I had the normal start-getting-going around 1:30 today. I puttered, then headed out to Centennial Park to see if more Coho were being caught today. I saw 4 landed in about 45 minutes so I headed out in my boots, as I’m lazy, and tried fishing from shore. Unfortunately, flipping a large bb-shot weight has a maximum distance, and I was only able to cast out to the distance that I should have been standing in the water, about half the distance that the bait fishermen were soaking their gobs of roe.
I ended up talking to a 20+ year old guy and his dad. They were nice, just like everyone I have talked to here in Alaska. As my friend Don told me, it is probably easier to be helpful to a newbie when there are a ton of fish LOL. I told my new friend, that if one more fish was landed I’d put my gear on and enter the water.
Within 5 minutes, another Coho was landed so I got my gear on and entered the water. I used one of my freshly tied flies, three large bb-shots about 2 feet above the fly, and my 7 weight with a floating line. I fished for an hour and had a great time. Twice, I got a fast triple rock bump on the bottom, a tap-tap-tap. It could have been rocks or a fish. My lightning reflexes set up on the possible strike, 3 seconds late each time. The fly is swinging and moving fast downstream in the current, so suspicious taps are the best one will get other than a total hookup and a screaming reel from a fish heading down stream.
My legs were jelly after standing in the water for an hour. I guess I have to get in the water more often in September as Winter is coming in soon. Still, I’m in Alaska. Pretty Cool.
Tight Lines!