Questions on fishing plugs

[hstat]

I have only fished plugs once, but would like to use them this next year. Questions, do you fish them behind flashers? Distance from flasher to plug. What about fishing them straight off the downrigger? How far back from the cable?
I know many of you have experience with plugs and would appreciate your input.

 

[Dogbreath]

No flasher.
At least 40 feet back o' the wire.
Go like hell!

 

[Brokenrod]

You can fish them with or with out flashers,I think the preferred way is to fish them without, with a faster trolling speed than normal, you can mess with action alot by moving the direction of the pull on the plug. You can use rubber bands to bring the pull up high on the plug (the higher the pull on the plug the more eratic the action, no monotonous action)A fast troll with a high pull produces some great results. Tomics website has somes great suggestions on getting the pull higher on the plug. Plugs can be one of the best artifical lures going, no flashers, a great fight, deep or shalllow,with a big variety of sizes and patterns.

 

[Mortician]

quote:Originally posted by Brokenrod

You can fish them with or with out flashers,I think the preferred way is to fish them without, with a faster trolling speed than normal, you can mess with action alot by moving the direction of the pull on the plug. You can use rubber bands to bring the pull up high on the plug (the higher the pull on the plug the more eratic the action, no monotonous action)A fast troll with a high pull produces some great results. Tomics website has somes great suggestions on getting the pull higher on the plug. Plugs can be one of the best artifical lures going, no flashers, a great fight, deep or shalllow,with a big variety of sizes and patterns.

Ok, so fish it back 40 feet..and troll fast...like how fast?

What size hooks do I use? My friend says I should run one size bigger than the plug. So on a five inch I should have a 6/0 stainless hook...

For Winters I should fish 5 inch? What colours are best?

Share your secrets please!

Went to Tomics website doesn't tell you anything about speed or how far back.

More help please

THX.

 

[Brokenrod]

The speed will be dictated by the action you want to achieve. Always put your bait in the water to check the action. The more irractic the more attractive it becomes to the fish.Determine, by watching the action, what speed to troll. Remmber the tides and currents will influence the action as well, so trolling aganist a stiff current may produce the desired action at a much slower ground speed than no current at all. Think about what action would work best(some experience helps) but think about ways to attract the fish in ways that the normal monotonous actin may not, THIS IS NOT AN EXACT SCIENCE!!! I guess that's way we are all addicts. Hope this helps.

 

[Fishinnut]

For Silver Horde Plugs that are totally dish faced, with no overhang at the top you can run a flasher and other gear on the other downrigger. These are made to troll slower. Throw one from 40-60' back behind the boat and watch it. Go straight and adjust your speed to where it starts darting erratically. You don't want it to just shake.

My guess is you have Tomics. I must have 50-60 of them. The Tomic Classic and Tuby Tyee run faster. I think you can run them clear up to 6 MPH. They are designed for speed. These have the overhang on the top of the face of the plug. Run them back the same 40-60' and adjust your speed before you drop them. These too should start darting around. Especially for winter blackmouth or Springs. They really like fast plugs. Plugs usually get you into bigger fish too. I would recommend no slower than 3.5 for these plugs and probably more like 4.5mph. Cover a lot of water and trigger that instinct that makes the fish bite.

With all gear I like to spray them with WD40 or smear them with bait oils or Smelly Jelly. I never run any flashers with plugs. When I went to masking my scent my fish catch ratio more than doubled.

For hooks, here is the major problem. I can't seem to find the real hooks needed for plugs. You really want a huge open mouthed siwash hook. That is if you are not running trebles with the treble tail took. I don't like trebles as I think they are too hard on the fish to release them. Try to find a smaller wire diameter 10/0-11/0 wide mouth hook. All of my old plugs have them on them. I don't even think Mustad makes them anymore. I have looked for years for them with no luck. The best I have come up with is some 8/0 stainless eagle claw hooks. You really want the hook wider than the plug, so that when the fish bites down on the plug it rocks on the plug and gets stuck. This is the best scenario you can get.

 

[frayedknot]

I fish tomic plugs in nootka sound alot and victoria alittle.Currents in vitoria and sooke do affect the action alot but in nootka ( very little current )i fish about 3 - 3.5 miles per hour .I like # 632 or the new purple haze , use the tubby for more action . I only run a dummy flasher 4-5 feet behind cannonball up 3-4 feet then release clip and back 10 -12 feet . tight lines .[]

 

[Fishinnut]

Also becareful not to go so far as to make them roll. They are useless then. The #1 color is Tomic 603. It is the mother of pearl and one of the guys is right. I would run a 5" about this time the 6 and 7" this time of year are to big.

