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| FREE! Beginning Fly Tying Class Dec. 3 Click For Details |
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Bonito- In the family of Scombridae which includes Mackerels and Tunas. These are high speed fish which run down their prey in the open Ocean. They are beautifully streamlined and very hard. Bonito |
| have tremendous pulling power. Ten weight gear doesn't over-power them. They eat smaller fish such as Anchovies and Sardines which average 1 1/2" to 4" long. During certain times of the year they will eat chum or chunked bait and strike drifting flies. Most of the time they will only eat small live fish. During these periods they can be very selective to streamers which mimic this bait very closely. |  |
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The trick is to move the fly very quickly. Bonito loose interest in a slow moving fly. For this reason it is very difficult to run up on a feeding school and then cast. Even with the boat out of gear it will still coast toward the school. It is nearly impossible to strip the fly fast enough to pull out the increasing slack in the line let alone move the fly. It is better to let the boat coast past the school so that the momentum of the boat pulls the slack |
| from the line and increases retrieval speed. A fly rod record can only be obtained when a fish is hooked while the boat is not in gear. The world record Atlantic Bonito is 18 pounds, 4 ounces. If you are not interested in world records, these fish are very easy to hook while trolling the fly. More Bonito Pictures. To Top | |
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Share your vision of the fly fishing future – |
| (continued
from 11/20
The Fly Fishing Shop Insider) Are They More Than Grist For The Mill? (final installment) To protect and anchor their eggs in the river bottom, female Chinooks dig depressions in the riverbed with their tails. These depressions are created by the tail being used as a shovel and also by the hydraulics being created by the oscillations of the tail in the water. The eggs are deposited with milt from the male Chinook in the bottom and trailing edge of the depression. The depression is filled and the trailing edge is mounded over with a layer of silt free gravel. This site is called a redd. |
| Chinook redds are often tipped up into the current. The rear interior wall of the redd is usually composed of sand and silt that has collected down stream from the digging. In a large excavation this can form a mound that is three feet higher than the bottom of the depression. The mound often assumes a shape that is flattened or slightly cupped in the front and fan shaped at the rear. This mound my be called a sand dune. |
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These
dunes are most prominent in rivers, which carry heavy loads of volcanic
sand, such as the main stem Sandy, Zig Zag and Deschutes below the mouth
of White River. This is because of the availability of building
material. These kinds of rivers have plenty of sand to build mounds.
However this type of structure is also most efficient at keeping the
redd from plugging with sand and destroying the water flow which
oxygenates the buried eggs. |
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layer of course rock is deposited on the tilted upstream side of this
silt mound. The gravel is chosen so that it builds a strata that is
devoid of silt and water passes trough it easily. This porous strata is
also designed to catch the eggs and milt as they flow from the spawning
fish. This will become the interior of the redd. This is where the eggs
will incubate. |
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Over
this nursery is deposited a shield consisting of lager and larger
stones. This layer also allows water to pass through it with little
restriction. The heavy rock keeps the redd from eroding. Water
flows through the front wall of the redd and is deflected by the rear
wall of silt. The water flows into the redd from the bottom and out the
top. This keeps silt from collecting inside the redd and thus insures
the complete oxygenation of the eggs. If the eggs were deposited in a
depression below the level of the riverbed, they would quickly become
buried in sand and smother. Spawning
pairs of Chinooks often join redds side by side in rows. The upstream
edge of these elongated dunes often rises steeply from the riverbed. The
upstream face of the dune is composed of course gravel and the backside
is sand and silt. In areas where many Chinooks spawn together these
dunes may form rows which run perpendicular to the current flow. Between
these dunes are trenches filled with soft flows. This wash board contour
slows the water flowing along the bottom of the river. These are favored
resting areas for several species of fish including trout, steelhead and
whitefish. The
digging and shaping of Chinook redds creates gravel deposits which can
later be used by smaller fish. Since Chinooks are early fall spawners
the gravel deposits that they create are already prepared for later
spawning species such as steelhead, coho and trout. Spring Chinook dunes in the Salmon River
trap smaller gravel along the edge of the river. In the spring this
gravel is actively sought out by spawning pairs of winter steelhead. In
the lower Sandy River steelhead spawn in the leading top edge of fall
Chinook dunes. The hydraulics created by the dune also keeps their eggs
free from slit. Since
the Chinook redd is designed to allow water to flow through it, there
are a lot of holes between the rocks which have built it. These holes
are prime habitat for many species of insects such as mayflies, stone
flies and caddis. Chinook spawning areas are very rich in insect life.
Leaches and sculpins are also very prominent in Chinook redds. These
organisms are food for various sizes of larger fish. Historic
records of hatchery egg takes show that the size of returning adult
Chinooks has changed very little over the years. Sandy River basin adult
Chinooks average fourteen to twenty five pounds, with some specimens up
to forty pounds. The average steelhead is seven to eleven pounds. The
average coho is five to eight pounds. Chinooks
are the largest salmonids that spawn in our watershed. Their larger size
means that they can exploit larger gravel than smaller fish. Big
Chinooks are powerful enough to move grapefruit size rocks around. This
is a different part of the streambed than is utilized by steelhead,
which prefer golf ball size gravel. Resident trout are only large enough
to move marble size stones. Chinooks
spawn during the lowest flows of the season. This means that they
utilize the center of the streambed. Their fry tend to stay in the
middle, deeper parts of the river. They don't compete for food or space
with other species, which spawn later in the season when river flows are
higher. Steelhead,
trout and coho spawn in small tributaries or along the margins of
rivers. Often they spawn in places, which didn't have enough water when
the Chinooks were spawning. Each specie is designed to exploit a
different size of gravel and therefore has different spawning habitat
requirements. Their fry are also genetically designed to exploit this
environment. They usually rear close to the redd through early
development. In this way the fry of different species tend to remain
separated through infancy and don't compete with each other. As
trout and steelhead get larger they require more individual space. As
they grow they seek deeper and deeper water. Older fish will often find
holds in the middle of the river. Some of the best holding water is in
the drop-off behind a series of Chinook redds. These areas are often
very rich in insect life. Here there is depth for cover and soft flows
which make living secure and easy. This is also the prime area for
intercepting emerging Chinook fry. Trout and juvenile steelhead migrate
to these areas and there is often enough food and space to support large
numbers. The larger fish rigorously defend the prime spots. Smaller fish
patrol the margins. Chinooks are big strong fish that are a challenge to catch and are good to eat. But, the importance of healthy Chinook runs go beyond just being grist for the human mill. They are an indicator specie for the health of entire watersheds. To Top |
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We've
got the widest selection of spey lines too! |
A full selection of large and standard arbor spey reels by: Abel, Bauer, Ross, Lamson, Teton, Redington, Scientific Anglers & Tibor. |
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Private four hour spey casting class = $150. By appointment. Rod/Reel Outfit provided. |
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*** The Universal Minnow |
HOOK: Mustad 34011 or TMC 777sp, #1/0 - #6 |
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| THREAD: white 3/0 Uni | ||
| BODY: pearl Lite-bright | ||
| BACK: rabbit Zonker strip in white, yellow, pink, | ||
| chartreuse, blue black, olive, gray. | ||
| This is a very simple, thus expendable bait fish fly. It ties quick. This pattern is also very good when tied on a 1 1/2" plastic tube. Flies tied like this have accounted for most fresh and saltwater species of game fish. To Top | ||
| If you would like to read a detailed Deschutes River Fishing Report, click here. |
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Fly Rod Test Drive - Sage 1090-5 RPLXi |
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* Sandy River Fishery Information Bank |
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Daily
Fishing Report
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