Ok, this summer I'll be fishing again, like every summer....

What are the good lures/baits this year? anything new.

And I mean for trolling, I usually just cast Buzz Bombs, if Im not trolling, but I got to places I wana try trolling this summer...

Thanks
And I forget the area Im in, either 10 or 11. the one SOUTH of the Ferry Dock.

thanks,

Sekiu.

Sounds like you are asking about fishing for salmon. My go-to tackle for salmon is a green Hot Spot dodger with a white/glow squid about 30 inches (depending on your trolling speed, short for slow long for fast) behind the dodger.

Check out this site, they have a wealth of information on fishing in the Sound.

Good luck. http://www.salmonuniversity.com/

Well Ben unless your fishen off a pier a buzz bomb sure isn't the lure of choice for salmon except under special conditions. It also sounds like you already troll? Try a spoon(coyote/coho killer or herring). The vagueness of your query begs the question of what your really wanting in an answer?

really goose? I caught a bunch of salmon on buss bomb last year to bad only one was a keeper

but yeah where I fish the salmon dont mind the buzz..

Yeah Im loking for salmon while trolling. and basically what set up to be using,.

it will prolly be a 14 ft. row boat with a min koa out back.

Thanks,

Buzz bombs sure do work fine when the salmon are concentrated...or your tossen from a pier/dock or shore. Trolling is more of a searching method. With your setup you'd do best with a small cutplug herring our a coho killer spoon...either following a light weight just below the surface. Good luck.

Hey BenD,

The "hot" lures this year we don't know yet... but the consensus was that the hot new color last year was the "Cop Car" pattern.

Try to match your lures to the bait that is present, ie. if there's big bait, use big lures, and vica versa. Generally, early in the summer, the bait will be small, and it will get bigger as the summer goes on (but this isn't always true)

So try starting with Coho Killer spoons and needlefish hootchies (squids), they work well when the fish ore feeding on candlefish and smaller bait. As the bait gets bigger, switch to #3 Kingfishers, Sonic Edge spoons, and #35 Golden Bait hootchies. As the bait gets even bigger, you can try #4 Kingfishers, or maybe a Silver Horde 5" plug.

Other general rules to remember are that spoons have an action of their own, so you can tie them on (relatively) long 25lb. mono leaders. Hootchies, however, have no action of their own, so they need action imparted on them from the flasher. Tie your hootchies on (relatively) short 50lb mono leader, so the stiffer, shorter line will impart action on the lure.

Downriggers will make you the most affective fisherman out there. You cover lots of water and can dial in precise depths. If you don't have downriggers, you can use divers or regular old lead weights. I haven't had luck using divers for Chinook, I'm just not convinced they dive deep enough. If you're going for coho, the diver work great, but so do regular old lead weights. Remember, the fish will be closer to the surface early in the morning, and go deeper as the sun comes up. Work the top 30-40 feet of the water until the sun comes up, then start going deeper, maybe 10ft deeper every half hour, it depends on the light and the bait present. Most coho will be caught from 50ft to the surface, while chinook could be anywhere down to 120ft or deeper, depending upon conditions.

As far as colors go, well, Tom Nelson always says, "Use any color as long as it is green." Green & glow stripe, green/glow spatterback, and any other green/glow combination are never a bad choice. Other popular colors are Army Truck pattern, Cop Car pattern, and, most recently, the silver/watermelon/black pattern.

As far as distance behind the flasher, there are some general rules of thumb, you can check them out on the Salmon University site here.

Above all, "Fish where the fish are" If you use the tackle listed above, you WILL catch fish... have all your tackle tied up and ready when you hit the water, and concentrate on fishing where the fish should be, you'll get them.

I hope this helps.

-N.

That was one of the most helpful posts I have ever read, thanks so much, and the rest of you guys too.

I have a spot to try this summer, and II dont have a DR, on the little row boat so I'll prolly be using a lead weight...

but lead never seems to work for me, I can never get it down... I was fishing SOuthwort last summer, with an 8 oz. and my set up was on the suface like 200 feet. behind me, what do I do about that?

Thanks for the other infor you've been a big help.

SN knows what he is talking about.

hey ben if your running a minnkota you probely wont be using a downrigger and cant run a deep six cuz wont be going fast enough against the current so hootchies flashers spoons ect are out unless jigging them. be a jigger/moocher at southworth. or get a 1 oz sliding weight and a small cut plug or 4-5 inch herring strip and troll 10-20 ft of water. in the morning/evening and cloudy days there are just as many fish up shallow, actually caught about 60 or 70 silvers up shallow last fall in central sound around here, mainly fly fishin thou and caught a couple kings and bright chums in 15 ft of water surface trolling the herring but all in all with your set up fish the shallow water, besides averybody and there grandma will be fishin deeper with downriggers and pulling the latest fad in hardware and the people who fish alot and are bored with downriggers will be fishin the shoreline and catchin more fish. if your still around I'll show you whats up in july with fishing along the shoreline. july your best bet would be in front of the hammerhead or railroad tracks with herring and a lot of line out. or the point no point/eglon area. Ben

Hammer head or rail road tracks? Im not familiar.. Im on the west side of Vashon (but on the main land)

you said you fly fish through there? you got like a 20 something silver boat? fly fish up around Fragaria Sometimes?

