Fishing techniques – Chasing Silver Fly Fishing Magazine

Posted on 2015/03/032015/03/03 by Jari Koski — 1 Comment

Put some brake on that sucker!

The sentence on the headline was said to me by a great teacher and friend on one of my first saltwater trips and it has ever since echoed in my head when I’m playing a fish.

Even though there is a big difference in fishing for saltwater predators like Tuna, Tarpon or Sailfish to fishing on the river for salmonids, the same basic laws of physics apply for salmon too.

If you’re in the gym riding an exercise bike and turn more resistance on it, you will tire faster than if you just let the bike run free, right? The same thing works with fish. If you apply steady resistance on a fish it will tire a lot quicker to get your hands on it then without resistance. A no brainer, right? The emphasis is on steady pressure. Don’t jerk around, it will only lead to pissed off fish and broken leaders.

So, how much is enough pressure and how do you apply it? Setting your drag on your reel is the number one thing to do. A good drag setting for different salmon species on a river is something between 800 grams to 3 kilograms. 3 kilograms being a pretty extreme setting on a river as bad things usually start to happen when you’re hitting that magic number. I am not personally comfortable using reels that have less than 2,5 kg of drag even for river fishing. A quality reel with a good drag is just so nice to use and a powerful tool to fight a fish!

One of my quality reels with a solid drag

If you’re fishing with small flies and thin leaders you are limited to the lower end of the drag spectrum. Also smaller fish like Atlantic salmon grilse and pink salmon have a very soft, small mouth that does not take a lot of force to rip. If you’re using thick leaders and strong hooks you can pump up the volume. Remember to set the drag tight enough right away. Don’t let the fish run that first crucial run on a light drag and take an excessive amount of line on the water. A “dog” is always easiest to walk on a short leash.

A successful "Dog" walk — A successful “Dog” walk

Also things like rod angle affect the resistance and depending on which line you use the friction from the rod guides. Don’t overdo it but remember to put the brakes on them, especially if you are releasing the fish. Nothing more of a sad sight than watching a fish “drowned” to its last breath and then trying to revive it. Much rather lose a fish mid fight then kill it unintentionally on a prolonged fight. When compared to saltwater, fighting a salmon on the river is not as straight forward. Positioning yourself on the river bank and playing in different kind of currents give the fight a different tone. But still, I urge you to put some heat on the fish. It has worked wonders for my landing percentage, even though I’m not that bothered with things like that anymore. The important thing is to return the fish in its prime back to the river (that is, if it’s not going to the smoker) and to have fun in the progress. Even though many, especially in the Atlantic salmon fishing world don’t believe in it, putting some break on those suckers have worked for me on all 5 species of Pacific Salmon, Steelhead and of course the mighty Atlantic Salmon. Not to mention all the saltwater species that I’ve fished for. Not saying it will necessarily do it for you, but give it a try…

Have fun and catch a big one!

Posted on 2014/09/022014/09/23 by Miki Äikäs — Leave a comment

Which lines should I use?

Now that´s a question having as many right answers as there are salmon fishermen.

I’ve been fishing salmon with a fly rod for quite a long time. During the past years I’ve tested hundreds of lines, both factory made and custom made, and from time to time people ask my opinion about which lines I prefer and why? Well, I think these things are never straight forward but with the following words I will share my thoughts about the lines I prefer to use during the salmon season.

The golden rule, that I have followed all these years, is: Choose your line to find a good ”pull” in different pools. When you find the ”pull” you can offer the fly to the salmon with a right angle and right speed. The swing speed. In other words, depth of the pool is not as important as is the strength or speed of the current.

In june, when the rivers are large due to melting snow and when the water is cold, it is good to slow down the speed of the fly. In most of the cases, we look for pools where the current is slow. Spots where those big first running salmons most of the times stay only for a little while. You need to be very lucky to meet them. In early season conditions I prefer to use full sinking lines. Sure, many times a line with a floating belly and a sinking tip is the right choice. Especially when you want to let the fly stay, or hover, at the same position a little longer. But if you want to control the speed of the fly and get it deeper it’s best to go with a full sinking line.

My favourite sinkers are from Triple-D fly line family made by Guideline. These lines are very easy to cast and with them I’m able to offer my fly to a salmon the way I want. In a pools where the current is strong and “thick” I prefer to use I-S2-S4 and S1-S3-S5 heads. I use these heads with my Loomis 15 footer and cut them to about 11,5 meters in length. This length equals to about 40-42 grams in weight. Also, a bit older shooting head family from GuideLine, Power Taper, has a few very good members such as S3-S4 and S5-S6 heads. Pools where I prefer a little more speed I like Triple-D heads such as like H-S1-S3 and F-I-S2. Another very good sinking line is RIO AFS S3-S5. It is very easy to cast and I haven’t cut it at all. It works very well in full length.

Choose your line to find a good ”pull” in different pools

When the water gets warmer during the season, I use mostly a floating belly line with a clear intermediate tip. My absolute favourite F/I shooting head is Vision Ace, the older model more precisely, which is not in the market anymore. The discontinued ACE had a mono core and in my opinion, it is still one of the best fishing lines I’ve used during the “normal” summer conditions. I have discussed with some fly line manufactures about the mono core lines and, as far as I understand, the problem seems to be how to make a line with an good casting features with around monofilament core. Sad… Different kinds of polyleaders are also good alternatives to be used at the very end of the fly line. I was in Norway few weeks ago and used clear intermediate tip line with an intermediate polyleader. I think it was a good combination. Floating belly with a clear long intermediate part is very easy to cast and carries the flies nicely just under the surface.

