Saltwater Fly Tying

MATT SCHUBERT'S OUTDOORS: King salmon still the monarch of Peninsula waters ...

THE KINGS MAY be the thing in the saltwater salmon fishery, but it’s still awfully pink on the North Olympic Peninsula.

All across the western portion of the Peninsula, pink salmon (aka humpies) have been quite active during the last couple of weeks, especially around Marine Area 4 (Neah Bay) and 5 (Sekiu).

The former saw 1,446 anglers hook 1,321 pinks between July 25-31 while the latter had a Sunday to remember: 772 pinks caught by 382 anglers in state creel checks.

“It’s real easy [to catch pinks],” Gary Ryan of Van Riper’s Resort (360-963-2334) in Sekiu said.

“I went out with [a friend] Monday and we had three or four up to the boat and we were only out a couple of hours.”

Obviously, the Neah Bay area has been pretty humpy heavy as well.

“There’s still a whole bunch out there,” Dean Crittendon of Big Salmon Resort (360-645-2374) in Neah Bay said. “Most people, when they are running into them, they are almost right on top.

“It’s been a while since they came out in such abundance [like they have this year]. The way it’s going, as many as there are, it probably would go through August.”

Of course, nobody wants to talk too much about the pinks.

The way the king fishing has been around the Peninsula — namely, downright decent — there’s little reason to focus on the lightly regarded salmon.

Crittendon said he weighed in a 49-pound king just a few days ago, as well as a few fish in the high 30s and a 42-pounder.

It’s good timing, considering Area 3 (LaPush) and 4 (west of Tatoosh) now allow for retention of two chinook per angler a day.

“I’ve seen a few [coho], mostly I’ve seen more pinks and kings more than anything,” Crittendon said.

“All the areas are hitting consistently. Swiftsure has been doing well. A couple of 40-pounders were brought out of there last week and during this week.

“Makah Bay is doing all right right now, and people are also trying down by Umatilla, Father and Son and Spike Rock.

“[The big kings] are out there in abundance. They just got to work for them if they want to get better fish.”

Inside the Strait

Outside of a healthy pink bite, anglers have been running into their fair share of kings inside the Strait of Juan de Fuca as well.

New to the forum - Fly Tying

I live in St. Marys, GA (just across the river from Jacksonville, FL) and have been fly fishing/tying on and off for about 5-6 years now. The majority of my experience is in-shore saltwater fishing and pond hopping for bass and bream. I tie a lot of different saltwater patterns though after seeing some of these trout patterns, my salt stuff just isn't that impressive. Anyhow, I was surfing the web looking for this kind of stuff because I recently went to CO to visit my Mom for the first time since she moved there and took the opportunity to charter a guide for a day of trout fishing. I am hooked. I will be visiting Mom more now, that's for sure. In that one day, I hooked up with about a dozen nice browns and rainbows on size 18 pheasant tail nymphs. It was a real treat to catch 20" fish on 6x tippet and a hook that small. By the end of the day I had landed about 8. So now I am sitting back at the bench in GA with the tying bug for tiny trout flies and since all I did out there was nymph fish, I decided to start there. I have been digging around for a good suggestion for what material to use for the wing case on a flashback pheasant tail. I have noticed that most tyers use some form of a pearlescent flat Mylar, I tried that but the wing case was almost invisible unless viewed just right in the light and it just didn't look right. Is there some kind of specific material you folks use? I was also considering tying a variation using a copper colored tinsel for the wing case, any thoughts? I live in North GA. I get down your way quite often for work, Fernandina a lot. I will be in brunswick next week. You have some good fishing around there, we took a guided trip for reds some months back. I would love to do some exploring around there with a 7 or 8 weight. Maybe we can trade out some fishing, you can come up in the mountains around here for some trout. That sounds good. Jekyll Island has a lot of great areas to get them but you really have to have a boat of some sort (preferably a flats boat) to get to them and all I have is a fishing Kayak but I have some connections and we can see what we can do. I would love to fish the trout up there but I am sure that it is quite different than the western streams I fished in CO. I look forward to getting to know all of you here! Welcome to the board. I spend a lot of time out west fishing, and use pheasant tail nymphs all year. I tie them in all sizes from 8 to 20.

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