There is one boat that fly fish's that I have seen, mabye you...

Well thanks rock fish.
Ben

Hey BenD,

If you're having trouble keeping a flasher setup down with an 8oz sinker, check a couple of things...

First off, make sure you've got about 3-5ft of line between your weight and the flasher... towards the 3ft for small HotSpot flashers, and towards 5ft for big Hot Spot flashers.

The small HotSpots work nearly as well as the big ones and since they have less drag in the water, they are easier to troll and more fun to play a fish on.

If you're not fishing hootchies, (because, remember, hootchies need a flasher to impart action on them) and there's lots of fish around, like during the coho season, then you can just run a spoon or plug alone with no flasher. Leave about 5ft of leader between your weight and your spoon or plug of choice.

Hope this helps.

-N.

ok, If i wanted to troll a spoon only, i would prolly need a flasher or somethign right?

and where can you get that herring oil

Thanks again.

I caught alot of coho last summer using about 3 ounces of lead, a fish flash and a coyote spoon. This will work well in the morning and evening since fish are in the upper 30 feet of water. Also try to find the bait and follow them. Last season i caught my limit in 20 minutes because i was right in the middle of the bait the whole time. Good luck.

what is a fish flash?

thanks

You can get herring oil (or any other scent) any where fishing tackle is sold.

BenD,

The Fish Flash is a triangular-shaped flasher that has much less drag in the water than other flashers, due to the way it spins. It's made by Big Al's Tackle, 253-884-1632.

As far as scents, I prefer Smelly Jelly to any oils. Smelly Jelly has a Vaseline-type consistency, and stays on your lures better. Try the herring (blue) and anchovie (yellowish-white).

-N.

can you get a fish flash other places than big al's?

And i truely have never seen herring oil... I've been to lots of the fishing shops around here, never been to sportco's that everyone talks about, geuss Im missing out.

I'll look for the herring smelly jelly. never seen herring, I just always see the pink nasty stuff.

thanks,

hey stormin how do you keep it from twisting your line to heck, do you attach it directly to your mooching weight or run it off a downrigger. I did and it was a serouis problem, but attached to a mooching weight as said on package would be a killer way to fish it.

they sell those scents just about everywhere. what are you new?

I agree with allot of what was said here but I don't think small hotspots work near as well as the big ones. I fish Southworth allot also and I think motor mooching a fresh herring is better than any troller does. The key is you won't catch as many fish but they will be bigger. Just use a 6oz and a really long leader and go ultra slow side to side with the current. Work it too justy don't let it sit in the rod holder you need to be constantly working that bait up and down.

As far as getting down goes Ben I have seen some releases which let you troll with up to a pound of lead but when a fish stricks it pulls back against the spring and releases the lead.

BenD, the Fish Flash flashers are available in lots of different tackle stores, Big Al's is the manufacturer of the Fish Flash, you can call Big Al's and find out the store closest to you that stocks them.

ROCKFISH, always use a good (ie. Sampo) ball bearing swivel, this will solve most, if not all, of your line twist problems. You can run the Fish Flash off a downrigger, or use a mootching weight, it all depends on what you're trying to do with it and how deep you're trying to fish.

Say you were trying to fish 90ft deep with no downrigger, just use as much weight as you need to get down to the depth you want (maybe 8oz?). With the Fish Flash, unlike Hot Spot-style flashers, because of the way the Fish Flash rotates (on its own axis), you can attach the weight directly to the Fish Flash and it won't impart the action of the flasher.

On the other hand, a Hot Spot-style flasher usually needs at least 6ft or more of line in front of the flasher, to let it rotate correctly... for a given boat speed, the more line in front of the flasher, the slower it rotates, and the shorter the line in front of the flasher, the faster it rotates. Generally, fast rotating flashers are better for coho, and slow rotating flashers are better for chinook.

Now for something completely different... in really shallow fisheries like Chambers creek, John Keizer uses a sliding dropper in front of a Fish Flash. John uses a ball bearing swivel at the end of his line with a bead above it to act like a bumper then above that is a bead chain swivel that has the about 12in of 20lb mono to a snap swivel attached to the weight. This allows a quick weight switch. The ball bearing swivel attaches to the Fish Flash then about 15in of 20b leader with hooks sized to the bait. This way you can keep the gear right on the bottom, where you want it.

-N.