I hardly ever use a full floater. Well, actually, because I don’t like so much dry fly fishing for salmon, I simply don’t have any use for full floating lines. I use mostly tube flies. I don’t want to weight my flies so using sinking lines with light tube flies, more sensitive to the current, with an longer leader makes me a happy angler. This has been my way to catch those nice chrome coloured Atlantic salmons.

If I look back on this season here’s what I used: two of my rods, both 15 footers, only a few lines, Triple-Ds which I mentioned earlier, Vision Ace F/I, and one custom fly line made by my dear friend Pepe Linden. A very good line. That line is special… The body of the line is from old Loop or GuideLine intermediate followed by a short section of sink 4 and I use a S2/S3 tip at the end. The line sort of goes deeper and moves slower from the mid part of the line. With this line I can slow down the speed of the fly really nicely without loosing it.

I strongly believe that it’s more important and more productive to chance your fly line than changing your fly. Of course, sometimes, it’s the other way around but I personally use only few models of flies during the season and change my fly line more often.

Have a nice upcoming winter…

Sinking line and a Scandinavian tube fly – job done. Photo: Harri Hilden

Posted on 2014/08/152014/08/16 by Jari Koski — Leave a comment

The two rod system

Like many silver chasers I too like to carry around two rods when I’m fishing. There are several reasons to do this and I’m going write a few lines about this subject on the following post.

Backup rod

When you carry two rods, you will always have a backup ready to go if something goes horribly wrong. This is especially important if you are fishing a river that requires a lot of walking to reach the pools. I personally don’t want to lose one day in my fishing season because I did not have a backup rod with me.

Short rod, Long rod…

I usually carry two different length rods with me. For example a 13’6” and a 15’ on a big river or a 13’ and a switch on a smaller one. If the fishing requires a lot of precision, then it’s a switch rod and a single hander. Bigger rods are nicer on wide open pools and if you have to wade deep. Shorter ones are excellent if your back is against the bush or if you have to “work” the fly during the swing. I can also fish the fly differently with a different length rod.

Set of different lenght rods ready to go

Different lines…

I always rig my rods with different lines. I think that many times it can make a huge difference when you fish through a pool with a different line. My most used set up is to rig two multi tip shooting heads, one with a floating body, the other with an intermediate body. This way I can change the tips on both lines to fine tune my swing. I love to use heads that have an Skagit label on them. This does not however mean I use them as a “real” Skagit… I use them both as a “normal” scandi shooting head and in other places like a “real” Skagit. That’s a whole other story, so I won’t go any deeper on that subject. All and all the line choices are always dictated by the conditions on the water and the spot I’m fishing at. So there are endless combinations that I use.

MY favourite Atlantic salmon set up for summer fishing. 15′ Meiser Highlander with a F/I/sink2 line and 13′ Echo TR with a 420gr skagit rigged up with a 12′ clear tip.

Having fun…

This is something that I always emphasis in all things fishing related. It has to be fun! Using different rods during a slow day of fishing is a great source of motivation. A little change always brightness up a slow day.

So remember to have fun! Tight lines, not tight faces.

[fbls]

Posted on 2014/05/23 by Jari Koski — Leave a comment

Searching for the perfect angle…

The more you fish the less you know, right? You can never really know anything when it comes to fish and fishing. The fish are always unpredictable. There are however things that make a difference in catching fish. One of the most important ones is the angle that you present your fly to the fish. This is one of those universal things that is a thing to think about regardless which species you are pursuing. When you start hitting fish at the right angle most other things become trivial.

So what is the perfect angle? Unfortunately I don’t know. I’m going to leave that for the more experienced writers. I can however offer some insights on the subject…

The length and direction of your cast will of course affect how the fish sees your fly. Long cast at a shallow angle will give the fish a pretty straight forward angle to the fly as it swims across the stream. Normally the fish will have plenty of time to react on this type of presentation. A shorter cast with a wider angle will give a much more aggressive angle to the fish with less time to react. A long cast with a wide, or wideish, angle that you make in front and over the fishes “line” and then mend, makes the fly swim, and usually sink, towards the fish and then turn and moves away. That is actually my favourite angle to present my fly to a river fish. In my point of view that is the most natural way to get a reaction, as the fly (bait) swims towards the fish and then turns away and swims from the fish.

That’s the most effective way to present a fly in saltwater fishing as well. You cast the fly just over the line where the fish is moving and then strip it across and away from the predator. So, casting distance and angle makes a difference on the angle that the fly gets to the fish.

This cast was right on the "sweet spot" — This cast was right on the “sweet spot”

What else? Your line choice affects it, but more than that, the way you position yourself on the river. Positioning yourself correctly makes a big difference in catching fish. Sometimes you have to wade out to get the right angle and sometimes not. Even though unnecessary wading should always be avoided, there are millions of spots around the world that fish better when you get out a bit and get your fly swinging in the right angle. Even though some disagree about this, you can’t compensate your positioning with casting. Sure you can do it a bit, but never enough to fully compensate.

Waded out a bit to get my I/S3 line to swing slowly across the deeper part

Positioning myself right on the edge and upstream of where the fish are allows me to have a very precise presentation with a short line

So next time when the fish are not biting think about your angles before changing anything else. It might be the reason why the fish are lock mouth.

Tight lines!

[fbls]