rogerdodger
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getting into the whole fishing from a kayak experience?
ready to step it up, hook an adult salmon, fight it for a while and then try to net it yourself without looking like all 3 stooges sitting on a chunk of rotomolded polyethelyne?
how about doing all this without being in choppy tidewater with PB/guide boats zooming all around...
I think a great way to get started and get that important first salmon blood on your kayak is to head for Siltcoos or Tahkenitch in October when the wild coho arrive. Here is my reasoning:
these are big lakes and the fishing pressure is much less than the bays/tidewaters. Even on weekends there are not that many powerboats on them plus the lakes are big so everyone has lots of room, and with no chinook and a 1 salmon limit (must be a wild coho), very few guide boats bother to take customers there. the launches are easy to use and very kayak/canoe friendly.
only "downside" is if you catch an adult coho quickly, your fishing day is done. so lets see, go out in your kayak, catch and tag a 12# coho within an hour on a quiet lake with loons, osprey, bald eagles...I'm not sure "downside" is the right word here...
both lakes have short outlet rivers from the west side that cut through the dunes to the ocean. fresh coho come up these rivers in bursts and many of them adjust to the lake by staying along the west shoreline while moving to the south of where they came into lake. thus you do not need to go very far to get into fishy water. and you can easily target these coho 2 ways from any kayak: from a location near shore, alternate between casting towards shore, right into the shallows like you were bass fishing, but also make some casts OFF the opposite side of your boat, out towards the center of the lake. The second method is short trolling runs with spinners just a bit OFF shore, get moving and cast your spinner out the back of your boat, rod into a holder and then cruise along for a while at 1.5 to 2mph. but don't troll that far since you will pick up weeds often in these lakes, couple hundred yards or so, reel in the spinner, sometimes hooking a fish almost at the boat!, repeat...and if they don't seem to be hitting any of the normal coho spinners, try like a 2/5 lil'cleo type spoon, gold and red/gold have both produced coho for me in Siltcoos...
I am hoping to add a third coho method this year- casting 'coho poppers' near shore, I will certainly be posting on whether this method works or stinks...cheers, roger
ready to step it up, hook an adult salmon, fight it for a while and then try to net it yourself without looking like all 3 stooges sitting on a chunk of rotomolded polyethelyne?
how about doing all this without being in choppy tidewater with PB/guide boats zooming all around...
I think a great way to get started and get that important first salmon blood on your kayak is to head for Siltcoos or Tahkenitch in October when the wild coho arrive. Here is my reasoning:
these are big lakes and the fishing pressure is much less than the bays/tidewaters. Even on weekends there are not that many powerboats on them plus the lakes are big so everyone has lots of room, and with no chinook and a 1 salmon limit (must be a wild coho), very few guide boats bother to take customers there. the launches are easy to use and very kayak/canoe friendly.
only "downside" is if you catch an adult coho quickly, your fishing day is done. so lets see, go out in your kayak, catch and tag a 12# coho within an hour on a quiet lake with loons, osprey, bald eagles...I'm not sure "downside" is the right word here...
both lakes have short outlet rivers from the west side that cut through the dunes to the ocean. fresh coho come up these rivers in bursts and many of them adjust to the lake by staying along the west shoreline while moving to the south of where they came into lake. thus you do not need to go very far to get into fishy water. and you can easily target these coho 2 ways from any kayak: from a location near shore, alternate between casting towards shore, right into the shallows like you were bass fishing, but also make some casts OFF the opposite side of your boat, out towards the center of the lake. The second method is short trolling runs with spinners just a bit OFF shore, get moving and cast your spinner out the back of your boat, rod into a holder and then cruise along for a while at 1.5 to 2mph. but don't troll that far since you will pick up weeds often in these lakes, couple hundred yards or so, reel in the spinner, sometimes hooking a fish almost at the boat!, repeat...and if they don't seem to be hitting any of the normal coho spinners, try like a 2/5 lil'cleo type spoon, gold and red/gold have both produced coho for me in Siltcoos...
I am hoping to add a third coho method this year- casting 'coho poppers' near shore, I will certainly be posting on whether this method works or stinks...cheers, roger
opcorn:
