Puget Sound

[Wanative]

I think anyone who has fished the sound long enough has a good story about chasing a king that is towing broken off gear.
Our was from the late 60’s or 70’s. We were fishing the mouth of the Puyallup. Anyone who has fished there in the summer knows the bay water is dirty, but it tends to only be near the surface. As we are trolling along, a good size king surfaces that is dragging a shovel and rudder flasher set-up. We chased it around but it soon disappeared under the murky water. Awhile later we saw it again, but still couldn’t get it as it.
This went on several more times during the day but my dad ended up finally getting it.
I know for sure he was way more excited about getting a free flasher set-up then the 12 lb king, as that was one of his favorite set-ups to use on our meat line rods.

I think @Kfish if I recall correctly has a fairly recent story about getting fish with a flasher.
SF

Brian, I broke one off at Casey one time in the 90's. Yes it was green as well.
I chased that bugger around for an hour but couldn't hook or net the 15# or so king that was towing it around. It kept diving and or swerving just enough to escape my efforts.
I hated to lose the fish more than the flasher.
Must be something about green flashers.

 

[Irafly]

He’s a nice guy, I’ve fished around him a decent amount over the years but I don’t think he’ll be giving it up easily. Someone asked him in amazement, “damn, what type of fly are you using”?!?

His deadpan answer… “a good one” .

I’d still freaking try

 

[jasmillo]

Hit the beach for a couple hours before work and went 5-5. Three stinky pinkies and two hatchery coho that came home with me. One of the coho was really solid, the other a standard rezzie size. One of the pinks was a big buck that made me look like a rookie trying to control him . Those things pull hard and don’t give up easily.

 

[Kfish]

Hit the beach for a couple hours before work and went 5-5. Three stinky pinkies and two hatchery coho that came home with me. One of the coho was really solid, the other a standard rezzie size. One of the pinks was a big buck that made me look like a rookie trying to control him . Those things pull hard and don’t give up easily.

View attachment 79157

Nice of you to lay down a beach towel for them

 

[Shad]

I used that Finn Raccoon Clouser from the “what’s in your vise” thread and it worked well on the fish but tended to foul itself a lot.

Ways to prevent Clousers from fouling is a topic of great interest to me. I suppose it's a topic perhaps best discussed in a tying thread, but it's extremely relevant to Puget Sound, IMO, seeing as most of our fly patterns for Puget Sound mimic some sort of baitfish, the most popular imitation for which is the venerable, yet all-too-easily-fouled, Clouser Minnow, so I'm inserting it here.

Clouser acolytes: What tricks/techniques do you employ to prevent your Clousers from fouling (frequently)? Yes, I'm familiar with tying the belly hair back along the hook shank, but I seem to have more issues with the body/back fur fouling, which can lead to a lot of wasted casts if not checked religiously. What you got?

 

[Merle]

Ways to prevent Clousers from fouling is a topic of great interest to me. I suppose it's a topic perhaps best discussed in a tying thread, but it's extremely relevant to Puget Sound, IMO, seeing as most of our fly patterns for Puget Sound mimic some sort of baitfish, the most popular imitation for which is the venerable, yet all-too-easily-fouled, Clouser Minnow, so I'm inserting it here.

Clouser acolytes: What tricks/techniques do you employ to prevent your Clousers from fouling (frequently)? Yes, I'm familiar with tying the belly hair back along the hook shank, but I seem to have more issues with the body/back fur fouling, which can lead to a lot of wasted casts if not checked religiously. What you got?

This morning I used a stinger hook / shank version of my Fin Raccoon clouser and it still fouled (though not nearly as much) just in a different way. The 50# spider wire was so limp that sometimes the trailer hook found itself wrapped around the eye/leader connection. Probably due mostly to blown casts where everything lands in a pile, most of the time it looked good when I swam it in front of me.

I’m gonna get some 100# fire wire as some have mentioned previously and try that next time. (The beadalon wire is much stiffer, but tough to get thru the hook eye when doubled up due to its diameter.)

 

[Chucker]

Ways to prevent Clousers from fouling is a topic of great interest to me. I suppose it's a topic perhaps best discussed in a tying thread, but it's extremely relevant to Puget Sound, IMO, seeing as most of our fly patterns for Puget Sound mimic some sort of baitfish, the most popular imitation for which is the venerable, yet all-too-easily-fouled, Clouser Minnow, so I'm inserting it here.

