Northwest Fishing Reports

Hi everybody,

I am completely new to downrigger fishing for salmon in the Sound. I plan to have my boat ready for my first crack at it in two weeks. Thanks to GCP's downrigger thread I am pretty informed on downrigger best practices. But before I go buy a mess of tackle that I may not need, I thought I'd ask if any of you are willing to share what works well for you when trolling for salmon with a downrigger. I can rig a cut plug herring alright, but am not sure what I should use for flashers in the Sound, or hoochies, spoons, or anything else. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! It doesn't have to be your secret weapon either, just some good pieces of hardware to have on hand. If it helps I'll be in Area 13 most of the time due to proximity; Nisqually-area and Chambers Creek.

Best,
Blake

I know that these people tell what they use for catching kings in this video. They are in area 11 so I don't know if that would make a difference.

I think it is a funny video but they do tell you and show you what he used.


F24 video

Personally I'm going to be using (and have been using) a Kone Zone flasher with a 5.0 Coyote in cop car about 18-24" behind the flasher. I put a hook on the flasher too cuz I've talked to a few guys that say they go for the flasher at times.

Also, don't run me and my buddies over. We frequent the Green Can at Nisqually and Chambers Creek area on our kayaks. We're the crazies with downriggers on our yaks.

hey fish..i'm a little south of Oly...and "know some stuff".....maybe if ya want we could meet up at Ward and try'n kill some poor defenceless KOK's on the DR's and bs about murder'n poor defenceless salmon..DOG

I would recommend you go with a green/glow flashers, then run a different lure on each downrigger to see what they like that day - try cured cut plug herring; shamrock Brad's cut plug;green spatter-back hootchie;green ace-high fly;coho killer(white/cookies & cream/cop car)/3.5 or 5.0 coyote (same colors). Since I caught my last fish on it, I like the Brads cut plugs - and dont have to mess with herring. Go to salmonuniversity.com for correct leader lengths and poundage.

Elliot Bay closes to all fishing Aug. 8th. From the article I read only 144 kings have been caught by fishermen. So far this is the worse year for chinook returns to the hatchery.If you want kings Id say the green edged Flasher with those blue to green mettalic looking hoochies. Smelly jelly and good to go. If coho are your target then troll shallower with hoochie and herring. Going deep with herring will seriously attract the doggies. IMO.

DYNOMITE.

I was out there (green can) yesterday trying to figure things out and did see much action from those around me. Since I was there I tryed crabbing for the first time and it was a blast.... Crab cakes for dinner

Good luck

green can area can be good.....when there's lots of fish in....would have asked..where..what tide..but didnt see your report....

my bro called the other day i couldnt go....they hit a pretty strong out going.....motored around and found a "good looking" spot....like i showed him a few years ago...drop'd the same set up...got a shaker before they could get the other pole in.....got a couple more strikes(buck fever on the hook set sounded like to me) and 1 keeper before the tide slacked.....they spun around and motored bk south look'n for bait....found some and drop'd a brads and a plug thingy with the superduper wrap thingy on it....troll'd till they didnt see bait and pulled up and went and found it again.....3rd pass caught a REALLYY NICE (his eyes got a little big when he told it) silver with a extra fin...a old buddy called a couple weeks ago with a story about fish'n farther south...outside the rip DR'n with the out going down bye the old fish trap...him and his partner have been working at it some and only a few keepers...and again a few REALLLYY NICE wild silvers.....he saw a guy catch 1 keeper in several days of try'n...he was drift'n the edge of the rip jig'n a big white jig that was bent pretty good....all i got for ya..im still repair'n boat bugs..
..DOG

Jim's break away flashers or hot spot flashers (UV) is the only flashers I will use. Green splatter back hootchies, cookies and cream spoons. Tomic plugs (pricey) work good in some areas as well. I will PM you some other info as well.

I'm sure everyone's said this already, but I just thought I'd throw in my two cents!
I've been using:
Green Glow Hot Spot flasher (or the UV kinda purplish hot shot if the suns out) with any of the following behind it:
Green Ace Hi (30"-35" leader)
Green Spatter Back or Purple Haze hoochie or needle fish (30"-35" leader)
Green Spatter Back, Cop Car, or Cookies and Cream colored Coho Killer, Coyote or Sonic Edge Spoons (55"-62" leader)
Brads Cut Plugs (55"-62" leader)
I've also seen people catching em on glow Tomic Plugs

The Dogs have been thick this year, so I've given up trying to use herring, so Pro-Cure has been my best friend!
I've been smearing anchovy gel on my flasher, and garlic or salmon slammer on whatever I'm dragging behind it. My friends been using Smelly Jelly and having good luck too.
Good luck out there! And enjoy those crab cakes!

