eastcoasttransplant

I finished the book in two days. For those looking for your typical fishing book, this is not it. Dan does go into the spiritual side of things and shares a significant side of his personal life. It gives you a much better perspective on where he is coming from. It might also make a few of you questions where you are in life as well. It appears to be the first in a 3 part series Dan is writing. Very thought prevoking.

The only thing I have heard about SD's is that they do not run very effectively off riggers with lead lengths less than 20 feet. I too have a bunch but have only used standard flashers.

Thanks guys. I'm finishing up my leaders and will be tying a bunch more flies within the next few weeks. I don't really add a lot of beads after my flies, as I use crystal chenille to form a "bump" behind where my mylar is attached to the tube, have my rattle which provides a visual and sound stimulant and of course my chenille head with eyes. I will say I use WAY more material than you guys have on your flies. You guys are talking 4 inches of mylar....I probably use 3 to 4 times that much with the flies I've tied. My next batch will be smaller, more sparsely dressed flies but I'm very curious to see how size will play a factor during this years trolling. Thanks guys

I didn't think it was out there yet. I ordered an advanced copy and hope to be getting it soon. I've spoken to Dan many times and cannot say enough about the guy. Being new to this area and salmon fishing the Great Lakes, Dan ALWAYS takes time to answer my questions...even when my wife told me I was being a pain in his arse. He's a great guy and a pretty darn good fisherman. Can't wait for the book to arrive.

Well I looked over my flies last night.... My mylar flies have a lot of material on them and should push water and definitely be seen by those chinooks. My earlier flies were tied with thin flashabou and glo flashabou, which made for a thinner profile. I'll try running both and see what the fish prefer.

Well when the "official" word comes out it will be big news. Good looking stuff and a great guy to boot.

I know too. He told me as well.

Thanks guys. I tie mostly with the banded mylar and have been tying them bulkier. Big Weenies new flies I got are significantly thinner. maybe my next batch of 50 I'll tie a bit more sparse.

So I've tied up my first 50 or so trolling flies and like I stated before I tie my flies fairly large and bulky. In speaking to others out there, most say they prefer a very sparse fly for trolling. A friend just sent me two Big Weenie flies, very nicely tied BTW, and they are significantly thinner than the flies I have created. Now why I'm still confident in the flies I make, I'm just curious if you guys prefer bulky or sparse flies for trolling king salmon?

SS spoons are awesome. I ran tham a lot and especially during those flat calm, high sun days. Running and gunning at fast trolling speeds making it seem as if the little meal was going to get away. It didn't most of the time. I'm new to the game so take it for what it's worth but on those flat calm, high sun days I don't think it takes must to bring those kings in. During those conditiions I ran a wide stealth spread with all clean spoons, most of the time SS or normal size, and it seemed to be the less intrusive presentation that worked. Troll them with 12lb line, small swivels and you'll see how well they catch. Good luck.

Basically this is the hook rig I use. I add a bead or two in front of the two hooks and the fly in front of that. I'm not saying it makes a huge difference but I run larger bulkier flies and the lighter hooks really give the fly better rotation than the 4/0's I started with. I'm also a guy who perfers single hooks as opposed to trebles...so I'm biased there.

I'll see if I can get something up this weekend. Basically, all I do is take 2 2/0 short shank tarpon hooks, I take a piece of clear tubing over one eye of one hook, then I put the other hook point through the eye of the hook with the tubing in opposite directions. The tubing prevents the "trailer" hook from coming off and keeps it straight as opposed to hanging down or wobbling. It's an old bass spinnerbait trailer hook design that works pretty well. No need for me to have to adjust leader between the two hooks and being tarpon hooks they are strong. To finish the rig, I attach a rattle, which I paint myself, to the first hook, put my bead spacers in and tie the hooks to my leaders after putting on the tube fly. Some like to use a snelled leader but I simply tie with a clinch knot.

I just read this now and am very happy things worked out for you. we've all had those crappy things happen that seemingly ruin everything aat the worst possible moment. Really happy this turned out. Best wishes.

