Fly fishing the Oregon and Washington Coasts

Fishing Saltwater Fly Fishing
1

I miss the old days fly-fishing for stripers, weakies, and blues around Cape May and Rock Hall. I’ve been landlocked in Montana and Idaho for 20 + years but do have time and a hankerin’ to cast off some rocks. Any suggestions? I don’t expect you tell me your secret spots just some general idea of what and when to fish for. You can e-mail me. I won’t tell. I promise. Rusty Rat

2

Thanks! You are on the ball. RR

3

And if you give us a couple of days notice we might even show up!

LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

4

Thank you. You are very gracious. RR

5

Rats,
I agree w/ castwell on the rod weight. For flies try the deep sea minnow or muddlers minnows. Maybe use blue/ white for best results.

6

Thanks Andrew, our Grand poo-bah says that there are Salmon for the taking. What other species can be taken on a fly along these coasts?

[This message has been edited by Rusty Rat (edited 15 February 2005).]

7

Surf Perch can be had off the coastal beaches such as Ocean Shores WA. Be carefull of the under toe and wear a life jacket of some type and dress warm. The Ocean there is quite cold.

Sea Run Cutthrout from many of the Puget Sound and Hood Canal beaches. Check out the Narrows Bridge area in Tacoma for starters. It well know but still a good place to go.

Flounder, Sculpin in Puget Sound from almost any beach open to the public.

Pile Perch from a few of the Puget Sound docks but due to over harvest they are getting rare and hard to find but will really fight hard on a 6-wt.

The best all around fly for all of these is a clam worm fly though a bugger works very well to.

Have fun. Saltwater flyfishing in Washington can put you into all types of fish. That the fun part because you just never know what will take the fly next.

8

watch out for sneaker waves. Have fun. Maybe you will catch a lingcod.

9

Thanks for your suggestions. By the way, garden, I caught a Cod on a fly (Strawberry Blonde)in an estuary up on the North Shore of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. I was really surprised. RR

10

if you catch a lingcod eat it. The flesh is green, but whitens upon cooking. Yum!

11

Make sure Ling Cod is in season by checking the regs first before keeping. Because they are getting to be few of them any more the seasons are very short in most parts of Washington

12

Rusty rat, After 51 years in the Garden State and fishing the surf off Cape May and the bay, Montana & Idaho is starting to look good to me perhaps we could change places.

I plan a wirlwind fishing tour of Washington state this spring after planting season I also want to thank everyone for the advice.

I will be visiting my buddy who lives in and fishes the San Juan islands area. Right now its a matter of building my rods and tying flies for the trip… FB.