Check

 

Defiance Boats!

LURECHARGE!

THE PP OUTDOOR FORUMS

Kast Gear!

Power Pro Shimano Reels G Loomis Rods

  Willie boats! Puffballs!

 

Three Rivers Marine

 

 
Page 1 of 2 1 2 >
Topic Options
Rate This Topic
#714608 - 11/01/11 02:21 AM Spinner vs bait
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
The age old argument.... which is better for estuary and tidewater mainstem trolling?

At Buoy 10 every time you pull up to the ramp, one guy will tell you "Jeez... we absolutely slayed 'em on spinners. Leave your bait at home."

The next guy insists, "Man it was a total bait bite... plug cut 14 pulls.... spinners were worthless"

At Tillamook Bay, the spinner is king. While at Willapa and Grays Harbor herring is by far the preferred presentation. What's a guy to do? Hey maybe these dudes can help....




DUH!

So for the past few years I've been combining the best of both worlds with very good results. Besides, with the spread I typically run, I gotta have something novel on the captain's trailing clean-up rod if I'm ever gonna get a bite. Within a couple trips, these babies were finding their way to every rod position in the boat.

So let me introduce you to a couple of my best friends this year.

Meet the Cyclops.


Attachments
08-20-11 Cyclops spinner bait FVE Rogue bright.jpg

08-20-11 Cyclops spinner bait Rogue bright.jpg

08-22-11 FVE Hammond URB Cyclops spinner bait.jpg

08-22-11 Hammond URB Cyclops spinner bait.jpg


_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
#714610 - 11/01/11 02:22 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Here's the Dreamsicle...
(Thanks LMWS!)

Couple of local boys really gave this one a workout. All I can say is the Dreamsicle was HOT HOT HOT! Esp once the Brothers Barnes teamed up for some SERIOUS damage on my barge!


Attachments
09-17-11 Jesse Dreamsicle king.jpg

09-17-11 Jesse 2nd Dreamsicle king.jpg

09-17-11 Jesse 3rd Dreamsicle king headshot.jpg

09-17-11 Jesse 3rd Dreamsicle king.jpg

09-18-11 Brandon Dreamsicle 2nd king headshot.jpg

09-18-11 Brandon Dreamsicle 1st king.jpg

09-18-11 Dreamsicle Ginger platinum hen.jpg

09-18-11 Banki Brandon Dreamsicle king.jpg


_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
#714611 - 11/01/11 02:22 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Meet Rachael Rae....
(thanks Achewter)

I put her in service on Sept 23, and she stayed right by my side til her dying day. From coho of the season to furbag of the season, and lots of big chrome kings in between, Rachael Rae delivered the goods for me like no other. Her look-alike cousin Tammy Fae has been an absolute slouch.... epitome of lazy wench!



Attachments
09-23-11 coho of the season.jpg

9-23-11.jpg

09-23-11 Noel FVE king netshot.jpg

10-01-11 Rachael Rae BIG king.jpg

10-03-11 seal steals coho.jpg

10-06-11 Ryan BIW FVE Rachael Rae king.jpg

10-06-11 Ryan BIW FVE Rachael Rae 2nd king.jpg

10-06-11 Rachael Rae platinum hen.jpg


_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
#714612 - 11/01/11 02:24 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
This green tipped Rainbow courtesy of Big Moby....



Attachments
09-20-11 Last fish of the day.jpg


_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
#714613 - 11/01/11 02:24 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: eyeFISH]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
This blue-tipped Rainbow courtesy of BathTub Bob...

And the Chinese Measle courtesy of Achewter.


Attachments
09-22-11 FVE Banki Bluetip Rainbow coho.jpg

09-22-11 Banki Bluetip Rainbow coho.jpg

09-22-11 FVE Lenny Lee big coho.jpg

09-22-11 Chinese measle coho.jpg


_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
#714614 - 11/01/11 02:28 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: eyeFISH]
snit Offline
Three Time Spawner

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 1844
Loc: Wenatchee, WA
I do a herring sliver wrap inside the skirt of the hootchie spinner...works on springers. As for fall fish...BIG herring generally work on my boat. But it is crazy what those fish will strike on...............
_________________________
..."the clock looked at me just like the devil in disguise"...

Top
#714615 - 11/01/11 02:34 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: snit]
Fishrhead Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 09/17/11
Posts: 126
Loc: The Silver Mountain.
I think you got em on the spinner.
_________________________
‘I pay more federal income taxes than General Electric, Boeing, DuPont, Wells Fargo, Verizon, etc., etc., put together.’

