People from all over the world come to salmon fish with us at Rainbow Bend Lodges on Alaska’s Naknek River. While we fish for king salmon, sockeye salmon, pink salmon and chum salmon, coho salmon are growing more and more popular for anglers wanting to battle a lot of hard fighting fish in Alaska’s most stunning and remote rivers.
While coho salmon can be fished many ways with us at Rainbow Bend Lodges, one of the most rewarding, and exciting ways to catch a salmon is using surface poppers on a fly rod. Seeing multiple salmon roll on the surface to take down a popper is something every angler should experience…and once hooked up, hold on!
In this part of remote Southwest Alaska, we at Rainbow Bend Lodges have access to a lot of rivers and streams where popper fishing for silver salmon is as good as it gets. Surface poppers can work any time, but if the morning is cloudy, that’s perfect for keeping coho stacked in slack water settings. This is the ideal water to fish early in the morning, before the sun comes up and forces salmon to move.
This is also the perfect situation for dead-drifting a surface popper. Early in the morning, aggressive ripping and chugging can spook coho that are holding in calm waters, sending them deep rather than enticing them to the surface. Once spooked, it’s hard getting silver salmon to cooperate, especially in crystal clear water. Think stealth, cover water close to shore, don’t rush, and you’ll find success on silvers holding close to shore and in slack water early in the day.
A subtle approach is often needed for dead-drifting poppers on the surface. Avoid false casts, especially ones that slap the water. Also, provide enough slack in your line so your presentation can naturally move with the current.
During the middle of the day, and when pressured, coho often move to and hold in fast moving currents in shallow streams, or deep holes in big rivers. In shallow, fast flowing, choppy water in small to mid-sized streams and braided rivers, poppers can elicit strikes by way of swinging and stripping them.
When stripping a popper through fast water, properly positioning the setup is key. Cast too far downstream and you miss the prime water; cast too high above the sweet spot and you cross it too soon. Once you’ve identified where coho will likely hold, study the water flow and surface action and observe how they will impact your line and popper as they move downstream and are stripped in. Be ready to make adjustments accordingly, like quickly feeding out some line, mending it, or aggressively stripping line in to get the presentation where you want it.
When stripping poppers through fast water, the outside edge of the main current is often the target zone. If the strike doesn’t come there, the moment the popper enters the main current, hold the line, bring the rod tip to the inside and swing the popper to the insides edge of the main current. As the popper travels into and through the main current, holding the line will create a constant wake that often entices coho salmon to attack.
If a hit doesn’t come on the swing through the main current or the inside edge, keep the line moving toward the inside. As the popper loses momentum due to decreased current flow, start stripping the popper in. Even if the coho aren’t holding on the inside seam, the popping action will often draw them out of the main current. It’s not uncommon to have a coho follow the popper a long ways, attacking it at your feet.
With poppers in-hand you’re set to experience some of the most exciting salmon fishing Alaska has to offer. And at Rainbow Bend Lodges, on the banks of Alaska’s beautiful Naknek River, we’re ready to help make your salmon fishing dreams come true.