Salt Water Fly Fishing

Skip Fly Bucktailing

In forty years of saltwater fly fishing, the central coast is the best I have EVER experienced!

As the central coast has unlimited islands and reef that produce great feeding grounds for the Coho and Chinook Salmon.
Coastal Adventures, offers the best access you will ever find.”

Bucktailing

Bucktailing is a salmon fishing method initiated and perfected in the water of Georgia Strait. This method of salmon fishing appears to come from the Cowichan Bay area where bucktails were trolled from the rowboats in the area. With the introduction of outboard motors, bucktailing came into its own. Today, large full bucktails with trailer hooks are commonly called, ‘Cowichan Bucktails,’ in recognition of this area as the origin of this special sport.

Vivid in my memory is the first coho I hooked on a bucktail fly while bucktailing along Frisco Point kelp bed south of Campbell River. I can still see the high “V” wake of water boring down on my fly as the coho came in to strike. Hooked on the trailer fly, he cartwheeled and skywalked behind the boat. The pulsating rod in my hand, as meter after meter of line screamed from the single-action reel, firmly convinced me that this was one of the premier salmon fishing experiences on the west coast!

Thru the years, I have experimented with a wide variety of salmon fly patterns. Silver bodied fry are the primary feed for salmon and this is what you try to imitate to decoy these highly exciting fish. This experimentation while bucktailing has given me a solid base of fly patterns which I know will catch salmon. As the season advances and I am able to take up traditional anchoring & fly casting methods, I KNOW that these patterns will hook fish!

‘Skip Fly Bucktailing,’ has become an exciting adaptation of the traditional bucktailing method. I use this method to produce the surface strike of coho and, on occasion, large Chinook Salmon. In this method, I drive at a speed which has the trolled fly skimming just under the surface. Once the speed is established with the rod tip pointing at the fly, the angler repeatedly pulls his rod tip towards the front of the boat but horizontal to the water. effectively ‘skipping’ the fly out of the water. He then points his rod to the back of the boat which in turn lays the fly in the water in a crippled fashion. The traveling boat soon picks up the slack line and the process is repeated. Most strikes seem to come just as the angler is beginning the process of pulling the fly. Strikes are usually visual and dramatic! Beginners have to be cautioned to hold tight otherwise the rod can be pulled right out of their hands when a fish takes the fly!

All guests can enjoy the revised art of buck tailing. This is a highly productive, exciting way to catch salmon on light fly gear, without the sometimes difficult casting techniques. Buck tailing is also a way for the more experienced angler to “cover more ground” while searching for the perfect location.
Our custom-made Bridgeview Boat is ideal for fly fishing.