Eggs for mid-season Coho should be considered. In this article, I will explain why.
We are in the mid-season of Coho on our Pacific Northwest rivers. Like most, you have been fishing a variety of methods to put Silver Salmon in the boat; pulling plugs, backtrolling kwikfish, drift fishing Dick Nite Spoons, not to mention drift fishing cheaters Beau Mac Cheaters and yarn.
What do you do when these Coho start getting lock-jaw? Well, I start using eggs. I think this type of presentation will put those mid and late season Coho to the boat. Many of us collect and cure our eggs to fish steelhead and kings, but when the Coho get lock-jaw it is time to use something that will put them in the boat.
Fishing cured eggs are a staple in Northwest when river fishing. I prefer to use cured eggs, but if you are just hitting the river and you do not have any, you can certainly use EZ Eggs to target Coho.
There are tons of cures out there today. Books have been written on the topic of curing eggs. With that said, there are two types of eggs; wet and dry.
I prefer to use a the wet when fishing for Coho salmon. I keep the size of my cluster to about that of a quarter or smaller. I prefer the smaller presentation.
EZ Eggs are a great alternative to real eggs, especially if you have not been collecting eggs. It is a great idea to have at least a package in your boat or tackle box every time you go fish. You just never know when you are going to need to switch to eggs. Fishing EZ egg is simple, but there are some differences in setup you should be aware of.
First of all, do not use cheaters or corkies on your leader. Regardless of whether you have tied single or double hook setups, we often use cheaters or corkies to help give our eggs a little floatation and attraction. EZ Eggs have all the floatation you need. If you use a cheater on your setup, you will be fishing ineffectively.
Secondly, is leader length. You will need to adjust your leaders. It completely depends on the water depth, but I generally fish leaders around the 2-3 foot length when I fish EZ Egg. If you are fishing clear water conditions where visibility is high, you may want to use fluorocarbon leaders. I use Izorline fluorocarbon.
I like to use a small tuft of yarn with my EZ Egg setup. It gives a natural look and holds additional scent very well. EZ Eggs are scented, but I use additional scents to entice those fish into a bite. I generally use one of the Dick Nite Attractant (DNA) scents. They come in 4 different scents, which are blended scents. I like these blended scents, they make a difference!
Other than the aforementioned differences, I use the same drift fishing setup as I would use for real eggs. You just need to remember that EZ Eggs float very well and you need to keep your presentation in the zone. That may require adjustment to your leaders to figure out how they float and are the most effective.
So if you are short on eggs, grab a few bags of EZ Eggs and hit the river!
Good luck!
