Trolling T-Bay Spinners (and things) for Chinook
For an off the board Q about T-Bay spinner fishing: In recent years I've fished more often in less crowded alternative areas to upper bays and tidewater, but I used to do this successfully so I will give it a shot here. Since there is a little more seaweed nowdays I suggest using a bit longer leader/dropper than we used to. Use a 5' to 6', 25 or 30 lb. leader and a 14", 12 lb. dropper. [Edit: in my submitted STS Tillamook Chinook article, I had written to use 5' leaders but it came out in the article as 3' to 4'. Don't know why.] Where it's more grassy along the bottom try an 18" dropper. Also have the droppers snap changable from 14" & 18" to one about 27" to use for Kwikfish, which dive some. Put a swivel and golftee bead 18" down on the leader from the mainline rigup when it's more grassy, otherwise without. Use a wiresnap at leader's end for quick changes of spinners and Kwikfish. Some fishers like to use a wire or plastic rudder spreader to attach these to the mainline snapswivel, but I prefer a black 3-way swivel for less fish distraction. Just let it out a little slower to prevent line crossover. Leave 1/4" tags on your knots to deflect or catch some grass before it lands on the spinner. Make sure the whole rigup is clean &/or give it a light spray with WD40. Spinners should be pre-washed and not sprayed or scented on the blade, which can dampen their flash. Super sharpen the treble hook and scent it with a good baitoil, such as herring or sardine. If seaweed grass is particularly a problem where you're fishing I would try a large siwash hook; however, I think the large trebles are better for this trolling normally. For the shallower areas use about a 2 oz. sinker to keep the lure back a ways from the boat. A little more weight is sometimes needed in deeper slots or stronger tidal currents. Keep them right near bottom by having the lead periodically tick bottom. I used to make my own spinners. My favorite blades were the size 6 Willowleaf based in brass and colored with tape &/or paint, or good stock rainbow patterns. I prefered green beads and green tipped rainbows. Two-toned green/chartuse angled tape on the blade tips worked well. Sometimes flame red tips. White blades with green or red tips are excellant too. On some spinners I would put one luretape fisheye over toward the side near the upper end of the blade front, and one similarly on the back. I would use either trans green or trans red tubing over the wireloop/hookeye joint to keep the big treble straight out parallel to the wireshaft. Of course there are so many factory spinners that are great now. They just cost too much when they are so easy to make. G-Spots and Bob Toman spinners are examples of good tackle store spinners. Watch guides and successful fishers for which spinners, colors, trolling speeds, and trolling places are working to dial in. Use your fish/depth finders early each fall to learn the slots, which often change during winter floods. Then turn them off while fishing in relatively shallow water (a long-time recommendation of the Toman bros, so as not to strong buzz the fish's lateral lines). Troll at a fairly slow pace such that you get a nice medium flutter action on your blades. If you aren't getting strikes then vary your speeds and match the speed of fishers getting hookups. The 'Nooks will take a blade trolled a bit faster at times than you would troll a herring. Concentrate in the deeper holes/slots toward and thru low tide, then add trolling the transition slots around high tide. Many times these big hogs will just hammer a spinner hard. But at times they will swim up behind it and and grab it with forward momentum which will immediately stop the blade/rodtip flutter and can even slack the line a little. Set the hook quick! A lot of fish are missed because this type of pickup is missed. You'll increase your catch by holding the rod and watching for these hits as well as feeling when you've accumulated seaweed. Even if you don't feel debris on your line/lure, bring it in periodically to check it and clean it off. You simply are not fishing the Bay correctly if you don't do this often for both the upper and lower Bay trolling. I used to do a quick sharp rodsnap about every hundred feet to whip off small pieces of grass regardless if they were there or not. Also, try slowly trolling K-15/16 Kwikfish & T-50 Flatfish in deeper holes with the longer dropper and light lead, or along shallower to medium depth stretches by "flatlining" them without any dropper/lead. They dive very well on their own; until grass loads on them of course. Try trolling medium sized (blue pack) plugcut herring up there too. Another thing that would work well at times in the upper bay is to backbouce egg clusters with a small metalic Spin N Glo. Use about a 45" leader and 12" lead dropper for this. It seemed to work best after a bigger hightide and during stronger tidal current runoff, but can work anytime the current is strong enough. In that situation, if there isn't too much grass (does that ever occur anymore?), try hovering or backtrolling Warts/Mag Warts or Mag Hot N Tot and eggs, sandshrimp, pink prawns (hooked up my custom way; found on the old DB), or small whole herring. You can also anchor or tie up well over to the side of trolling slots to floatfish eggs/shrimp and also try casting and retrieving smaller size 4 spinners laterally across the current, which the trollers can't do. Just don't cast in the slots when it will affect the trollers! This trick has often gotten me fish during sunny crowded days when the fish were a little more weary. And try trolling smaller size 4 brass spinners with about 1 oz. of lead way back from your boat and away from other trollers during the same situations. It can payoff occassionally when the bite seems to have gone off. - Since I haven't been out there doing this for a couple years perhaps Marty P. or Dennis S. can add anything significant that I've missed here. Thanks guys. - Fish on! - RT
[This message has been edited by RT (edited 10-08-2000).]
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or do you have dog fish hanging out in the bay.
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