I ordered some Lymans cedar plugs a while back. I have some 9" ones they make. These are for huge summer or fall kings thats mouths are getting huge. Running the 6" and bigger would be more of a summertime thing. Stick with the 5". I bought a dozen new Tomic UV 7" plugs last year and put my some of my hooks on them I had stowed away. I really didn't get to use them much as our ocean fishing was very poor. In fact, I never caught a king until I sped up to almost 5 mph and threw on some anchovies. I was a day and a half with no kings at Westport. This just never is this poor of fishing. I put down everything I could think of. Everyone was getting skunked or keeping small fish. I finally ran the throttle up to full speed and was cooking. Immediately I hooked a 20 pound king and a 20 pound coho. How weird. Had to throw the coho back as it was wild. We got one more 20 pound king and two mid teen hatchery coho to fill our limit that doy for my wife and I.

 

[nine eyes deep]

I like to pull the pins out my tomics so the slide free on the line. No swivels except for the one on your hook. I have been told not to run one side plug and the other side flasher with hootch or whatever. This I find is a wise tail, I mix it up all the time. Speed is a factor though. I do speed up. It is hard to give a speed because of the different tides. I usually run plugs when there is a lot of little guys around cleaning me out of all my bait. You will appreciate the fight you get when useing a slideing plug

 

[Mortician]

quote:Originally posted by nine eyes deep

I like to pull the pins out my tomics so the slide free on the line. No swivels except for the one on your hook. I have been told not to run one side plug and the other side flasher with hootch or whatever. This I find is a wise tail, I mix it up all the time. Speed is a factor though. I do speed up. It is hard to give a speed because of the different tides. I usually run plugs when there is a lot of little guys around cleaning me out of all my bait. You will appreciate the fight you get when useing a slideing plug

Ok Thank You.

Got the rigging options, and tie 'em up as they recommend.
Don't mix plugs and other gear.
Fish the 5 inch for feeders.
Get the right Mustad Stainless Steel 9510 hooks and file 'em VERY sharp (thanks FM)
Fish the plugs back 40 to 50 feet.
Fish the plugs fast, 3 MPH or better and pay attention to the tide/current and check for a nice darting motion.

So now what colours should I pick? I looked at Tomics website and from having looked at the most popular colours for Salmon. I normally fish 4 rods so I am going to go and pick up a variety of 8 to 10 plugs.

What numbers should I buy as must haves if none other?

I now live in Delta and fish Porlier and Active and occasionally I head over to Howe Sound and fish for feeders.

 

[Rum Buddies]

quoteon't mix plugs and other gear.

Why on earth would you not mix gear? I could see the high speed not working great with anchovy, but other hard baits aren't going to be a problem.

 

[wolf]

Well we mix the gear all the time and troll bait speed (chovie) but what you want to do before you try it take out the plugs you want to use and just watch them and how they react,

The ol time guides at the lodge would throw one out at the dock and walk down and they could tell if it was good or not dont ask me what they were looking for but they just knew i think guick movin action away from the normal tact!!!!!!!

We use alot of luckie louies and lyman plugs. and J plug these one will move quite well on a normal trolling speed I personally use an old luckie louie shovel nose 5 inch and it catches tons of fish the first time I used it it got a 43 lber then 5 more tyee after that so yes the do work up at knight they have sometimes big herring and oligans there so that why they work well


Good luck Wolf

 

[nine eyes deep]

I mix my gear all the time. You can mix with anchovies at higher speeds, you just have to relax your role a bit. Make sure your bait has been brined first though. My fav's for everywhere are the 602 and the 639. I bought the new 530 series (purple haze) and cant wait to try them out.

 

[frayedknot]

I mix my gear aswell, no proplem either , use ancov as well no curve and brined well yes.favoriate colour #632 and the new purple haze .

 

[Mortician]

quote:Originally posted by frayedknot

I mix my gear aswell, no proplem either , use ancov as well no curve and brined well yes.favoriate colour #632 and the new purple haze .

Ok.

