Fly Fishing Forum banner

Chasing GL Chinook with a spey rod

6K views 56 replies 8 participants last post by  peter-s-c 
#1 ·
Chinook fly fishing in this neck-of-the-woods is usually done with a single hander - sight fishing for them on the smaller rivers. Anyone who has fished for them knows that they can be notoriously unpredictable about taking a fly and sometimes many passes are required before a strike can be coaxed out of one.

This mitigates against using a spey rod and fishing blind for you're likely only to pick up the odd aggressive fish. The advantage of the spey rod would be to reach fish in far lies that haven't be pestered by hordes of other anglers. It also would let me get away from the heavily fished waters.

So, has anyone here been successful picking up chinook when fishing blind with a spey rod?

My 11 wt. would be ideal for this but before I spend some more money on lines, etc. I'd like to be reasonably comfortable with the notion that I'm not wasting my time.

BTW fresh, wild chinook in the Saugeen fight way better than their southern, stocked counterparts and they can still be bright 70 miles upstream. (see my avatar).
 
#2 ·
For 23 years blind swinging nymphs, streamers, and egg flies using single hander 9 and 10 weights. Especially if they are fresh from the lake they will take when holding in the pools. Hit it right and you will think you are in Alaska, I am not kidding.

Good luck

PM Out

P.S. Make sure you bring band aids for your bloody knuckles and hands trying to palm the fly spool rim on the long runs. :chuckle:
 
#4 ·
See, I've been having these daydreams about the lower Saugeen. At Dennys Dam, hundreds of anglers line the banks flogging the water for anything with scales, but if you're willing to walk, you can go downstream and fished relatively untouched waters. There are some great pools downstream and I have this little daydream of hooking a 40 pounder Ford fender of a fish on the end of the 11 wt. in one of them. The fish in these pools will have been unmolested and in a fiesty mood, fresh from the lake.

About the knuckles - I prefer to use the drag knob. :hehe:

For the record, I'm watching ebay for a Redington AL 13/14 that I'll spool up with an Airflo Delta Traditional multi-tip, when it hits these shores. My Lamson Velocity 4s are fine for shooting heads on the 11 wt. but they don't have the capacity for a long bellied line plus a decent amount of backing. I'm planning on needing the backing.
 
#5 ·
Greg Pavlov said:
Do you think that you need the 11 wt ? Wouldn't your 8 or
9 be sufficient ?
It's a question of distance, current strength, and size potential of some of the fish. I've landed nice chinook on 7 wts. but most of those were lazy stockers on the Credit. I've landed a few dozen chinook on the Saugeen and they like to run. You should've seen the eyeballs on the Pirate when he had that little 8 lb. chinook peel off all of his line and over 100 yards of backing, during our Saugeen drift trip.

The lower river is very wide in spots and I want to run some flies far out in the deep middle where the float rodders don't go. The 11 wt. will let me do that more consistently with less effort. I'll probably bring the 9 wt. along as backup though.

It's a big river, they're big fish, why not use a big rod? :D
 
#7 ·
Peter debates:

>For the record, I'm watching ebay for a Redington AL 13/14 that
>I'll spool up with an Airflo Delta Traditional multi-tip, when it hits
>these shores.

I believe that there have been a few within the past week or so. I was surprised by how cheaply one went.

>It's a big river, they're big fish, why not use a big rod?

I'm just trying to save you some money :rolleyes:

>BTW. you guys talked me into it.

Ah, I see that you've won the debate...
 
#8 ·
Greg Pavlov said:
Peter debates:


>It's a big river, they're big fish, why not use a big rod?

I'm just trying to save you some money :rolleyes:

>BTW. you guys talked me into it.

Ah, I see that you've won the debate...

Save money? In this business? Why start now? :confused: I thought we were supposed to come up with creative reasons for spending it. Remember the Golf Gambit?

Oh, and the debate? Yup I won and you get all the credit. :D


Wanna do Saugeen in September?
 
