Clave was put to good use. Wish I still had my toon to float the upper stretches, the drift boat just can't go quite as many places!

[wfocharlie]

I see guys rowing dodge to oxbow in driftboats from time to time but you would really have to have it dialed. There are a couple of really long boulder gardens that require a lot of manuevering. The problem with those darn drift boats is they can sink. The cats will float even if they are upside down.

[Eastcostborn]

Alright, way to go Charlie! What a nice fish. I want to try that spey fishing sometime :D It looks really fun.

the casting part is fun....ya don't catch much though....

[wfocharlie]

the casting part is fun....ya don't catch much though....

I am learning that much of my early low success rate was due to being in the learning process (not knowing what I was doing). The learning curve for this is pretty long and it takes a lot of hours to get any degree of proficiency. When I first started I was getting a fish every 50 hours of fishing. Then it went to 30. Now its down to 20. I'll bet by the end of next winter I may have it down to 10. I like things that are hard. I always have. I find the accomplishments much more rewarding when this is the case. I fish a lot since I retired. When I started getting a couple steelhead every time I went drift fishing it started to feel kind of dull. I remember every fish I got on this spey rod this year because I was fist pumping, howl at the moon psyched and thats how I want to feel when I get one. You will get more fish if you keep at it. But I don't thing it will ever be like drift fishing.

[insectgreen]

nice goin but what the heck is a orange and pink hobo? i did a search and all i came up with were lady's purses. i can imagine it might look like a fat freddy, them big yarn balls with all sorts of fireworks coming out of it with tinsel. when are you guys gonna start using real feathers and insects?

[Arctic]

Hobo's are sparsely tied, usually articulated, swing flies.

Three or four warps of marabou follow a little bit a lady amherst usually. Very simple, but the little bug fishes "bigger" than its out-of-water look.

They are kind of the new-skool, Green Butt Skunk.

[wfocharlie]

Ian described a hobo spey pretty well. Its a 2 inch marabou and lady amherst spey swinger with a trailing hook. I add micro dumbells to get it down a little better but its still easy to cast. I fish it off a skagit setup but without lead eyes you could fish it on a scandi I think. Its a pretty common fly these days. You must have forgot to include the word spey in your search for hobo spey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4pJ3_cZ760

[insectgreen]

boy you sure like to hand me a line Arctic:o how can the hobo resemble a GBS? more like a popsicle! i now smile with your replies;)

i didn't see charlies post. i have 4 of them flies in my box. no kidding. i forgot what they were. Bought them during the winter but haven't used them but I did use a purple one last fall as I did have 1 at that time. I wouldn't call it a hobo spey. I would call it "the full course" "full bag of tricks"

OK, guess since we're on the Sandy, who would be willing to answer a few questions about the Sandy for me? Thanks

[wfocharlie]

What are your questions? is my first question. I may or may not be able to answer them.

[fisherman]

I am learning that much of my early low success rate was due to being in the learning process (not knowing what I was doing). The learning curve for this is pretty long and it takes a lot of hours to get any degree of proficiency. When I first started I was getting a fish every 50 hours of fishing. Then it went to 30. Now its down to 20. I'll bet by the end of next winter I may have it down to 10. I like things that are hard. I always have. I find the accomplishments much more rewarding when this is the case. I fish a lot since I retired. When I started getting a couple steelhead every time I went drift fishing it started to feel kind of dull. I remember every fish I got on this spey rod this year because I was fist pumping, howl at the moon psyched and thats how I want to feel when I get one. You will get more fish if you keep at it. But I don't thing it will ever be like drift fishing.

I will cross my fingers you stay on this path of success. I went down the same road after a couple years my catch rate started to go up. I even had a 4 fish day on the clack a few years ago. There was a stretch where I went months without a fishless day. I am talking April through November I would get a fish every time on the water. Then, this winter I have gotten into only 2 fish. One landed and one that tore me up and ended in a LDR. This winter was a bit off due to my schedule but in the end I am on a slump. It really puts you in your place, for a while I was getting pretty ****y, ha ha.

Also, when it comes to swinging flies the spring on our local rivers is on fire! Winter is hit or miss but when the summers, late winter and chinook come into the river catch rate for swung fish goes up. Well, it goes up for me and my friends. The fish get a little more aggressive, water warms a little and one can really get into them.

[Arctic]

Water temps. Fir sure. As the water warms, their metabolism increases, This change, along with a whole bunch of other stuff... Makes 'em get more "grabby" so to speak.

