OK,

So what is your favorite technique for fishing silvers in the river? I've always seemed to have decent luck with Steely style spoons and corkies in the past but I know there are lots of different ways people like to fish. So, what do you use?

Also, How ebout using a Dick Nite spoon? What size? What color? How long a leader? What kind of leader? How do you fish it?

I'm asking because I have been offered a seat in a drift boat for Saturday on the Sky and would like to know ahead of time how others like to fish for them

Plugs can be deadly on coho if your in the right spot.Look for them jumping in some of the slow water.Orange Firetiger,Dr.Death,Blue Pirates are all good.

Ditto on the wiggle warts. Try small spinners in bright colors (orange, cherise, blue pirate, charturese), eggs in bright orange or red, and Dick Nite spoons. Under various conditions, these will all work.

Or not....... There are times, perhaps more often than not, that nothing works. Absolutely nothing. Coho will be rolling and jumping everywhere (almost into your boat!) but they will not touch anything. When this happens, keep moving. Find another hole with more cooperative fish.

Also, be sure to use a very slow retrieve for all of the above lures.

Baitwraped U-20. Cast , retrive slowly, and hang on!!!
This was my go to lure before WDFW made me go to single point babless in the Chehalis system.

My go to method for silvers in the tribs would be to cast and retreive slowly a "HOT PINK" wiggle wart.If no luck then switch to a forest green / silver blade blue fox spinner,size depends on depth.If both of these aren't producing then go with diver bait if legal.If all three of these fail then switch rivers or get some beer and watch some football.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Nothin beats one of my Silver Slayer spinners in size 4 or 5. I like to fish my spinners in slower water. Bait and/or jigs under a float works too. If you get desparate tie on a 12 foot leader and start tosing. (JOKE)

Wow! This board is great! Thanks for the responses and keep them coming!

One of my favorite techniques that was until recently a secret of O.P. guide Bob Kratzer is jigging a 1/4 ounce jig.

If you find coho in slack water, which is common, simply cast your jig, let it drop to near the bottom and jig it back to you. Try to imagine the jig making 10 inch hops up and down as you slowly retrieve it. Lift your rod tip about ten inches, drop it fast and reel in the slack as it drops. Coho will slam this. I have gotten dozens on my home made jigs. I use a Gami 1/4 ounce jig head and tie on Flashabou. Best colors seem to be cerise, copper, red and blue.

Great board

I cannot believe that Dick Nites have not been mentionened. For me along with probly most of the other snoho coho fisherman it is a size 1 or 0 dick nite in either silve/black dots, 50/50. silver/green and silver/chartuese. my .02 cents

Dave,
Your jig method is very interesting and sounds easy.
I'll have to give that O.P. secret method a try!
Appreciate your info very much!
This is awesome board!!

Summer-Run

Dave's right - swimming jigs is a great method. I got lazy this year and stuffed 1/4 oz jigheads into a couple of small hoochies. Works great so far - and faster then the vice/thread/flashabou thing.

Hay bank of Duvall, how is the drift boat working out?

Gary-

I'm headed up to the Snohomish on Sunday for a little bank angling. Send me an email if you want to meet up.

Dee

I'm new to silver fishing.........35+ yrs.

1. In tide water----Plugs, wiggle and Mag, pink, orange, blues.

2. Spinners---Around snags, logs, brush---Blue fox----Silver blades-- Chartreuse, Blue, pink, Fire Tiger

3. FST's, Dick Nite's----Mostly a let out the right amount of line.........put in rod holder. The dick nites, can be cast and retrieved "Very, very, very, very" slow.

4. Kwikfish---wrapped........

5. Bobber and jig

1, 2 and 3---Are in my boat, ALL the time from October----January........

"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

Stuffing a jig in a hoothie sounds like it would act the same as using a Gitzit with a jig. Gitzit's are very effective for Bass and rockfish. I know a friend of mine was fishing a Gitzit on Lake Washington a few years ago up by 520 and had a 9lb silver hit it. Might have to try one in the river! I tried one once on the Snoqualmie a few years ago and had a large whitefish grab it.


Thanks to everyone for all their techniques! This really helps. Now I just have to get out on the river more and try them out!

Thanks for sharing all your Coho secrets!!
I've learned a lot just from this post!!

Summer-Run

I like to use a mtalic blue/ siver bladed blue fox across the face of a tailout when they have been spooked by other anglers

I prefer the Krocodile spoon in hammered nickel finish with an orange flash or stripe, and I always switch out the hooks that come on it for a Gamaktsu siwash. This spoon has almost always caught Silvers for me in the rivers.

It's weird cuz in the salt the old joke adage "it doesnt matter what color you use, as long as it's green" seems to hold true, but in the rivers the orange on chrome or nickel has always worked best for me. I also fish the smallest Dick Nite (half and half) on a 3-ft leader with a sliding egg sinker, but sometimes you can't keep the Dollies and Cuts off the little spoon. But the Kroc has consistently got me hook-ups over the years, more so than anything else.

If I can't get them to hit spoons I switch to "Plan B" -- side-planing with plugs.

Hey Dave - (PSS don't tell anyone) I guided the Alagnak up in AK and the jig was my coho killer. 1/4 to 1/2 oz depending on the water, in colors - Cerise and Chartruese rabbit hair. Another place besides slack water that jigs work really well is the area slightly down stream of a bend in the river where there is a sand bar on the inside that drops off as the water moves to the other bank. The water will kind of "dance" where this occurs, and the holes usually deep. The fish may not be noticable all the time but they stack up in these holes just below the lip of the sand. As soon as one of these jigs pops over the lip into the hole you'd better hold on. The really seem to key on the vertical dropping motion.

A typical day up there between 3 guys was 80 to a 100 fish. No Joke. Your arms were worn out.

Depending on the water conditions I also like to toss hammered brass spoons, the half oz variety. Speaking of, these things are getting harder then hens teeth to find. The real brass spoons not the lightweight brass plated tin POS ones. Anyone have any leads?