My 14 year old son & I had always heard about the crazy combat fishing at the Hoodsport hatchery but had never been able to try it. We stopped by Monday evening at sundown to watch and learn a little on the way to winterizing our vacation place. Finch Creek channel was absolutely jammed with chum salmon, most showing those weird canine teeth and all of them trying to get through the gate to the stream. We saw a few flashes of chrome, but not many. Most were black with heavy stripes of red. The chums were so thick it looked like a writhing mass of dog-faced snakes. Out further, fish were jumping everywhere. A small contingent (for Hoodsport) of about 30 fishermen were lined up on either side of the creek tossing green yarn. Saw a lot of hookups just a few feet in front of these hog lines. We saw a lot of bent poles and wondered if our cheap sticks would snap if we tried it.

An Indian net crew had just finished dragging their net through the fishing area and was harvesting the eggs on the south bank. Some were throwing the carcasses back into the water right there. Others would go out a few hundred yards and throw the carcasses overboard. But there were so many fish that the netting didn’t seem to slow down the fishing. Most hookups seemed to be snags, but a few were legal lip hooks. We helped undo a couple of back cast snags from the fence on the hatchery catwalk that overlooks the creek. Decided it was time to move when the third or fourth hook and weight came flying past our head.

With the tide partially out, the creek was low enough to walk across to the sandbar on the south side. (Watch out for the private property). A couple of fly fishermen waded across and complained about the chums slapping their legs and biting their waders. It was getting dark and cold and the rain was starting, so we retired to the cabin for BBQ steak and Monday Night football while I tied up a few green yarn rigs, some with green corkies.

We played hooky from the work and went to the Canal at 7:00 AM, a few minutes before high tide. We first tried the point just north of the hatchery, afraid our fledging skills would get us into trouble in the hatchery crowd. Tossed pink and green buzz bombs with no bites. The fly fisherman next to us caught a nice buck using green yarn. Evan said we should at least take a look at the hatchery before going back to work.

At high tide there are not many legal places to stand around the hatchery zone. Fishermen appeared to be two deep across the face of the hatchery with a few float tubes and boats out beyond the buoys. The fish seemed to be more plentiful than before, but so were the humans. Evan pointed a possible space on the north end of the hatchery wall so we elbowed our way out there. Found out you either had to stand waist deep in the water or balance on rocks underneath the catwalk. I stood, he balanced, and we started fishing. But I had to shuffle along the bottom to clear my footing of all the dead salmon.

Found a great, friendly group of fishermen around us. Nobody got mad at the snags and tangles. (Might have been different if the fish were a little more fresh and edible.) Of course, most were too busy pulling in fish. Again, about half the hook ups were snags on the dorsal fin, but I didn’t see anyone keep a snagged fish. At first we only caught dead fish with slit stomachs where the eggs came out. Evan caught three dead ones and all of them were legally hooked in those crazy teeth. That green yarn has such strike inducing power that it seems to work even when they were dead.

After the tide dropped a little and I switched rigs to larger yarn with a sparkly green corky, we (or at least Evan) started hooking up. The poles took a licking but did the job. We lost a bunch and landed a few. Kept one semi-bright buck for the smoker. But it slipped from my hands as we were leaving and ended up in 18” of water with the rest of the carcasses. I searched for a couple of minutes and then gave up. Got mad at myself for wasting fish, (I don’t want to be like the others.)

We used pencil lead in tubing on our swivel, with 24-30” leader of 20# mono. Tied on a single hook with a corky and 3” of bright green yarn. You could snag all of the fish you wanted if you reeled fast and pulled the hook across their backs. But we let the weight sink and let the corky put the yarn in the strike zone. We would hook up about every third cast and have a ball trying to pull them in. Could have done better if we had elbowed our way into the main channel.

You have to watch out for flying hardware when fish throw the hook free. I took a couple of other guys hooks and weights in the chest and almost got slapped in the face by a jumping fish. (Wear your sunglasses or safety glasses - this is combat fishing)..

>From the poor condition and the quantity of the fish, I am guessing that the peak of the run may be here. Get out there and have some fun. Bring the kids, they get hooked on salmon fishing, Evan did. We’ll probably go next week. (Never did get that place winterized.)

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