Nice sized chum taken on orange and red in Porpoise Bay by Captain Quinn.
A jumping fishing isn't necessarily a biting fish. This is certainly the case when targeting salmon who are only days away from heading up to their spawning redds to complete their life cycle. You can throw everything you have at them including the kitchen sink and even though you can see them everywhere in exciting numbers teasing you with aerobatic displays and silver flashes you are no more likely to hook-up than you are in other locations where the fish aren't front and centre on display.
Captain Quinn with one for the smoker.
Regardless of odds, keeping an angler away from jumping fish is like trying to get your wife to admit that she is wrong. There is something about actually seeing a fish before hooking it that lights a fire directly in your adrenal glands, causing your heart-rate to pick up to the point where your hands start to shake when attempting to tie on that potentially "lucky" fly.
Dark but firm Chum Salmon good for smoking.
The bottom line is that in order to catch fish you need to be casting to fish regardless of whether you can see them or not. When we cant see them we look to our fish finders, feeding birds, bait balls, seals, whales or any other number of signs. However you do it, finding the fish is definitely your first step towards actually hooking a fish.
Casting to jumping fish can sometimes pay off.
Once you find fish then you can move forward with the odds more in your favour. Since salmon tend to veer away from aggressive feeding the closer they get to spawning, getting them to take any fly can require a lot of patience. If you are like me and watching jumping fish just so happens to be one of your favourite past times, second only to catching that same fish, then you are bound to a good time regardless of whether you get one to shore or not.
How to find fall saltwater salmon
In order to find the fish you are going to want to head out at the crack of dawn and scan the shoreline for any sign of activity-the early bird gets the worm! Look for bays and shallow water near creek mouths. Once the sun comes up and the water temperature increases, the fish will move deeper to the cooler water below 14 degrees and you will have no clue where they are schooling dramatically decreasing your chances at this time of year.
Stay tuned for How to get a jumping fish to become a biting fish
When selecting a fly for these interesting but uninterested fish there are a few key factors you need to take into account: time of day, water temperature, type of baitfish present, species of jumping fish and fishing pressure. This article will focus on delivering these key factors to you inorder to enhance your fishing experience so stay tuned.
Time of day and water temperature
Fly Selection & Strategy