fished the opening day in the sound. set black box @.601 . and out of 11 fish only one was legal. what do i have to do to catch derby type fish??? what is your setting for bigger fish.. your comments please.
fshbelly.

I have been running mine between .665 and .675.

Man, these things really work!!

Was fishing for BM yesterday. I had just purchased and hooked up my BB. We started trolling, and I flipped the switch and set it to .680 (I was fishing pretty deep.) I barely sat down and I got nailed! I lost that one, and the next. But later, I landed an 8lb'er. My brother who has lots more salmon experience than me, never had a hit on his meatline (we could'nt figure out how to hook it up) He was skeptical about it when I first told him about it weeks ago, but he'll be looking for one this week.

You are having the same problem as all of us- lots of shakers. It happens! You'll have to be persistent to get that keeper... hang in there!
I don't know how deep you're fishing, but as a rule of thumb the larger fish will generally be 125' plus feet of water.. As a matter of fact, all my Blackmouth over 9# this last year were caught between 145' and 195' with the largest at 170' or so.

After extensive experimenting, my starting point for Blackmouth is .600v at 100'. I add .01v for every foot of wire after 100' e.g., 180' of wire = .680v

Then you'll need to find a "comfort cushion" off the wire. This is usually less than 20'-25'. I keep mine in the neighborhood of 16'.

How long are your leaders?

Here's a great tool for you if you use Hotspots:

2 1/2 - 3" spoons - 42" of 20#
3 - 4" spoons - 45" of 20#
4 - 5' spoons - 48" of 20#
B-2 Mini Squid or 3" Hootchy - 35" of 50# FC or
38" of 60# FC.
4 - 4 1/2" Squirt (needlefish) - 37" of 50# FC or 40" of 60# FC
4 1/2" Hootchy - 38" of 50# or 40" of 60# FC

This list is my preference for Blackmouth. It is more or less my confidence factor(s) in leader lengths over the years.

Another thing that will make a difference is trolling speed. Blackmouth like a faster bait/lure. Gauge your speed according to your wire(s). Regardless of the tide, a 45 degree angle seems to keep the gear going at a good clip. However, for those that have followed me know that I have no problem hitting 5 kts!

As far as hooking that meatline up to the BB, instead of a sleave, connect an aligator clip to the wire. The only draw back would be the length of the leader being so long. And back in my meatlining days that was 35-50 feet.

See you folks in July....(Just in time huh?)

Downriggin'

Duh, OK guys what is this black box. I thought I owned every toy ever made that was supposed to help me catch fish. Help an old fart out here. Please.

Untired..

Check this link out:

Black Box

They are nothing new...been around for years!

Downriggin'

THANKS I'LL OWN ONE SHORTLY. Much thanks, like my old man always said it's a pertty poor day when you don't learn something.

Downriggin,
Is your 16 foot set back from the wire to the bait pretty much standard when using the black box? I havent used my box yet and I normaly run my bait further back from the wire than that.But I understand that the further away from the wire the less affect the box will have. Do you ever run your bait closer than 16'

I run my gear within 10' of the ball.

Hey Easy have you always done that or just sence you started using the box?

Before I had the BB I would run my gear about 30-40' behind the boat. With the BB, I keep the gear close (10') to the ball.

Duro,

I run a 48" release off the wire, 8'-10' between release and flasher, plus leader length. Then I figure the release closes about a foot or so after tightening the line.

Downriggin'

Thanks Guys,
I normally run 40' back I will be sure to shorten that up when using the box.

Last but not least, trolling speed. Troll fast! I use my 'rigger cable to judge how fast I am trolling (my speedo is inop). I like a 45 degree angle like this -> /

Carl,
Now is that fast trolling speed just for blackmouth or do you do that for kings in august. I have had great success at 2 mph for kings. But thats without the box.

Duro,

2.5 - 3.0 kts is ideal for BM... However, do whatever it takes to keep the wires at a 45.
I ocassionally get a hair and crank it up so the wires are at 35-40...

Summer Kings I'll taper it off to about 2 - 2.5 kts and lower the box.

How was your hook up/set ratio with that 30-40' set back?

Downriggin'

Downriggin,
I fish differant than you and easy as far as gear go's. I have been fishing straight herring for afew years now. This last season was probably my least productive with only 5 kings caught largest 30lb. But the year before I put 28 kings in the boat with 5 over 20lb. And one silver at 21 lb. All were caught with the long set-back. And large herring.

Well Fshbelly,
I, like you, fished the opener with the "kindergarden" like responce with my black box. We'll continue to dial it in!
I've since learned that a FULL canvas top and a little Beer WITH the $4.00 AM/PM sandwiches and dual propane heaters blowing on you ALL day,....... goes a long way to getting the brutes to react!! Thank you for the great weekend dad, we'll gettum next trip !!!

If you are catching mostly juvenile fish, try turning your Black Box down by 0.10v. Big fish don't like as much voltage as smaller fish. I've heard of many people that run their Black Boxes as low as 0.50v for mature chinook.

-N.

StorminN,
Thanks for that tip. Lower voltage for bigger fish.

This is the most informative thead (for BM fishing) that I've read in a long time.



O/E was selling the Pro-Troll BB at the Puyallup sportsman's show for $80. I am hoping that they will have the same deal at the Seattle show. Then I can play the BB game, too.

SQ
I bought a black box two weeks ago at Outdoor Emporium for $79 - You don't have to go to the show

Thanks, CD. I'll pick one up this week.

Wow, that's one heck of an avatar you've got there!

what is the best you,ve found for bigger fish,?? plugs, herring, flasher& squid, spoons
your help please.

Herring hands down, cant beat the real thing. Although I am biased, havent bought a flasher in ten years. Last Abe and Al I owned I used as a bracket to mount my stereo in my boat. Works great, never rusted.

Herring will win the vote everytime...

However, unlike most folks, I don't like to use bait... I am already working the rigger(s) hard enough without having to check bait every ten minutes or the slightest bump from a shaker or garbage fish. I might use bait for Summer Kings when I can keep the gear at 50-60', but I have caught more fish on a 5" or 6" spoon.

Plugs... they work best when there is a lot of bait in the area. Trolling fast is the key with plugs.

I'll rate spoons and hootchies the same.

Just my.02

Dowriggin'

Depends on time and place which of the above will produce the best. Bait usually will win my vote as the most consistent producer and will often catch the larger fish. I have found that Herring Strip works great. I fish it regularly and have become very confident in it's ability to hook fish. It's less prone to the nuances mentioned by Downriggin above. In the winter my choices are herring strip, plugs (if there's bait around) and spoons. I don't like using a big flasher especially on BM as it really takes the fun out of fighting the fish to me.

Im going to get afew of the pro-troll"rotary salmon killer clips" for herring. I saw a vidio on fishing whole herring and it said that whole herring last much longer in the water and you dont have to check the bait as often. I figure it can hurt to try something new.

Hey Duroboat,
We fished the "clip" from Pro Troll last Sat . We were running it as a center "long line" rod.
I won't say @ this point that I "swear" by them as we hooked one out of the 11 on it ( could've been a depth issue too) but I will give it this, that poor herring stayed just a spinnin for a collective total of about 4 miles and still had that "out of the pkg" new look all up until eaten. I was prone to stick the double hooks through the herring as you would on a plug cut but Mr. Fishbelly advised to just let them dangle beside = great hook-up resulted. Bottom line stick one of these @ the prime depth and in their face.....warm up the BBQ!!