Clouser acolytes: What tricks/techniques do you employ to prevent your Clousers from fouling (frequently)? Yes, I'm familiar with tying the belly hair back along the hook shank, but I seem to have more issues with the body/back fur fouling, which can lead to a lot of wasted casts if not checked religiously. What you got?

Stinger hook clousers don’t foul nearly as much.

The problem is not actually the fly though, it’s your (and my!) casting. If your rod tip tracks perfectly straight during the forward and back cast, no fouling. The problem happens when the rod tip path is oval, then you put a bit of a twist in your line, and the fly performs a spin at the end of the back cast and fouls. Do you also find mysterious twists in your running line after casting in the same direction for a while? That’s another symptom of the same problem. It’s not an easy fix, and perfectly straight tracking comes with it’s own problems, including that if you get your timing a bit wrong, your fly hits your rod and breaks it.

 

[Wadin' Boot]

I found casting clousers was harder, with a tendency to collect more junk, hinge and knot as well as catch stuff on the backcast than a beadhead. That may be entirely my own casting mechanics and too heavy clouser eyes for leader/tippet. I tend to avoid them at this point and fish a bead up front with similar green, pink, tan, white, gold etc patterns behind. Mind you, I'm not catching/targeting a ton of salmon and given my crappy storage system, stinger hooks mess up my ziplock based entry level storage system (which rightly deserves ridicule and scorn). BUT....I don't find myself pulling as much weedage off the fly anymore, and it's more time in water, and less time dealing with knottage and other issues

 

[Stonedfish]

Ways to prevent Clousers from fouling is a topic of great interest to me. I suppose it's a topic perhaps best discussed in a tying thread, but it's extremely relevant to Puget Sound, IMO, seeing as most of our fly patterns for Puget Sound mimic some sort of baitfish, the most popular imitation for which is the venerable, yet all-too-easily-fouled, Clouser Minnow, so I'm inserting it here.

Clouser acolytes: What tricks/techniques do you employ to prevent your Clousers from fouling (frequently)? Yes, I'm familiar with tying the belly hair back along the hook shank, but I seem to have more issues with the body/back fur fouling, which can lead to a lot of wasted casts if not checked religiously. What you got?

A couple possible different fixes, though you'll still get occasional fouling and none are foul proof. Pardon the pun.....
1. Put a few wraps of thread around the bucktail right where leaves the hook shank. You can also then coat that area with UV flex.
2. Wrap diamond braid around the same area of bucktail mentioned in #1. That extends the belly body out just a bit. Picture 1.
3. Tie the wing down. Not really a clouser then, but the fish don't care. This mates all the materials together and the forced down wing keeps the belly bucktail from fouling. Picture 2.
SF

 

[Nick Clayton]

As @Nick Clayton said, what a fun day on the water! Always a blast to fish with him.

Likewise man. The level of stoke you bring onto the boat is always awesome!

 

[holtad]

Great that you found some fish! Two years ago, almost to the day, I posted the text below on the "Lost, Found & Stolen" section of the old WFF site...I am still waiting for the rightful owner...Based on replies from other members about similar sightings, it must happen quite often, as crazy as it seems when you see it.

Found flasher towed by Chinook in Central Puget Sound, August 14, 2021​

Found a nice trolling flasher going southbound at the surface in about 150 feet of water while sight casting for pink salmon, from a boat in central Puget Sound this morning. Upon careful approach it was determined that said flasher was being towed by a large chinook salmon, and at a good pace. It was also determined that trying to hook the flasher with a 6wt and lighter tippet, although sporty, it could be foolish. Instead, a couple of attempts were made to approach the flasher from different angles and either use a boat hook on the flasher, or outright net the fish. However, the fish managed to match and outmaneuver all attempts, including the help of a fellow boater that passed by and found all the commotion, net flying, crazy boat turning.... intriguing and who did not want to miss on the fish wrangling. Eventually, I remembered we had my kid's spinning rod outfitted with a buzzbomb stowed in the boat. Half a dozen casts later we managed to hook the leader between the flasher and the king salmon, play the fish (which still had a lot of energy left!) and get everything to the boat.
Please provide a description of the brand, size and color of the flasher and type/color of lure, as well as type of mainline and all efforts will be made to return the missing gear to the rightful owner. We regret to inform that the king salmon will not be returned. A story of how and where this flasher was lost will be extra credit.

And here I thought I was unique! Maybe I'll start carrying a gaff!

 

[Nick Clayton]

I pretty much use the tips Brian showed above. One other thing I do on occasion is use some flex UV resin and apply a thin bit to the belly material where it comes off the hook and kinda extend it back. This stiffens up that area quite a bit but using flex resin it still allows a bit of movement. Not like material movement in the belly is a big deal anyway.

