Neah Bay is located at the junction of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the southern tip of Vancouver Island and Pacific Ocean. This water is a great crossroads of upwelling currents bait and fish. This melting pot literally attracts salmon from California, Washington, and British Columbia as these fish migrate to and from their natal waters.

These nutrient waters hold bait so well, there is a salmon species and population feeding in the area virtually twelve months of the year. My favorite target in these waters for the fly rod is the surface feeding coho salmon.

If there is one word to describe Neah Bay, that word would be “Dramatic.” From the wave pounded shorelines around Mushroom Rock, to the beautiful secluded ShiShi beach, everything spells “remote.” Even the little single lane road winding into town reminds you that nobody goes to this village by accident. You have to want to go to Neah Bay, and most people who do, come for the fishing.

Tidal movement determines trolling speed. How fast you troll will change radically depending on whether you are running with the tide or against it. I fish flyrods with a floating line, a nine foot leader, and the trolled flies I described earlier. A bulky store bought fly, on a spinning outfit is going to swim differently and thus would have to be fished at a different speed. I will fish tapered leaders from 8# to 20# tippets depending on lighting conditions and angler expertise. I generally fish all the flys at the same distance from to the boat. A rule of thumb for me, is placing the flies just in back of the motor’s bubble train. It can pay to experiment. This concept of trolling speed can be confusing. The best way to describe it is, I am trying to achieve “a look.”

The analogy I use in comparing this area to the inside waters of Puget Sound is; If Puget Sound is a lake, then Neah bay is the river. Even the boats will tell you something. Where the twelve foot cartopper can be adequate just eighteen miles up the Straits at the town of Sekiu, sixteen feet is considered a minimum at Neah Bay, and eighteen and above is better. The currents are just that strong.

Why would anyone, let alone a fly fisher, choose to deal with these kind of elements? The answer is fish. These currents are such a powerful fish attractant, I can not tell you the number of times there was hardly a salmon to be found inside the straits, even at Neah Bay itself, only to motor seven miles west towards the ocean and be in the fish, big time. I have had my share of 100 fish days, just catch and releasing coho salmon.

Riding the rip tides
I start my fish finding with a tide book. My strategy is that if the tide is going out I want to fish on the outside, because that is where the bait is being flushed. If the tide is comming in, then I will start my search along the inside straits in front of the town, Neah Bay, and work my way towards the ocean until I intercept fish.

My search is always conducted along a rip tide. These are seams in the water where currents going different speeds intersect. First rip is located not for from shore, second rip is usually formed about one half to a mile from shore, and third rip is formed out in the shipping lanes.

Rip tides collect debris, bait and salmon. There will generally be a slick, clean side of a rip, and a choppy, dirty side, full of kelp and debris. Which side of the rip tide to fish is determined by lighting. If I am fishing at low light like morning, evening, foggy or over cast days, I will generally fish the shiny, clean side. I can see my trolled flies better and they do not foul in the debris. When the day is bright, I will fish the dirty side because the bait fish will hold in the shade of the debris and surface chop and the salmon can ambush their prey better. I look for rips that do not carry much debris but carry the surface chop, this scenario can be very good for both casted or trolled flies.

I seldom fish salmon on slack tides. The currents do not funnel the bait and the fish tend wander as the bait does. These are the times I will hunt along the kelp beds with sinking line for Coho or the tastey Black Rock fish.

It’s the birds man
Sea bird activity is a great indicator of fish location. The little bonaparte gull is a very good fish finder. If all the birds are spread out, loafing on water, particularly around slack tides at mid day, I either change tactics, or change locations. If on the other hand, I find birds all headed off in a particular direction I look for the birds crashing bait. Usually the salmon are balling the bait from below.

An experience I had a couple years ago illustrates this point. I had spent the morning fishing with three guys down the coastline. As the fog burned off, the fishing had slowed so we headed in for lunch and a nap. As we approach the jetty, we noticed a large flock of gulls wheeling and crashing the surface. Herring were literally spraying the surface. For the next hour, we were into Coho on virtually every cast. Four flyrods, all with fish on. Lines were going in every direction. We were laughing so hard.

Here is the sad part. This action all took place within 200 yards of the harbor entrance. A ton of boats had come and gone, and even though many anglers would slow down to watch, not a single boat stopped to cast a line! At one point our boat floated over the bait ball. I called guys over to come look. There was a solid mass of fish on the depth finder from the surface down to 60 feet! No wonder we could not miss!

I try to arrive at Neah Bay the afternoon before my fishing. If a fishing season is already underway, I will stop in at a couple of the tackle shops to find out where the best fishing has been, and more importantly, what bait fish is prevalent and what size of fresh bait are they selling. Candlefish are very slender and the fatter herring will vary from 3 to 6 inches. I will fish fly patterns in size and color, accordingly.

Coho love color. They will key into different patterns. There is no hard and fast rule but I have had great success fishing bright colors in low light conditions as attractors. Hot pink over white is a killer on foggy days.

Another pet pattern is a multicolored bucktail I call “Rainbow.” This trolling bucktail has florescent green, orange, pink, as well as forest green, black and white. These colors are tied in as streaks and not blended. I do not tie my flies as full as many shops. I like a thinner sparser bucktail for greater movement, and I use polar bear whenever I can get it. These bucktails are all tied on tubes. Each fly has large prominent eyes.

If trolling bucktails when the light is bright on the water, I will change my flies to a pattern that more closely imitates the real bait fish. This “match the hatch” can really pay off, particularly at mid day, when the fish can really look them over! My sunshine searching fly is peacock herl over a silver flashabou body. This silhouette duplicates the view of the bait fish from the salmon below.

