FIELD
Here is one of many silver salmon author Scott Haugen caught on 16mm and 20mm soft beads over the last two falls in Alaska. Note the clear bead stop, which worked like a charm for Haugen on a range of bead brands. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
THE BEAD GOES ON WHY SOFT BEADS CAN OUTFISH EGGS FOR ALASKA COHO BY SCOTT HAUGEN
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“
cott, you have to try those beads; Ray is hammering the coho on them,” urged my friend Bruce. “He’s even catching more salmon than the guys using eggs!” A bead that was outfishing eggs? Bruce had my attention. There were a dozen of us fishing a remote river in Alaska, one where I’d been finding good success using a range of presentations and techniques. But I had yet to try the soft beads I’d brought along. I’d let Ray borrow a few, and he was obviously finding success. At lunch I chatted with Ray, who had been fishing all morning upriver and around the corner out of sight from me. He showed me his setup and it was simple: A 20mm Sweet Pink Cherry Soft
Bead was pegged above his hook, with two medium-sized split-shot sinkers attached 30 inches above it.
NEWFOUND SUCCESS Ray is an avid salmon and steelhead angler from Washington and he loves drift-fishing eggs. Ray had fished beads before – even in Alaska – but with nowhere near the results he was having on this fine morning. I chased Arctic char that afternoon, but the next morning I had a 16mm NW Steelheaders Soft Bead rigged and ready to roll for silvers. I caught a fat, fiery coho on my first cast – and then again on my second. The action continued, and before I knew it, I’d landed and released eight coho. Things kept going, even when the sun hit
the water of the shallow eddy I’d been drifting the inside edge of. I know what you’re thinking. “It’s Alaska; anyone can catch silver salmon there, on anything.” That may be true, but only partially. After having fished throughout much of Alaska for 30 years, I wasn’t about to draw a conclusion after just one hour of fishing. I’ve also learned that even in the Last Frontier the bite turns off – and therein lies the challenge of being able to consistently catch salmon.
BIGGER BEADS, MORE WEIGHT Later that day, when the bite slowed, I upsized to a 20mm clown-patterned soft bead and fished behind water a half-dozen members of my party had been working all
aksportingjournal.com | OCTOBER 2020
ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL
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