Besides metal jigs like Zingers,Buzz Bombs, Point Wilson Darts, Crippled Herring. 3/8 Leadhead jigs tied with flashabou are effective in both salt and fresh water.

I have caught many Coho up to 16 pounds in the salt up in Alaska with a jig
patterned from a prototype that Dave Vedder tied up for beach fishing on Whidbey Island many years ago.

Hahhaa living to my name sake on this site I have brainstormed on how tonget a jig in front of a salmon in the salt....even tied uo some prototypes.

Bucktail jigs used to be a solid go to back in the day, and we have caught many a Chinook on leadheads and rubber worms while jigging for bottomfish...had one hit a swimbait this spring fishing for lingcod.

And, of course, twitching jigs in the salt exactly as you'd do it in a river works well for pinks, and coho, too, if you find them near the surface.

Fish on...

Todd

The day Sebasties took that picture of me I hooked and landed a chinook that we both felt was well over 50 pounds. I released it.

Hippy.

Fish on...

Todd

That doesn't look like any fun Dave - don't know what the heck you're smiling about

What a prime looking fish!

Twas by far the best day of salmon fishing of my life. Sebastes can confirm that we hooked more then 40 big chinook in a three day stretch. The largest kept was 38, but we released a few bigger.

We had numerous doubles and ended the insane stretch with double in a bright sun with a pod of killer whales going by,. Fishing is easy when there are tons of fish. The last morning Sebastes was sick. In three hours I landed nine big chinook and had three doubles, while alone in the boat.

The lodge owner took a photo of me with a double on and used it for his brochure cover for years after that. Good times indeed.

So Dave, what was the next series of events? Of the 6 fish hooked alone with the doubles, how many got landed?

That is the type of chaos I'd like to experience!

I don't think I lost ANY.

Here are the two things I learned. An aggressively feeding Chinook will keep chomping on a herring until he hooks himself. And if you don’t yank on them they don’t yank back.

Several times, while playing a big fish I noticed the other rod was getting bitten. I just let it happen and left the rod in the holder. In every case the fish hooked himself! Once they were hooked I would continue to play the original fish, and leave the second biter to tend him on a fairly loose drag. In most cases the freshly hooked fish stopped fighting as much if there was little o no pressure on him.

I know Robbo is a big proponent of not setting the hook. When mooching he just tells his guests to keep reeling. Now since the topic of this thread is jigging I must point out that a rapid hook set and tight line are mandatory when jig fishing.

Another example of, if you stop yanking they stop yanking back, was a day on the Gold when fishing was very slow and I desperately needed a few steelhead photos fro an article I was doing. I hooked a good fish played it until relative calm, and moved it to a quiet back eddy, loosened the drag then jammed the rod in the rocks and sprinted to my truck for my camera. I admit I was worried that when i got back - in less than a minute from the tome i left- the rod and fish would be gone. But they were both there. No problems. Once I applied some pressure the fish began fighting.

That's awesome. Love the photo. When I backtroll the lower cowlitz by my self I always plan on handling a double header the same way. It has yet to happen but maybe this fall.

Say where are the downriggers?

You da frickin' man Dave!! What a great shot!

With out a doubt that was the best Chinook trip Mr. Vedder and I had in our many years fishing together.

The fish Dave released was so large that when he had it by the tail while sitting, he could only lift it half way out of the water.

After I landed the 38 pounder, I caught and released a Chinook that was a foot longer on the next drop .

Dave's huge Chinook was much larger than that.

On the same day while landing a 20 pound Lingcod, we had one follow it that was much larger that eyed the spinning prop before it slipped to the depths.

Getting back to jigging, on a trip out of Elfin Cove, I was on a lodge boat that trolled for Chinook. Each time one was being played, I dropped a Point Wilson Dart jig over the side away from the action and jigged up five chinook and an 18 pound Lingcod while the troll caught fish was netted. The Chinook were all released.

I hope Dave will post a photo of the leadhead jig he ties for saltwater beach casting. It is the one that inspired me to tie both as a jig and fly for salt and fresh water fishing.

This is a baldfaced endorsement, but if you really want to learn about jigging, get a copy of Dave's second book on fishing jigs as it covers both steelhead and salmon jigging. It is the larger of his two jigging books.

I still think of that huge lingcod just staring at the prop slowly rotating in front of it. I believe it was all of 40 lbs. I remember wondering it would try to eat the prop.

I will look for a picture of my beach jigs but they are really simple - basically just some pink and red flashabou tied on a 3/8 ounce jig head.