Salmon w/o Downriggers

[FishBaitThe2nd]

Hey guys, so i got a 19ft trihull boat about a month and a half ago. its a very nice boat, ill post pictures of it later. But we dont have any downriggers. We are going to be fishing hood canal area, i know what to do at hoodsport. But around the area of fishing the skok's mouth what should i use? Now im not going to be right in front of the mouth. Ill be probably be out 100 yards away from the mouth. Ill fish the opposite shore abnout 50 yards away from the bank, and evrything in the middle. What should i use to catch them with? Should i use jigs,spoons, buzzbombs, whats going to be successful? When fishing relatively close to the mouth i might try bobberr/sandshrimp. What else, how should i rig up? Thanks

[Ezlivn89]

A few years back when we were over there, we were using long lines with a heavy weight and limited out, using hering bait

[BentRod]

You can buy sinker releases that will let you troll with a heavy weight. It's spring loaded, so when you have a fish on, you can pull hard and it'll release the sinker (you sacrifice the sinker), but then you can fight the fish without the weight. We've used them with success for Coho.

http://www.johnnyspond.com/luhr-jensen- ... lease.html

[schu7498]

When fishing the skok mouth Ive seen guys catching chinook right and left by just tossing spoons from their boat.

[FishBaitThe2nd]

Alright sweet thanks guys, im still open to suggestions ! I like the sinker release idea

[Fish-or-man?]

You could try mooching near the mouth and see what happens depending on the depth. A lot of the fish are still right on the bottom. I bet they'd whack a pt. wilson dart or herring if it was dropped in front of them. (I think I'll give that a try this year.)

[Mike Carey]

Where do you launch to get to the mouth of the skok?

[schu7498]

Union is the closest launch, but it has almost no parking. Or Potlatch state park up north a little bit.

[kzoo]

Have you looked at deep sixes?

http://www.luhrjensen.com/Deep-Six/Deep ... lt,pd.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[FishBaitThe2nd]

Thanks guys ! And yeah we would launch at potlatch state park, a closer boat drive then union

[obryan214]

haven't fished that area in a couple years but have done well both trolling with either herring or coyote spoons with deep six and jigging darts and such. gonna give it a try this season with the shimano butterfly jigs I started using last year and did well at the mouth of chambers creek.

[schu7498]

heard a rumor that potlatch boat launch is $15 now, I dunno if its true though.

[63Starcraft]

Tacoma Power had to give the launch to the Skokomish tribe and now there charging 10 to 15 bucks if you launch friday saturday or sunday, there was just a dude in the truck taking cash from people for it. Very unorganized as he was only there till 3pm.

[rseas]

Oh no, here I go. When I was a kid... We used to fish Hood Canal from a variety of floating contrivances. We fished out of or on rowboats, rental skiffs, a swim float with an outboard and a variety of power boats none of which had downriggers. Our weapon of choice was an 8 1/2' stick paired with a Penn conventional spool reel filled with 20# mono (Charter Special). At the business end of things we used 3 or 4 ounce red mooching sinkers, a mooching leader and a cut plug herring. Our trolling speed was the slowest speed the days craft would idle down to, or our fastest rowing speed. Depending on the time of the year we caught a variety of fish including chinook, coho, chum, humpies, rockfish, trout and ling. We never went home empty handed and always had a great day on the water. I know that the regulations have changed but I believe that through most of the summer, fall and winter months you can still catch salmon in Hood Canal, Check the WDFW regs, Marine Area 12 and have a great time. Keep it simple, the back to basics plan works!