Northwest Reel Life November - December 2023 Volume 3 Issue 3 - Flipbook - Page 8
fishing
My Favorite Fall Coho Techniques
By Hannah Pennebaker
Even though the end of the
year is approaching, don’t
put away your salmon fishing
gear just yet. There are still
plenty of rivers teeming
with coho salmon right now!
These days, there are many
different techniques you
can use to catch fish on any
river. Versatility is important,
and river conditions change
day by day. I recently went
on a guided trip with
Brianna Bruce of Livin’
Life Adventures. When we
got to our spot, she told
us that we would each be
fishing a different method.
The fish had been hitting
different things every day.
One day, they only wanted
spinners. Another day, they
wanted spoons. She began
distributing rods- one of
us fishing plugs, the other
spinners, and so on until we
were all casting and hoping
to get lucky.
8 | NWFISHING.net
After about 20 minutes of
this, another guide motored
by on the way back to the
launch with their limits. He
told Bree that he had gotten
all of his fish on eggs! She
quickly began switching all
of our rods to egg setups.
Another hour later, we were
back at the boat ramp with
huge smiles and limits of
dime-bright coho. If she
hadn’t brought eggs along,
we may have all ended
up skunked! Versatility is
crucial! Most days when I go
river fishing, I carry 3 rods: a
twitching rod, a float rod, and
a spinner rod. I spent a lot
of time getting familiar with
each technique and when
and how to deploy them.
Let’s dive into how and why I
use these techniques.
If I had to pick one way to
fish for coho, I would have to
go with twitching jigs. They
are extremely adaptable- I
can fish any type of water
with a twitching jig.
There’s something so
satisfying about seeing a
big fish dart out of cover to
grab your jig. Make sure to
vary your jigging speed and
length depending on the
structure, depth, and speed
of the water. Some days, you
can let the jig sink to the
bottom of a deep hole before
you start jigging. Other
times, you’ll want to do short
jigs as soon as your lure hits
the water. There’s no one way
to twitch a jig. Color matters!
I’ve had days where I fished
one color for 30 minutes with
no luck, and then hooked
a fish on the first cast after
switching colors. Most of the
time, I use a 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig.
My favorite colors are blue/
black and pink/green. My
twitching rod is a stout 7’6
rod with fast action. It has
an extremely sensitive tip so
I can feel those subtle bites,
and the backbone to back up
my hook sets. I pair it up with
a size 3000 spinning reel.
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