Jordan Sly, our operation’s manager at Alaska West and Andros South, is one fishy dude. Check out how he rigs up when fishing for Cohos!
Jordan Sly’s Silver Rig
It is that time of the year again, the Silver (Coho) Salmon have started to dump into the Kanektok River in great numbers. This time of the year at Alaska West the river is packed full of healthy, bright, aggressive Silvers that are hungry for a fly. We not only catch them in great numbers subsurface, but it is common to find a couple aggressive ones that are ready to take a well skated or popped fly on the surface. They are one of my favorite fish to target this time of the year because they are a beautiful fish that pull and jump like crazy.
The Summary
- Sage Xi3 990-4
- Hatch Large Arbor 9 Plus Finatic
- RIO 9WT Freshwater OutBound Short
The Detail
- 250 yards of orange 30 pound Dacron tied to the spool with an arbor knot. Bimini twist in the fly line end of the backing with a drop of Loon’s UV Knot Sense to create a loop.
- Fly line attached to the backing with a loop-to-loop connection.
- Leader is a 4-foot section of Maxima Ultragreen in 30 lbs, and 2-foot sections of 25 lbs, 20 lbs, creating a leader that is 8 feet in length. The leader is connected to the factory loop with a perfection loop, and each additional section of Ultragreen is connected to the next with a 7 turn blood knot.
- My fly of choice is a unnamed pink and fuchsia fly that I tie with dumbbell eyes on a size 2 jig hook.
The Commentary
“Yes, I know a 9 weight might be a little bigger than most prefer, and I have a 8 weight (the standard recommended stick), but I often find the 8 weight a little lacking after I have caught a couple nice sized Silvers and my arms are starting to get a little tired. A 9 weight gives me that little bit of extra fighting power when I am tired, and it also gives me that little extra power when throwing those extra large dumbbell eyes.”
“I just picked up the RIO OutBound Short this season, and I really like it. Paired with the Xi3, it is a cannon that needs very few false casts, which saves my arm from getting tired when throwing those heavy flies. I have only used it the last couple of months, but so far, it has been great. The short head is great when fishing from a boat because I can strip all the way to the boat, getting the most out of every cast, and it turns over flies really well.”
“I will often adjust my leader length around. I do not think it is terribly important because Silvers are not that leader shy, but I think it is more important to focus on a leader that will turn a fly over well and get deep enough to reach the fish.”
“I have not named my go to fly, I just call it my Silver Fly. It is pretty easy to tie, but a pain to cast. I use a size 2 jig hook, normally Owner, pink thread, a pink rabbit strip tail, pink diamond braid body with pink UV polar chenille palmered over the top. I then finish it off with 2 to 3 wraps of pink marabou, a fuchsia schlappen collar and extra large dumbbell eyes.”
More Expert Salmon Rigs
Leave a Reply