Fish as many rods as you can handle, the more gear in the water the better for Sockeye. I usually fish 5 rods, 2 stacked on the side riggers and a single on the back one. I stagger so they are all about 5 feet apart in depth from each other. So maybe early morning 15 and 35 on one stack then 20 and 40 on the other stack and 30 ft on the single out back. Then move them down as the sun comes up or if the shallow rods stop or aren't getting hit. Speed is about the same as Chinook 2.3 -2.5mph. I use only one colour pattern for flashers...colour wise they look exactly like a ocean bright sockeye does in the water...you want your gear to look like a school of sockeye...the school will be attacked to join your gear thinking feeding is going on. Try to always keep at least one line in the water even while playing multiple hook ups it will help keep the school from buggering off. I usually zig and zag around like coho fishing looking for schools. I also use small pink/red hootchies with the glow white head portion...half the tentacles pulled off. Short leaders, 40 pound test. If they are around you should load up quickly. I try and get the 2 fish for each person in under 90 minutes so we can switch back to Chinook fishing. Obviously this year I'll be going for 4 per person if they open before August 1st and then use the remaining time for Chinook catch and release. With the above set up I've had 5 on at a time and landed 5 quite a few times. I remember a boat beside me asking how many I had about 15 minutes into a trip. I held up 3 fingers. Right away rods started getting hit and it was 5 on at once...10 minutes later we landed the 5th one and I looked up and the same boat was still right beside me...I held up 8 fingers lol