[insectgreen]

thanks sir, pm sent

[Chedster]

I have to admit I prefer to fish for summers because they are more willing to chomp a fly, at least for me. Today I worked through a run on the Sandy with a larger intruderish fly and nada. I felt the run had to be holding a fish so I waded back to the boat for lunch and changed out my fly to a micro moal and swapped my 12lb leader for 8lb flurocarbon. Not ten steps downstream and this lady attacks the moal with a vengeance. Not sure if I just missed her the first time through the run or if the large fly was too intimidating. The water visibility was also pretty good so I felt more confident with fluorocarbon. When I unhooked her I noticed the hook was almost bent straight! No more cheap hooks:D

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z205/chedster13/photo-2.jpg

[Arctic]

Chad, how does your presentation come across the fish do you think... When I really try to "chase" a fly across a tailout with some speed, I find that light leaders seem to make a difference. Sorta anyways. I dont know if this is because the fish can get a better look at the whole giddup coming across, or if it is simply coincidence. I try to correlate gear fishing experiences to fur swinging, but its takin some due time... I also dont fish the two hander all that often. But.. I do know that when Ive got guys sidedrifting a run that I can get back to the top of, lighter leaders are key to success in normal, to low water conditions. I started with 10# UG with great results, but after some live, and learn days... I have since switched all my sidedrifting rigs out to flouro, or at worst, 8# UG. And my hookups per trip, goes up with flouro... Winters, and predominantly wild runs are a different story tho. Its 10, or 12# UG or bust. I dont like to screw around I guess, but I can get 'em landed pretty quick, even fumbling in a tailout with a fly rod. ITs crazy those scrappy lil fish can actually straighten hooks out! Its amazing how much physical pressure you have to put on one to bend it in your hands, even the cheepo brands!

[Chedster]

You bring up a good point. I figure a light fly needs a light leader and vice versa. Throwing a half chicken is gonna require a heavy leader help move and turn over the fly. Winter time no doubt it's 12lb UG but I'm digging the light fluoro for spring and summer swinging. I tied the little micro leeches with a #6 octopus so it's already a pretty wimpy hook to begin with. I still have a bad habit of palming the reel a little hard from my centerpin days!

[insectgreen]

you guys ever fish Teeny leeches? i'm not kidding you but one day was epic for me but I know nobody's askin..., ) but just wondering what some of you thought of his flies? Anyway, when I was living in AK in 2005, on the kasilof.... then i'll get to the Kalama, in a sec. Anyway i hooked 20 kings on June 4th. it was also a day for my first king on a fly. I only used his #2 hot green and hot orange Leeches. I know the kings were moving up because we all caught the run just right that day but I wasn't hooking any with what flies i was using. When i put on a Teeny #2 regular Leech, it was like fireworks! I ended up landing 14 and released every one. What a great experience that was. Caught many steelhead on the black egg sucker in the spring just at break up before they went back to the ocean.

sometimes i don't do so well but when I was fishing the Kalama last summer for the first time, i wasn't doing so hot because i guess i was stupid. Tried everything then I finally went sparse! when i finally went with sz 4 & 6 insect green in low clear water on the Kalama last summer I murdered them! almost every day i then started hooking fish. I wasn't used to fishing such low clear rivers. I fished the Rogue in h.s. days and did good but I mean that color of dye pheasant feather the steelhead really go after it agressively. I watched many of them chase downstream and they just hammered it. Sometimes it seems one color does it all for the day. I couldn't hook a silver on the Kenai to save my life after my first one. I was skunked the entire fall after that. I sure would like to get another shot at silvers one day. One day i hooked a hot silver and boy was that fun. like a torpedo bearly under the surface, then i started to wonder where is this guy gonna go next! that fish didn't come on a teeny leech. i was using an orange flesh fly with a ligher orange bead in between the two sections of maribou. Broke the hook.

[Arctic]

I dont fish Teeny stuff these days, but I have, and Ive done alright with 'em in the past. Never hooked a Salmon on those Teeeny nymphs tho... although I see guys doin it in tidewater on the trask every fall... Thats a little different tho.

I do agree that some days the fish are keyed in on a certain type of offering, or a specific color. And in some instances, you can fish on the same pod of fish the next day, and its completely different. One day, like 17 years ago I got the same fish about 6 hours apart on the Deschutes. In the early morning she came up and ate a sub-surface waking fly. A Bomber, tied Randy Stutzer style. And then in the heat of the afternoon, she came on a deep dredged black, and red articulated leech thing. There was a a large set of seal gashes on her port flank that gave it away. I was fishin a true greased line in the AM, and a heavy, Teeny Tip Taper(one of the best, chuk n duck lines ever made!) in the afternoon. Goes to show ya, fish are as unique as people. Some days they are in the mood, and some days they just arent. And some days they aer interested in Rock 'n Roll(green, black, blue lets say), and others they are more into Classical(red, orange, pink, we'll assume) for some reason. The reason, is anyones guess, but having a small variety of gear to try out, is always a good idea.

