I am an experienced boater (18 ft sturdy aluminum) but inexperiemced fisherman. Downrigger trolling is not for me. Instead, I prefer jigging. I have been using a 2.5 oz buzz bomb, which seems to attract plenty of rockfish, but only very rarely salmon. Yesterday, with this setup, I caught a 31 cm Coho, but mostly it is rockfish, I caught 3 yesterday & kept one. Can an experienced jigger guide me to a better setup or technique to attract more salmon than rockfish? I fish in waters east and north-east of Campbell River.
Catching too many rockfish instead of salmon
- Thread starter pcaker
- Start date
westercoaster222
Member
Try a bigger jig, we use 4-6 oz. Drop down to the bottom, then 3-5 cranks up. Keep the jig moving, bottom fish will hit a still lure. Focus on concentrated, suspended bait balls if you find them. I have found if there are salmon there, they will hit soon after dropping, if no hits I move on. Rarely will I stay at one spot longer than 10 minutes. If I mark bait/fish and get a bottom fish or dog fish, will imediately move on. Jig the entire depth of the bait too, drop down, 3-5 cranks, a few jigs, 3-5 cranks, a few jigs, etc, etc. I use some form or super jell scent, not sure if this just masks human smell, or helps with bites. Mostly using some style of flat fall jig.
sly_karma
Crew Member
As per above, don't dwell on bottom if you see bait and salmon marks in the middle water. 3 ways to know how deep/shallow your lure is:
- depth counter reel
- marked braid like Depth Hunter (different colour every 25 ft)
- figure out how much line passes through the level wind for each across-and-back cycle, count passes and do some math.
I like flat fall jigs too. Fish typically hit them on the fall, and salmon typically feed looking upward, so when targeting salmon I drop to the top of a bait ball, jig a few times, then drop down 10-15 ft, jig a few more times, and so on until below the bait. Then back up and repeat the cycle. I only drop near to bottom if sonar indicates bait and possible salmon down there.
Knowing how deep your lure is makes you more efficient and doesn't rule you out from fishing deeper water. You don't have to drop to bottom and jig all the way up, just focus on the depth band where the fish are marking. More time in the sweet spot.
- depth counter reel
- marked braid like Depth Hunter (different colour every 25 ft)
- figure out how much line passes through the level wind for each across-and-back cycle, count passes and do some math.
I like flat fall jigs too. Fish typically hit them on the fall, and salmon typically feed looking upward, so when targeting salmon I drop to the top of a bait ball, jig a few times, then drop down 10-15 ft, jig a few more times, and so on until below the bait. Then back up and repeat the cycle. I only drop near to bottom if sonar indicates bait and possible salmon down there.
Knowing how deep your lure is makes you more efficient and doesn't rule you out from fishing deeper water. You don't have to drop to bottom and jig all the way up, just focus on the depth band where the fish are marking. More time in the sweet spot.
Rayvon
Well-Known Member
Jigging is most effective if there are concentrations of bait in an area,your sounder is your best indicator,or birds feeding,ball ups showing.Your jig should represent the bait in the area at the time.My area has mostly needlefish (sandlance), so we use Wilson darts or similar and almost always about 10 Ft. off bottom because that's where they live.Herring could be anywhere in the water column,so jig,reel,jig might be better until you find where their feeding.Coho are usually near the surface,not always,so casting a buzzbomb or other jig might be better and let it fall until feeling a strike.
James Brant
Member
was going to start a new thread but this one is close enough. my question is about jigging depth for salmon. how deep will you guys target salmon at? i've caught a couple in 50 feet of water, but that was rare. i'm much more often in 100-200+ feet of water in Campbell River. do you guys jig salmon at more than 100 feet? does anyone target them more than 200?
RiverBoy
Well-Known Member
yes. all the time in fact. couple weeks back i couldn’t find a stick of bait in all the usual spots around CR and i noticed boats in dogfish bay. i went over there and found bait in 300’ of water. i had nothing to lose so down the jig went. i use metered line so i know EXACTLY how deep i am. the second the jig hit 300 i caught and landed a 77 cm spring.
the thing i have to keep reminding myself of is; these fish are stupid fast . 100 feet to them is nothing. it’s a bit more challenging to us, especially given whatever reel you’re using. my reel is 3’ per crank so the pickup is pretty awesome
Nah. We have more of rockfish in our area and all the salmon are usually on bottom! So don’t have a choice. He’s just trolling too slow. Speed up. Get way less rockfish
While a buzzbomb can catch salmon, a far more effective technique is mooching with a choked herring. This video shows you how to rig a chocked herring -
. While he doesn't do it, I usually cut a small slice in the nose of the herring to hold the half hitch - then you only need one half hitch. Also, it's a little easier to get the hooks through the sift membrane under the gills if you slide one thumb under the gills to open them up a little. A choked herring will last a long time mootching or trolling - basically untill something bites it. When coho are in thick, the vast majority of them are found in the upper water column (the top 50' or so). You can easily get that deep with a 4oz or 6 oz banana weight. You can troll the herring behind that, no down rigger required or you can stop above a school and mooch.
A similar setup can be killer for big springs, near shore, and along the edges of kelp beds. With an 8oz -12oz banana weight, you can get much deeper mooching (if there's not too much current). If you're catching too many rockfish - you're either too close to the bottom or in a less than ideal location to target salmon or sometimes moving too slowly if you have to fish where there's an abundance of rockfish. I don't fish your area so I'm not familiar with the channel between Campbell River and Quadra island but I'd be willing to bet that there's some coho that pass by in the center of than channel in late Aug through early Oct. A trolled, choked herring on a banana weight in the upper 50' of water is hard to beat for catching coho.
A similar setup can be killer for big springs, near shore, and along the edges of kelp beds. With an 8oz -12oz banana weight, you can get much deeper mooching (if there's not too much current). If you're catching too many rockfish - you're either too close to the bottom or in a less than ideal location to target salmon or sometimes moving too slowly if you have to fish where there's an abundance of rockfish. I don't fish your area so I'm not familiar with the channel between Campbell River and Quadra island but I'd be willing to bet that there's some coho that pass by in the center of than channel in late Aug through early Oct. A trolled, choked herring on a banana weight in the upper 50' of water is hard to beat for catching coho.
Howzer
Active Member
Salmon, ie coho, can be caught jigging at anywhere from deep to 10 feet. While jigging for lings off Thrasher last week I was having ho's following the jig back to the boat.
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