So meat rigs are mentioned here and there and my understanding is that they are basically a rig consisting of 2 to 3 teasers and then a trailing cut herring rig. I want to avoid using meat and saw that Dreamweaver makes a meatless rig. Basically the teasers and then a trailing fly. My thought was to make 1 or 2 of these type rigs for fishing deep off an 11" flasher during the mid-day hours, searching for those deep kings. So what's your thoughts???? I think I'll give it a try regardless but I'm curious to see if you guys think the extra attracting of a small "group" of flies behind a flasher is worth it or not. Thanks all.

I know this thread was about color but another thing I have been paying attention to is Hook weight and how it affects your fly. I have opted to us a dual 2/0 tarpon hooks for my rigs. I began with 4/0's and they would alter the rotation of the fly behind the flasher. Switching to strong yet light 2/0's give the fly more motion as it's not "anchored" by heavier hooks. Strong hooks are a neccessity for salmon fishing but if you can keep them light you'll get more action out of your flies.

From everything I've been researching and from gathering information in the past when I was selling salt water flies, believe it or not, sometimes what catches best is not the best seller. Here's what I'm talking about.....you know that pearl/whites, aqua's/blues and greens are the top three colors/shades for chinooks. Hell half the time the charter boats in the harbors have a relatively simple pearl fly or aqua fly and hammer the fish all year on them. Now move forward to the average fisherman....he sees a plain white fly and says, "That's too plain" and then goes and buys some wacky combination that won't catch as much as the plain white fly. So now the creator of the fly is left to decide.....does he make flies that simply catch fish or those that also catch fishermen. It sounds crappy but I've been down this road with lure makers and fly designers back on the saltwater scene. You can take something SO plain and hammer fish day in and day out but the fishermen won't buy them. Put something gaudy and they sell like hot cakes. Now in the end I truly believe you can make a quality product that catches fish and fishermen alike but tying for your self versus tying for production is way different.

Thanks again guys. Like I said before, I bought a lot of used ones in good shape in glow, pearl and minnow colors. I thought running them on my outer leadcore would be a good place for them but they got buried in the box along with the flashers and flies, when the spoons were firing. Time to break them out this year.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the info. I'm going to give them a shot again this year.

How speed sensitive are they?

So I've come up with yet another question....but I don't think it's as complicated as some others I've had. Last year I bought some used J-Plugs, a few little #3's, some #4's and some #5's. Most are a white color with some contrasting greens, yellows and minnow-like scale patterns. I have a few silver, but not as many as I'd like. I cleaned them up, retied all the harnesses, added brand new treble hooks and am ready to run a few. My question is this........when and where is it ideal to run a J-Plug? Two things I've heard associated with J-plugs: -First, they are most commonly applied for staging kings trolling shallow off the pierheads (That's where you usually hear J's used) -Second, I have heard that J-Plugs can "wander" within a spread and thus, if running a tight spread, can tangle other lines due to it's erratic motion Therefore, where should I use my J-Plugs, when would be a good time to break them out (I'm thinking dawn and dusk up higher in the water column) and lastly, what speed are they most receptive to? I figure if I'm running spoons along with flasher and flies, I want to make sure if I add a J-Plug it will be running at a speed that will trigger strikes. Never caught anything on a J-Plug, so I'm looking to this year. Thank again guys.

Just have quality ball bearing swivels to prevent excessive line twist.

Thanks. I've always gotten more satisfaction out of catching a fish that I caught on something I created. Our very first trip out last year, just breaking in the boat and motor, we ran just a two rod spread with divers, flashers and flies I tied. We got three salmon that day but then the flasher fly bite dies for us. Looking forward to inproving that this coming season. Thanks again.

Above are a few of my flies. I prefer to make them bulky, although they obviously form a tighter profile under water pressure, and really feel the addition of a large eye and head helps the overall presentation. We'll see if the fish like them as well

Last year I only had a few flies I tied. I ran light blue crinkle (90% of the time), pearl, silver and green crinkle. all were basically one color mylar. This year I'm still tying those colors but mixing in different hues or contrasting color strands to give them a little something extra. I also really like adding estaz or crystal chenille heads with large dome eyes. i think it gives the salmon even something more to target on. Now some like sparse flies but I figure if they are hitting flasher and flies they should be pretty aggressive, which is why I tie a full bodied fly with a big head to push water. we'll see if they work this year.