TOPIC:

Just wondering if anyone ties their own peanut flies for spring coho? I've read up on it some and have dabbled in fly tying before. Any recommendations on hook sizes and colors would be appreciated. Thinking I'd use a #4 VMC treble hook or similar. I know greens/blues are pretty popular. Also, any suggestions on storage with leaders attached? Thanks for any info.

Bird dogs,
greens , blues, with black, maybe a little Chrome with red mixed in if you can tie your own. a #4 treble will work fine.
For storage I use a few cut pieces of a kids pool noodle works great. Just wrap around and stick into the foam. I tie my own but make the body a little different, I don't tie off the hook. I make mine similar to the style of the old bead fly and shorten the fly to the size I want. The fly itself rides up and down on the leader line. With the fly not directly attached to the treble hook they don't get tore up from the fish and last a lot longer,. but both ways will work and will produce fish.

Thanks lickety. I've used cut up pool noodles for other tackle storage not sure why I didn't think of it for fly rigs. Think I understand the setup you run. Do you still tie the flies yourself? Not sure how to tie a fly that would slide on the leader.

Yes, still tie.
we used to be a registered business along time ago. When cars had square wheels, and synthetic hair was used because mylar was just starting to come out. Finished the fly off with peacock tail feathers that has nice iridescent look to it. When we had mom-pop type sporting good stores many carried them. So I still do some work and do larger king flys, and tie teasers for meat rigs. I use a nickle plated eagle claw single hook for most of my work. Its one of those things that we all have different thoughts on. I just like the idea of that single hook getting a deeper bite in the mouth, and with cohos wanting to twist so much, they don't seem to twist away on a bigger single hook. Again, its kinda what works for you thing. Others are sold on a treble, so if your happy with a treble and its producing for you why change. The only reason I went with nickle plated was no rust issue from moist storage.

I tie about 96% of the flies I use. I don't really like the p-nut flies tied on a treble hook. i know there have been a bazillion cohos caught on them but it always seems the hook is too big.
Birddog: If you want a fly that slides on the leader all you need to do is tie the fly on a hollow tube AKA, small soda straw. I use the little skinny straws that come in mixed drinks. I was in a pinch once and used the plastic insulation off some #12 electrical wire. You'll need to put a crooked wire in the fly-tie vise then slide the hollow tube on the wire and make the fly.
I make most of my coho flies by tying the fly on a barrel swivel. The leader ties to one end, a split ring and treble hook on the other. The barrel adds bulk by fluffing the mylar out. I've caught cohos on christmas tree tinsel, dog hair (Golden Retriever), wild turkey feathers and nylon string. Let your imagination run wild.
By FAR, actually I should say F A R my best color is blue/green/gold. About equal parts of each. On the other hand, if I'm running 9 rods with dodger and flies for early season coho, I may have 7 or 8 blue/green/gold flies in the water. Might have something to do with F A R , ya think?

Thanks BNature. I experimented with tying a few directly on the treble like the peanut flies I'm familiar with. I really like the idea of tying them on a straw or hollow tube of some sort. I'm going to try that out and see how it goes.

I agree with Bnature. The tubes are the way to go. I use a heavier tube material and cut with a pair of snips, and use fly head cement to secure the tinsel to tube after wrapping with thread. It seems the flys last much longer. I have also experimented with a tying a larger fly(tinsel) even for spring coho and have outfished the "typical" peanut size flys the majority of the time(about 1.5" long).

Here are some of the flys I tied last season. They can be cut down to any size I need.