Beach fishing can be peaceful, effective

Published 1:23 pm Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Fishing on the beach may be sort of the last frontier for local fly fishing, says David Williams, who writes the Flyfishing Northwest blog for the Post-Intelligencer online.

“It’s so doggone pretty out there,” he says. “Except in pink season, you’re the only person on the wa

ter.”

Most good fishing areas are pretty busy these days as our population grows.

And Williams is right, beaches can be busy in pink salmon season as people line up along many beaches elbow to elbow to hurl a buzz bomb out in hopes of grabbing a humpy.

But that’s only a few weeks every two years. The rest of the time, it can enjoyable and effective.

Williams gave a presentation recently to the Evergreen Fly Fishing Club on fishing from the beach during those other times, when they aren’t jammed with anglers.

Humpies aren’t the only fish available from the beach, Williams says. Other salmon coho and blackmouth, to name two can be caught from the beach as well as sea-run cutthroat, dolly varden, surf perch and a variety of other gamefish.

When not fishing with his feet in the sand, Williams also fishing from a pontoon boat in saltwater and catches ling cod in relatively shallow water.

He uses a 10-foot, 6-weight rod for most beach fishing, sometimes a floating line and sometimes a 24-foot sink tip depending on he deep he wants to sink his fly.

He also puts his flies in plastic fly boxes so they don’t corrode. Fly patterns depend on what he’s fishing for and what he thinks the fish are eating, but he likes baitfish patterns like Clousers, Chum babies or Comets.

Selecting the right tide is important as well as the right location. Often, beaches near rivers are effective because many salmon come fairly close to the beach has they’re heading toward their home river to spawn.

He also likes beaches with structure, like eel grass beds, cobble stones, ledges, rocks and points of land.

Williams talked about the importance of experimenting with flies, retrieves, tides, structure and other factors and writing down what you’ve observed and what works. There are other important issues like the time of day and the weather.

I’ve been fishing on beaches more myself lately because I don’t like crowds and I do like challenges.

I’d recommend that you do the same thing. You might find some good and you’ll likely find that the more you learn about a few beaches, the better the fishing will get.