Top
#714616 - 11/01/11 02:48 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: eyeFISH]
Black Bart Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 319
Loc: Adna
Ho'Boy..I've known Bathtub Bob since like forever...He really has this fishing thing going on night and day. It's just like a hot blooded fever for him.... I still wish I had it in me....It was truly my pleasure to drive a hundred miles each way and bring some of my over abundant spring kings and halibut catch I brought home from outside Ketchikan down to him for his son's wedding reception in like 1990.

Hell he was there laughing at me the day the damn rain washed out my new Stetson and thus coined the now infamos name...Black Bart...He taught me so much about fishing when I was a darn newbie so many years , that's one debt i'll never be able to repay.

Never will forget the day when his brother Jerry was anchored just below the Fuller Hill Launch, like 5 hours before daylight as usual, in what they used to call the boil. Twas just a tight little place to anchor up when the water below the mouth of the Satsop was dirty to fish. Bathtub Bob was a bit late for the morning launch and here he comes...Down from the other side of the river, A really high bank afair, cussing like hell, sliding down through the freakin' blackberry bushes on a very wet morning, holding his Kunan rod that I had just re-wraped, trying to reach the swollen banks and get in the boat his brother Jerry had anchored several hours before the tide brought the fish up on a cloudy river day. Geeze, good thing Dr. Stro was there to stitch him up. Talk about a guy who had just tried to harvest honey out of a hornets nest, Ho'Boy...Just too darn funny.

Damn...those are true mammories....

Cheers...Marv


Edited by Black Bart (11/01/11 08:10 AM)
_________________________
Just lettin' it roll, lettin' the high times carry the low
Love livin' my life, easy come easy go

Top
#714624 - 11/01/11 09:24 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: Black Bart]
DrifterWA Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 04/25/00
Posts: 5074
Loc: East of Aberdeen, West of Mont...
Originally Posted By: Black Bart

Damn...those are true mammories....

Cheers...Marv


hehehe.........made my day!!!!

Thanks for the early morning chuckle!!!!!

Chehalis time!!!!!!!!
_________________________
"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

"I thought growing older, would take longer"

Top
#714633 - 11/01/11 10:14 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: DrifterWA]
GreenRiver Offline
Spawner

Registered: 01/22/07
Posts: 763
I worked with a guy who had a scar on his chest like that. There was an identical one on his back.
_________________________
Killin's my business and business is good.

Most people suck at internet........


Top
#714639 - 11/01/11 10:51 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: GreenRiver]
Mooch Offline
Three Time Spawner

Registered: 12/24/01
Posts: 1972
Loc: Kingston, WA
Hands down, more fish with a DuPont spinner than bait. wink
_________________________
Matt. 8:27   The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Top
#714648 - 11/01/11 11:40 AM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: Mooch]
Chum Man Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/07/99
Posts: 2691
Loc: Yelmish
i think i'm gonna have to give spinners a try out in the bay next year. most of my time fishing bait seems to be watching a lifeless rod tip for hours, just to realize my bait sucks and the bellies are blowing out.

i've done better on murky lower river tidewater fisheries over the years with spinners, so i can't see why they wouldn't work out in G.H. too, provided they're obnoxious enough.

Top
#714658 - 11/01/11 12:19 PM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: Chum Man]
Addicted Offline
Rico Suave

Registered: 11/06/05
Posts: 2596
Loc: Whidbey Island
Yeah, spinners suck, bait rules.

Over 30 fish in two days of fishin down there. 2 rods one day, 3 rods the next. All on spinners. Bait never even got put in the water. But, some other factors effect yer outcome too. And right lure at right time with a bit of luck on your side on certain days helps also.


Edited by Addicted (11/01/11 12:20 PM)
_________________________
Have pole, will fish.

Top
#714660 - 11/01/11 12:23 PM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: Addicted]
Rocket Red Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 02/14/06
Posts: 2540
Loc: Elma
This has been my best spinner year in the last 10 or so on the Chehalis system. They are outproducing jigs and plugs about 6:1, a ratio that for the past 10 years has been 1:1.

No idea why, but the silvers this year are loving spinning metal.
_________________________
WDFW - Turning outdoorsmen into golfers since 1994.

Top
#714694 - 11/01/11 03:03 PM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: Fishrhead]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Originally Posted By: Fishrhead
I think you got em on the spinner.


Well.... sometimes.

I believe the hooking site speaks volumes. Here's what I think is probably going on.

When the fish takes the tow hook, the spinner was the ticket. When the fish takes the trailer, the bait was the ticket. Nice to have two simultaneous options when you encounter a potential biter.

