CA Salmon Opener

[Threemuch]

Heading down to Moss Landing for the Central CA salmon opener this weekend. I am flying out Wednesday! Good fishing is usually the rule. I will post pics when I return. Looking forward to trying some fish flash and dee's flashers down there, since those Sacramento River Chinook never see them.

The real question is whether to start at Soquel hole or the Soldiers Club? Given the state of the world, better start at the Soldiers club, then work north to Mulligan hill. If that doesn't pan out, north again to try the hole, then up to three trees and Davenport.

Wish me luck!

KB

[Threemuch]

CA salmon opener was SLOW. We got 1 fish (about 8 pounds) for four and fished 14 hours. Yowch. Good fun and great friends made the trip worthwhile anyway, but that is some slow trolling!

[Miss B Haven]

Troll, troll, troll your boat! sounds like me and springer fishing! Oh well- better to have fished and not caught than not fished at all. Maybe all those CA fish are hanging out up here? Most of the people moved didn't they, why not the fish? :grin:

HeHe

[fish assassin]

Kurt,

Was a GREAT couple of days off Depoe Bay this past weekend!! Maybe you
should have stayed closer to home? :grin: :shocked: :grin:

I caught nine fish each day both Saturday and Sunday in 55-65 fathoms
of water out of Depoe Bay (straight out). The fish were DEEP! I was running
my deep lines down 50 and 52 fathoms to get to the fish. My tip lines (the
float lines) only produced 1 salmon for two days of fishing!

The fish I was catching averaged 11 lbs. on Saturday and 9 lbs. on Sunday.
I lost one at the side of the boat that probably would have dressed somewhere
in the neighborhood of 25-30 lbs. Got too anxious and tried to "fling"
him over the side of the boat like I do the little ones and ripped a lip!
Gotta do *that* at least once every season to remind me to use the gaff on
those BIG fellas!! :grin: :grin: :grin:

-assAssin-

[Pilar]

assAsin, your gear at 50 fathoms or the bottom at 50 fathoms? How deep is it where you fish and how deep is your gear running?

I wonder if there are salmon this deep off Newport? The other day I when asked big Jon (Puffin) where he thought they would be and he said 'at the edge of the shelf, out by the drop off'. But usually it drops off past 100 fathoms not 50.

So where were you FA? ... I promise, I'll leave a few for you ...........


DUH! 65 deep and 52 on the gear .... sorry

[ 04-02-2003, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[fish assassin]

Pilar:

I fished in depths between 52 and 70 fathoms of water. On Saturday
I caught all nine fish in approx. 59 fathoms with 50 fathoms of wire
out. On Sunday I also fished with 50 fathoms of wire out, but the fish
were more scattered and I never did find any concentrations of fish. I
caught fish everywhere between 53 and 61 fathoms of depth. I *did*
get a couple of doubles (small fish though ... [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img] ) in around 54
fathoms of water.

Last season I fished the early part of the season in about 40 fathoms ...
clear to the bottom ... and was only catching 1-3 fish a day. Then I figured
out where the other guys go (50+ fathoms) and so I promised myself this year I
would not stop to fish until I hit 50 fathoms. So far it seems to be paying off!

... But like I said before, they are 'feeders'. Small fish. 11 lb. average on
Saturday and 9 lb. average on Sunday. The biggest for the two days (that I landed)
was 18 lbs. I *did* lose one big one. I think it probably would have dressed between
25 and 30 lbs. It's a learning curve thing ... go through it every year. Gotta
remember to use the gaff on those big ones! :grin: :grin:

-assAssin-

[Threemuch]

50 fathoms on sport gear is tough! Better have electric riggers! The fish may have been out in a similar depth in CA, but I don't know many who are willing to fish that deep.

[El Shaddai]

I just bought two Scotty electric downriggers this year.....I respooled them with 400' of cable and have 12lb balls.....I was told that the "max" I could expect to fish is 35-40 fathoms......if you want to fish deeper you will need 20-40lb balls......is that an accurate assessment?

[Threemuch]

I think that's probably accurate. Mark, what size weights are on your stern gear? 40s?

[Popeye]

Shaddai....just my .02 worth...I also use Scotty Electrics, but when they're that deep I just "mooch" for them w/about 20 oz. on a slider rig

[Mark Mc]

Hey y'all, don't forget the simple tactic of slowing down to a crawl if you want your gear to fish as deep as it possibly can. One drawback to this is that most junk doesn't fish quite as well. But if you are willing to use straight bait, or bait & small flasher, then you can be pretty effective with a sport downrigger going deep.

I can't tell you how many times guys go trolling by me like I'm standing still, I'm pulling fish & they're not, and they want to know why!

[Popeye]

Hey Mark....idle on one screw = 4 Knots!

[Pilar]

Zacktly Mark. I've always believed in deep and slow for Chinook. Fast and shallow for Coho.

You can even sail (no motor). Speeds of 1 mph are, I believe, ideal for trolling chinook. The trick is to make your gear work at low speeds. Getting a reliable roll out of your herring can be tough. RSKs help here.