Green splatter back flasher, orange splatter back flasher *cough winter black mouth *cough Theres tons of good flasher out there. I like splatter back green glow with the echip in it. A good assortment of green squids. Coho like more of a lighter color green like an apple core and get the flash inserts for all squids. Coyote spoons work good, lots of good color to chose from. Cut plugs are good to troll for all kinds of salmon. Good luckk!

'OL GREY DOG wrote:hey fish..i'm a little south of Oly...and "know some stuff".....maybe if ya want we could meet up at Ward and try'n kill some poor defenceless KOK's on the DR's and bs about murder'n poor defenceless salmon..DOG

<shrugs>

Im watching this post closley also as I will b out for salmon in area 9 on aug. 24th & 25th. Me and 3 friends will b renting a lg boat & heading out for salmon & crab. Thanks for all the info posted, great start as to what we should be using. Anyone else that would like to chime in w/ info, the more the better. Thanks all! =d>

Lots of good info so far. Goto colors are white, green and army truck in UV and glow patterns. Coho Killers are usually a good bet as are King Fisher and Sonic Edge spoons. Any of these in white lightning pattern/color will put fish in the boat. Another good bet are the B2 Squids, get a few glow or UV white in the small and large sizes. Puget Sound bait seems to be on the small size and sometimes the smaller offerings do the trick. Also, this month two new sizes of Brad's Super Cut Plug baits are due to be released. I am certian that the smaller size will be a staple for years to come and will see double duty on Lake Washington for cutt fishermen. If you shop on e-bay, type in "pro-troll" for a search and order up some surplus flashers from the factory. For 5 to 6 bucks a pop you can pick up 8 and 11 inch flashers in several different patterns/colors.

[quote="Jsmooth"]Im watching this post closley also as I will b out for salmon in area 9 on aug. 24th & 25th. Me and 3 friends will b renting a lg boat & heading out for salmon & crab. Thanks for all the info posted, great start as to what we should be using. Anyone else that would like to chime in w/ info, the more the better. Thanks all! =d&gt]

Have fun while your over here! I just want to make sure you're aware you can only crab Wed-Sat around here, so you'll only get to crab on Wed, the 25th. As far as crabbing goes, I've been doing really well in over 100 feet of water using chicken and a can of clams with some holes poked in it.
Plenty of fish to catch on Tuesday though!:cheers:

Thanks for the heads up Blurock, good to know in advance. I do also plan on calling WDFW when i head over to double check where & what we are going for is legal and in season. Bottom line... this fishing adventure will kick ass no matter what we catch, cause.... Fishing is Fishing! and fishing w/ my best buds is unbeatable!

Unfortunately salmon in our local waters can be finicky and the tactics and gear needed can vary from place to place and from species to species just within the Puget Sound. There isn't one tried and true method that works all the time everywhere....

I'm assuming since you mentioned DR's that you'll be predominately trolling. First things first I'd make sure I have some extra terminal gear for your downrigger.

-A few extra clips, a few extra balls, snubbers, terminal repair kits, wire clippers, needlenose pliers...Gotta be prepared in case a DR needs some repairing done while on the water. Trust me, it happens, and you'll be glad you have the extra gear when you really do need it.... Don't want to only be down to one DR when the fishing is good....ATLEAST have one extra clip/ball/snubber/repair kit.

I'd also make sure to have an extra spool of mainline in case you need to fill up a spool on the water. Pline CXX gets my business, 15, 17 or 20 lb test are all good. 25 lb CXX is overkill cause its breaking strength is almost twice the lb test on the label on the box.... 15 for silvers, 20 for kings. Change your line a few times a year if ya can.

Also, pick up a few leader rolls. Maxima UG monofilament does the trick for me. I have 15, 20, 25 lb test rolls for all my spoons/hardware and have 40 lb test for tying up hootchies so I have a nice stiff leader to maximize the amount of "whip" i get from my flashers...

