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