nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019 Northwest Sportsman 87
The hottest month of the year is not just for
sun seekers! Pacific Northwest anglers look
forward to beautiful warm weather, oceanscape
scenery and if they are lucky, blindingly bright
scales littering the air and deck when a platinum-
bright silver salmon thrashes in the net. This is
the time of year we all dream about while
enduring the other nine damp months.Projected forecasts have been encouraging for
Pacific coho stocks this year. At the time of this
writing, anglers are experiencing early and
stronger than expected catches in open areas.
While old school mooching and even jigging
can be popular, hands down the most popular
way to catch these fish is trolling with
downriggers at depths of 40 to 75 feet and
speeds of 2.5 to 3.5 mph. Running flasher/
hoochie or flasher-spoon combos is especially
productive and will usually get the job done.
With hoochies, you want to use heavier
40-pound-test leader in lengths of 32- to 36-inches
in conjunction with dual 2/0 to 4/0 barbless hooks
in order to impart maximum action. Flashers in
the 11-inch range in cop car and spatterback
colors are effective, and matching hoochie colors
to flasher colors can be a wise choice as well.
Popular spoons are 3- to 4-inch Luhr Jensen
Coyotes in cop car, army truck, nickel/neon
green and metallic tape colors. Just make sure to
lengthen your leader a bit more with spoons.
Lengths of 40 to 48 are about right. Again,
matching flasher and spoon colors is important.
Daily limits and specific rules change from
location to location so be sure and check your
perspective area before heading out. Know the
difference between wild and hatchery salmon
and be sure to treat our resources with respect.
Have fun and most importantly, be safe out
there! This monthly fisheries message brought
to you by the sports fishermen of Wooldridge
Boats.August Saltwater
Silvers(^)
(^)
“A happy angler embraces a healthy saltwater
silver on an early summer morning!”