Leader lenght for 5" Tomics??

[Andrew P]

Leader length for 5" Tomics??

I'd like some input on leader length for a bunch of 5" tomic plugs that I just picked up from Akoo Marine in Sidney. Killer deal by the way and they have a ton. Hundreds. $1.50 used $4 new....and these are asking price of course...

Anyways, of the 16(6 new, 10 great condition used) that I got, 12 are glow, all seem to have some UV action. I plan to give these a try for Winter Chinook fishing as well as the normal summer. Maybe too big for winters?? I think the glows should work great. A handful are glow body with a convict-like paint on top...and these are great in a hootchie version.

Leader length behind a glow flasher? Winter vs Summer? Are these too big for winter chinook? I usually do well with spoons/coho killer and hootchies this time of year.

 

[fishin_magician]

Good score for the money.

30-40 feet topsin winter. Troll fast. Be prepared to sit tight for a long while between fish in the winter, but you'll go back with the best quality fish by far when you do catch.

In summer, same deal, when there are fish around in the summer, you'll do just fine. You may want to go further back....but if the fish are around get 'em in the water as fast as possible.

 

[Slabby20]

Don't use a flasher except maybe a dummy flasher.

 

[Dogbreath]

A couple of those appear to be Yo plugs made by Yozuri for the Salmon market-outstanding product.

The articulated Tomic I found best to be fished shallow & fast.

 

[Yak]

Never really fished plugs much with a flasher but know guys who do and do well. The few times i used flashers with plugs i went with a 6 foot leader.

I found it was more important to fish plugs way back from the clip, as in 60 feet + back, especially with the bigger plugs. I love catching fish on plugs, but for me the big draw to plugs is not having to fight the flasher as well as the fish..

Good luck

Yak

 

[Duffer]

Ive never ran a plug with a flasher, usually leader length for me is 5-6 feet. Distance between clip and plug has the biggest effect I find. Like the magician said.

 

[CVmike]

I also agree to not run them with a flasher. With three of us fishing we usually use two rods with flasher hootchie, or flasher spoon combos then troll one plug line. Flasher seems to interfere with the action in my opinion, and with another flasher or two down in the same water area I feel the theres enough flash down there.

 

[Island Fish Lifter]

Just go fast.

 

[Hit em Hard]

Hello Andrew P
I agree with IFL. Although I have never used 5" plugs much when I fish the larger sizes i fish anywhere from 3.8 to almost 5 MPH with pretty good success (if i say so myself). O ya and no flasher. Hope this helps.
heh

 

[steel_dreamin]

Not to rain on your parade but there's usually a reason for used plugs being so cheap...

 

[fishin_magician]

oh?

Not to rain on your parade but there's usually a reason for used plugs being so cheap...

Yep, all the used gear we see out there should NEVER be invested in....all the new gear that came off the water when all those licenses were retired....useless...sigh.

Let's just accuse all the plug manufacturers of ripping us all off.. NOT!

I'll gladly take those plugs at that price because I know they'll catch fish...

Guess every lure in your arsenal is hacked and shaved to barely recognizable because they're all razor HOT.

Anyways, not every lure has to outfish it's clone by 2 or 3 to 1.

 

[fshnfnatic]

I fished with one of the best plug fisherman on the west coast back in my commercial trolling days in the 80's. Every
season he would buy boxes and boxes of brand new 5in. and 7in. Tomics. Starting on opening day,he would methodically
go through each box,giving each plug it's shot.Within a week or ten days,he would have a hundred plugs narrowed down to a handfull of maybe a dozen or more. These plugs he would mark with a felt tipped pen on the nose with a secret
code that only he knew what it meant. They were his "hotties" and were treated like gold,with new leaders every
morning,and knots retied after every fish.God help you if you didn't follow these rules and lost a plug to a fish.The rest
of the plugs,most with only a day or two use,would go into a black garbage bag and given away at the end of the
season. It seemed like a bit of a joke to me the first season I fished with him,but as time went on,I knew he was on to
something. The man could catch spring salmon like no one I'd ever met.

