Saltwater coho

[curber]

I am a complete novice,have yet to cast a fly in the water....slaying the backyard lawn tho.I am going on a saltwater coho trip in late August.I have bought an 8 weight rod and have it spooled with a WF 8 sink tip....it has been suggested by one of my fly fishing friends I should also take a floating line. Any suggestions as to what line I should use and if I really need a floating line. I am also curious as to how far I should be be able to cast a line for some success with this type of fishing. Thanks Bob

[Troutman Clay]

As far as a floating line goes, its not a necessity as most fishing is done with light flies that dont need to be as heavily weighted with a sink tip. With that being said a good choice of floating line is a rio gold line that you can pick up for about 75 bucks, but your main line will be your sink tip. And as far as casting goes, you'll be casting into the wind so a line with a large head like a rocket taper or a Weight Forward. From what I've been told, (never specifically fished coho) that they tend to school and cruise always out of your range. I can cast an 85 foot to 90 foot cast on the lawn, but when you get out onto the water with the wind, bigger flies and having your line sink down at your feet while casting, a 60-70 foot cast is my range. My advice based just on my local area and observations, is to try and forget about coho this year and try for the pinks as they are a much easier fish to chase, easier to spot, and alot of the time more in your range of casting if you see the coho out of your range based on where your fishing. I could be completely off based on where your fishing and what your buddies say but thats just what I've come to learn.

Clayton

[whitewater_cowboy]

Floating lines can be very useful, especially if you are fishing off a beach and thus not likely to require any substantial depth. However, if it gets choppy, the wave movement can introduce undesired motion on the fly. This is when I breakout the sinking line because it gets below the wave action and it is always a clear intermediate, again, I'm not looking to achieve great depth fishing off the beach. My serious heavy heads (shooting heads) come out when I'm on the boat and fishing kelp beds and need to get things down 40' or more. Another benefit of the intermediate (all sinking lines) is that they are thinner in diameter than equivalent floating lines and will penetrate the wind better... and wind is likely the reason for the water being choppy in the first place! My recommendation would be toward a weight forward floating line and a clear intermediate line if you are fishing the beach. If you are going to be fishing deep water from a boat, I don't think the sink-tip will be very useful as the floating portion will work against what you are trying to achieve, depth, though it may serve a purpose on the beach to get things down a bit, but, won't alleviate the wave action on the floating portion. Hope this gives you something to think about. Best of luck on your adventure and don't forget to rinse that gear well.

[TieFlier]

Are you fishing from a boat or from shore? As whitewater mentioned, a different set-up is required for both. For beach fishing I use a floating line with a long leader when I want more depth. Others will use intermediate sinking lines or just intermediate sinking tips. The more successful beach fishers are often the ones who can cast farther than the rest of the pack, their lines are in the water longer. For beach fishing I don't use huge weighted flies. Small pink, orange and charteuse seem to be popular colours and most hook sizes are in the 6-10 range. I don't know a lot about fishing from a boat for coho on the fly, never done that before, but I would like to one day.

[curber]

Thanks for the advice.I will be fishing from a boat. I will let you all know how i make out ...thanks again

[TieFlier]

Probably the best thing you can practice for this trip is to get as much distance as you can with as few back casts as possible. This pays dividends when the wind is hanging around and it helps you keep your line in the water more often. Good luck and I hope you can hook a few!