The other theory I have is that whatever I'm trolliing, a biter is simply gonna attack it mid-profile. I do catch a lot more fish on the tow hook with the spinner bait/rigging. It might have something to do with the fact that the tow hook lives mid-profile.... right in the middle of the bite zone. Exceedingly few are caught on the tow hook when I rig hangback with nekkid bait. That's 'cause there is no hook mid-profile.... fish misses the tow hook altogether and gets "flossed" with the trailer.

At least that's what I think is going on.


Edited by eyeFISH (11/01/11 07:40 PM)
Edit Reason: more 'splainin'
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
#714696 - 11/01/11 03:08 PM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: Chum Man]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Originally Posted By: Chum Man
i think i'm gonna have to give spinners a try out in the bay next year. most of my time fishing bait seems to be watching a lifeless rod tip for hours, just to realize my bait sucks and the bellies are blowing out.


Crap bait is a real challenge if plug cut herring is the only tool in your box. Nothing worse than reeling up a belly that has flayed out.... well, except maybe when you reel up bare hooks.... GRRRRR!!!!

With the spinner bait rig, you can use whole herring or whole anchovies... just stick 'em thru the tip of the lower jaw and aim for the bone plate on the top of the head between the eyes. It'll produce a slow TIGHT spin behind the blade.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
#714836 - 11/01/11 08:47 PM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: eyeFISH]
big moby Offline
Carcass

Registered: 08/28/08
Posts: 2188
Loc: varies
Doc, I could not see chit after dreamcicle... is it me?
_________________________
Roger That

Top
#714845 - 11/01/11 09:10 PM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: big moby]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
Just pre-posted the placeholders to keep 'em all together. Ran out of steam last night before midnight.

More pics coming tonight when I get home.... and yeah, your Rainbow blade with the extra deep scoop was money! Ran it so much that all of the brass eventually tarnished beyond recovery. Put a sticker of UV flash tape on the inside to spiff'er up and she was good to go.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
#714850 - 11/01/11 09:20 PM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: eyeFISH]
Addicted Offline
Rico Suave

Registered: 11/06/05
Posts: 2596
Loc: Whidbey Island
I am mentaly challenged, therefore I am bait challenged, therefore spinners work for me. Put it out, let it go bling, pick up fish without being a expert on how to rig the bait......
_________________________
Have pole, will fish.

Top
#714856 - 11/01/11 09:29 PM Re: Spinner vs bait [Re: Addicted]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
My only concern with the spinner bait rig is I really hate that whole hook-inside-the-mouth thing. Gotta work on fixing that.

Gonna have to try something other than a hook to tow my bait. Maybe give a simple safety pin a whirl to see if I can still make a herring or 'chovy spin by just clipping it into place. Can't imagine a steel safety pin would last very long in the salt without rusting away, but if the concept works, I could adapt a similar clip with formed spinner wire.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

Top
Page 1 of 2 1 2 >

Search

Site Links
Home
Our Washington Fishing
Our Alaska Fishing
Reports
Rates
Contact Us
About Us
Recipes
Photos / Videos
Visit us on Facebook
Today's Birthdays
3Gonads, herm
Recent Gallery Pix
hatchery steelhead
Hatchery Releases into the Pacific and Harvest
Who's Online
0 registered (), 1089 Guests and 2 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
John Boob, Lawrence, I'm Still RichG, feyt, Freezeout
11498 Registered Users
Top Posters
Todd 28170
Dan S. 17149
Sol Duc 16138
The Moderator 14486
Salmo g. 13520
eyeFISH 12766
STRIKE ZONE 12107
Dogfish 10979
ParaLeaks 10513
Jerry Garcia 9160
Forum Stats
11498 Members
16 Forums
63773 Topics
645296 Posts

Max Online: 3001 @ 01/28/20 02:48 PM

Join the PP forums.

It's quick, easy, and always free!

Working for the fish and our future fishing opportunities:

The Wild Steelhead Coalition

The Photo & Video Gallery. Nearly 1200 images from our fishing trips! Tips, techniques, live weight calculator & more in the Fishing Resource Center. The time is now to get prime dates for 2018 Olympic Peninsula Winter Steelhead , don't miss out!.

| HOME | ALASKA FISHING | WASHINGTON FISHING | RIVER REPORTS | FORUMS | FISHING RESOURCE CENTER | CHARTER RATES | CONTACT US | WHAT ABOUT BOB? | PHOTO & VIDEO GALLERY | LEARN ABOUT THE FISH | RECIPES | SITE HELP & FAQ |