Gotta love those shallow hitting saltwater silvers this time of year! More than once this season Ive had them swoop up and strike at my herring as I was testing the action on a newly rigged one next to the boat. A bit startling but cool!

I have seen them strike at various things trolled on or near the surface a ways back from the boat. But recently I witnessed a "first" for me. A friend of mine brought along a $500 Sage 10 ft. for a 9 wt. fly rod out on the salt. But did he rig a nifty coho streamer fly onto to it? No. He actually had the gall to rig a small whole herring on a double hook leader tied to the end of a fast sink tip fly line, and troll it about a hundred feet behind the boat. We stuck to trolling ours the conventional method. We witnessed this guy hook as many silvers this way as we did using Delta divers and Fish Flashes with leaders to small whole herring (by the way, which were outfishing plugcuts). Trolling SE in the same direction of the big long swells the flyline herring would sink a couple feet under the surface when the boat slowed down in the "dip" between swells, then rise back to a surface skate. Very cool to see a 'ho crab this offering right off the surface!!

I asked my friend to try "false casting" the herring with his big steelhead flyrod and he simply said "makes for a poor presentation". Ya right.

Ive gotten lots of shallow saltwater silver takes using such as Wiggle Warts and K10 Kwikies and such. What have you guys taken them shallow with?

I've taken quite a few this year on poppers. I've alos seen a few other flyfisherman do the same thing with much success.

Yeah right......... LMAO!

Are you talking about those big bass popper "flies"? Sounds reasonable to me. Those hungry hos are on the bite big time, out there.

For kicks, if you find a bait ball out there, cut the trolling motor and just jig your herring straight down a little. Another kick is to rig a plugcut or pink worm to use with a float. The waves give the float fished stuff plenty of action. Talk about "bobber down"!

After I get back from Sekiu you will see...as they say, 'proof is in the pictures'!

One of the oldest forms of fishing for Silvers is known as bucktailing. Heavily dressed and multi-colored flies are trolled (skipped or waked) quickly acrossed the surface in early or late morning light. Give it a try sometime... You will literally make your heart stop...

Yes poppers work. We use them all the time in the South Sound for Silvers and Cutts. Especially when the Silvers turn off the zooplankton and turn to bait. Smashing hits! I have even used a chartruese Dalhberg Diver for Chums with success. Even in rivers, we use a waking fly called the Wog for Silvers!

As far as Warts and such, I fish these or a spinner close in to the beach for returning Silvers... Hold on!

My big question is: why anyone would want to add a herring on to a Sage?

...and for those that want the details now, visit...

Popper Fishing for Coho at Sekiu

...the short article and photos were put together by fellow board member and good freind, Brian L.

Downriggin'-
I had a great day last October (or was it November?) in Hood Canal throwin' big pink wogs at the chums. They loved 'em!!

btw-Fishing little mini-pink wogs will certainly bring up unharrased pinks to the surface!

hey sparky, its ovious that your one of those guys who thinks they need a twenty grand boat and a downrigger to catch silvers. I'm willing to put money on it that I'll catch more fish on my flyrod than you will from your boat. Go talk to the owner of northwest angler and he'll laugh at your remark to my comment.

sorry disreguard my last comment. I thought you were making fun of the whole idea

Poppers? sounds like fun.
I have taken quite a few on a bass lure called a zoom fluke. Its a sorft plastic jerkworm kinda like a slug-o.

Micro,

The poppers Sparky is refering too are made for flyfishing. Scroll down to the bottom of this link to see what some salmon poppers look like. http://www.lakemarie.com/Fly%20Patterns.htm Sparky might be fishing poppers that look more like bait fish though.

iron what happened to northwest angler. was out in polsbo last week. looks they bit the dust. phones disconnected too. i'd like too hook into some surfac takin hos. on my fly rod.

ya right, northwest angler will never go out of business. They're out in Baingridge now. Give me an e-mail and i'll hook you into some surface taking cohos. Make sure you get back to me as soon as possible because the tides are going to be perfect this week. mikebrunson1@yahoomail.com

My version of Leland's Popper...

Just wanted to add that if you want to try one of these poppers and hate to tie, the originals are for sale at Patricks Fly Shop in Seattle (Capitol Hill).

I've fished them for a few years now and there's nothing but the take of a Steelhead on a surface fly to compare with a Silver attacking your popper for an instant adrenaline rush.

Tight Lines!

Brian

Eastlake, Another great local tackle shop.
2237 Eastlake Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102
Phone: (206) 325-8988

What kind of fly lines do people like to use with the poppers? Seems to me that the pinks can be pretty line shy and a clear line is best in the salt. What about coho? What's a good line for getting those things out, especially when the breeze is blowin in your face?

ACCKKKK!!! String me up something cheap to toss bait with!!!

sorry but using bait on a sage fly rod is a sin. I have a bait caster that I would love to traid him for that flyrod. As for flies I sell quite a few of them off the beach. Give me an e-mail if your interested.

We had 5 fish hit this morning right on top, within 20 feet of the boat, while we were setting out cut plugs on the downrigger releases during from about 5:45am to 7:15am. I don't doubt that they would hit a fly, provided it looked "fishy".

Finished the 12 fish limit (3 guys) after releasing many native silvers and 1 king. Get out there and have your flies in the water during the first two hours of daylight and you won't have any issues. 95% of the fish were taken within the top 30 feet.

I might have to pick some up before my three day trip, beginning Monday. Sparkey, I'll provide a few photos so we will have two verifications.

Andy