[Ed Fast]

Large swung flies and small, sparse flies are simply different presentations, IMO. It's no different with gear fishing. There are small pieces of yarn fish and there are spinner fish. Some are both. I bet that summer fish followed your intruder then went back to her spot. Your next pass with a different fly, you got her. It could've (spell check says "could've" is not correct) been the opposite, just as easily. One time on the Salmon River (Queets trib) in late December, the water was high and dirty and stuffed with fresh winter runs. We couldn't get them on eggs or yarnies so my friend says, "I'm goin' back to my bread and butter" and ties on the smallest size pink pearl corkie. He put on a clinic at my and our guides amazement. Ummm, what was my point? Oh, just that a different presentation can pick up fish, with no set rules or patterns.

I bet a small, pink and white, or peach yarn fly swung on a spey rod would catch more fish than an intruder. If you watch some of the gear guys I take work a run with the drift rods and yarn, they are basically spey fishing with the drift rod and often hook fish at the hang down. Same with the spoon fishermen.

Wow, I'm yammerin'. About the teeny nymphs...yes, flies like that in different colors are often very effective. Small shrimp, leach and nymph patterns look like things that most fish like to eat. Add in the size and color variations and you can really cover a lot of different situations.

don't forget, Jim usually uses 12 pound test, even in clear water in the summer. I, personally, think you should drop to the line you think is right for the conditions. On the Sandy, I've never dropped below 8# UG.

That's an awesome photo of that summer run with your fly rod. Nice!!

Ed

[Dillon]

I believe that fishing deep swung flies for winter and spring steelhead (water under 45 degrees) is the most difficult yet rewarding method for catching steelhead. My belief is based on experience catching Steelhead with drift gear, plugs, dead drifting flies with a single handed fly rod, and swinging flies with a spey rod. Of course surface fishing with flies would be more difficult, but i believe that should be reserved for warmer water when the fish are more agressive. I also believe that if a steelhead is in the right mood it will take almost any swung fly on any leader. The fly, leader strength and material make little difference so i try not to over think them. If one is concerned about the flies action in relationship to the leader a loop knot should eliminate that concern. The fish is going to see the fly before the leader so the leader material should make little difference. The most important aspect of a steelhead fly is yhe anglers confidence in it. To me the most important variable is the presentation. As I work through a run I start with a very short cast and lengthen the line about three feet after each swing until the desired length cast is achieved. Then I make 2 steps after each cast and work through the run. I want each cast to be the same length and swing in the same arc as slowly and consistently as possible. Steelhead have suberb vision and probably see the fly as it swings in front of them 1 or more swings before the swing it actually moves to the fly and grabs and turns with it. In a solid take line burns from the reel The angler swings the rod towards his downstream bank the fish hooking itself firmly in the corner of the jaw. With that being said it doesn't hurt to return to the top of the run change fly patterns and go through again. Especially if the angler feels there are fish in the run. Again, confidence is the key. One must anticipate a grab on every swing. I have put in many hours since my last hook up. However, I have confidence in what I am doing and feel that the next grab up is probably going to happen on the next swing of the fly. I can't wait...

[wfocharlie]

Chad, I'm fist pumpin psyched that you nailed one. Was that your spey or switch rod? Also were you out in your drift boat?

I hooked a back flipping cart wheelin psycho fish today that went through all that and finally got off as I was leading it to the bank by the nose ring with just the sink tip out. It was so much fun that I wasn't even that bummed that it got off.

Jay pretty much everything I know about spey fishing I learned from you and I'm hooking fish so I'm pretty confident in those techniques you mentioned also.

I've hooked fish now on different intruders, black and blue leeches and hobo speys. When ever I'm casting good and presenting well I seem to hook fish. I think that is every bit as important as the fly if not more so.

[Chedster]

That was on my 13' 8wt. I have given up on the switch rod for bigger water casting. I was casting the intruder with t14 and may have been in the rocks a little much. I switched to t11 with the moal and I think I was getting a much better presentation to the fish. I was using the drift boat to hole hop. Floated over a few bright fish so I figured I had a slight chance of hooking up :D We should try and make a few Deschutes floats once the fish are in.

[Twise95]

Chad, beautiful fish dude! What a great fish for the spey rod :D

[wfocharlie]

That was on my 13' 8wt. I have given up on the switch rod for bigger water casting. I was casting the intruder with t14 and may have been in the rocks a little much. I switched to t11 with the moal and I think I was getting a much better presentation to the fish. I was using the drift boat to hole hop. Floated over a few bright fish so I figured I had a slight chance of hooking up :D We should try and make a few Deschutes floats once the fish are in.

I'm all over a Deschutes float Chad.

One of the things I learned at the spey clave from the gurus is to fish stuff you can cast and present well rather than what is the hot fly or gear of the month.

[Chedster]

I hooked a back flipping cart wheelin psycho fish today that went through all that and finally got off as I was leading it to the bank by the nose ring with just the sink tip out. It was so much fun that I wasn't even that bummed that it got off.

It was a long distance catch and release ;). I always get nervous when trying to slide them up on the bank, I have done exactly what happened to you a few times. Hooked another hot fish today only to have it run straight into a submerged log and break me off:mad:. Gotta love hot summer steelhead.