Saltwater Fly-fishing and Buck-tailing

submitted by Nautical West 2010-08-12

When it comes to targeting coho salmon, there is no better way than to present them with a tasty looking fly or buck-tail. This weekend we are out chasing after the big northern Coho salmon that have been returning to our regional waters. Now if any of you have ever tried this technique you know what I mean as to how much fun this is. First off you must have the proper gear and the right body of water to pull this off. When targeting Coho by fly casting to them, it is best to find water where large kelp beds and low wind conditions exist. I find that during slow tidal movement, I am able to present a fly longer in the target zone where depth and presentation is critical. Now sometimes all that goes out the window and you just get lucky with some very aggressive fish that just happen to be hanging about and will grab the fly as it hits the water. This is the kind of thing that just gets you fired up and want to relive that moment over and over. As far as a good rig goes, well I have been using a single-hand 8 weight set-up loaded with 250 yards of 30# backing, a wind-cutter fly line, either a 12 ft lead-core sink tip or a T14 cut to 12 -15 ft and a 20# 6 foot leader. This works fine for situation like I just described. The alternative rig I have set-up is a full sinking line with a fast sink ratio and a 6 ft leader. I like to keep this stuff simple and comfortable to use. Now for Buck-tailing some saltwater bugs, I have some 10 weight rigs with double-handed butts on them. These work well for the rod holders! I use just straight 20# mono line loaded onto some large arbor saltwater reels. That is it, plain and simple but when presenting these buck-tails you will find it is all about finding the waters where a large number of Coho are present and adjusting how far from the stern you dangle your bugs. Buck-tailing has been around for decades and is one of the most exciting techniques used for hooking salmon. Northern British Columbia is home to some of the largest runs of Big Coho Salmon returning to their natal rivers and streams. Best time to enjoy these Fly-fishing and Buck-tailing techniques is from mid July until mid September. Let us know if you are interested in more information on fishing for northern Coho Salmon here in Beautiful British Columbia. Send us a comment, we would be glad to hear from you!

Big Northern Coho Salmon

submitted by Todd Haynes 2010-08-06

Once again we are approaching good runs of Big Northern Coho Salmon returning to our region. So far on the outer coastal waters we have been boating very good size coho thus far are many fish are reaching the mid to upper teens now. the recent heat wave here has been unbelievable and guest's are all going home with great tans and big smiles! I have been fishing guests with dark color hootchies over the past few weeks as the coho are more tentative to them than the mainstay green colors. Upper therms are fishing well but some areas are doing better at lower depths such as 50 - 80 feet. At this time of year I tend to stay away from using anchovy as it is much easier to just fish the spoons and hootchies. Our guests have been having a blast just drift fishing with light gear using Buzz Bombs and Spinnows and hooking aggressive coho that go absolutely nuts when they take these lures. Managing Director Jason Munday from Fish Tales in Terrace BC set me up to test out a great new light rod made by Temple Fork. I must say so far guests have been having a great time with this new rod and I should see over time how well this rod will stand up to the vigorous abuse we put this equipment through on the west coast.

North Coast Salmon Fishing

submitted by Todd Haynes 2010-07-11

The past few weeks have been very busy for us here at Nautical West. Besides the windy conditions we have had for three weeks straight, fishing has been very good for our guests. Our groups have had excellent success catching chinook salmon, good sized coho's, a few pinks, plenty of lingcod and rockfish, halibut and dungeness crab. One of our guests from Australia hooked and landed his first ever chinook salmon weighing in at 22 pounds. This fish performed some great acrobats for our guest, some sore arms and huge smiles. The Australian group had themselves a great trip and a limit of some fine north coast coho salmon. A guest from Calgary, BC, had spent a few days with his fishing buddies fishing chinook salmon with associate guide Tracey Hittel, but was unable to hold onto and land himself a prize. We spent a day out on the ocean with myself and he found himself into a scrappy chinook. Now John managed to finally land himself his west coast prize. This fish weighed in at 21 pounds. Congratulations again John on your well fought battle. The boys from Calgary did very well again and landed themselves a boat full of salmon, cod, halibut and lingcod. Great trip guys and thanks for the great day. A group I have fished with for the past 4 years now spent 4 days with us and boated themselves a limit of lingcod, a few nice halibut, their limit of chinooks and coho salmon, over a dozen rockfish and dungeness crab. I would like to thank you guys again for another fantastic trip and plenty of laughs.

KwikFish for Chinook Salmon

submitted by Todd Haynes 2010-06-09

Chinook Salmon Fishing is underway and it is looking like this is going to be a great season. The northern BC rivers are in prime condition, weather has been extremely good and there is no better way than to spend the day back-trolling Kwikfish for some big chinook salmon. Today we hit the river at about 7:30 am and we were in to a nice chinook by 8:30 am. Recently, I got my hands on some new K-14X Kwikfish Extremes to try out from a local dealer in Terrace, BC. I have been using the K-13X for many years but I was impressed with the extra action coming from these K-14X's. These Kwikfish just get down a little deeper and hold there when working some of the faster seams and holes. The impressive action from a Kwikfish is tremendous and really drives a chinook into attacking these plugs. Checkout these plugs online: http://www.luhrjensen.com/products/salmon--steelhead/kwikfish-xtreme-salmon-with-rattle

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