salmon set-up?

[Sofa King]

so, what is your favourite set-up for salmon fishing?

last year I lit it up with the blue/silver coyote in 4" trolled behind this flasher.
http://www.vancouversalmonfishing.ca/guide-journal/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Purple-Onion-2.jpg (http://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vancouversalmonfishing.ca%2Fg uide-journal%2F%3Fp%3D481&ei=bnKLVdmeLIzsoATg2aaABg&bvm=bv.96782255,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNFlE2tmecsxZqqz85z-iUJc5JcCUA&ust=1435288553825459)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21P4GJ43Z6L.jpg (http://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FJensen-Coyote-Spoon-Nickel-4-Inch%2Fdp%2FB001441F3W&ei=1HKLVdi3L4zsoATg2aaABg&bvm=bv.96782255,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNF4Ykb6xAFDEdxVSUU2BvWzDq1G6A&ust=1435288637417903)

[Seth]

It looks like you are also a fan of the purple haze/ bloody nose combo!

[The Dawg]

Whenever Im in Uke, we use the blue/chrome coyote like yours

Or the one that was slaying this year, he called the 'Dawgfish" ( I brought it down with me to use)

A hoochie similar to LP B54


Halis and spring were nuts with it on the deep troll behind a flasher

[.264winmag]

On the kelp: Any color Rhys Davis bullet roll teaser head/5" chovy 5 ft behind any flasher that will rotate at a slow trot. Offshore I like the hootchie, 4/0 single siwash. Loose less fish than spoons guaranteed and they don't chip paint or bend. Favourite hootch is a purple haze cuttlefish with an octopus hootch stuffed inside it, something with a bit of glow/green,blue,pink splatter back, 42" leader any flasher that rotates at slow speeds and clip along at a fast trot.

[MB_Boy]

It really depends what time of year....and where. If I am in local Vancouver waters.....or the spring fishery off Gabriola....later season in Vancouver area....or Tofino/Kyuquot.

Most "fun".....is if they are hitting plugs or spoons with no flasher off the WCVI.

Way, way too many "go to's" depending on when/where.

I can say when looking at teaser heads....I love a Krippled K 602 glow head pretty much anytime of the year and paired up with some of the Kinetic flashers that have come on the market. Has proved to be a killer almost anywhere I've run it.

Spoons.....blue/silver is always a good one for WCVI but on the inside we run more towards greens/glo's and some of the other combinations but tend to steer away from the blue a bit.

Plastic....so many damn choices. A real simple one that always seems to do well is OA812R I believe it is? Kind of a glow pearlish type colour. J-55 Needlefish is always a good one too off the WCVI.

Looking forward to trying some of Nog's Needles this year both here and in Tofino and Kyuquot.

[Sofa King]

my brother was running flasher/chovy set-up and I was slaying him with the flasher/coyote set-up.
I hate running bait, just prefer a spoon or better yet, a plug.
by the last day, my brother finally caved in and switched over to a coyote spoon as well.

[Sofa King]

It really depends what time of year....and where. If I am in local Vancouver waters.....or the spring fishery off Gabriola....later season in Vancouver area....or Tofino/Kyuquot.

Most "fun".....is if they are hitting plugs or spoons with no flasher off the WCVI.

Way, way too many "go to's" depending on when/where.

I can say when looking at teaser heads....I love a Krippled K 602 glow head pretty much anytime of the year and paired up with some of the Kinetic flashers that have come on the market. Has proved to be a killer almost anywhere I've run it.

Spoons.....blue/silver is always a good one for WCVI but on the inside we run more towards greens/glo's and some of the other combinations but tend to steer away from the blue a bit.

Plastic....so many damn choices. A real simple one that always seems to do well is OA812R I believe it is? Kind of a glow pearlish type colour. J-55 Needlefish is always a good one too off the WCVI.

Looking forward to trying some of Nog's Needles this year both here and in Tofino and Kyuquot.

agree 1000%.
kinda sucks having the extra drag of a flasher.