My casting flies are not trolling flies. They are imitators that resemble herring and candle fish. Trey Combs Sea Habit flies and Left Krey’s Deceiver flies work well on stacked up fish.

Trick flies & presentation
We have now developed a series of foamhead patterns that are awesome for surface feeding Coho (Sorry, we don’t sell these commercially, as of yet). I know it sounds weird, but the cast is actually made, upcurrent. Angler mends the line downstream and the belly pulls the fly down & across current, just like a wounded baitfish swimming with the tide. Kind of a grease- lining if you will, in the ocean currents.

The FLHS works awesome for this, but any WF floating line will do.Again, the Coho will often show behind the fly before he closes. If you will hold a loop of line in your hand, and as the fish turns on the fly, shove your rod arm at the salmon dumping the loop, you will give the Silver time to turn on fly for a full hookup. Mr. salmon thinks that when he pulls on the fly, it is supposed to come with him (he doesn’t realize it is tethered to the end of a string). Hence giving him slack allows the fish to complete the execution.

Unless the birds, bait or salmon say other wise, I will start my search by trolling. I can cover a lot of empty water, and I never stop my boat until I know I am over fish. There is a lot more to trolling than just going for a boat ride. I will fish with as many rods allowed, up to three anglers, and I will fish each rod with a different pattern, until I know what the salmon prefer. The most critical factor in trolling is speed. You will here a lot of argument about how fast.

The look is achieved when I have the flies back at the desired distance and the flies are pulled slow enough that they do not ski or skim on top of the surface, They must be trolled fast enough, that the head of the fly forms a V in the water. When flies are porposeing in and out of the surface, hang on, it’s dinner time! Depending on tidal flow, your speed can be doubled going with the tide, compared to the speed of traveling against the flow. An excellent way to experiment in trolling speed is to troll making lazy S turns. If the coho take on the inside of the sweep, you are trolling too fast. If they are consistently taking on the outside of the corner as the fly naturally “cracks the whip,” speed up - you are trolling too slow.

Passing the buck
When bucktailing, hold your rod straight out. You will usually see the coho close in on the fly. Try to drop the fly into the swirling take and do not lift, just let the line come up tight. When you feel the weight of the fish, you got him! Ultra sharp, barbless hooks are the ticket.

Do not clear the other lines on a hookup, when these schooling fish see their buddy going nuts, they mistake this for a feeding frenzy. We have had many a doubles and even triples with this trick.

I like to carry an empy milk jug as a marker. At times of multiple hook ups, I will toss the marker over the side as I chase down the salmon we are fighting. The bait fish are being carried with the tide, and the salmon school right below. If I feel we are in the fish, I will motor off to the side of the buoy and cast with a sinktip flyline. Using a count down method, we will probe with our imitation patterns, from surface to thirty feet below.

A mistake in presentation is quite common. The tendency is to strip the fly fast trying to duplicate trolling speed. Where this will take fish occasionally, a far better approach is to fish the fly as a bait fish which has been crippled. Even the laziest coho can not resist this easy meal. Should you fish down through the marker with out any action, change over to your trolling fly and make a pass. If you still have no action, move on.

Many anglers think that fishing flies in the surface is a early morning or evening show. Another tactic I sometimes incorporate instead of fishing the debris side of the rip, is to troll a hot spot flasher about five feet below the surface just behind the bubble train. The flies are trolled on the surface up above, and slightly in back of the flasher. I have stood at the back of the boat, using polarized glasses, and watched schools of coho salmon swarm to the surface around the flasher. This technique has kept the fishing hot through the middle of a sunny day.

I remember an afternoon that became so windy, that we took refuge in a sheltered bay, on the lee of the storm. The tide was moving just outside a shoreline kelp bed. As the flies swung in along this current seam, both bucktailing flies were attacked by a couple angry coho. After losing my fish and subduing the other, my partner and I quickly changed to our casting outfits. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching and releasing salmon to 14 pounds in this little bay. Such is life at Neah Bay.

Neah Bay salmon seasons are on a fish killed quota. Once that allotment has been reached, the state closes the season. It is always a good idea to call ahead before heading out.

If you go: (Some of these have closed now so check) If you are trailering a boat make sure it is sea worthy and Coast Guard approved. You can launch, moor, and take care of tackle and license needs at: Big Salmon Resort: (360) 645-2374 They also have daily boat rentals for $80./ day, but make reservations! Motels available at: The Cape: (360) 645-2250 (tent camping also available) Silver Salmon: (360) 645-2388 .

How to get there: There are several ways to travel depending on your location. Tacoma Washington south can travel Highway 16 across the Tacoma Narrows bridge. Seattle area residents can also take the ferry ride across from Seattle to Kingston.

What to bring: Boat and Motor; Sleeping bag; Food IGA store in town; Flyrods 6-9 wt.; Fly lines Floating and sinking; Flies Sunshine, Rainbow, Pink/white; hook file; Leaders 9′ to 10# Maxima Ultra green; Hooks Gamikatsu 1/0; milk jug; compass; flashlight; Mikes Shrimp oil (for hands); needle nose pliers; Cooler for fish storage; wool glove or nylon net; Sunglasses / screen; Dramamine or patch.

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Dennis Dickson is a fisheries biologist with 17 years of steelhead flyfishing guide experience. Check out his website @ www.flyfishsteelhead.com

Other Features by Dennis Dickson at FlyFish.com include:
The Grande Ronde and Mrs. Brown River Etiquette Playing and landing steelhead