Stage of the tide may be a factor, but light level may be even more so.
Based on the annecdotal information from that evening - i.e. the hapless
gear slinger - it sounds like the action turned on at about the same time
in the slack water areas as well. Of course it's possible that the strong
currents (we're talking a 12' swing here) could have been churning and
dumping plankton into these areas. Also worth noting that the action
seemed to continue, more or less, through the high slack and (at least)
the early ebb. The only part that went dead was the back eddy in front
of Doc's; when the tide approached high slack the back eddy - which
had been very strong - went flat, as did the fishing. After the turn this
back eddy area began to flow with the main current (north) and the fish
came back in, at least occassionally.
There's another possibility: At least some of these fish may have been
there all day, and we just didn't see them. The evening feeding activity
was very subtle: no jumpers, with the majority of the fish barely creasing
the surface. Even under the nearly ideal conditions of the evening - no
wind, mirror like glare on the surface - these guys were difficult to spot.
Frequently the only real sign was a "nervous water" appearance on the
surface, almost like little cat's paws or baitfish patterns, traveling down
the beach. There was enough chop (and bright overhead sun) during the
day that it would have been impossible to see this kind of activity.
Combine this with light pressure (3-4 anglers) and it's easy to see how
these fish could have gone undetected.
-Wes
Date forwarded: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 00:00:29 -0700
From: "David Weitl" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: The Narrows (They Came At Night)
Date sent: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 23:56:10 -0700
Forwarded by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> It sounds to me that these fish are appearing much later in the flood stage
> than I had anticipated. Jeremy and I were there right about the turn and
> about 1-1/2 hours into the flood. Not much in sight. Is this typical that
> we should be out there closer to high tide than low?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> David Weitl mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Poulsbo, Washington WA Statewide Fishing Reports
> http://www.nwfishing.com
>
> "The gods do not deduct from a man's allotted span
> the hours spent in fishing"
> -- Babylonian Proverb
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wes Neuenschwander [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 9:40 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: The Narrows (They Came At Night)
>
>
> What he say.
>
> Sorry Paul. Sorry Charlie. This is exactly what happened at dusk
> Saturday. And it was an awesome sight indeed. Alas, Charlie, 15
> minutes after you left, the monster pods moved in. Mainly out of reach;
> just. But occassionally, when the back eddy formed, nice and strong just
> off the beach in front of Doc's, the odd fish or two, or even a small pod,
> would move in. I had 4 or 5 nice pulls and even had one bust my fly off on
> the strike. These were big fish, in big groups, barely creasing the film.
> In spite of the herring busting the surface right off the beach, they kept
> cruising back and forth, sometimes stopping to mill about without hardly
> moving at all; and then back and forth, just out of range.
>
> A guy with a spinning rod - little wisp of curled line dangling from the
> end - came walking up from the south cove, saying "you guys catching
> anything; they like your flies? You should go down there. They're all
> over. I hooked 6", before walking on past Doc's, south toward Pt. Fosdick.
>
> I have a limited tolerance for this sort of thing. I clipped off my fly,
> walked back to the van, and headed home.
>
> -Wes
>
>
>
> Date forwarded: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 09:20:38 -0700
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date sent: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 12:19:55 EDT
> Subject: Re: The Narrows
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Forwarded by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > I went up to the Narrows from Olympia on Thursday. When I got there it
> was
> > about 5:45pm. I ate a quick sandwich for dinner, rigged up and headed
> down
> > to the water. I saw one person in the water and the tide was coming in,
> > almost full high tide. Just as the one person was leaving the water, the
> > fish started to show with his back to the water. When I talked with this
> > guy, he said he hadn't seen a fish in 4 hours. I didn't tell him that
> they
> > were everywhere I could see. With the tide being as high as it was, I
> > had no choice but to fish right down the hill from the parking lot. In
> > front of what used to be Doc's house. I couldn't make more than a thirty
> > foot cast because the tide was so high that every time I tried to extend
> > my cast, I would snap off my fly on a tree or black berries or something.
> > I lost 6 flies in about an hour and a half. I only caught 1 fish. It
> > was the only one that I even got a bite from. I had a few other problems
> > beside the short casting range.
> >
> > First off, I could see huge pods of fish crusing in all directions. You
> > had to stop and look for a little while to notice what they were because
> > their porpousing in pods looked very similar to the ripple on top of the
> > water due to current. The difference was that the fish ripples where
> > moving toward or sometimes away from me. I could see, at times, 4 or
> > five pods of fish crusing up and down the shoreline. Some of the fish
> > were way out of range, maybe 200 feet or more. These were some of the
> > biggest
> pods.
> > As long as it took for a pod to cruse past me, there must have been
> > hundreds of fish in some of them. The pods that were closer in to shore
> > seemed to be smaller. Maybe 25 to 50 fish per pod. Seeing all these
> > fish had my blood pumping and I had to start casting away. Wrong move.
> > When the fish are there, you know it. No need to do any casting until
> > you see fish and can time your cast to hit the front of the pod. If you
> > just
> start
> > casting, you'll inevitably have to much line out when a pod starts to get
> > close, it'll take you to long to strip in enought line to start casting,
> > and the pod'll be right in front of you and spook when you cast over
> > them.
> >
> >
> > Next problem was the type of line I was using. I started with a full
> > sink cause that's what I usually use to fish Cutthroat from a boat. That
> didn't
> > work to well. Next I went to a clear intermediate line. This line
> > worked okay but only if I started my strip as soon as the line hit the
> > water. Using a sinking line means that the only mending capability you
> > have is in the air before the line hits the water. With that in mind,
> > getting the right presentation meant picking the right fish to cast to.
> > I had to make sure that my fly got to swing right in front of the pod.
> > The only time I got this right and still had a fly on the end of my
> > leader, I caught a fish. I would recomend either using a floating line
> > or a floating line with a clear sink tip. This way you can mend your
> > line and get better presentations to fish crusing in either direction.
> >
> > I could not believe the numbers of fish I saw. When I got to work the
> next
> > morning, the first thing I said was, "You have got to go up there and see
> > it for yourself". Don't get discouraged if you don't have this
> experience.
> > The guys who fish the most catch the most fish.
> >
> > Tom Bolender
> >
>
>
>
> Wes Neuenschwander
> Seattle, WA
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
Wes Neuenschwander
Seattle, WA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
