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Bobber and Egg in Tidewater

38K views 18 replies 14 participants last post by  PapaHog 
#1 ·
I have been asked by a few ifishers for information on bobber and egg fishing in tidewater. Some of these are new to the area and some new to tidewater Fall Chinook.

I sat down and wrote a piece on Bobber fishing. These are not the only procedures but they work for me.

I hope this will help others to enjoy bobber and egg tidewater fishing.
papa

The following is how I Bobber and Egg fish in the Tillamook Bay River’s. (In tidewater.)

I have been fishing down there since the early 70s when I came to Oregon. One of the main reasons I have stayed in Oregon.

Now let’s get started.

First let’s talk about the equipment. I have always fished on a budget so haven’t spent thousands on equipment but I believe I fish with equipment that wont let me down when I hook into a 50 pound Chinook. Lots of 50 pound fish in the 70s and a few now, they are there and a few come out every year.

I have a 9ft Okuma rated for 20 to 40 line and a 9 ft Berkley IM-7 rod rated for 15 to 50 lbs. My reels are Ambassador 6501 C3 loaded with 65 lb tuff line braid. I carry them both one for backup because you can and will break a rod on these fish. One important thing to remember is never to high stick these fish or they will break your rod. Been there done that. Not Fun.

Now we are ready to rig for bobber fishing tidewater in Tillamook Bay Rivers and a couple places on the bay itself. The same rig will work on the Nestucca River tidewater at Pacific City and the Nehalem River tidewater.

Now we attach a bobber stop (that you can slide on the main line to adjust the depth of your offering) on the main line followed by a bead that the bobber stop won’t go through and a large enough bead not to follow the bobber stop through the top eye on your rod. After the bobber stop bead I put a small corkie (usually a glow in the dark for the early morning low tide-more on the tide a little later) then a bobber that is teardrop shape and orange on top. (My preference). Then an egg shaped weight with a hole thorough the center for your main line to pass through. You want it to be able to slide as to not create slack and let a hooked fish become unhooked (some use a fixed weight like a inline sinker with the small chain) I don’t, I want a sliding weight.. Next a bead to protect the knot and followed by a swivel. That is the main line rigging.

Bobber stop—bead—corkie—bobber—sliding weight—bead—swivel.

Note: the weight should be matched to the bobber so that when the fish takes you’re offering he/she won’t feel the bobber. But not enough weight to sink the bobber. Then when the pull is hard enough to sink the bobber let em have it, set the hook. (More on the hook set later.)

Rigging cont.

I use 40 to 50 pound test line for my leader as these fish are not line shy and have sharp teeth.
Hooks—there are lots of good hooks Gamakatusu, Mustads and my favorite and the only hook I use is Owner Cutting Point Hooks in size 6/0 or 7/0

Now tie a hook on your leader with an egg loop knot and I use about 2 feet (Maybe a little longer) for my leader and then tie to the swivel with an improved cinch knot.

Get a good knot book and practice. There are some good knot tying web sites for us to use.


Above the hook I tie a piece of yarn to hold scent (more about that later).

Now you are ready to fish.

Buy the best eggs you can find they are not cheap so if you get a hen learn how to cure your own. I have a dozen quarts of my own eggs but find myself buying better eggs if I can find them. You want them sticky enough to not fall apart on the hook when attached with the egg loop but moist enough to milk good in the water. Good eggs are important. I usually take two or three quarts every trip. Sometimes you only need half a quart other times more.

Tillamook Bait Co, http://www.ifish.net/TillamookBait.html and Amerman eggs http://www.ifish.net/amer.html are hard to beat. But don’t pass up good eggs no matter the label.

Buy the best scents you can find. Once again Tillamook Bait Company is a good place to buy scents but there are lots of good scent that can be purchased at any good tackle store such as Fishermans and Joes.

I use about a half golf ball glob of eggs and hook them up good with the egg loop on your hook then add scent to your offering and to the piece of yarn tied just above the egg loop. Some tie the eggs on with a small egg net and stretchy string but I don’t, I just hook them on through the egg loop. Some put a sand shrimp under the egg loop on top of the eggs. I tried this but it didn’t seem to help.

Note at this point it is important to talk about human scent. I use Lemon Joy and water often to help keep the human scent off the eggs. Some use rubber gloves. Some use nothing at all to control human scent. However all add fishing scent to mask the human sent and attract the fish. Add scent to the eggs and the yarn above the eggs.

