Fly fishing for chinook on anchor in Sac river?

[SeanO]

Hi guys, question for you.

I'm actually not much of a fly fisherman (lots to learn), so I don't know how to make this happen, but it would be sweet. Looks like we'll have another good year with valley salmon this year, and I want to try new things.

I enjoy anchor fishing with kwikfish on the Sac river in the Tisdale to Verona section. My buddy is an avid fly guy and I wonder if we can get a fish on a fly rod there?

The chinook are generally caught on the river bottom, so I guess a sink tip, but what fly can you recommend? We've used moal leeches when back trolling for steelhead, so perhaps something like that?

Any and all advice is appreciated.

Here was our big fish of last year.

Thanks much,

http://www.kiene.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9333&d=1405382729

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

There was a guy up in a trailer park on the east side of the Sacramento River below the Red Bluff Diversion Dam who was the river docent, Chuck Desurnest(sp?), who caught King salmon in the fall with a fly rod from an anchored boat.

[Mark Kranhold]

That is one big hen, nice catch! Chartreuse would be a good color to use for the Kings anchored to 30+ feet of lead-core. During summer/fall Striper fishing on the American some kings get caught on chartreuse and white clousers. It would be a fun catch but be prepared for lots of casting practice. You may want to think about concentrating on the American or other valley tributaries of the Sac. in a deep hole were the fish may be more concentrated or early morning in the riffles and tail outs. Good luck!
9334

[SeanO]

Sounds like it's doable then! Thanks for that, guys.

Mark, the chartreuse idea is good, it's what most of our kwiks are but also silver.

What's the name of that creation, and is it a jig or fly?

Best,

[Tony Buzolich]

This ought to bring out a bunch of fun ideas for a number of reasons as it's not the usual way to go about catching a salmon. Let me say this though, yes it can be done. Both by myself and most of my friends that are avid "striper" fishermen have all caught salmon on a fly,,,,, from a boat,,,,,,, thought not necessarily anchored, nor necessarily on purpose. Now over on the coast fishing salmon from a pram is a standard way of life. Anyone who has ever been to or near the mouth of the Eel, the Klamath, etc. will all recall the line-up of small prams straight lining a sink-tip for fresh run Chinook.

But it's different the farther you get up river. The water is usually a bit dirtier, a whole lot warmer, and the salmon will have traveled a considerable greater distance than if they were still at the river mouths.

With these conditions in mind you can only hope to achieve success with two things in mind. First, hope that you find a VERY fresh fish. That salmon has been out in the ocean eating herring and anchovy's for the last four or five years. His instinct is to chase bait. Bright flashy silvery bait and any fly that looks like that.

Here's a nice chrome salmon taken on the Feather that was busting bait all around the boat. Seeing numerous splashes and boils on the surface it acted just like a striped bass and ate a blue and white clouser. Quite a surprise when we saw the first jump.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/tonyssalmon.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/tonyssalmon.jpg.html)

All of the other salmon we've taken in the lower rivers have been accidental catches while chasing striped bass. They seem to eat the same flies,,,,,, on occasion. The key here is getting them to see it. As stated, the lower rivers around here are not crystal clear. If they are going to see it make it as visible as possible and use "Flash" to help get their attention. Chartreuse and white with a flash tail would probably be my first go to fly if I was targeting salmon around here. Flashy tails on any fly will get their attention. Even a wiggle disc would help if you're sitting stationary at anchor.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/005_zps77597e38.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/005_zps77597e38.jpg.html)

But another key to getting their attention is to stick it in their face. If the fish is fresh he'll actually chase it. If he's resting or hold up behind a mound or in a slot you've got to stick it in his face and make him mad enough to grab it.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/015-1_zpsa57f3678.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/015-1_zpsa57f3678.jpg.html)

Here are a couple more taken on clousers in both chartreuse /white, and white/white. I think Bill Siler took one last year on red/white. Just get it in their face.