I use a real low tech way to get the speed right. Remember that down 100 or 200 feet the current can run a different direction than on the surface. So listen to the wire on the downrigger and keep the speed below the point where it starts to sing. You can drive your boat into the wind to get the extra drag you need to run real slow. If you work at it you can find a course to run that keeps your lines straight and gives the right speed and action.

I've never really tried the 130' +. On my hand cranked downrigger it is too much work. For more water than 20 fathoms, the huge trolling sinker works well. 12 or even 16 oz will get you down.

[ 04-02-2003, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Threemuch]

Popeye's and Pilar's got the ticket. Pilar is talking about mooching too, trolling with no motor. You can even motor mooch. Every 5 minutes or so, kick the motor in gear, for 30 seconds or so, then let your gear drift back down to 300 feet. Mooching is the way to go in this situation, maybe even with a sinker release. Very popular in CA.

I'd be willing to give it a try if my boat was functioning. Who's got a seat for me?!?!

[fish assassin]

Just an after-thought while I was sitting in my last meeting ... :grin:

This past weekend I was using a "hot spot" flasher with a "diamond spoon"
about 3.5 to 4 feet behind it. Strange combo, but it worked really well.
I NEVER put a spoon behind a flasher, but the last day of last season I
was catching fish really fast and didn't want to take the time to re-rig
a broken off hoochie. I slapped the spoon on there 'cause it was a quick
change. Well, it was still on there when I started fishing on Saturday
and I caught more fish on that wierd combo than on any other single hook!
Just thought I'd share.

-assAssin-

[Pilar]

Kurt, you can go with me but you will have to arm wrestle my mate for the seat.

JK :grin: ... We often need a 3rd wheel and you are welcome Kurt.

assAsin ... what is a Diamond Spoon?

[ 04-02-2003, 03:51 PM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Threemuch]

Pilar-
Sounds great. Pray for weather.
KB

[Miss B Haven]

Originally posted by fish assassin:
Just an after-thought while I was sitting in my last meeting ... :grin:
-assAssin-

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">FA- No wonder you didn't understand a word that guy was saying! You were off in fishland!
PS - This is turning into a real good thread guys!

[Mark Mc]

Hey Popeye, will your gearboxes take a trolling valve?

[fish assassin]

To get down that far I'm using 45 lb. cannon balls ... although there are
a few differences in the way I fish compared to the way most of you would
fish your down riggers. I run four "spreads" per wire instead of one like
most sports boats do. Running four spreads creates a LOT more drag so I try
to run no more than two flashers on each wire and run either a couple of spoons
or a couple of whole baits for the other two spreads. Not so much drag that way.

On my tip lines (the float bags) I only use 30 lb. cannon balls and with
four spreads I can only run out about 20 fathoms of wire ... they drag
WAY back there!!

Another thought ... I use bigger flashers than most of you do and that
probably makes some amount of difference, also. I think if you were to run
sports gear with smaller flashers and only one "spread" on your wire, you
could probably run down 50 fathoms (300') of wire with a 30 lb. ball pretty
well! (IMHO)

BTW, at this time of year (spring, early summer) all the commercial guys
fish with "junk" ... hoochies and flashers, plugs, spoons ... and save the
whole bait action for late summer/early fall. Just a thought, in case any of
you were wondering what to pull on your down riggers ...

Good Luck!!
-assAssin- :grin:

[Miss B Haven]

Thanks for the info Mark- but I can just about guarantee you NO sports downrigger will hold a 30lb ball and 20lbs I'm seriousley doubting. The brakes won't take it first of all, not sure what the boom, mounts, motors, etc would do. Might be worth a test. Who wants to volunteer their $500 downrigger to see what the braking and breaking points are???? [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]
Maybe we could get Powerboat Reports to do a test? I think I'll send em a note! [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]
I like Popeyes suggestion, if you want to get that deep (on a sport boat) just mooch for em! :grin: Nice an quiet and no fuel burn!

PS- what test wire do you have to run to hold those 40 lb balls?? I'm thinking the typical 150-200 lb wire for the sports version wouldn't take the shock load either. :whazzup:

[Popeye]

Miss B...My Scotties definately wouldn't haul a 20#er. 12#ers are on the upper end. The brakes are actually adjustable, but still not sure they would hold 20#.

[fish assassin]

Pilar,

The diamond spoon I was using has a long thin blade, silver and
bronze and actually has a diamond shape stamped in the middle of the
blade. I bought them at Englund Marine Supply last season when one
of the charter guys told me how well they were working. I know they
work well on the fall fish 'cause I used a coupla of them late last
season, and now I'm suspecting that they work well for spring feeders as
well

When I went to Englunds to look for them I just asked for the Diamond
Spoons and they knew exactly what I was talking about.

Good luck,
-assAssin-

[Popeye]

So Mark.....are you offering up a donation for trolling valves :grin:

Actually, I asked Bayliner that question when I bought the boat. They said that the Cummins engines aren't designed to run at slow speed, they said it's HARD on them Just one more thing to add to my GREAT displeasure with my boat purchase Oh...did I tell everyone how MUCH I LOVE BAYLINER [img]graemlins/icon_argue.gif[/img]