The King’s Candy Bait Fish Pattern
Chinook salmon, also known as King Salmon, are 100% piscivores; that means they only forage on bait fish. The most common bait fish that they feed on is the Pacific Herring. It is therefore rather surprising that fly patterns for Chinook Salmon in general do not imitate a baitfish. Common patterns that are used are Intruders, Marabou flies and Leeches, non of these are particularly good bait fish imitations. When I started fly fishing for Chinook Salmon I did a fair bit of experimentation with bait fish patterns that I used for saltwater fly fishing; Clouser Deep Minnows and Lefty’s Deceivers. I found these patterns more effective than the standard “super-sized” steelhead patterns. Over the years I continued to improve my bait fish patterns for Chinook. I mostly found that fresh fish prefer typical colours that are popular in saltwater anywhere in the world: natural bait fish colours and chartreuse. When the fish are starting to stage they are not as aggressive anymore and at that point I found that pink flies would trigger the fish better than the natural/chartreuse variations. In low light conditions and pools that receive a significant amount of angling pressure black can be very effective. These four colour variations cover 99% of my Chinook fly fishing needs.
My early bait fish patterns utilized many of the materials that were popular in those days; buck tail and feathers. Those materials had two main disadvantages: they were bulky and hard to cast and secondly they were not very durable. I tried to switch to synthetic fibres but found them lacking in under water action, relatively wind resistant and most important they tended to tangle up and mangle badly after a catch. I found a solution for this when I was fishing mullet patterns for tarpon in Nicaragua. The patterns needed to be very big, yet I needed to be able to cast them on a single hand rod for long distances. I started to use Snow Runner to replace buck tail and feathers, or synthetic fibres. I started with hollow tie style flies which worked reasonably well. The next step was to use the Snow Runner in a brush. This further reduced bulk, yet retained the volume of the pattern in the water. An added advantage of the Snow Runner was that it held up incredibly well to the assault of toothy fish.
For the Chinook Salmon patterns a liberal amount of flash was added.
Another aspect to consider were the eyes; the standard stick-on eyes did not hold up. I experimented with dumbbell eyes which were a big improvement over the stick-on eyes. However tarpon can clamp down on dumbbell eyes very hard and they tended to break. For more soft mouthed fish the dumbbell eyes were a great solution. I settled on the use of tab eyes that are tied in and glued on. When correctly done this provides a very durable way to create eyes on a bait fish pattern.
At this point the hook was usually the part that wore out first. The logical step was to use a tube. I weighted the tube slightly, with a keel weight, to balance the pattern properly in the water. The end result was a nearly indestructible bait fish pattern on a tube. The action of these flies under water has to be seen to believed; they look alive!
Mass production of these flies is rather costly because the Snow Runner brushes are very laborious to produce. Hence the rather steep price. On the good side, one of these patterns should last you a long time, unless you have friends with sticky fingers going through your fly wallet!
I fish the “King’s Candy” patterns in a standard way where the pattern is swung across the pool. The weight of the pattern is such that it will more or less track even with your sink-tip in most water conditions. The pattern has been “tested” over the last four years, both as a saltwater pattern and a Chinook Salmon pattern, here in BC as well as in Chile. The results have been very good. Give them a try and feed the Chinook what they like to eat! You will like it too….
