First off, the camera man needs to be fired!

Here are the only three colors I use in 5 sizes:

Hootchy Combos

Mini Squid on Double 5/0 Hooks

Mini Squid and 4/0 Siwash w/Cheater- C&R Area 13


4 3/4" Hootchy with glo skirt

B-2 Mini Squid with double 5/0\'s

I use 50# or 60# flouro leader- it is stiffer than standard leader- more expensive too, but well worth it.

As a added bonus... here is the:

Coho Killer Bend Note: a barrel swivel has been added to prevent fish from bending the tail.

... here is my not so secret anymore bend to the Sonic Edge spoon Side and Front.
The side bend is approx 20 degrees and the side bend is 15 degrees or so..

I use 20# Maxima for leader on spoons.

I'll figure this camera bizz out shortly....

Well, I hope this helps you and others out!

Downriggin'

Great post. thats the type of info sharing i like to see on the boards. I have used the min-squid for land lock kings with great result's but noticed that you work hard to put the hooks back towards the tail of the squid. for land locks I only used one bead before the hook and the hook just stuck out thru the skirt. do the black mouth strike short or are you fishing so deep they can't see the hooks anyway?

YESSS! That is soooo Kool of you. This is what impressed me about this board when I first discovered it...exchange of tips-n-techniques!

(In the first picture) I've had my best luck over the yeras w/hootchies similar in color to the top one and the fifth from the top.

I've always used some sort of spacer to set the hooks back a lil but have never tried them as far back as you rig yers.

I almost always use the tinsel skirt and often add a small strip of herring.

Never have used spoons (wow am I behind the times!) but have had good luck w/Tomic type plugs.

My first love is mooching but it just doesn't seem as effective as trolling or jigging.

Jigging can be awesome, especially when the salmon are feedin on candlefish.


Many thanx again for sharing all that info, I'm sure it will put some people ono fish

Sincerely,
Roger

Downriggin, you forgot to mention probably the most important thing (I think). Trolling Speed and how to measure your trolling speed.

Nice work Donwriggin', thanks for the info and pix. Those rigs look great, I'll have to add them to my arsenal. I use a similar bend on my Coho Killers, I'll give yours a try. One of my favorite rigs is a Grand Slam Bucktail in the Green Herring. I'll use several pearl beads to drop the hooks back to the tail like you did with the mini squid. For Coho, I'll add a few glow beads on the leader above the head, add a quick change clevis and a small spinner blade. This is a blast on an 8 weight fly rod out at Sekiu and Neah Bay. It's deadly.

Kev

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'

Great post DR...We're goinna have to order some supplies from Tyee Tackle and tie a bunch of rigs while were out floating in the big pond.

Hey DD
Get those things tied up and mail 'em back to me and I'll get them tested out for you before you get back. Just to make sure they are working right, you know!

Downriggin,

What type of release clip are you using? When I fish about about 2-2.5 mph, my line will pull free from the clip. I'm using large hotspot flashers or metal silver hoard flashers.

I switched over to the Scotty Hair Trigger...

I love 'em


Downriggin'

Hey, great post downriggin'. Got a question for you. I fish the sound (S & N) quite a lot each year, plus Neah Bay & occassional trips to Canada, consider myself a pretty good fisherman. But I have yet to hit a fish except shakers on a coho killer. I mostly use hootchies in similar colors to you, flasher & bait or have also had good luck w/coyote spoons. I have seen earlier posts on this BB where guys swear by the coho-killer for kings or coho. Frankly, I gave up on them as I had no confidence in them. Does your extra bend make much of a difference? My guess is it puts strong action on it, good for coho or blackmouth, but how about this same technique for the summer migrating kings? Do you use the army truck color or mostly stick with white glow/green? thanks for any tips

Fishingtoo, the Coho Killer works the best when blackmouth are feeding on sandlance (candlefish) on the bottom, as that's what it looks like and moves like. I really have faith in the Killer - 6th place in the last derby kind of helps out