Cast up stream and let the eggs flow thru the hole being careful to mend your line so that if you get a hit you have a good hook set and not jerking a lot of slack line. If your eggs are dragging on the bottom adjust the bobber stop so as to lift the eggs off the bottom and do it all again. As the tide goes out you will have to adjust the depth a couple times. I like to keep the eggs about 2 feet off the bottom. Some like it lower, some higher.

NOW to the fun part... You are faithfully watching your bobber and it is going thru the drift and disappears. Some take downs are definite and the hook set obvious. Other times the fish will mouth the bait. If you have been paying attention you have no slack in your line and you real down easy to know if it is a fish and if you feel a fish WHAMO set the hook like you was going to jerk the fish out of the water then reel down and set the hook again. Better to loose the fish right there than to not have a good hook set and loose the fish at the net. This is the exciting part and for sure will get the blood flowing and will bring you back year after year for more. It is just as exciting every time. It never gets old.

More about the sliding weight.

I like the sliding egg weight so that when the fish does his/her head shake it pulls the line and not the weight. I feel that the fixed weight would allow for some slack in the line during the head shake. With a sliding weight the rod has direct contact with the fish and not the weight.

Lots of fishers use a fixed weight as I mentioned earlier and they are good fishermen.

Line wearing from the sliding weight??
I have not noticed line wear but a couple times during the fall Chinook season I re-tie and snip off about 2 feet to prevent any problem with wear on the line. The weight would never slide unless you had a fish on and then only slide as much as the head shake.

Check your leader after every fish for nicks. In fact I use new set up on every fish I don’t want to loose one to a nick in the line.

The prime time for Tillamook tidewater fishing is the last two weeks of October and the month of November. Earlier at Pacific City

The best fishing hole on the Trask is the hospital hole. ($5 a day) Also the busiest bobber and egg hole with shoulder to shoulder fishing the norm. There are other places up river a bit to fish that don’t cost and are productive like at the end of Tone road.

Nice tidewater places on the Tillamook River and the Wilson but both are better in tidewater from a boat. Don’t expect to be alone. There are no secret holes in Tillamook Bay River’s tidewater. The Kelchis River may be a little earlier and probably produce fish in late September and early October but I have not fished it much as most is thru private property and I do not have a boat. (However I might look for a tidewater boat to improve my fishing enjoyment)

Tides--- The best tide is the last 2 hours of outgoing and the low slack and when the tide starts coming back in I switch to wobblers and spinners. More fish are caught at low slack in tidewater than the other 22 hours of the day. For me the best time is an early to mid morning low tide. I like the first light bite and the low slack to be close together but never the low slack before the first hour of fishing. I have gone then there more than once and had two nice 30 lb hens on the bank in the first hour it is legal to fish.

Thus the glow in the dark corkie that is above the bobber so you can see a bobber down in the dark. Nothing more exciting than fighting a hog in the dark or very early morning light.

If I had to tell you my secrets (and I will) they are. Buy the best eggs you can, fish the last of the outgoing and low slack and use Owner cutting point hooks.

Now this is how I do it. There are lots of other little tricks that good fishermen and women have that work for them and they are good at what they do.

I keep doing what works for me and it keeps working and working. :smash: :smash: :dance: :dance:
 
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#2 ·
Wow! Great post. I can feel the cool damp fog and smell the dairy fields already...
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the tips on bobber and egg fishing. Being pretty new and inexperienced at fishing for salmon, I really appreciate this!!
Now something else I would REALLY appreciate: I don't have a boat, either, and I'm trying to find out where to go to fish from the bank. I live in Corvallis so anywhere within a couple hour's drive, or so (I caught my one and only fall chinook about a year ago on the Alsea and hope to try that again, soon).
Suggestions??
 
#5 ·
I used to fish some nice tidewater with bobber and egg but in recent years the place is overrun with those little egg stealing bullhead. Any suggestions on techniques to alleviate this problem? I've pondered bobber/shrimp fishing the area but haven't had a chance to try that yet.
 
#6 ·
Bobber and shrimp or bobber and Jig. Contact first bite Jigs and they will give you good information about Jig fishing for these monsters.

My approach to this problem is more eggs. I lower my bobber stop to raise the eggs a couple feet off the bottom.

I keep fishing and fishing. However as stated in my post above bobber and egg fishing is best at the end of outgoing and the low slack. You can only go thru so many eggs in three hours. When the tide turns around I fish with wobblers and spoons.

