Dry Line King Salmon?....why not!

(Chris Beck from Chicago with his first dry line king salmon- Sage One switch, Rio Outbound line...no lead!)

( Greg Bryan from the Roaring River Club in Colorado with his first King Salmon !)

 

With the extremely low and clear water on the Muskegon and other Great Lakes tributaries, it is clearly possible to use greased line AHE Woods/Bill McMillan style dry line methods.Water flows at 850 cfs allows you to use a floating long belly spey line, switch rods and long fluorocarbon leaders to present a small spey/leech/minnow etc. at a dead drift and swing method.
Besides, chucking lead gets old after awhile and hooking/lining massive numbers of Kings can get old and boring. So ....to add high degree of challenge, try this technique. You might only get one or two fish a day...BUT! THE THRILL...! of watching an aggressive male make chase after chase is very similar to Atlantic salmon. You can use fish skull heads/comet/boss eyes and a heavy spey hook to get your imitations down traditionally.

 Target the gravel beds and the males lurking at the tail out. .....just like Atlantics. There will be always one "player king" usually a smaller submissive male ...or the Alpha buck, which will chase /bump/nose your pattern if you are lucky!....Hours can go by if you are patient enough, but so much fun when you finally get a commitment!
 If your river like the Muskegon has excellent trout populations , try a rainbow or brown streamer/spey/leech/intruder style fly to "piss' these boys off. It is almost impossible to line or snag fish with this method....have fun!

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Posted in: chinook salmon , dry line salmon , gray drake lodge , great lakes king salmon , Sage One switch , spey fishing , swinging flies , trout and eagle