I have been trying some kwikies lately, and was wondering?
When do you want to run a kwikfish with a diver?? and when do you want to flat line. also i have been missing more fish than i hook. I fish them right out of the package. is there any hook configurations that work better than this. thanks for you time

For part one of your question.....yes. Ask 10 different kwikfish user and you'll probably get 8 or 9 different configurations. Personally I have tried a lot of different configurations and the one that works best for me is replacing the stock rear treble with a barrel swivel and owner treble. Then, I remove the belly treble and replace with barrel swivel and gami siwash modified "Herzog" style. This means to slightly offset the siwash and slightly bend it in.
Part two depends on what type of water your fishing. Slow deeper pool of 15 ft. or deeper will require a diver to get you in the zone. Traveling lanes 15ft. or less can be flatlined and fast heads of holes will require lead.
Make sure that you let the fish turn with the plug before driving the hooks home. It so hard to do but make sure that fish is stripping line before you pick it up out of the holder. Just my experience. Good Luck!

CM

I'll flatline if my target presentation is at less than ten feet. Divers work best in constant flows.

I'll add another splitring to the belly hook; eazier to apply a baitwrap, for me anyway.

Good fishing,
Hans

wait... Wait... WAit... WAIt... WAIT... PULL!!!!!

OKIE -

Missing fish on a Kwik usually comes from setting the hook too early. Like Canyon said, let 'em load up, then hit 'em. I always have guys in my boat count to three-one-thousand after they see the rod go down before they are allowed to touch it/set the hook. NCD.

Canyon man, are you taking the split ring off and running a sraight barrel swivel or is the barrel swivel on the split ring,
also is it critcal to use a wrap with kwikfish? Do guys run braided line for their main line while running plugs?

Everybodies saying the same thing...Put your rod in the holder and only take it out when lines coming off or going slack...search this site cuz Doc has some great photos of hook set-ups on kwikies...i'll smear scent more than run fillets...almost never run a plug naked...Good luck...

i run my plug naked every chance I get!

I attach the barrel swivel directly to the eyelet...you have to use pliers or wire cutters to do this.

you have to force the eyelet open, with a pair of split ring pliers, then put on the swivel. I was shown a different method and know I use a 510 kwick fish hook on the front , Gami makes them. good luck.

heres a pic.

The Kalama killed me, but the Columbia was a different experience altogether. I'm not gonna brag...wait I am gonna brag about the numbers of springers. We had enough to feed a wedding party of thirty, and a babyshower of 20 gals, and fillets still left for our own BBQ.

The only mysterious fish that were lost were due to laziness in placing the swivel on the tail hook. The fish will roll, the hook forces the kwikie to twist as well and the line wraps around the plug. If the line catches in the crease of the treble right where the three hooks points bend, it'll pinch and snap off like butter.
In addition to adding the splint ring and swivel, I also plug that crevice with a tiny plastic red bead and a drop of epoxy.

Per TRBO's advice...here's a link. I may not follow Bob's advice the first time I hear it, but you might be alot smarter than me. I lost a nice fish because I thought I could ignore it.
CURING THE SUDDEN BREAKOFF

My other advice would be to rent, buy, or borrow the Bob Toman Underwater Salmon videos. I own 101 and 201. Its like high end amateur home porno movies. Makes ya think "Wow I could be doing that." Racing pulse, sweaty palms...

Sample video of Toman underwater salmon


Here's an important item, change your wraps every 30 minutes. Time them so you pull one rod up every 10 minutes if you had three out. Or so on. Without a guide, near the end of the season, our last 4 trips out on the Big C, our bite ratio was near 5:1 compared to the rest of the hawg line. I changed wraps every 30 minutes. I spent almost every bit of each trip cutting and wrapping plugs. It's alot of work, but our boat whooped the hell out of the rest of the boats 4 straight trips.

Wear gloves, you'll be soaking your sardine fillets in goo overnite. I fillet my sardines the night before and soak them in procure goo's like anise, or garlic. Don't ruin your hardwork by adding scent from your weiner beater.

Wrap some of your kwikfish prior to going out. Keep them in a plastic sealable container. Some guys (I'm one) use small igloos and drill holes on the inside so that you can hang prewrapped plugs in a them.

When you pull your kwikfish have another wrapped one ready to attach to the swivel. Don't keep your rod out of rotation so you can wrap the same plug. If it's an extra 5 minutes, and you change the wrap 6 times per rod, 3 rods would cost you 1 1/2 hours of fishing time. On a good day that could be 2 springers not in the box.

Don't be afraid to flatline K15's in 20 feet of water. The rigging I used did not put my k15's on the bottom, and we consistently were fishing 20-28 feet of water. The order was 80 pound braid mainline, big fat plastic bead, barral swivel, 3 foot dropper with a 6 oz ball lead. Cast that whole contraption out WITHOUT the kwikfish.

The kwikies we let swim out after the weight settled to the bottom. Take a 6 foot leader 25 pound mono, with duolocks on each end. Clip your kwikfish on one end. That will let you hand tune the plug without pulling the old plug up first. As soon as the old one was reeled in, it was recast and a tuned plug was clipped to swim out. The line was out of the water about 45 seconds.

Alot of the guides rig different. But any worth their pay probably have it nailed down tight. Nothing inspires confidence like success. If you want a jumpstart, I'd hire a guide for the fall.

Whew sorry for the long winded post. I hope I answered your question in thier somewhere.

Get those plugs ready, I'm predicting 215,578 spring chinook over Bonni for 2008.

VHawk

Great stuff VHawk! I'm curious though, do you really think the fish can smell those fresh filets after they have been soaking all night in anise and/or garlic? I know everytime I used either of these scents that's all I can smell.....for days! I have to wonder if just some more anise or garlic scent without the filet would be just as effective......just a thought. By the way, I wrap the kwiks all the time but with just a new filet, no scent.

RM

Nothing scientific, just a gut feeling, but seems to me that pouring anise on a bare kwikie would have as much appeal as ketchup on a bare plate. Whether the anus oil overpowers the sardine hasn't seemed to matter. The sardine still seeps oil and scent. I want them to feel something soft, meaty, and familiar. I want them confortable, at least right until the hook buries in their jaw.

Thanks V-Hawk.......

RM