The Outdoor Line Forum

With chrome coho showing up in our Puget Sound rivers Nelson and I thought it'd be a good idea to chat about using Dick Nite spoons in this weekend's "Last Cast" video segment. It's amazing how lethal these little spoons can be for finicky silvers.

http://video.theoutdoorline.com/view_vi ... ategory=mr

Feel free to bounce any questions off of us on here. Happy to help!

Dick nites can be almost magical for lock jaw coho.

Do have a question though. Why the 5 and 6 foot leaders?

We first started using Dick nites for coho in the 1970s and caught lots of coho on much shorter leaders; typically 18 to 30 inches (depending the vis). For the last couple decades I now catch most of my river coho on flies so the game may have changed some but back in the day those longer leaders increased the number of flossed fish without much increase in biters.

Curt

Flyfishing...now THAT is flossing. JK of course

I've always fished my Dick Nite leaders around 5 or so feet long and it isn't so I can floss fish Smalma. I've just felt like it gives the spoon a little better action and if there is any winding of the leader onto the dropper you still have some leader left to keep the spoon working. In addition, in super low clear water IMO it gets the spoon away from the lead, swivel, bead, etc...that might spook a finicky coho.

5 foot is actually a very reasonable length compared to the 8 to 12 foot leaders that some use on the lower Snohomish. I just don't need to hook a fish that bad.

Robbo -
In the 1970s we typically fished 8 and 8 1/2 foot rods and those shorter leaders were a better match for those shorter rods. Also found that I could control how close the Dick nite was to the bottom (as you mentioned in the video that can be key) with those shorter leaders and 10 or 12 inch dropper. I'm sure it is mostly what one is used to

I agree any gear can be used to floss fish with. Though just the other day while chasing sea-runs on one of the local "S" rivers I encountered a nice pod of salmon and watch 3 different coho raise up off the bottom to eat my spider - great fun on the 5 weight.

Thankfully I had been fishing enough that I was able to control my reflexes waiting until they took the fly and turned. Nice fresh fish with all three jumping multiple times and making nice runs; noticed sea lice on all three as I released them. A far cry from so many of those river fish that are twisters and spinners.

Curt

What's crazy is that they've been biting Dick Nites for over 40 years. Usually tackle comes and goes over that many years, but the ol' Dick Nite is still catching salmon to this day.

Here's a collection of spiders that I like to floss with this time of year

Most of them are pretty standard but thought you might like to check out the reverse spiders. They give off a lot of action in the water. It's so peaceful on those rivers this time of year, as not many folks target these great fish and when you can get into a couple of hot cohos, like you did, isn't it sweet

Robbo -
Nice collection of spiders; rarely fish those reverse spiders but there are some in my cutthroat boxes. Also tend to fish unweighted spiders and in addition to the colors you have displayed I like black, dark olive and a light tan. My all time favorite is that burned orange body fly (accounted for two of the 3 coho the other day).

While some "hot baits" may go out of vogue after a season or two others like Dick Nites for coho continue putting fish in the "box' year after year.

Speaking of baits/approaches that have been around for decades -caught my first steelhead (a summer fish) on a jig (black marabou) in 1963 and my steelhead on plastic worm (a Crème de Long night crawler) in 1965 (summer fish as well). Sometimes that new "bait" is just a fresh look at or new twist to the old.

Curt

Howdy..I'm a newly registered member and am having trouble viewing most of the videos...this one for instance. Any ideas why this is the case? I am trying to view on an iPad.

Thanks!

Sorry to hear that Maltby and thanks for the heads up. Is anyone else having similar problems viewing on their iPad???

Most of our videos are also on the Outdoor Line YouTube page. Here's a link to the most current video on the YouTube channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRsGSpR8 ... Ab0nMnmOkg

Thanks Robbo

Usually the problem with the iPad for watching videos is that there is no Flash Player. Should work fine watching the youtube version. Still can't believe iPad hasn't figured that one out yet???

CM