Mooching was first documented in Elliot Bay. From what I have heard the Norwegian Herring fisherman were looking for another market for their catch. They made the herring available to fisherman, who primarily used wooden J plugs. The Japanese fisherman flocked to the live bait, and fished it with great results. The term Mooching was coined when all the fishless anglers would "mooch" the bait from the happy, fish heavy anglers.

That said, if you fish with herring and it is not on a downrigger, you are a moocher and you are mooching.

Motor mooching, drift mooching, we used to do it all before downriggers.

That said, I like to troll with my downriggers now. I cover alot more water and put my lures in front of a lot more fish.

Matt