Starcraft,

Salmon are notorious for striking short.. I place the hooks that far back because of short strikes and the energy transferred off the flasher really swings the hootchy around increasing my chance of hooking a fish if he's close enough. The other day when Easy and I went out, I missed 1 fish (maybe two) with this rig. out of a bunch!

As far as trolling speed for Blackmouth, I measure it with the angle of my wires. Regardless of how fast the tide is running, I fish with the tide and keep the wires at approx 45 degrees or greater. If this means 4 mph, I troll that fast. I used nothng but 15# balls to keep in contact with the bottom. The trick is to drop the ball at a moderate rate to the bottom and went a few seconds for the blow back to take over the wire. The slowly lower the ball back down until you hit again. Note the depth on the finder and stay plus or minus a foot or two either side of noted depth. This way you'll always stay in the "zone." It is a lot of work when working areas with a lot of contour(s), but the rewards are well worth the effort.

Downriggin'