Pretty simple I need 101, 201, 220 etc.

I want to learn how to mooch, having searched the web and read a book. Other than that I know squat, not to say I haven't caught fish mooching (motor), there were just a lot of fish 4oz at 14-18 pulls, so it must have been dumb luck. I want to learn more and how and where to mooch the sound…are there any guides who mooch for salmon anyone want to teach me, I have the boat. Not looking to offer up a free boat ride to any yutz looking to get out on the sound so if you take me up have a clue. Doing a morning would be easy if I am in town and expect to be a good portion in August.

The reasons I want to learn how to mooch are; I like prefer fishing as simple as one can, It sounds as it is more challenging? The idea of fighting just the fish and minimal weight is more appealing, as I typically flyfish single action reels rock. This is where I might be off base, more interesting for the kids, I want them to catch a salmon this season.

So list up your pointers because the less I spend on a guide the more $$ I will have for my FF/GPS and gas to fish more.

I have the basics, boat, mooching rod and knuckle buster. other than lead, hooks and bait what do I need?

Electric downrigger ya yutz

Patience, lots of patience.

lots of hooks.
Call Keith Robbins at SpotTail Salmon guides if you want to mooch. He is the only one I know thats guides and mooches.
If the fish are around it can be good and is fun, but the sound these days is a tough proposition.

Not much more needed. We mooch as much as we fish the down riggers. Seems like a lost art down here but that is the way I always did it in SE alaska and I catch more than on the down riggers. Also gives some excitement if you have people that dont have patience because you get a lot of bottom fish to break up the slowness of rigger fishing.
The main thing you need to know is how to cut herring. I like the westport style. Seems to give me a tighter spin and is faster to rig. People will say you need a slow looping spin for kings adn fast for silvers blah blah blah. All I have to say is B.S. Faster the better. Look it up on line will probably give you a better idea how it is done rather than me attempting ot explained the setup and angle to cut bait.
We fish mainly in 75 to 125 even out to 150 ft. Some good spots around that will work better than on the riggers. Just about all I do in the canal but in the main sound I use both. Follow the bait, find the fish. Good luck.

If you've read a book about it, you probably already know more than most. Just because you aren't catching fish doesn't mean you are doing it wrong. As Tred says, "Now is the time to change nothing."

I'm guessing I have/read the same book you are speaking of. I think it is just called "Mooching for Salmon" or something like that. Seriously old timer author, with some non-PC writing at times.

It's easy.

Step 1) Tie your mainline to a banana weight.

Step 2) Tie a mooching leader (can be purchased almost anywhere if you've not the inclination to tie your own,) to your banana weight. The bead chain side...

Step 3) Put on a plug-cut herring. This is the hardest part, but there are many tutorials available so I won't go into it here. You can use a cutting guide, and then experiment with various riggings until you get an attractive roll.

Step 4) Drop your rig over the side of the boat, and freespool it down as far as you feel like.

Step 5) Reel up your dogfish.

Repeat as necessary.

Step 5) Reel up your dogfish.

Repeat as necessary. [/quote]

That is damn funny.......I fished the whole day last weekend and only got two. Mixed bag with one 12lb native and some bottom slim. It is about 3 to 1 average from dogs to salmon. Bring some extra bait because sometimes it is worse.

Some guys are willing to wade through the crap to set the hook on a salmon. Slack line on a singe action is fun! Anyway...there are a number of good drifts to hit around the sound. Point No Point is a pretty classic drift to hit. You can pretty much fish anywhere as long as you can locate the bait...and hopefully the fish. That new FF/GPS you're getting should help.

Docspud has a good point about the spin. I prefer a pretty fast spin myself. My belief is that I get a better action in slower current, drop or retrieve.

I also get away with fishing lighter sinkers by using lighter mainline, which cuts down on drag in the water.

Also throw a ballbearing swivel in between your sinker and leader to cut down on line twist.

I agree with most of that stuff except concerning the spin, especially when the fish are deeper than 30 feet or so. The spin doesnt matter as long as it is at the proper depth, depth is everything. If the fish are on the bottom, keep it there, if they are in the bottom third, keep it there. Believe your fishfinder.

I'd second that Keith Robbins is the man. Go out with him if you have the chance. Go see him give one of his presentations and you'll learn a lot.

Certainly plan to fish the Tengu mooching only Elliott Bay derby this winter. There are some excellent fishermen out there and most are very willing to share tips over the noodle pot after fishing every Sunday.

