It is early July and the pinks are already showing themselves off the beaches. Pinks are well known to
be receptive to taking a fly and a Pink Humpy Hooker or a Searunner Special are
top producers. Echo Cove (from the boat launch all the way out to the sand
spit) and the Shrine of St. Terese get some of the earliest pinks and they are
very fun on a fly rod when they are still ocean- bright. Work around the low end of the tide as the pinks tend to get spread out on the high. Last season there was
very good pink fishing in front of Sheep Creek by late July. Hopefully it will
happen again. Use a floating line, nine foot 10 pound salmon leader, and keep a
steady strip retrieve going. Pinks often turn away if the fly stops or is traveling
too slowly.
Cowee Creek has a large pink run and there are already fish in the creek.
Try fishing downsteam with a Pink Starlite Leech or a Purple Leadeye Egg
Sucking Leech on a slow swing with a steady retrieve at the end of the drift.
Work the slowest deepest water you can find where migrating fish like to hang
out. This is a great time to learn the good holding water on Cowee Creek so you
are ready when the silvers come in in September.
July is the month when chum salmon flood into our local creeks.
As the chums move in the Dolly Varden won't be far behind. Large
schools of chums can already be found at the mouth of Peterson Creek in
Amalga
Harbor and in front of DIPAC. Chums circling in
saltwater are famous for being tight-lipped zombies but a Fuschia Hareball
Leech , Pink Kriller , or a Green Death on a slow retrieve or dead drifted under an indicator can
entice a grab. If you can find chums holding in current they are much more
likely to take a fly.
The Dolly Varden are in the midst of their annual relocation from saltwater
to freshwater. The Dollies usually show up in the creeks before the chums and
now is the time to look for them. Cowee Creek and Montana
Creek are two of the best bets.These streams host
big chum runs and significant numbers of Dolly Varden. Try Pink Clouser
Minnows, Battle Creek Specials , or Pink Humpy Hookers for the Dollies before
the salmon are in. The Dollies will switch over to eating eggs as the chum
settle in and begin to spawn. This usually starts around the third week of
July.