The area around Tisdale is not known for riffles and holding water. Around here a fast deep channel or the top of a good hole would be the best places to try for that salmon on a fly. Standard striper equipment with a sinking head and 20# test leader would be my choice. And what's the worse that could happen? You might actually catch a striper :)
Tony

[Darian]

As far as I'm concerned, there's no question that Salmon can be taken on a fly in almost any river. The real trick is to reduce all of the obstructions to a minimum while finding concentrations of feeding fish. There's a ton of debris everywhere the water slows in the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. Unfortunately, that slow water (eddies) is where Salmon congregate and where they tend to feed. That translates into a lot of casting and lost flies per fish caught.

The man that Bill referred to is named Chuck DeJournette. He lived outside of Red Bluff and drifted in a 14' aluminum row boat from the launch ramp at the fish ladder down to his house while casting heavily weighted flies on lead core lines and short leaders. He only anchored a short distance above where he intended to land his boat at the end of a drift. The drift lasted about 2 hours and included Blackberry Riffle and one other but consisted of deep pools and fast runs. Not much debris on the bottom up there. He had the river dialed in and caught a fairly bright 20 pounder King in an eddie one morning while a friend and I shared his boat. Now, we were there after the run had past thru that area, already. If I were to go to the Sacramento River, I'd go up higher than the Tisdale area. Say, below the Los Molinos area up thru Red Bluff. Lots of room up there.

If local, either the American or Feather are fishable with a fly but you'd better be ready to bring your own rock if you're fishing from shore or have radar with collision avoidance warning to miss the other boaters.

Salmon are already being caught accidentally by Striper guys in the Sacramento from Miller Park down the Freeport. No concentrations of fish yet.

I've fished for Stripers around Tisdale with Tony Buzolich and believe that there's a bunch of debris in the water around there. Maybe Tony will provide some info on this one.

[Darian]

GEEZ!!! I forgot to mention that the lower in the Feather and Sacramento Rivers that you fish the more debris will be on the bottom. That probably means that you should use lead core lines because it's cheaper than T-14, T-17, T-20.

The fly mentioned in the earlier post was a Boss pattern and were very heavily weighted. Chuck tied his Boss pattern with a brown or tan kip tail, black chenille, ribbed with oval silver tinsel and a brown saddle hackle. To finish this fly off, he used bead chain eyes wrapping the thread and eyes with colored flat tinsel (blue, red or green). The hook he used was something equivalent to an Eagle Claw 1197. I wouldn't recommend that hook for Salmon now. It's too soft. For some unexplained reason, I caught most of my Salmon on the green color. Now this all took place in the mid-70's when we fished with Chuck. So, take new fly design and choice into account and good luck.

I've all but given up Salmon fishing in local waters as these fish just seem to bring out the worst in human behavior. :(

[DAVID95670]

I use 10 to 15 ft of t 20 and an orange fly tied on a salt water hook (heavy) I use thickest lead wire to wrap body and add lead dumbells as eyes. The tail is orange zonkers 1 inch in length the body is hare line cactus uv chenille rope.

It will hurt like $uck if it hits you so remove barb. I got 20+ last year uv helps a ton. They will strike the fly have video of my arm pulled back from the force. Largest was 54 inches the beast destroyed my 3.5 Lamson litespeed. I was spooled more times then I can count. This year lites peed 4.0 with 150 yrs 30# dacron and 250 yrs gel spun .

Good luck. Let the tank fishing begin

[DAVID95670]

There was an excellent article in fly fisherman magazine about swinging flies for kings this spring. I think it was the magazine. Anyhow it was one of the three mags carried at Barnes and noble. It is done all the time and is the big thing currently amount spey caster's in pnw

[SeanO]

Tony, Darian and David!

Thanks a bunch for the solid info. Sounds like we'll give it a go.

I'll see what my friend has for gear, but we'll probably need some heavier flies or lead wire.

Best,

[Barnett]

David- are you fishing for Kings in the A? I have thought about trying but haven't put in the time yet. Maybe this year, at least I'll keep the rust off my spey casting and tuneup for winter steelhead season!

[Scott V]

David- are you fishing for Kings in the A? I have thought about trying but haven't put in the time yet. Maybe this year, at least I'll keep the rust off my spey casting and tuneup for winter steelhead season!

I tried last year from my kayak and had no love. And once the run starts again I will be back out there on my kayak. Usually in the Howe Ave. area where some holes are.

[Charlie Gonzales]

Flash flies work well too........

Green/Silver, Blue/Silver, Purple/Pink