#11 ·
well....

I would be fine with an 8wt. My buddy fished the Saugeen and did perfectly fine with an 8wt rod. It is all about fighting the fish, if you fight them right....you can do ok!

Hell, I use my 5wt for steelhead, and might take a look at that sage for steelhead exclusivly!
 
#12 ·
blind casting for chinnies

Peter;
I'll claim I'm fishing steelies or browns, but chinooks are fairly regular "customers". By staying away from the redds, I think we're more likely to hit unmolested fish that are willing to grab.
This image is a bit over 30Kb., so instead of attaching it, just paste this link into your browser:
http://www.silverdoctor.net/jpg_images/spey_chinook.jpg
So, when's the best time for those wild saugeen fish?:D
 
#14 ·
The most rod I have ever used for them is a 10 weight 9.5 foot fenwick glass which I built just for the kings. For the fresh 15-20 pounders using 15-20 lb test leaders it was sometimes not enough.

This was primarily on narrower rivers though with our omnipresent log jams in every hole and bend pool.

Its amazing what small caddis, stone, and hex nymphs they will take at times when nothing else works. Size 6-8s. Many times it is the hook which fails via bending due to the immense pressure you can place on them with a 10 weight and 15-20 lb test leader.

I don't care if I land them, so losing them is not an issue. Caught and landed enough of them over the years.

Now everything goes back.

PM Out
 
G
#15 ·
15-20# leader, I imagine the hooks pull flat. Especially Maxima, you could scale sears tower with that stuff.

Don't go heavier than 10# maxima, I feel the thicker the leader the less fish (Kings) you hit. They attack the nymphs and caddis out of reflex. Imagine all those river years eating bugs, grubs and your smaller brothers.
 
#16 ·
Kings are not that leader shy in low light conditions and deep dark pools, I did not beleive it, until I tried the 15-20 lb test leaders, but they worked. Don't use them any more, actually don't fish for kings that much anymore due to the you know whats on the rivers during the peak periods.

Hint, if you use saltwater hooks like a 34007 there are few kings that are going to bend those hooks. Been using them since early 1980s for kings. :D :D

PM Out
 
#18 ·
They most definitely are running during the Spey Clave.

Fresh Saugeen chinook of about #20 or more, in big water, with current and depth to work with will put way more of a bend in your rod than you would imagine. On my last drift trip, I was using a T&T 7 wt. with a click Marquis. The fish we landed were only in the 8# to 10# range. The ones we didn't land were larger. We had the advantage of being 70 miles upstream, in shallow water, with lots of room to get behind the fish, and a guide to chase it with a net. Considering how tough these little guys were, I can't imagine what a 30 pounder fresh from the lake would be like. The store owner told me last week of one steelhead trip where the sport hooked a huge chinook that fought him for 45 minutes before tossing the hook. So it's a guide story and probably accurate by half but it's still a tussle.

Saugeen fish start in August and carry through to October. They'll start stacking up in eary August if the weather is right. It's these fish that I want to target. Once you're into late October, these are very tired and ratty fish as are chinook everywhere on the GLs at that time. Get them early and it's quite different.

The 11 wt. is a decent idea (along with the Delta Long traditional multi that I hope to get) as I can reach some of the stacking up areas that float rodders and single handers can't fish. A smaller spey would work (14' 9 wt.) but the current is so strong there, if the fish gets in it, you better have the tackle. A pissed-off 30 pounder with a strong current up its arse isn't going to be turned by a wimpy stick.
 
#20 ·
How do you find the points on those Mustads? I bought a bunch for bass and pike flies plus a couple of trips to the Cape and the points took a lot of work to sharpen.

For freshwater use, these days I'm using only Kamasan Deep Water Salmon hooks. Pricey but I don't have to worry about the points.
 
#25 ·
me too....

I tied some Dan's electric green butt spey patterns today! Look very nice!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top