Hood Canal SRC's
I
had the opportunity to spend my three day weekend back at the parent’s house
out in Seabeck, WA. Growing up, we spent a lot of time on the canal casting for
silvers, crabbing, shrimping, trolling for sea runs, or chasing whatever else
may be in the Hood Canal at the time. As a kid, I took for granted how abundant
everything was in the Hood canal. Like everything else, things
aren’t as good as they once were, but there is still plenty to go after in the
Hood Canal.
This
weekend brought a minus tide and the opportunity to pluck some oysters and clams,
and then wing some flies around for sea run cutthroat. The oysters were
plentiful and took no time to gather our limit of 18 each, but the clams were few and far
between. I’ve determined that it is easier to go to the local marina and buy a
sack of clams, than it is to spend two hours ripping your hands apart in the
gravel chasing clams that you can’t even catch. I am so unflexible that I have
to grunt n’ growl to put my socks on in the morning, so getting on my hands and
knees to dig for clams does not go over well with my athletic physique.
Clearly, there is a secret to chasing clams that I am unaware of. After a
shoulder and yoga workout with the clam guns and hands and knees digging, I had
two whole clams in my 5 gallon bucket. So I threw the clams guns in the boat
and grabbed my rod to try for some sea runs.
It was
a calm day, and there were trout surfacing everywhere. Seeing these cutties
surface, I tied on a popper but had no luck. I stopped to smash half a turkey
sandwich in my face, and then put on a chum fry pattern I had tied a few
weeks before. Finally after a couple casts, the chum fry got stuck in the nose
of a nice SRC. There were many schools of bait fish popping around. Casting to
the outside edges of these schools, we had a few other bops on our flies. There were also a couple fish hooked on the
gear rod using a crocodile.
I have
been impatiently waiting for all of our local “S” rivers to open up for the
summer when June rolls around so I can go stand in the river in my leaky waders
and not catch any steelhead. I am still looking forward to that, but the past
few weeks have been spent chasing sea runs at different locations in the Puget
Sound. I have learned to really enjoy these fish, I would like to continue to
chase them even when the rivers open next weekend. Any time I see a nice rocky
beach covered in clear salt water, I will be wishing I had my 5 weight. Here are some of the patterns I have had
success with.
|
Flat Wing |
|
Miyawaki Poppers |
|
Chum Fry |
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