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Go to Hoochie for salmon.

24K views 97 replies 44 participants last post by  Ibexfishing  
#1 Ā·
Just for some fun, while I wait for salmon season to come back around. What is your favorite go to Hoochie for Salmon? Mine is the Silver Horde purple splatter back for both Chinook and Silvers the last couple years these have been on fire.
 
#5 Ā· (Edited)
Depends on conditions. Water color, feed, temp. Also location / time of year. Chinook vs coho.

Coho are basically the stupid fish, will bite anything. Chinook....not so much.

If you forced me to pick one, it would be purple haze, hands-down the single best all-around pattern. But then use different colored gum pucky, depending on the feed & water color.
 
#10 Ā·
Silver Horde Kajiki Squid šŸ¦‘

Don’t forget to load up the hoochie with Atlas Mike’s Herring Lotion. Nothing goes down w/o that scent lathered onto it. This works very good for me in front of a chrome scale herring dodger.

Sometimes a smile blade is added whenever it’s slow. The vibrations help and the blade slows down the action if salmon don’t want to commit. 🤫
 

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#27 Ā·
When I used to fish out of Neah Bay & V Island on downriggers-- my go to was a Ace Hi Fly 142... purple haze OAL12r & green splatter back OG142R are reliable fish killers, As mentioned Army flag is another reliable color and have heard oil slick can be productive........Probably has more to do with what you have faith in........ but I have seen days when a short plain white hoochie out fished everything out at tabletop........

I have not used hoochies off the cr except for a mini Ace hi fly 142 behind a 8" prol trol and I did have a chinook nail it off the beach in 35' water
 
#31 Ā·
Kinda late to the thread here, but are you guys discussing Hoochies for the Ocean, the Columbia River, differing Coastal Rivers, etc.?? Seems like the choices would be highly dependent on specific locations... Am I wrong? :rolleyes:
 
#35 Ā·
Pretty sure they're generally discussing ocean here on the salty dogs forum, with Oregon and Washington being the main focus.

I'm clueless on hoochies because I usually don't fish them. A whole toothpicked anchovy/herring or spinfish/super bait just work too well and are easy. All with a single hang back hook and rarely get a deep hook or bleeder, corner of the mouth solid hook most of the time. Have passengers that fish hoochies occasionally and catch fish but a hard bait or whole bait usually is the hot rig.

Tossing a jig in a school of fish is still funner though.
 
#36 Ā·
Appreciate the clarification!

I too have never fished with a Hoochie setup for Salmon on the Columbia (Astoria area & St. Helens), but have used Brad's SuperBait, Spinfish & 3.5" (Mexican Hat) spinners exclusively.... That said, I haven't been very successful the last two seasons, so thought I may try Hoochies this coming season?!
 
#37 Ā·
Agree with QR: If what a person is using isn’t working, think about technique first. Any of the popular baits catch fish, that’s why they’re popular. I use hoochies because I like making/rigging my own stuff and they’re so simple to fish. They aren’t any better than any of the other good rigs that catch fish.

I haven’t used hoochies above the Megler Bridge but there’s no reason they won’t work just as good above as below.
 
#38 Ā·
Agree with QR: If what a person is using isn’t working, think about technique first. Any of the popular baits catch fish, that’s why they’re popular. I use hoochies because I like making/rigging my own stuff and they’re so simple to fish. They aren’t any better than any of the other good rigs that catch fish.
Probably going a little off topic here, but I'm beginning to think my Boat gives off some sort of "ATTN: Salmon - don't come near this boat, or this boats gear" vibe/distress signal!!! :ROFLMAO:

I have all the right gear, routinely change things up (rigs, colors, trolling speed, etc.) when nothings biting! I've seen fish being caught all around my boat (and marking them on my fish finder too), using the same gear/techniques as those around me!

I've even had several reputable/successful fishing buddies come along (that routinely limit out on most of their trips), to make sure I'm not doing something goofy, and using the exact same setups they use (and mostly limit out on).

But, no luck....:(
 
#39 Ā·
I’m not expert, but I’ve earned the moniker ā€œK-Dogg The Fish Killerā€ amongst my fishing buddies…

Whenever I’ve trolled longer than 30 minutes w/o a bite I usually switch something up. If the boat has gone over 1 hour w/o a bite or fish we run 10 minutes from our location in any direction. Not always, but sometimes we run across a slick or birds on the way to another spot and action happens shortly after putting the gear into the water. I also find that staying outside the fleet/crowd tends to payoff too. šŸ‘ŒšŸ»