These things are great to have on board.
http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabe ... main-Large$
I tie these to my mainline and just unsnap them when I want to change out leader/lure setups. I have three tackle boxes on board my boat. One with all my flashers/lures/spare tackle etc. One is for all my extra terminal gear for my DR/boat (stuff I mentioned above and stuff like wrenches/screwdrivers/flashlights) and then lastly I have a small box where I have anywhere from 5-10 flashers/lure setups already pretied. This way, I can have a bunch of setups already ready so all I have to do is unsnap my swivel and just swap flasher/lure combos like that. Note: A 2 pack is like 3-4 bucks so they aren't cheap but they are worth it. It also helps when your running your boat on plane because when folks have their rod in their holders, the wind really spins those flashers and that leads to line kinkage. I ALWAYS take my flashers off my rods when I put my rods in my holders when I'm running the boat on plane.

For flashers, I like to have a bunch of options. It's important to have a few different setups in both the 8" and 11 inch flashers. 11 inch are great for kings, but for Coho I stick with 8 inchers. I don't run dodgers much but I do have a few 00 and 0 dodgers in my arsenal. Standard silver ones. Although I can't remember the last time I fished one. Flashers are what I fish. My 4 favorite colors are green, light green, red and the holographic UV. For the colored flashers, I have them in both the plain silver and the glow in the dark mylar finish... http://www.hotspotlures.com/products_flashers.php As you can see, the color of the flasher is really only the outside edges but hey, sometimes it matters...

For lures, I fish 4 lures and thats about it. Coho Killer, Coyote Spoons (3.5 and 4 inch) Sonic Edge and Kingfishers. The trick here is to match the forage to the size of your lure. Bigger herring = 4 inch coyotes or sonic edges or bigger kingfishers. Smaller bait and I switch to coho killers or smaller kingfisher lite spoons. For colors, I'd choose green/glow, cop car, army truck, red racer, irish cream, cop car/green stripe, green spatterback, white lightning, and a few silver/green setups. Glow, silver, and UV setups all have their place...
http://www.silverhorde.com/id108.html

I don't run standard hootchies anymore, but anything green or green spatterback works. Folks also like the white/glow type hootchies and blue spatterback hootchies too. If I fish a hootchie I only run Ace Hi Flys. Same thing here, green spatterback, light green/yellowy spatterback, or blue spatterback. Green is just a great color for salmon in general if you couldn't tell already. Green glow for spoons and green spatterback for hootchies are my Go to lures that catch most of my fish. The main thing to remember with hootchies is that they DO NOT provide any action, so you need shorter leaders than spoons cause the whip from a flasher should give your hootchie some movement. Spoons don't need movement from flashers and lighter lb test is recommended on them so they have better action. Leaders are longer/lighter for spoons, heavier/thicker lb test for hootchies.
http://www.silverhorde.com/flys.html

A few plugs probably also need to be in your arsenal. I like anything thats green, pearl or silver. Something with glow or UV is helpful cause if I'm fishing plugs I'm usually fishing deep for kings... For plugs, go flasher-less....

I would also have a handful of different size hooks available. I like gamakatsu. Saltwater fishing does work on your gear so I always either sharpen or replace hooks often. I like open eye siwashes in 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0. These are great for replacing hooks on spoons. 2/0 and 3/0 are the best two sizes probably. 4/0 replaces my plug hooks. I also like 2/0, 3/0, and 4/0 Octupus hooks for tying up my own hootchie leaders. I like adding glow beads between the two hooks too. Pick up a handful of spare hooks and a file, it'll save ya since you can keep your lures forever, just replace hooks ever so often to keep em sharp. At $2 for a 6 pack, its easy to have a few extra packs around to be safe. Having a handful of GOOD barrel swivels helps too. Pick up a handful of mooching leaders in the sizes you prefer to troll cutplugs...

Scent is always great to have on board. I like the little 1oz scent bottles of Smelly Jelly, that have the consistency of vaseline. Stays on for a while. Herring, Salmon feast or shrimp salt all work pretty good. Remember that putting this stuff over UV will mask the UV, so don't put it on the parts of your lures/flashers that have UV on them. It covers up the UV so it renders your lure useless of its UV properties...
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Smelly_J ... e-SJS.html

Couple great articles from Salmon University:
http://salmonuniversity.com/ol_12_rules ... shing.html
http://salmonuniversity.com/Downrigger_Tips.html
http://salmonuniversity.com/ol_Chinook_Rudnick.html
http://salmonuniversity.com/ol_fall_coho_Rudnick.html

That should help ya. If ya need anymore advice, feel free to ask or PM me. Always willing to help folks out...

Very informative response A9, thanks. Stuff like that is worth cut/pasting to one's documents section for a later print out b4 fishing.

That's a lot of great info A9!

I do pretie all my lures to swivels as well. I don't have room for all the extra re-rigging gear for the downigger though, my kayak already weighs about 200 pounds with all my gear in it :-\