Overall I don't personally find fouling to be a big issue with Clousers, especially using bucktail instead of synthetics.

My standard clousers very rarely foul. My stinger versions do foul some, but not enough to be a big deal to me, and guess what? Coho will eat a fouled clouser no problem

 

[holtad]

Nick/Brian, do you ever leave both hooks on your stingers v.s. clipping the front? I always consider leaving both but just figure it'll be more headache than its worth.

 

[Kfish]

I do my clousers with bucktail and likewise they rarely foul (traditional and stinger). I tried craft fur and while they have more movements they also fouled a lot, so no more.
The stinger trailer does tend to wrap unto itself sometimes so I'm doing mono snell this season instead of fireline braid. It's working well enough for me to give up that option to swap out the hook. My flies are usually beaten/chewed up by then anyways.

 

[Stonedfish]

Nick/Brian, do you ever leave both hooks on your stingers v.s. clipping the front? I always consider leaving both but just figure it'll be more headache than its worth.

Adam,
Two hooks are a pain in the ass, so no two hook patterns for me. I don’t think clouser stinger patterns fish well with two hooks, they foul and make releasing fish more difficult.
They really aren’t needed in my opinion.
SF

 

[NRC]

I’ve really liked switching to tying onto shanks instead of hooks for my stinger clousers. Despite various attempted fixes I always felt that the jagged metal where I clipped off the front hook was problematic. It shears the bucktail off among other things. I tried covering it with UV resin but that quickly falls off. Tried clipping all the way to the thread but that risks unraveling the thread. I saw a whats in your vise post where @jasmillo was tying them on shanks and thought “yep, that’s it.”

I know others fish clipped hooks without much problem though. Curious if there’s an easy fix I’m missing.

 

[Nick Clayton]

Nick/Brian, do you ever leave both hooks on your stingers v.s. clipping the front? I always consider leaving both but just figure it'll be more headache than its worth.

I totally agree with Brian. I'm not a fan. Played around with it for a period at one point but just found it to be a giant hassle for no benefit

 

[Nick Clayton]

I’ve really liked switching to tying onto shanks instead of hooks for my stinger clousers. Despite various attempted fixes I always felt that the jagged metal where I clipped off the front hook was problematic. It shears the bucktail off among other things. I tried covering it with UV resin but that quickly falls off. Tried clipping all the way to the thread but that risks unraveling the thread. I saw a whats in your vise post where @jasmillo was tying them on shanks and thought “yep, that’s it.”

I know others fish clipped hooks without much problem though. Curious if there’s an easy fix I’m missing.

Since the first time I cut a hook on a stinger pattern I've had that same thought about the jagged edge. However I can honestly say I've never once seen it cause an issue so at some point I just stopped worrying about it.

 

[NRC]

Since the first time I cut a hook on a stinger pattern I've had that same thought about the jagged edge. However I can honestly say I've never once seen it cause an issue so at some point I just stopped worrying about it.

Bucktail getting sheared off over time is the big thing I’ve run into. Never had an issue with the stinger loop failing due to abrasion from it though, which was always my bigger worry.

Maybe gradually losing bucktail was a blessing though - I struggle to tie sparsely enough

 

[Stonedfish]

I’ve really liked switching to tying onto shanks instead of hooks for my stinger clousers. Despite various attempted fixes I always felt that the jagged metal where I clipped off the front hook was problematic. It shears the bucktail off among other things. I tried covering it with UV resin but that quickly falls off. Tried clipping all the way to the thread but that risks unraveling the thread. I saw a whats in your vise post where @jasmillo was tying them on shanks and thought “yep, that’s it.”

I know others fish clipped hooks without much problem though. Curious if there’s an easy fix I’m missing.

I'm with Nick on this. I'm a hook clipper myself and can say I've ever noticed any issue with the loop or bucktail getting broken by it.
I do tie my stingers a bit differently thought then a standard clousers. I tie the underwing flash onto the hook shank before adding the belly bucktail, rather then adding it up front under the wing. Maybe the jagged edge of the cut off hook can't as easily damage the flash versus bucktail?
I'm not sure and I really don't think it would matter either way regardless of how they are tied. Mustad DT hooks are cheap so I'll continue to use and cut them off since I have a lot on hand.
Some bucktails can be more brittle then others. Dinging the beach will break it as well. Still way better then any synthetic I've ever used for clousers.
SF.