"Sculpin Fish-O-Rama"

November 19, 2005 By: Marshall Cutchin

Chester Allen has a magic touch when it comes to hooking sculpins — not necessarily a good thing when you’re fishing for chum salmon on Big Mission Creek. “I rigged up my rod, tied on a deadly chum Comet fly — a chartreuse Comet fly tied with marabou, sparkle chenille and weighted eyes — and cast out toward the roiling fish. When I’m fishing for chum in an estuary, I like to cast toward the school and let the fly slowly sink right in front of their tooth-studded snouts. Then, if no fish bites the fly on the drop, I’ll slowly strip it in.” In Washington state’s The Olympian.