Forks on a Full Moon Leave a reply
After all the "Twilight" hulla-balloo that Nelly went thru after his trip to La Push, Washington a few weeks ago I quietly snuck down to the local Hollywood Video to rent the movie. Having spent countless days bouncing around the Forks area rivers for the past two decades in search of salmon and steelhead I really thought it would hit home, but it didn't. The plot was dull with very little character building and after all, why would any self-respecting vampire move to Forks and not catch a salmon or steelhead. Lame!
Don't think for one second that I didn't notice the full moon this morning on my three hour drive to Forks though. Sure, I wasn't impressed with the overall plot of the movie, but Forks is just weird enough for someone like myself to imagine vampires and were-woofs slinking around the brush-choked banks of the coastal rivers. When I met up with Forks area guides Bob Kratzer and Bill Myers from Anglers Guide Service this morning for a day of horsing around with chrome coastal coho I was excited to see them and yes, that was a wooden stake in my waders.
The Sol Duc River near Forks is spilling over with hordes of silver salmon right now and twitching jigs with hoochie skirts is the way to catch'em. If you haven't used this technique before give one of these guys a shout and book a trip. Bob has been using this technique about as long as anyone and really has it nailed. It's probably the most enjoyable way to catch salmon on the river and when you drop into a hole where they're snapping the action can be absolutely wide open.
Hoochie colors are all over the board, but today they seemed to be hitting a Silver Horde pink/white UV skirt more than anything. Tommorrow it will likely be something different, so go prepared with quite a few different colors and mix it up if they aren't hitting pink, cerise, black, or purple. The hoochies are rigged over a 3/8 or 1/2 ounce jig head and that's it. There's no float or sinker, just the jig. Use a fairly stiff rod for twitching, as the bites are always on the drop and extra backbone is a plus on the hookset. Cast the jigs 45 degrees upstream, let them sink a little, and begin twitching the jig with a slight wrist action while picking up short sections of line. Twitch the jig all the way across the run and keep casting, covering water until biters are located. Deep, low water near woody debris are likely holding areas for river silvers.
Pretty sure we laughed like this just about all day long. Bill and Bob with four of the six silvers we kept today.
"Guys, did you hear that noise in the woods?"
Bob Kratzer and I with some chrome for the BBQ.
Bill's box full of hoochie jigs. Silvers are like cats…they can be quite fickle.
The end result from a double-digit day on the river.
The Twilight sequel "New Moon" is coming out in November 20th, just about the same time winter steelhead begin pouring into the Forks area rivers. Maybe I'll get to use my wooden stake then!
Rob Endsley