Don't give up on bobber and egg fishing. Good luck to you.

papa
 
#7 ·
IME the Bullheads eat the shrimp faster then the eggs. Most of the time when I threw shrimp and the I still watch people do it they are lucky to get a couple of casts out of one shrimp....Low tide seems to the worst for getting attacked by bullheads to...I just ordered some jigs from the place Pappa mentioned so I am going to try those out to.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the Info :applause: :applause: :applause: Quick Question what weight bobber should I go with. And just to make sure I understood right, 4oz Bobber paired with 4oz sinker right !!!
 
#9 ·
Great post but i beg too differ on tides and bait. I will admit that i havent fished Till tribs but i assume some of the same rules apply. I have alwayse had my best bobber bite on the last few min of low slack and all of incoming tide.I will fish the first few min of high slack with bobber then switch to trolling spiners/kwiks for the rest of high slack and outgoing tide. I learned from a guide freind how fish act durring tides.When tide is coming in the the more dense salt water pushes in from the bottom and the lighter fresh water stays on top. The fish like to stay in between the salt and fresh water thats why a good rule of thumb is to set your bobber at half the depth of the water and move it UP from there until you get bites. At high slack the oxygen levels in the water start to diminish slightly and the fish get disorientated a bit so they spread out and swim around more thus being a good time to troll.At outgoing tide the salt and fresh water mix more,bottom sedement is stired up and the current in the middle of the river is increased so fish push out twards the bank and stay shallow.You can fish bobbers during outgoing tide but keep em set short.I prefer to troll spinners with no weight as close to the bank as i can durring this time.At low slack the fish spread out again but they stay deeper and trolling is still a good idea but with more weight.So the best bobber time is the tail end of low slack,incoming, and the first bit of high slack. As far as bait is concerned i do best with a single large sandshrimp with shrimp scent injected.I fish mainly central and south coast rivers so the bite on eggs may be different up there.Even guides where i fish rarely use eggs and when we/they do use em, more dark fish and bucks are caught. Just my two cents.
 
#10 ·
cobias-


What you are saying about the tides make ssense, I am for the most part a bankie and that would make sense as to why I get more fish on the low outgoing tides. I will disagree though about the eggs vs. sand shrimp. Every guide I have seen on the coos has been using eggs. In example last friday when I fished we got more hens then bucks and they were really bright.It will probably vary from day to do and river to river. it seems like a huge generalization to say you will get more bucks on eggs....
 
#11 ·
Tides?

I fish the last half of outgoing and the low slack with bobber and eggs or sandshrimp. Have not caught many (if any) on the incoming and the flood.

Go to the hospital hole on the Trask and look at the fishermen. You can tell the old timers, farmers (with barn boots) and the experienced fisherman. You will also see them pick up and leave when the tide starts running in hard.

I like to take a break when that happens and then the last of the incoming and the flood I throw wobblers and spinners at them. Then when it starts running out real good I switch back to bobber and eggs. It works for me.

There have been many times I showed up with one hour to low tide and was gone in an hour with two nice fish. There have been times when there were no fish and I went home empty. That’s why they call it fishing I guess.

papa
 
#12 ·
I have been paying more and more attention to scent. Human scent that is. In addition to washing often with non-ultra lemon joy I am now starting to use rubber gloves (nitrate) to help prevent the human scent from transferring to the eggs and other scent.

I don't know if it helps all that much but it boost my confidence and I do expect a fish with every cast. If you expect a fish your ready to set the hook. Your not just going thru the motions.

Stay ready, mend the line, keep watch and be in contact with your bait at all times. Strikes come when you least expect it. Always be ready to strike back.
 
#14 ·
This board is for tech tips only. Please do not comment on the authors post, even if it is to say, "Thank you." I know you mean well, but we want this to be easy to search, and mostly a directory of a tips and techniques.
 
#16 ·
Papa Hog do you always cast wobblers down there or have you tried to set up to fish them so they are on a 3 way just off the bottom with the tide running?
 
#18 ·
Right on that bobber and egg stuff. I went to tha Alsea last fall and did this type of fishing for the first time..I'm HOOKED!!! I loved it, we landed 17 fish, I should say we caught 17 and kept the eight we were entitled to...It was a blast...I love watching the bobber sink..Reminds me of fishing for Northern Pike in Michigan where we used live bait....Thanks for the info
 
#19 ·
Well it is that time of year again. This year there are some real big fish coming out of the Trask and that is where I learned and perfected my Bobber and Egg fishing at he Hospital Hole.

This will work on any river in tide water. Improve success, it is no secret but to the new ifishers this post just might be the difference.
 
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