Northwest Reel Life September 2024 Volume 4 Issue 1 - Flipbook - Page 26
We have caught coho
that were either barfing
up small herring or had
a number of herring
tails sticking out of their
mouths, yet they had just
snarfed down a hoochie/
flasher rig.
You can’t go wrong with
a flasher/hoochie of a
flasher/spoon combo.
Some version of green
or chartreuse would be
my starting point but if
presented correctly almost
any color will work. Many
other lures will work too.
Consider an Old Goat Lure,
a herring or anchovy in a
helmet, hoochie/Wigglefin
Action Disc combo or even
a spinner/bait rig. While
coho fishing I always run 11”
flashers and the color will
vary depending on what
the fish want the day that I
am fishing.
The day that I took my
friends out we found huge
schools of small bait so we
sized our flies and spoons
accordingly.
We were running 32-34” of
30# fluorocarbon leaders
with a 20’ setback from
the clip. All our fish were
caught with between 60’
and 140’ of cable out while
trolling at 3.2-4.0 mph. The
flies we were using were
2 barbless hook rigs and I
tipped the lead hook with
salted herring strips. The
spoons were lathered up
with either anchovy or
herring goo and also ran on
32-34” leaders.
I want to address the
MA 7 weather. I work 5
to 6 days a week on the
water in MA 7. While
working in the San Juans
last year I encountered a
significant squall line of
thunderstorms. Basically,
the weather went from
summer boating weather
to “what the heck” in
minutes. It was windy,
pouring icy rain/hail,
and very dark. Then the
thunder was relentless and
deafening.
