Fly Fishing For Northern California Salmon

Grant Fraser

2005

Gordon cast into the strong current and mended twice quickly upstream to work his Teeny 300 line deeper in the current. As his line quartered downstream a vicious tug almost pulled his rod from his hands. He recovered, set back hard, and a bronze-colored rocket erupted from the current and cart wheeled downstream.

After a grueling 30-minute tussle, 25 pounds of King Salmon lay at his feet on the gravel 300 yards downstream from where this heavyweight bout had started. Gordon’s first Salmon, a hen with tinges of chrome still on her sides, lay breathing heavily. After a minute of resuscitation, she slowly finned back out to take her place in the holding water, waiting her turn to spawn in a month or so.

Is this June in Alaska? Is it July in BC? No it’s August in California! There are many places in the Northern California waterways that afford this kind of action. While many people pay thousands of dollars to travel thousands of miles to get to this kind of fishing, many opportunities to catch (and release) Salmon exist within a couple of hours of our state capitol.

This Salmon fishing can and often does rival the fabled waterways north of the Continental US. I heard of this kind of fishing for years growing up, but I had resigned myself to spinning rods and drifting roe and glo bugs for them, with great success. Finally, about 20 years ago, a good friend finally allowed me to join the hallowed club of Salmon Fly Fishers. I haven’t touched my spinning gear much at all after that time. Actually, like many secrets, fly fishing for Salmon is relatively simple when explained. Catching Salmon on a fly, like any species, is a matter of timing, tactics and thinking. I’ll try to map out how to change your strategy to enable you to share in this fun. Then you’ll have to swear the oath of the Order of Salmon Fly Fishers to catch and release before you go. If you’re not willing to swear the oath, don’t bother reading any further, since this will simply be another article that will waste your time. But if you are willing, read on, and enjoy the benefits of arms and shoulders weary from hauling in 20-40 pound fish all day; replacing broken rods and reels that will be sustained in fighting some of the best fighting and beautiful fish in God’s creation.

Remember the three T’s; Timing, tactics and thinking, and apply these strategies for results.

Timing

Timing refers to fishing when and where you can maximize your chance of hooking up. It will vary by geography. Fish the right times. Salmon are most active during low light conditions. They are restless before mating starts, and this restlessness will make them aggressive, but not stupid. So, focus on fishing early and late, and look forward to your noon siesta. If you’re catching Salmon in the morning you’ll need the rest! The right times to fish during the year in the valley are from mid-August until the end of September. After this time, the fish start moving into the shallows to spawn, and it’s tacky to fish on the Redds for spawning fish. It may also get you a well deserved ticket in many rivers!

Thinking

All right, I know what you are thinking right now; “this is getting too complicated”. Just bear with me a moment and I’ll try to explain what I mean. Thinking implies thinking like a fish, not a human. Like Bill Murray said in Caddy Shack, ”Sometimes you have to think like a gopher, act like a gopher and even smell like one”. The same applies to Salmon fishing. Put yourself in their shoes.

A Salmon in a river is like a trout in a bathtub. Imagine a trout in your bathtub. How would he act? He would be scared out of his wits during any daylight hours by any movement, right? This is due to the fact that trout are always subject to being prayed upon by something; an angler, an osprey, a bigger fish. Salmon are no different, just bigger.

On their journeys from Alaskan waters to our rivers they face predation by seals, larger fish, commercial fishermen, even birds. Consequently, as much larger food in a river system they cannot hide as well as a trout could. They must feel like a trout in a bathtub. So, you must re-learn the types of water that Salmon will frequent during their only sojourn into fresh water. Salmon are not trout and will not hold in the same types of water, preferring deep, slower currents where they have the ability to school up, a holdover from their ocean days. You’ll find them in water from 5-30 feet deep, but you should concentrate on waters that are accessible to your fly fishing tactics.

So, focus on your favorite river that has Salmon runs and spend some time from April through July, possibly at mid day while you’re trout fishing, looking for these deep runs and holes. Locate the fish before fishing. While this may seem like a pretty stupid statement, I’ve seen countless people fish a ‘reliable’ hole all day because they caught fish there yesterday.

