For the last couple of fall and spring king seasons, I have been trying to be sucessfull using kwikfish. While I have had some luck, the number of hours per fish I have put in has been extreamly high.
I know that some of you wouldn't want to share you "secrets" when it comes to fishing these, but I am hoping that you can share some insight that will help me gain confidence in this method.

I have been fishing K15's wrapped with sardines on a 6' leader. This is attached to a barrel swivel. Above that is a slider with a drop leader of about 2 feet attached to a lead weight. I use anywhere from 1/2 to 2 oz of lead depending on the current. I have been anchoring in a hole and putting the plugs out. I work them out until the weight is hitting bottom when the rod tip is dropped.
I have been pretty much sitting and waiting. I will pull anchor and move down in the hole a little at a time.
I have hooked a couple of fish this way, but like I said, the hours I have put in for these few fish hardly seem worth it.
Any tips on how you are sucessful or ways that I can be more effective would be greatly appriciated.

PS. I have been trying to get my girlfriend into a fish. She loves to fish but is starting to think she is jinxed. I would love to see her tie into a hot springer.

--hooknose

Everything sounds good to me. I will tell you that last year playing around with Chums I ran out of sardine and used herring. My buddy was using sardine and I was getting hookups 3 to his 1. I have'nt tried this on Chinook yet, but I will this fall.

I'd lose the slider, drop leader and extra lead. The K15s run plenty deep without the extra weight in most holes.

I'm with Mr. Gray on this one ,try it without the extra weight,till you need it in deeper holes,some times it might just be color choice..hang on tight

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Row Quietly and fish a Cataraft
( formerly Steelheader boy) ----<'))>>{

[This message has been edited by Osprey (edited 05-26-2000).]

Hooknose,
Are you checking the Kwikfish to make sure that they are runnin true and diving straight. I attended a seminar given by Dan Ross he said check it static, then pull slowly through the water, then pull it swiftly through the water, if it pulls straight and passes all three of these tests it is tuned properly. If you wrap it you'll need to check it over again. He also said that tuned Kfish will outperform untuned Kfish at least 5 to 1. I agree with the other guys a K15 will dive 8 - 10 ft. on its own depending on the current, you might be burrowing it in with dropper. You might also go to the ifish page and look at the old discussion board, RT has posted some good plug tips there. Hope this helps.
Tight lines, Jeff

I probably need to be more attentive to the tuning of the plugs. I make sure they are true next to the boat, but haven't really been making sure they track true. This will be something to try.
I have a number of different colors and will have to try using different combinations more.
What about rattles? some kwikfish rattle and some don't. Any opinions???
Also, when would you go to a different plug other than the kwikfish? How much do you take water visibility into account when fishing them?

The number one reason for bait-wrapped Kwikfish not performing well is because they are not tuned properly, as salmonhead mentioned, or even more common is having your bait wrapped unevenly. I always wrap all my Kwikies at home the night before so I can be assured that my wraps are perfect. All the tuning in the world will not help if you don't put the fillet on right.

I always make sure that my fillet is the same thickness on each side which means I often discard the belly cavity section of the fillet as this is the thinnest section. Or save that thin section for your K14's. You don't want one side thicker than the other when you put the fillet on or it will throw the "balance" off.

As far as weighting goes, I have caught kings and silvers by flatlining(no weight added) but this is the exception to the rule. Most of the time I only flatline the Kwikies for chums when I am fishing the shallow edges and tailouts. You will need to adjust weights in each hole as some may require only 1/2 oz. while deeper and faster holes require as much as 6 oz. or more. Most of the time I run between 1 and 3 oz weights.

I find that beginners who fish with me have an easier time using a fixed dropper insted of a slider. This is achieved via 3-way swivel. With a slider, your cannonball sinker often hangs up on the bottom and the novice will not know it as he/she keeps feeding out line while the Kwikie is riding up in the water column instead of near the bottom. Due to the large size and bouyancy of these plugs, the require ample current to get down near the bottom. This is due to their swimming "side-to-side" action whereas a Hotshot or Wiggle wart will run at a different angle allowing for deeper diving. Trust me on this one! While you think your Kwikifish is diving way down with no weight, it is but not as deep as you might think. Salmon attack quickfish with a fury and will rise way up in the water column to grab them. I've seen this in clear water conditions many times.