Check out the Seattle Poggie club. Third wednesday of the month at 7 pm at Seattle City Light Building - 97th & Stone Avenue North. doubleu... seattlepoggies dot com. There are some former Tengu winners there. I just asked around a couple years when I was starting out and found learned a lot going fishing with some of the members.

The main thing is to learn the water and know where fish might concentrate. Point no Point is my favorite, Elliott Bay can be good, Southworth isn't bad, Jeff head is a traditional favorite but I find it tough because it's so big. The oil docks give you a nice tight target.

Feel free to send a PM.

I used to keep a notebook(I know it's somewhere)...and pretty much every old time'r I'd talked with said that out of all the salmon they'd caught in their lives....the biggest were all on WHOLE herring.....and that's when I quit cutting the heads off. They spin faster than fast....and don't tear out as quick(trolling).....Mooching/trolling whatever....I put the first hook vertically right thru the head, and leave the trailer dangling....and tie it so it's an inch behind the tail.....This is just one part of what my friends and I are calling "old man rules"..(since it was imparted to me by a salmon slaying old man who's no longer with us.... His other rule was "I fish in 100ft @ 120 depth...period.....and he's been right more than once...

I have toothpicks in my tackle box for putting a bend in whole herring for spin. Slackers rock, doggies not so much. I think that's the reason I troll more now. Hate fightin the flashers though.

Mooching is about being on the bait. Mooching keeps me in touch with whats going on around me. As your winding and holding line angle, your looking around for diving birds and rips etc, instead of changing the station on your radio. I troll with Scotty's on occasion but it seems like I am always following depth contours, broadcasting in a general area to draw a salmon to me. When I mooch I am trying to put one herring where I think that salmon should be given the signs. With a small center console boat like a whaler, you can run the controls while still standing and holding a rod so motor mooching rips and points comes in to play. Sitting under cover and running electronics has its place in our current enviroment of fewer fish, but mooching in the rain and snot feels more like fishing.

2 cents.

Mooching is the classic chinook fishing method. I am with Speyguy on whole herring, I haven't seen many herring swimming around without a head. My setup of choice, a 10 foot rod, single action reel, 8 feet of limp leader to a small swivel, and a 2 foot stiff leader to the hooks. Use a sliding weight on the mainline, the size is what it takes to get to the bottom for chinook. Dogfish (and coho) will grab anything including the heads from the cut plugs. Mature chinook are like catfish, they may feed at the surface at night but most of the time they like to hang out on the bottom and let the food come to them. Drop offs, holes on the bottom, even big rocks where tides concentrate the bait are favorites hangouts. As other people have said 60 feet and deeper is good as long as there is some structure nearby that concentrates the bait. Not recently, but for many years we fished at Port Angeles, the two weeks around August 1. There were many good chinook fishermen there, it took a few years to learn, watching them, getting to know them and talking to them but it was time well spent. 8 years in a row my wife got a 30 pound plus on August 1st. Another hint don't stop at 150 feet. Many of the chinook we caught were at 200 to 300 feet right on the bottom. We used to call downrigger fishermen terrorist because it seemed anytime you had a big chinook on they would troll over to see what was happening and cut it off. We fish downriggers most of the time now in area 9/10 but make a special effort to avoid the terrorist label.

I agree - Whole herring rule. Larger hook on the front can help with the spin, depending on the size of the herring. Close the mouth, put the tip through upper mandable and lower jaw about 1/4 of the way back from the tip so it stays closed, run it back around behind the eye and back out the side you started with. Good slow roller for kings if you hook the back hook by the tail on the opposite side. Quicker spin letting ithe back hook drag. Got both Kings so far this year on whole herring and 4 oz.

Quicker vertical retrieve while mooching will reduce the dogfish bite - They have a hard time swimmming straight up to get the bait. Don't let it sit too long at one place. if the doggies are in thick.

For some reason, mooching seems to produce for me longer into the day after the trollers bite is over.

I'm another for mooching whole herring. I learned fishing the Tacoma area as my Grandpa retired out of Ft Lewis. Fishing the current seams/breaklines, work your bait up and down through the water to avoid the sharkies.

"Terrorists" Oh man that made me laugh.

Wow great stuff! I had never heard about the whole herring. I might give it a try this evening. If I have the kids with me the sharkie aren't bad they still like them.

"step 5 real up dogfish" and the "terrorists" both about made me SMP.

WN1a, The catfish comment made me think of the nookie a little different.

slab, thanks for the pic.