 

[seadna]

I fished with one of the best plug fisherman on the west coast back in my commercial trolling days in the 80's. Every
season he would buy boxes and boxes of brand new 5in. and 7in. Tomics. Starting on opening day,he would methodically
go through each box,giving each plug it's shot.Within a week or ten days,he would have a hundred plugs narrowed down to a handfull of maybe a dozen or more. These plugs he would mark with a felt tipped pen on the nose with a secret
code that only he knew what it meant. They were his "hotties" and were treated like gold,with new leaders every
morning,and knots retied after every fish.God help you if you didn't follow these rules and lost a plug to a fish.The rest
of the plugs,most with only a day or two use,would go into a black garbage bag and given away at the end of the
season. It seemed like a bit of a joke to me the first season I fished with him,but as time went on,I knew he was on to
something. The man could catch spring salmon like no one I'd ever met.

I've heard of similar stories from other commercial plug fisherman in Neah Bay. Sometimes they even intentionally nick up the ones that didn't fish well prior to re-selling them (so they look like they've caught springs with them).

 

[steel_dreamin]

Yep, all the used gear we see out there should NEVER be invested in....all the new gear that came off the water when all those licenses were retired....useless...sigh.

Let's just accuse all the plug manufacturers of ripping us all off.. NOT!

I'll gladly take those plugs at that price because I know they'll catch fish...

Guess every lure in your arsenal is hacked and shaved to barely recognizable because they're all razor HOT.

Anyways, not every lure has to outfish it's clone by 2 or 3 to 1.

Good luck with that.

I'll sell you some plugs if you're in the market...

 

[Andrew P]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the great input. No flasher(or with dummy) seems to be the general consensus.

As for whether they are worth a try.....they look pretty darn good to me! The guy has about 50 boxes of brand new plugs(no hooks) and a few hundred new. he said that they came from a commercial guy and that apparently they aren't allowed to use this size anymore. I have no idea if this is true. All I know is that plugs cost about $10-12 new at the store and these are new for a third the price and still in the box. The used ones...some are very very well used, others are basically new. Some you can see tooth marks on the paint. Oh and some very bent open hooks...and solid hooks, so I reckon these pulled in some heavy fish.

Anyways, I will report how these fish!

 

[Andrew P]

Apparently plugs under 6" are not allowed at least in some of the commerial troll fishery. Example FN below.

http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/x...m?pg=view_notice&lang=en&DOC_ID=144537&ID=all

 

[Peahead]

I think its a great find. Looks like you may have some 602's or similar there. Yeah sure some of them may not produce as well as others but if someone sold em cheap because they didn't produce ( as another member pointed out) well its quite likely in another area or time of year, they will produce. Thinking outside the box I beleive is important ( in this case the plug box !) these plugs will likely produce depending on where, when and how they are fished. Personally for winter chinook in the vancouver area I generally prefer to fish small size spoons however I have had some success with small plugs. I also fish them with no flasher and farther back from cable sometimes over 100 feet.
I prefer a 3" tomic in winter. Note the photo shows a 3" tomic next to a 6"

 

[profisher]

There is a rather easy way of determining if a used plug is a goody or just another run of the mill. Look for lots of small scratches in the paint or plastic...these are teeth marks...the more the better the plug fishes. Someone has already done the testing for you!

 

[Peahead]

There is a rather easy way of determining if a used plug is a goody or just another run of the mill. Look for lots of small scratches in the paint or plastic...these are teeth marks...the more the better the plug fishes. Someone has already done the testing for you!

He does mention there are teeth marks on some of the used ones however he has lots of new ones too apparently. If you read another post above that apparently some commercial sellers have had scratch marks added just to sell em..... ( not sure thats the case but you never know! )

 

[Hindsight]

I find the best plugs never get sold, they get lost. Wear marks from the hook rubbing agaist the plug from being used alot is your best bet. Just dumped a 100 plugs at the Port Renfrew Dump Tom Moss miss ya man

He does mention there are teeth marks on some of the used ones however he has lots of new ones too apparently. If you read another post above that apparently some commercial sellers have had scratch marks added just to sell em..... ( not sure thats the case but you never know! )