Kwikfishing is my singlemost favorite method of fishing, period. I have put a tremendous amount of hours into perfecting this method and it has paid off, bigtime!

Life is short...fish hard!

I too am an avid user of the wrapped k-fish.I would say that everyone so far has giving you sound advise. I will only add a little trick an Oregon guide showed me. If you slowly lower your rig til the dropper weight hits bottom,then click your reel over. Rest your weight ever so slightly on the river bottom.This will slow the action of the kwikfish to just a slow wobble. You will see the difference in the action of your rod tip. Keep changing weight as the tide gets stonger or is slowing if you are fishing tidewater.A 1/2 oz can make the difference in maintaining a good line angle

If you're just sitting and waiting with the plugs out it's going to take more hours to put fish into the cooler. Try backing the kwickfish down the hole slowly. Or if you are more comfortable anchored up, ditch the slider and try back-bouncing them into the fish's face. Another trick would be to freespool a kwickfish or magwart down into the tailout and slowly reel through the hole. These are more aggressive tactics and should cut down time between bites.

But, if you want to keep you tackle and tactics as is, I would definitely try the rattling models. Basically, all you are doing is plunking, so the fish will be able to find the rattling kwickies better. Also, heavily scent the plugs on top of the bait wraps to form a good stink trail.

Hooknose- If you are fishing properly wrapped & tuned K-fish that long w/o a hookup there are things awry or no fish present; they are extremely effective for Kings! Great suggestions in replys here. An extra 2 cents (or so): 2' droppers are OK, but with that I would shorten your leader to 4 1/2'. The Kings aren't leader shy with K-fish, and with a 6' leader this diving lure will be too close to bottom, or even dredging it and ruining the action. Another improvement is to soak your sardine or herring filets in the reddish juice left over from curing salmon eggs. Kings like both scents & colors in combos, and it's tough to beat reddish egg & sardine. In fact, when I cure my fall King eggs, I sometimes put sardine filets right into the chem extracted egg juice during the curing process so that the eggs reabsorb both scents into the sacks. As a loose rule of thumb, for Springers I use K-15's in water with some color & K-14's when fairly clear. For the bigger fall Kings I use K16's & 15's. Ho is right about the effectiveness of a slow backtroll for Kings when there is enough current; definitely more effective than plunking. Also, try varying the speed of the action to slower & faster than your average to see if that stimulates a strike. Try using super sharp trebles in one size larger than stock (unlike some plugs, if the heavier hooks slightly slow down the K-fish action that's OK). For more effective flatline diving ability & action with the K14 & 15, remove the stock front eyescrew, then use a large flatfile to uniformly slightly flaten the topside beveled edges of the front lip section (about the lower 1 1/2"); then replace the eyescrew with one size larger version. You don't need the stock connector; just connect the leader with a strong roundend wiresnap onto the larger eyescrew, and have a swivel at the upper end &/or middle of the leader to prevent any linetwist. The Kwikfish K-16's dive plenty well enough stock, as do the stock Flatfish T-50's & 55's. Also try painting a full chrome K-fish 1/2 blue or green; laterally on one side, NOT front or back like the stock versions. Mask one side and spray the other cleaned side with Testor's Enamel "Saphire Blue Metal Flake" #1639 or "Green Metal Flake" #1630 (from hobby stores). Let them hang on a lampshade wire for a couple days, with the light on for awhile, to cure the paint. Don't be concerned with paint imperfections that likely look more natural to the fish anyway. Then cut a small arrow shaped piece of flame red, or chartruse, lure tape and put it on the underneath side near the back tail. And put ONE tape-eye under the front nose on the painted side. I call this pattern "RT's Injured Baitfish" because it looks like an injured fish struggling on it's side (I have talked with Buzz Ramsey about Luhr Jensen making this pattern, although it would be a more difficult factory painting setup for them). It has outfished any fantsy stock colors for me. Good luck. - Steve

[This message has been edited by Reel Truth (edited 05-26-2000).]

Some really great ideas here. It is easy to get caught in the same rut and it is helpful to hear your ways of fishing these plugs.
RT - Thanks for your tips on painting the plugs. I have had good success with painted hotshots and will try this with my kwikfish.
I hope I can sometime return the favor of information that you all have shared with me. Thanks again.

-Hooknose