Ok, folks, I need a hand.

I just got this little 12' boat with a 10hp and I would like to try to get into some surface coho with my fly rod. I understand the easy way is to fish the bait balls.

Is there an area where bait balls occur frequently enough that I could expect one to form in an area safe enough for me to be in?

Or do they form all over the place as the fish continue to move into the sound? So later into the season, I will have a better chance.

Oh yeah,

Bait Balls, Aisle 7 next to the cleaning supplies.
Seriously, I know Elliott gets quite a few on the surface, but Jeff Head was nuts on Sunday, when I was out with SeaStrike, but with a smaller boat, that shipping channel can be nasty.

Ken

So that means that bait balls are where the fish are? And that can mean lots of bait balls where a concentration of fish are, and less of them where less fish are?

Duh.

I was wondering if certain places had more due to bottom structure, currents and the like.

Rob

They're probably somewhere near the anal fins, but you'll probably need a magnifying glass to see them.

And only on the male herring.



Oh, almost forgot. I know you only need one , but they come in pairs, of course. I find the one on the right seems to hang a little lower, so that may work better for you.

Redondo has a ton of bait balls.

Just last night I saw a salmon darting through one on the surface. Pretty cool sight.

You can find schools of candlefish all over the South Sound, and the resident silvers and sea-run cutties should be pillaging the schools.

Be stealthy and fish close to shore with streamer flies, small spinners, or the deadly Slug Go worm and you're bound to find some action.

The best surface action on coho, and right now even on humpies, is in the Straits. I fish it with a larger "small boat" now, but I used to run all all over there with a 12 foot Valco short shaft and a 10 horse merc 2 stroke, the model referred to these days as the "Sea Anchor". Had oars and a strong back for backup. Just have to always watch the weather, always fish in the morning and not in the afternoon, always fish upwind of the boat launch, and always be ready to run for the launch at the slightest hint of a wind. And fishing in the fog is great as it's usually pretty much flat, just have to get a Garmin Map76 GPS. In August and September in the Straits you do not need to find bait balls, only tide rips, to find the fish. <img border="0" alt="[eat]" title="" src="graemlins/eat.gif" />