[.264winmag]

Bait, when fished properly, will get more hits than artificials. Won't always put more fish in the boat but it's a fact that fish strike better with scent. If there's lots of smaller shrapnel around than run hardware for sure, kelp targeting springs the chovie /herring wins every time if fished properly.
Also prefer the flasher-less set up when possible. Funny thing I have found though is the best fights are while running a flasher? Much easier to land fish without one, but here's my theory. The flasher irritates them or spooks them into acting different while hooked. I've seen it too many times not to believe it.
Also had good success with the new kinetic/purple onion etc. style flashers, nice and stiff with a good wide whip even at slow speeds.

[FourOhs]

Funny thing I have found though is the best fights are while running a flasher? Much easier to land fish without one, but here's my theory. The flasher irritates them or spooks them into acting different while hooked. I've seen it too many times not to believe it. It seems so obvious when you put it that way.

[Sofa King]

It seems so obvious when you put it that way.

i agree, that sounds like a viable reasoning.
except, i have had many salmon, especially last year, who swam straight toward the boat once hooked.
i would think they must surely be off due to the slack line, then i would catch sight of the flasher now and then, slowly making its way toward the boat.
then the salmon would come into sight, just swimming slowly, right toward us, with the flasher dangling/swaying behind him.
of course once they got close to the boat, that would change and the fight would begin.

[.264winmag]

Seen that as well, I feel the flasher keeps enough tension on the Hooks so they don't fall out if you can't keep up to em. Trolling with the tide they tend to swim straight at boat, against the grain and they run away I've found. Majority of fish I hook are with the tide so I use trolling motor to keep tension...

[Vladimir Poutine]

All good info. I've done a huge amount for the preservation of salmon over the years :(, but to me it doesn't matter a whit what kind of set up you use. They will vary from location to time of day etc etc and all will produce in one way or another. If the hooks aren't sharp, then you will have less success. We have become absolutely anal about sharpening hooks and trying different brands. I've tried several types and am pleased with Owner (stupid expensive) among others. Just look at all those videos out there that show how often a strike response from a fish occurs to a lure or bait that's on a down rigger. Without "sticky" sharp hooks, you may not hook the fish and more often than not won't notice the hit.

[.264winmag]

Yup sharp hooks put more fish in the box! I like the chemically sharpened hooks the best when new but dont touch up well. Good ole stainless mustad siwash or vmc trebles for me...

[835]

. Funny thing I have found though is the best fights are while running a flasher? Much easier to land fish without one, but here's my theory. The flasher irritates them or spooks them into acting different while hooked. I've seen it too many times not to believe it.
.


100% opposite..
the flasher wears the fish down. A tomic on the cheek has zero water resistance... the longest runs and the biggest head shakes will be without a flasher.
And artifical will out fish bait at times as well
regardless that is neither here nore there fishing is fun and we all take it different.

Tomic 602 7"
Purple Glo hot spot with a glow green teaser and a chovie
purple Glo hot spot and a 3" green glo coyote....
season dependant...

[.264winmag]

Haha ok, I'll buy that it can wear down the fish faster but it's also fighting harder. In my experience the most docile spring fights are on plugs, just my experience though. I've only experienced a few thousand sport caught salmon...

[.264winmag]

IMO the salmon want the real thing. Problem is that fishing is an odds game, gotta keep the rigging in the water, sometimes conditions will not allow the bait to stay down there as much. Hardware a false strike you just leave er down there, bait needs to be checked. I feel when hardware out fishes bait this is why, it's in the water more. Also easier to hook and hold onto fish with a big single exposed opposed to smaller hooks hidden in bait, even with trailers. I'd also agree that during a tide change they'll eat just about anything for a bit, but when the bites off they want bait. Every guide I'd ever talked to says same thing.

[835]

lol dont puff your chest.... lol....
i have dealt with that before when it came to people telling me how to fish,,,,, you all come around after a while!

