This question comes from Bennett Colvin in Colorado.
“I have been wanting to try to fly fish deep using streamers for lake trout, salmon, trout, and arctic char. I was wondering if you could describe the set up that you guys use to get into the salmon out of the boats in the ocean? Items like rod size, line… if you use a shooting line and what size heads etc., how deep can one reasonably fish, flies etc would be awesome. Being here in Colorado this technique is not used much but I think it could be very effective.”
The timing for this question couldn’t be better. While Bennett plans on fishing lakes in Colorado our saltwater season on the coast is just about to start. Dredging can help one reach fish often thought out of reach to fly fishermen no matter where you live.
Most of our dredging uses rods in the 8-10 weight range. If you have to fish a lighter rod, RIO’s Deep 7 Lake Line can get you 20-30′ deep with rods in the 6 weight range. A 6 weight rigged with this line is the perfect setup for offshore pink salmon when you need to get deep (and this summer we are expecting over 6 million pinks to swim by Port Angeles).
For serious dredging, a shooting head system is the way to go. Let’s start with running lines. For maximum depth, a mono running line is your best bet but it is harder to handle and can have more tangling issues than the second option, which are intermediate running lines like RIO’s Coldwater Intermediate Running Line. The .030 sized intermediate line is the best all around running line for balancing sink rate and line handling.
For the sinking heads we are lucky to be blessed with some great options. The 30′ Coil Packs of RIO’s T-14 and T-17 are what we typically use. For an 8 wt. rod, we will cut the 30′ of T-14 back to approximately 25′.
25′ of T-14 can reach the 40-50′ range and T-17 can reach the 60-75′ range. Under ideal conditions you can get deeper but those depths can be reached without too much effort by casting up-drift letting the line come tight after the boat drifts over it. The picture below shows a rock snagged from the bottom at the Winter Hole off Port Angeles in 70′ of water using 30′ of T-17.
Weighted flies work best for this. Not only do they sink fast and give the flies an up and down action during the retreive but they reduce tangling with the sinking line on the way down. If the fly is too buoyant the sinking line will sink much faster than the line and the fly will tangle with the line as it gets vertical in the water. Clouser Minnows and Shock and Awe’s are great flies for fishing deep water.
Hope that helps. Good luck and send us some pictures of the big lake trout you hook.