First day trolling salmon today. No downriggers

[silasmclean]

Today was my first attempt at salmon fishing, targeting chinook in Sooke bc at Becher bay.

On the water by noon (pretty late I know)

My set up was: 10 oz of slip weight, a flasher (no leader between the flasher and weight), then about 6 - 7 ft of leader going to my green spoon.

Rod was in for about 3 hours and I think I had 1 bite that seemed promising, not a catch though

The bite came after I put more weight on the line and started feeling it literally dragging bottom.

I’d love some tips from here. I worry about dragging bottom as I feel like I’m going to get snagged, I also wonder if the weight is too close to the bottom near the flasher and just how the presentation looks overall

All in all I’d just love some input on what I should do from here to increase my chances!

I will get down riggers soon but for now this is what I’m working with

Thank you in advance!

 

[Dogbreath]

Drag Bottom=lose gear/spend money for more /repeat as necessary don't worry the line will break before the boat tips over.

This why buying second hand is worth your while-and pick up a Deep Six while you're at it.

 

[silasmclean]

Does deep six help with getting to the bottom without literally dragging?

 

[Adrenafin]

Use a 8 or 10 oz. Clip on weight, then go 20 feet and attach the flasher. Use an arm width leader length to your spoon or bait head. Shorter length for hootchie 42 inches. When you get a fish on you'll have to remove the weight when it gets close(a partner would help with this) we used this method for years as a middle rod between the 2 riggers and it works. As the morning progresses you can go to a heavier weight. Deep six and dipsy divers are also a good choice. Good luck.

 

[jim morrow]

If you watch the Americans on the Buoy 10 fishery, they only use 4' btw flasher and weight. Peetz made invented a slip weight that has ability to release and slide down to the flasher. Deep Six planer boards are very effective. Also the disposable weight system, the Jettison tripper, pulls apart during the fight n dumps off the weight to the bottom. steel and iron weights work well.

 

[Fishalot]

We fished for years before downriggers with slip weights as described above by Adrenafin. To go deeper use a heavier slip weight like 16 oz if your rod/reel setup is suitable. Peetz makes a variety of sizes.

 

[Jaybones]

Just bite the bullet and buy a downrigger, I am old and remember the days when downriggers weren't allowed, fishing with downriggers is much better. Look on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace and pick up some used ones. Get electric if you can, but even hand-crank are better than trying to use a deep-six or peetz weights IMO.

 

[BigBoat]

Try mooching with cut plug bait. Fun and rewarding when you get a bite.

 

[Reel Gone]

As kid I grew up fishing Sooke long before electric downriggers were a thing and when they first came out you needed a Doc's note to be able to fish one. Guys ran manual riggers with a meat line and rods were wire line with a bead chain to mono , you clipped your 2lb ball on the wire at the bead chain. This was common practice although some guys used mono instead of wire for a main line. I was too young to comfortably run the heavier set up so always ran the middle rod with an 8 ounce slip weight and 50-75 pulls of the reel with the same idea as what Adrenafin noted above. I caught a ton of fish with this set up and up to 45lbs in those days, it was a great way to fish. I also ran Bucktails out the back in the prop wash for Coho and smashed many. If you can't afford downriggers there are always ways to get it done

 

[islandboy]

I use a modified clip 16 oz weight. About 2' of light breakable line. See my previous post. Only lost 1 so far.
I also use a light release on my flasher so it doesn't drag.

 

[PHW]

All of the above suggestions will work but we had a blast motor mooching with 8oz weight and anchovy on a teaser head. No flasher needed. 7 foot leader off of weight. Get out of Becher and get on the West point just outside in 150-350 fow and let out about 45 feet of line. Troll up to top of water a put motor in neutral—let weight carry bait to horizontal line and do it again. Dial in on Coho and then when your get hang of it you’ll pick up Kings. Easy fishing in Sooke. 10oz weight is fine. Keep pole in holder because you are gonna get slammed! But use well cared for/brined bait. They cannot resist.

 

[silasmclean]

Use a 8 or 10 oz. Clip on weight, then go 20 feet and attach the flasher. Use an arm width leader length to your spoon or bait head. Shorter length for hootchie 42 inches. When you get a fish on you'll have to remove the weight when it gets close(a partner would help with this) we used this method for years as a middle rod between the 2 riggers and it works. As the morning progresses you can go to a heavier weight. Deep six and dipsy divers are also a good choice. Good luck.

Put the flasher 20 feet from the weight on you line?

 

[Adrenafin]

Put the flasher 20 feet from the weight on you line?

Weight on main line roughly 20 feet back from your swivel/bead chain, then your flasher etc.

 

[fish brain]

Put the flasher 20 feet from the weight on you line?

Am I right in thinking that you hooked your weight directly onto your flasher? That will not work well .As others here have said you want at least a 20 foot gap between the weight and flasher.
Below is a picture of a 1 oz slip weight and how to set it up, but they are all the same regardless of the weight. Using a 10oz weight might get you 50 feet down. 1 oz would barely be below the surface. I'm not sure which area of Becher you were fishing, but most areas in there are way deeper than you could get trolling this setup.
Here's the set up I would use:
4-5 foot leader from green spoon to flasher
10 pulls of line from rod. 1 pull =2-3 feet
Apply 10oz slip weight as described in the picture below.
pull out 20 to 30 more pulls of line, and troll between 2 and 3 mph (match what others are doing)
catch chinook or coho

 

[Ryan A]

Buddy I’ll give you a downrigger. PM me

 

[Rain City]

Am I right in thinking that you hooked your weight directly onto your flasher? That will not work well .As others here have said you want at least a 20 foot gap between the weight and flasher.
Below is a picture of a 1 oz slip weight and how to set it up, but they are all the same regardless of the weight. Using a 10oz weight might get you 50 feet down. 1 oz would barely be below the surface. I'm not sure which area of Becher you were fishing, but most areas in there are way deeper than you could get trolling this setup.
Here's the set up I would use:
4-5 foot leader from green spoon to flasher
10 pulls of line from rod. 1 pull =2-3 feet
Apply 10oz slip weight as described in the picture below.
pull out 20 to 30 more pulls of line, and troll between 2 and 3 mph (match what others are doing)
catch chinook or coho
View attachment 110114

Woah, so that's how those things work. Neat.

 

[fish brain]

Woah, so that's how those things work. Neat.

I'm older than downriggers.

 

[Eden Island]

One thing to be aware of is that most boats will not account for where your lines are without downriggers. I had this experience trolling for sockeye in the late 80s at the mouth of the Fraser -- using pink ladies. We lost and caught several lines in the process. Some of the encounters ended peacefully; others not so much. Wish you luck.

 

[Drewski Canuck]

SO you understand the distance between weight and Flasher, the Flasher needs to roll and that is what the 20 foot of distance is about. If the weight is too close to the Flasher, you will not get the rolling action you are looking for. If you have a hootchie on, and there is no roll from the Flasher, then the hootchie is just dragging in a straight line and you are getting no action on the actual lure. Remember you need at least 25 # on the main line when running a slip sinker set up. The clip can be hard on the line or will always be popping off if there is no compression from thicker line.

Drewski

 

[sly_karma]

Woah, so that's how those things work. Neat.

I know I'm old, but I've only been salmon fishing since moving to BC in 93. Even that recently, those Gibbs weights were a thing. 40-50 pulls and away you go. Zillions of fish caught this way.