Had a guy out years ago,, he insisted i ran his gear.... sure fine... you paid right? Well that went for a bit... till it didnt work.....
had another guy out.... he insisted i run his gear,,, this thing was obscein! there was no way,,, so i didnt.... untill the end of the day after i was up for a scratch... so ya, the junk goes down and what do you know..... stupid thing hits a gooder....
only fish that day...... What i learned in my life of this is simple... fish are fish,, there is alway one out there to prove you wrong when you lease expect it...... but we dont bank on one off fish do we?

oh ,,,, when i was commercial,,,,, 2200 humpies dead in a day..... 1000 is peanuts!


Did i piss further?

[.264winmag]

Humpies are not Springs:), just like sockeye and coho aren't either. Springs are only salmon I feel really want the bait. Hardware works great on rest of shrapnel. Maybe it's just where I fish though. Guys running hardware on the points and kelp don't do as well. Even found offshore when they're off the bite the chovy sucks em in.

[835]

humpies are not springs thats for sure!
thats the fun thing about fishing tho... if me and you were sitting in a boat we'd be having this same arguement but it would be way more fun... and in my case there would be more beer lol......
then we would see who is right! far that spot on that day in that time of year on that tide with that water color at that time!!!

Seriously tho, i do not have one favorite setup..... but if i was honest with myself, and i was told i could only fish one thing for springs.... after all the back and forth............. Purple double glow ( custom made glo both sides ) hotspot with a glo green teaser and a chovie! lol


i lived in Ucluelet for 13 years and guided for 7 and was a commercial troller for somewhere near 10

[.264winmag]

Ahaha there it is, the Chovie;) if you bring someone to DD I bet I could drink more than you in a day on the water. I'll buy the beer you the gas, wouldn't want you to go broke!
i got 10 years guiding off west side. No commercial experience, but I know they love their hardware:)

[835]

lol........... i miss it... I have to work for retirement and a house and my family now.... that life is gone.... Dad has a 185 Campion Explorer i get out in every now and again off Sooke.... but its not the same as being 20 living the life with no care in the world but fish

scary part is that was all 20 years ago!

[.264winmag]

I did two days last weekend, I don't know how I used to fish 70-80 days in three months. Got some charters this summer gonna be fun but I've forgot how much work it is, not easy money!

[835]

i could never go back... unless i won the lotto... and if i did that,, i would for sure..

What i sorta tried to get at in spirit of the OP's post is ..... In Ucluelet... when i was working.
May, June at Great Bear,, Sail rock.. and a few other spots White glo cuddlefish worked awesome...
Then July goto, yes was bait but some days we rocked them on plugs and big spoons....
August at Wya point ( now closed ) was all bait...

When you are doing it all the time it was a balance of sticking with Bait and then Running something else.. when the whole team is doing that, you have that many other boats experimenting. When some other combo works some days gear can be killer.... and honestly maybe bait might get a little edge but running gear is easier.... by this i mean.... at The Wreck we had a day where you could not keep two rods down.. was impossible.... each fish was 25lbs damned near from a mold.... put on the 7" 602 Tomic for fun and each fish doubled the fun.... line baker super runs... palm burners....

i really tried to not get hung up on one thing, i always tried to remain diverse.. but you also have a team of guys and fish every day all day all summer..... as you know this provides as it happens info... you fish for that specific day if you know what you mean..... i almost feel like im starting from scratch when i go out now..


so ya, i just circled myself in all this fish talk and proved you right .264... in a way .. lol

[.264winmag]

Fishing 30 ft of water and 300 are two different beast also. Like you say when the bite is on eat the anchovies for lunch cause the hardware is in the water faster and more. Likely landing more fish. These are primarily American fish though too remember. Our local fish are smarter requiring bait more often:)

[Stainless]

8 weight fly rod. Few yards of T8 and a clouser minnow.

[835]

South side of Chrow, South side of Florecia and inside Beg that 8# plan was a tonne of fun in July off Ucluelet.....
Flo used to get big schools of Coho