Salmon will move up to 10 miles or more a day, so don’t expect to find the fish in the same spots day after day, particularly early in the run. Spend some time prospecting each trip, looking for pods of fish to cast to instead of singles. You will waste a lot of time casting to one or two fish, since part of what makes them aggressive is a crowd of fish in the same hole.

Think of how you feel on a subway train in New York and you’ll know what they feel like. Remember why the Salmon are there or, do you eat during sex? Remember why the Salmon are in the river. They are there for one purpose; to spawn. They don’t eat; they don’t look for food or forage. They hold up and wait to go to the Redds, spawn on the Redds, and die. The first part of the run will start to stack up in holding water furthest up the river until the scene looks like a New York subway train at rush hour.

Then the fighting begins, and the fish start to spread out downstream. By the end of the main run most every spare piece of gravel that’s suitable will be covered. My theory is that most Salmon hit flies or lures due to aggression and plain surliness. How would you feel the last time you were in rush hour traffic with a hot date waiting? I could bite someone’s head off at that point!

All Pacific Salmon will die. That is a plain fact. This, however, is no reason to keep them. Let them spawn and reproduce themselves. Besides, by the time they get to the Redds they are way past the edible stage, in my opinion.

A friend of mine did tell me though, that you can prepare them by “Planking” them and they are delicious. I asked how this would work and he told me. “Simply take that dog-eared old Salmon and place it on a Cedar plank. Then marinate it in a combination of lemon and wine for two weeks. After that, throw away the fish and eat the Plank!” Perhaps this is a good way to go, but I’ve never tried it (and don’t recommend it to anyone). It seems a shame to waste that wine and a perfectly good Plank.

Tactics

 Tactics refer to the techniques necessary to locate, cast and fight Salmon successfully. A few pointers are included below. Things that go bump in the night, or the river. Use the right size tackle for the job. A good 8-10 weight rod, a reel with a great drag that will hold 200 yards of 30# backing, and a FAST sink tip line (Teeny 200-400 is my preference). Use a short 3-4 foot leader of 10-20 lbs. to keep you flies down. These fish are rarely leader or line shy and you’ll need the strength in the tippet for larger fish. Use large files, from 1/0 to 6. The rule of thumb is to use the largest fly possible without snagging fish. If you’re snagging fish, drop down a hook size or two. Also be ready to snag up your rig on the bottom often, so bring a good bunch of flies. You’ll hate yourself if you get into a world class school and break off both flies you brought in an hour. Ouch! If you’re not losing flies occasionally you’re not in the hooking zone. As always, your friendly guide staff will be glad to show you the ins and outs or simply be there to help short cut your learning curve. Use them, they like it!

Tactically, fighting a Salmon is hard work. Figure on a minute per pound for the size of the fish. Use a relatively heavy drag setting so you don’t lose more than your fly. I remember hitting a large chrome buck and watching my line, backing and all melt off and beak at the spool. He’s still going, I think. Getting spooled is a hazard with a 40-plus pound fish, so be ready to get going downstream with them.

Always try to determine where you will make your stand before hooking that 30-pounder. Many fish are lost for lack of a battle plan. Do I stand my ground? Take him down to the flat water 100 yds. below me? What if he runs out of the hole? How far can I follow? These are all good questions to answer before you’re engaged in a fight, not during.

Try to get even with or slightly below the fish for the fight. This puts your pressure plus the current on your side. Salmon are notorious for using the current against you, so do it to them first.

After you’ve busted your knuckles on a few last minute runs, received line cuts or bumps and bruises from falling while following the fish down river you may be able to land it. I prefer to beach the fish if possible, as this is least likely to injure the fish when done correctly. After extricating your fly, hold the fish upright and head into a slight current, and move it slightly back and forth to work its gills. This may take a minute if it’s been a long fight, but it’s a worthwhile sight to watch this king of the river slowly move back to the spawning ritual ahead of it.

Take a moment and savor the bumps, bruises and pain in your shoulder from meeting with a very worthy adversary; the Pacific King Salmon!