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Hey there. I was at the Indian River yesterday and I would swear that the
Pinks were rising to take food off of the surface. They hit the top water
just like a trout would. I threw every dry I had to no avail. Are they taking
dry flies or surface nymphs? Has anyone had experience enticing rises in
this situation?
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UBCstudent,they must have been handing out some good stuff at last Friday's back to school party eh?!!!! Sober up and stick to wet flies! lol
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Dearest Flyguide, What, prey tell, are the fish doing when they come to the surface and slurp then? Is this random slurping completely without motivation? Atlantics are well known to take dry flies. Just FYI, I have never used marijuana in my entire life which is why my career choices have stayed wider than yours, flyguide. Lol as you so quaintly put it.
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Tommy - you are misinterpresting what's happening. Pacific Salmon are not capable of feeding once they begin their spawning run as their stomachs literally shrink are they are unable to take in food. So it's impossible to imagine a concerted rise as you think you saw. Salmonids typically rise in a variety of fashions - who knows why. Someone else can speculate. Will pinks rise to take flies. I've certain had them do it with wets just under the surface. Will they take dries? They certainly did not for you! However consider that coho and chum will take flies. It's done a fair bit in Alaska where large bomber style patterns of spun pink deer head and marabou (pink polywogs - do a Google search) are skated over schools of fish. I've had both species swirl at strike indicators and floats - so it could work here as well. But no there is no chance the pinks you saw were rising to hatching insects like say trout will. The problem is you aren't expereinced enough to know what you saw. But you'll get there
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ralph not true i have caught fish in rivers (coho) and have seen them with eggs in their bellies and i have often seen coho behind spawning fish picking off eggs as a trout would. they do feed to a degree in the rivers but i doubt it is with the same intent as a trout or other species. Casey
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They are not feeding by just imitating what was imbedded in their reaction from when they were small in the steams feeding on eggs. All it is instinct not that they are hungry. Rifle
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Likewise with Atlantic Salmon. Like Pacific salmon they do not feed on their spawning run. That they rise to take flies, even dry flies is for some other reason than hunger and a normal feeding response.
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Ralph: I have been fishing for quite a while. i do both fly and drift fishing. In my experiences of fly fishing ,i have seen fish chase my fly (coho and steelhead)all the time. In drift fishing, they will take your bait speicaly with sand shimp or roe or spiner too. So i don't agreed what you said that Pacific salmon do not eat anything when they enter into river system.
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Look at cap coho do they not feed when they enter the sytem??? many times the fish has your roe half way down its throat before you can even set the hook.... is this instinct or hunger? its true that the fishes stomach shrinks but they still eat whether it is hunger or instincts...
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It always surprisies me when people argue with scientific fact. It's long established that all 5 of the traditional salmon species do not feed. Invariably their stomachs are empty. I think I once found some eggs in the throat of a coho jack. My bet is that even if a salmon ingests some organic matter it would regurgitate it shortly afterward. On the other hand it doesn't mean that they don't bite or chase lures etc - whcih is what you folks are actually saying. The fact they bite is not indicative that they feed.
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Oh well, all we care is that they bite things. Some of the things they bite are on the surface and some are under the surface. Whether they are hungry or not is something that we, as humans, will never be able to determine unless we do PET scans while they are in the river and see their hypothalamus lighting up from positron emissions. We shall have to ask God when we die why He made salmon to bite things whilst they are spawning. Until then, salmon bite things in rivers. Amen.
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It's the JFI...juvenile feeding imprint. They are doing as they did as juveniles in the river, feeding on what they could in order to attain a larger size before entering the ocean. It is true that salmonids do not 'feed' while returning to spawn, they are merely doing what they did years ago in their natal river or stream.
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Ross< even coho at the chehalis feed when there in the river 80% of them that i caught last year by the hatchery swallowed my roe.
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exactly felix!!! what about when fish enter the fraser are they still not feeding??
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They are not feeding because they are hungry. Cody's words "juvenile feeding imprint." I catch salmon all the time with my hook down their throat but they don’t feed to get full. Cheers to salmon that choke on it. Rifle
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Seems to me that with all these fish "swallowing" the roe halfway down its throat before you can even set the hook", this would greatly increase the mortality rate with fish that must be released. How come none of you spoke up when the thread pertaining to this subject was going?
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Seems to me that with all these fish "swallowing" the roe halfway down its throat before you can even set the hook", this would greatly increase the mortality rate with fish that must be released. How come none of you spoke up when the thread pertaining to this subject was going?
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i think it could be because that topic has been discussed to death
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I had no idea of the controversy. Nevertheless NO ONE HAS ANSWERED WHY THEY RISE AND APPARENTLY STIKE THE SURFACE!!!
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After reading this discussion it occured to me that there might be a better approach for bottom bouncing for Coho. It looks like fish is actually taking wool, but then spits it. And it is necessary to have a direct control of the hook - similar to fly fishing with rod pointing down and line in hand. Direct control of the hook is the key, as with gentle chuing take float will not sink and rod tip will not bent. Today - October 25 - I tried this approach on Vedder near the second bridge. I had a fish on every third cast. Seven fish out of ten were hooked inside of their mouth. As for Coho I managed to land 7 (3 were wild). So, thanks for the idea!
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