8 foot,

If you don't want to mess with finding fresh bait or using bait, just use Smelly Jelly, I find the herring (blue) and the anchovie (white) work really well. If you're sold on the bait thing, there sometimes is a guy on the road on the way to Don Armini (he parks across from 7-11) that sells fresh bait, other than that, you'd have to go to Ballard Bait, call them and check their hours, though, it seems to change every year, the best you might be able to do is the night before.

Whatever you're fishing with, try to find out what kind of bait is out there. If you catch & kill a fish, cut it open and see what it was eating, then match your lures to that size... if it was eating candlefish, then use a coho killer, a needlefish hootchie, a candlefish grand slam bucktail, or a slimmed-down natural bait. If it was eating 5" herring, run big coyote spoons, large hootchies, herring pattern grand slams, or a plug. Some would argue that big lures catch big fish, but my personal biggest, 36lbs, was caught on a mini hootchie, about 2" long... that's what kind of bait was in the area... so go figure.

I agree with the other guys, summer fish will be way higher in the water column than black mouth. Try fishing shallow (15, 25, 35ft) before light, then go down about 5-10 feet every 30 minutes. If I were to pick one depth for all day long, it would probably be 45ft. Use green or red large hotspots, you need a flasher if you're using hootchies, use heavy leader (40-60lb) on the hootchies, it's stiffer, so the flasher imparts action to the hootchie, you can do the same for bucktails if you want. On the spoons and bait, you can run them alone, no flasher, and you can go lighter, like 25lb, because they have action of their own.

As for colors, to stay safe, use green... anything green. (OK, maybe a little blue, too) The green/glow Silver Horde lures work really well, as does the "army truck" pattern. In the summer, you can also try straight glow or straight white hootchies. I always give my glow stuff a little charge with a light before I put it in the water, for that little "extra" flash, confidence, or whatever. Fish early... lots of times, the "bite" might be over by 5:30am.

I think bait works well for guys that really know how to cut it, tune it, and fish it, but if you don't know or don't have tons of time to learn, either use a herring helmet, or try some of the artificials, but use Smelly Jelly!! I you're using bait, keep at least one bait rigged, tuned and ready to go, so if you foul up one of the ones in the water, you can just clip on a new one and keep fishing... you don't want to waste any time if the bite is on.

Fish as many rods as is legal and feasable. Stagger their depths 10 or 15ft, for example, if you're running three, run them 25, 35, 45ft, run the deep one in the center and closer in to the boat if you can, run the outer ones shallower in depth and further back from the boat. Fish always turn up and to the side when they miss a lure, (watch some underwater footage) many times a fish will miss the center one, and come face to face with one of the outer ones... you'll know when they hit this way because they slam it and your rod will bend over double.

Don't troll just one speed all day, or if you do, at least zig-zag a bit so your lures are speeding up and slowing down. Lots of times this will induce a strike from a fish that was following your gear. If you catch a fish while in a turn, notice which side it was on... was it on the inside or the outside of the turn? If it was on the inside, you might need to slow down a little bit, if on the outside, vica-versa.

More importantly, only fish where fish are likely to be. Try Todd's, the buoy, Duwamish head. (or Heine bank, Neah Bay, Buoy 10, ha...ha...ha!!) Look for birds working bait, and follow them. If you see fish being caught by others where you are, don't go somewhere else... stick it out, there are more fish around.

And most importantly, "Fish with confidence" if you think you're going to catch fish, you will, because you'll be diligent about your gear and on your toes when that fish hits... (coffee helps, too) if you're not confident, lots of times you'll be lackadaisical (sp?) about checking your gear, you'll be dragging around kelp or a shaker and not getting any hits, or worse, you'll miss a hit, and then you just lost your chance.

Good luck, let us know if any of this works for you.

-N.

[ 08-02-2001: Message edited by: StorminN ]