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Neah Bay is happening

4K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
I'm off to Sitka in the AM but a few of my "club" members swung by for a breif visit on there way back from the west end with a report of 6 to 8 coho a day for the last 4 days out at Neah Bay. They were happy and even had a big King follow some feathers right up to the boat. All in all it doesn't sound alot worse than Sitka other than its a lot hotter in the air temp department.
Better get out there soon they did not have to run off shore the fish were in the straits and some were right in the "Kelp"! Wish I could stay and help but duty calls.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Neah Bay coho

Two weeks ago a buddy and I spent 3 days fishing out of Neah Bay, primarily targeting kings with the "cut-plug" pattern. The weather was good on day one, but our plans were foiled in part by burning through so much bait on the coho. We did hook a few kings only to lose them at the boat. The coho were paving the ocean outside and south of Tatoosh. That first morning the water was glassy and when we found birds we found krill on the surface. In the krill were coho, slurping those little bugs with their noses and backs out of the water. We just had to stop and strip a few flies in the midst of those topwater fish, and sure enough they were into a deep sunk clouser. After we went through our bait we turned all our attention to the silvers, and we found plenty in the rips outside the Strait. We had no trouble hooking fish even in the mid-day sun. The next day the weather was lousy. From the looks of things the day after the blow it seemed that the big concentrations of krill were broken up. But the coho were still in the rips. And they were still biting like mad. We tried bucktailing for about 20 minutes and hooked half a dozen fish. Casting to them was equally effective. We caught hatchery fish to 8lbs, and released one unclipped fish that went about 14. It seemed like the hatchery to wild ratio was about 4 to 6, so it wasn't hard to find keepers.
On the lousy weather day we tried fishing inside the Strait, but only managed one kelp bass on a sunk fly. For some reason (probably the massive concentrations of krill and herring on the outside) we didn't see much sign of coho in front of Neah Bay. Perhaps good numbers of those fish have finally decided to move into the Strait? I hope so, I plan on fishing Sekiu soon.
 
#3 ·
Reading this is giving me the shakes... of all the flyfishing venues out there few can compare to the excitement of finding oneself in a krill soup with silver lightning bolts slashing through it. A 14# wild coho in August... man, what will that beast look like in October?

I've got no vacation and my Labor Day weekend is booked with dorm move-in duties but I gotta find a way to get back to Neah Bay...
 
#4 ·
Got the Shakes?

We've got the Cure!:devil:

Plus I gotta give that Rio DeepSea line a little exercise in the Pacific. If you can get one of the last two weekends of September off, let's try for a 3day weekender.

With Howzer, Ryan, Leland, and others we might even be able to get a Clave going?

Uh oh . . . now I'm feelin bad!! Like a dealer tormenting a junkie.:hehe:
 
#5 ·
Gotta love Doublespey's idea... :) :) :) :)

Would love to make a trip out to Neah Bay or Sekiu as I dont have a trip planned this year and I an dying to get out there.

Plus there are enough summer-runs in some certain rivers...it would provide a nice change up...or we could just pound away at the salt for 3-straight days!! :devil:

With the coho returning about 2 weeks late...the end of September should be fantastic!!!!! :whoa:
 
#6 ·
late september

Late September will be a great time to be there, but I'll be prowling the Skeena country starting September 20th... if any of y'all can make it out to the Strait before then, let me know, because I'd like to spend more time out there as the ocean fish start pouring in.
 
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