I just bought some plugs from a big tackle shop this morning.

I got 5 inch models

602
639
530 (that UV purple)
109
232
727
700
403

He also sold me the right hooks...

I'm going to pull the pins on half of them, tie 'em up with 2 trebles, and give them a shot tomorrow off Bowen Island.

 

[eaglemaniac]

Hey Mortician: It looks to me like the proprieter of your large tackle shop failed to mention one of the most productive tomic plugs out there and that is the 500. I would not be in any hurry to start ripping your plugs up as I and many other fishers find they work fine as they are. If you bought them without the claw hooks they come with then they possibly could have a ring on the tow bar which should be removed. These are for commercial fishing purposes. IMHO eman

 

[Mortician]

quote:Originally posted by eaglemaniac

Hey Mortician: It looks to me like the proprieter of your large tackle shop failed to mention one of the most productive tomic plugs out there and that is the 500. I would not be in any hurry to start ripping your plugs up as I and many other fishers find they work fine as they are. If you bought them without the claw hooks they come with then they possibly could have a ring on the tow bar which should be removed. These are for commercial fishing purposes. IMHO eman

He told me that the 500 for local feeders wasn't the best and to focus on the greens and glowy type ones. I have a couple of Tomic spoons in the 500 "Tomic" colour that I have fished locally and unfortunately I've not caught anything on them. I was given them for Christmas last year, and fished 'em probably about 15 hours and the Coyotes in Green Glow and other colours outfished 'em bad! I didn't get anything on them..not even a bite. I think it's a west coast thing....

I've already cut the rings off, and I've got half tied with the "standard tie" on the tow bar and the other half rigged as sliders with trebles.

Hope my investment works.

 

[wolf]

Rip all the pins out and here are the reasons why.

1. We use a 5/0 to 9/0 single hook run the line through the hole and put a bead on the line then a swival then on the other end of the swival crimp your hook on and use a good S/S hook so you can use it on more than one set up.

2. If that plug slays them and you have the pins out and by chance you snag it or break the line on a fish the hook you will use but give it a couple of mins and stay near where you lost it the plug will rise to the surface to be fished again when there not out say good bye to it.

3. with the pins in and the way you are supposed to fish a plug you move the knot to the highest point on the pin to make it move more but if you get a small hit and dont notice it the knot will move and you are basically fishing mute until you bring it up and check it and youll be scratching your head wondering what the $#@%.

This is why we like the luckie louies and lyman,silver hordes ,j plugs you need a bead chain swival on them look in the garage sales for them ol fisherman get really attached to there plugs and will guard them with there life once you get a good one you want to keep it look for the ones with the most teeth marks in them there there for a reason and you can get them cheap sometimes,
one of my best plugs is named the Mother In Law" beacause a guest saw it and said that thing is uglier than my mother in law the paint is all gone and its yellow instead of white now but man it still gets them


Good luck Wolf

 

[8 weight]

Agreed that you should pull all your pins. aside from getting your plug back, it seems to provide better action too.

A few seasons ago I lost my one of my favourite plugs in some nasty weather and couldn't see it surface. I found it 2 days later in a tideline not far from where i lost it. this was a wide open area - a ways offshore...not a in a secluded bay etc...what are the chances of that??

I agree that the 500 is a super hot colour, but I have only really used it for the summer / fall mature fish fisheries. 2 other favourites that I don't think have been mentioned are 158(non-glow version of the 602) and the 950 (all brass colour). Brass is often HOT on bright sunny days(both spoons and plugs)

Also agree that you can mix gear and plugs. One of my favourite combos for (central coast) summer chinook are a #8 superior, and a 6" tomic.

A neat trick i learned to "fix" some of the old favourites that the hole becomes grooved and the line gets tends to get pinched inside is to push an inflating needle (like to blow up a basketball) into the hole. These just happen to fit snugly in there. cut to size, and make sure the edges of the needle are very smooth so it doesn't wear the line.

I also retie after every decent fish caught on a plug.

Happy plug pullin'

Jay

PS. for first time pin pullers...I don't think it was mentioned to make sure you have a clean cut on the pin before pulling it out to keep from scoring up the hole. Also, always run your line through the top hole.

 

[eaglemaniac]

Hey Mortician: It seems to me you have recieved some excellant information here from some top rods. I hope it helps in your quest for some fine salmon. Good Luck! eman