Fly Fishing for Coho Salmon in Alaska

Fly fishing for coho salmon in Alaska is my favorite salmon pursuit. This is because, in my humble opinion, they are the most beautiful of all the salmon species and they are the most acrobatic as well. In a word, they’re “Fun” to catch. When you hook into a coho salmon, be prepared for an entertaining battle to ensue.

Reports of coho salmon start to slowly filter in around mid-July on the Kenai Peninsula rivers with the peak of the run a few weeks later in mid to late August.

Coho salmon are much like the rainbow and steelhead trout in that they seem to favor very brightly colored flies. Many of the flies used for coho salmon have already been mentioned in the above sections. Important flies for fly fishing for coho salmon here are the egg flies such as the Babine Special and the Two-Egg Sperm Fly. Some of the more popular coho flies nowadays are the Flash Fly in either purple or silver tied in sizes 2 - 4 and a variation of that fly called the Marabou Flash which is the Flash Fly with brightly colored marabou tied in. This is tied in orange, red and less commonly in pink but all in sizes 2 - 4. Also popular are the shrimp imitations like the Polar Shrimp and the Sparkle Shrimp. The Sparkle Shrimp can be tied in both pink and chartreuse and both can be tied in sizes 4 – 6. Rounding out the selection would be the Everglow flies, the Comets and Bosses which were all mentioned in the previous section. These can all be used in the same colors and sizes for coho salmon and all can be quite effective. Don’t be afraid to strip the fly in at the end of a dead drift. This will sometimes elicit a strike as the coho salmon seem to like the movement.

If you are finding the fly fishing for coho salmon to be slow, try either a purple Woolly Bugger or an Egg-Sucking Leech with some action. There are times when it would appear that it isn’t the offering that the fish are interested in, but the movement. In times like these, try either of these flies and begin with a slow and steady retrieve of maybe 6 inches. If that doesn’t work, vary the speed and the length of the retrieve until a strike results. Remember what the sequence was and imitate it again and you’re likely to duplicate your efforts.

If you wish to try your hand at dry fly fishing for coho salmon in Alaska, go for it. I have never personally taken the time to do this but in doing some quick research, the flies to use would seem to be the Humpies and Wulffs in sizes 6 – 10. Being that the coho salmon seem to like the same selection of flies as the steelhead, you could definitely try any of the steelhead dry flies as well. There is no doubt in my mind that fishing with subsurface flies will produce many more salmon but there is just a certain feeling that the fly fisherman gets when he or she can get a fish to rise to that surface offering. Good luck and let me know how you do if you try this.

Unlike the sockeye salmon, the coho salmon will move much more freely in the water to take a fly so your presentations do not have to be as perfect here. One piece of advice that runs throughout Alaska is that when fishing for silvers, the earlier the better. Hitting the streams first thing in the morning will give you the best chance at catching them. That is not to say that you cannot catch them in the afternoon (because you definitely can and will), but all things considered, you will catch more in the morning, generally speaking.

When fly fishing for coho salmon, a good starting point would be to use 20 lb backing, either a sink-tip or floating fly line (depending on your preference and the river conditions), and 8 – 12 lb test leaders and tippets. Depending on the location you are fishing you can expect to catch coho salmon in the 8 to12 lb. range but catching one over 15 lbs is not unheard of. The Alaska record is currently 26 lbs.

I’ve spent more time fishing for silvers than any other Alaska salmon. As I said before, this is simply because of their fighting ability and their beauty.