Capt.Dan is new here. I also am new to trolling for salmon. This could be the start of a very long relationship. The info is great here.

How about sharing some trolling speed information. Since the Kings are running lets start with that. How fast should i troll in puget sound?

Thanks Dan

Dan,

For Kings, Some say fast, some say slow.

I always troll fast, as in 2-3.5mph for both coho and kings, and frequently change speeds to make the bait/offering rise and drop, work differently.

I also think it is better to cover more water, and depending on what you are fishing you want the speed to make your offering work the right way. Really fast for Plugs, like 4 mph. Hoochies ans spoons, 2-3.5 mph. Herring, 1-2 mph.

I agree with SG on speeds. The key is making your gear work properly. Also, pay attention to the tides and your speed when going with/against the current and watch the angle on your downrigger cable.

Also check out http://www.salmonuniversity.com/ for some good info.

Welcome aboard!

Thanks for the replies. Salmon university is a great site. I have used it before. Really this one is better in allot of ways. Being able to read the many different opinions makes this the most useful source of information around for me.

Down rigger cables should be as straight up and down as possible???

Or just relative to the speed?

I like my downrigger cables at a 45-degree angle (or a little less) when fishing with flashers, not straight up and down. When I'm trolling silver horde plugs for kings I go slower but still have a little angle on the cables. I usually don't fish with dodgers but you don't want to go so fast with dodgers that they turn over (just a nice side-to-side swing).

Of course, the 45-degree angle assumes I've got about 90' of cable out with 10-12 lb downrigger weights.

What I'm still looking for is a simple and consistent way to calculate how deep my gear actually is given the angle on the cable at a certain speed. I also wish somebody had an accurate picture of the line and cable blowback and curve. Does the cable curve to look like a quarter-circle (like going from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock around a clock?)

The Trollers Handbook has some graphs that answer your question about depth. It is authored by Ray Rychnovsky.

I'm curious as to what your success rate is while trolling plugs slow is TDickenson. I usually troll them 2.7 - 3.5mph on the gps whether I'm going with or against the current Usually translates to 1.8 to 2.9mph on the paddle. 45 - 60 degree angle on the wires. For summer kings pulling flasher and hootchies its 2 - 2.5 on the gps which usually translates to 1.2 - 1.8 on the paddle. 30 - 45 degree on the cables.

In answer to your question, I've had decent luck trolling with a 45 degree angle or slightly less but I've only been salmon fishing a couple years so my experience base isn't big enough to rely on very much.

The reason I fish Silver Horde's slower is the wisdom passed down through my wife's family (I'm from Kansas) who were taught by a real "old man of the sea" who fished Mission Bar and Tulalip before there was a bubble. As the stories go, he was the master, and no one could get their boats to go as slow as he could but he caught more fish.

More recently, I've been taking advice from Salmon University and cranking up my trolling motor (especially for silvers) and having good luck.

Would that old sage be the colonel?

So let me get this straight. 3mph on the GPS isn't really 3mph? If not then what is the standard for measuring speed?

Capt. Dan,

Sky Guy is right on . BTW, if your trolling into the tide and the tide is running 3 mph and your running 3 mph you are really standing still. GPS speed is ground speed.

Cigar

Gps speed is your speed of travel over the surface of the earth. Speed on the paddle (paddle wheel on speed capable transducers)refers to the the speed at which the water is passing under your boat. Makes a big difference on the action of your gear. Thats why most people prefer to use the angle of the downrigger wires to guage the action of their gear. the only drawback with using just the wire angle is that if youre trolling into a strong current trying to keep a certain angle there are times when you could be moving backwards or as cigar pointed out sitting stationary(plays hell on catch ratio)

I think the SU site sez to troll with the current not against. I've seen guys trolling against the current & they sit in one place the whole time. I usually run with the current to cover more water then run back up, unless it's near tide change or there is not a lot of tide movement. I think SU sez the fish can see your offering better going with or I read that somewhere.

I judge speed only by my cable. The most important thing is to get the right action on your gear. It takes some time to learn what the right speed is for what you are fishing. But if you pay attention you will learn. The key is not to get all hung up on technical details. The lures that are fished today are somewhat forgiving. Experiment a little by changing one variable at a time and make note when your catching increases.

I have heard of people taking giant protractors out on the water to get the "perfect" angle on there cable. I have even seen something like that in a few tackle stores. No thanks - that just isn't my style of fishing. I don't know exactly what the perfect angle is in degrees, I do know about what it looks like. It's somewhere around 35-45 degrees. With a few fish and some time you will begin to develop some confidence in what you are doing and what that magic speed is. Good luck - spend some time on the water with other successful anglers. It will greatly shorten the learning curve.

Steve

Steve- Your boat or mine?

Hey there steve it sounds like you have been doing this along time. I am just getting started myself and would greatly appreciate some pointer from someone who has allot of experience like yourself. If you ever have anyextra room in your boat let me know.

For kings I troll 1.8 - 2.2 mph using my sounder as a guage (water speed under boat). For blackmouth...the same but usually the high end of this range. Finally for silvers anwhere from 2-4 mph. I don't usually refer to my GPS speed since ground speed may or may not have anything to do with how fast my gear is moving through the water. I use the angle of my DR wires as a gut check on my speed. Make note of strikes you get when making turns as they often indicate you should be moving slower (inside strike) or faster (outside strike). One other thing if it looks like you have something hitting your line a short burst of speed will often trigger a strike.

Capt Dan and Large Lunker-

I'm always interested in meeting some new fishing folks. One thing to note about me is I am pretty new to this as well. I have a lot to learn, but what I can share I happily will. Shoot me an email at talbotsja@wavecable.com and we can work out the details. Probably Sunday this weekend will be my best shot for getting out, but we an talk about it. Lunker where do you live - your profile on says WA?

I can see that my plan on making me look like quite accomplished fisherman has worked. See, what I do is catch 1 fish and take a crap ton of pctures of it in different poses at different times of the day and post them all over the place --- SHAZAAM! A salmon slayin fool!

Steve