• December to June for the feeder Chinooks and some halibut starting to show in Ucluelet around mid May
• May – September for Halibut in Ucluelet and large numbers of Chinook(King) salmon.(they run all summer).
• July  – September 10 in Ucluelet for large Kings
• July, August and September for Coho in Ucluelet

Ucluelet has been very hot the last few years and is expected to continue for this year. If you are trying to decide what time in the summer to come, any time between May and September is good. While June, July and August are peak months, May and September can still see good action as well. Many people are concerned about catching fish, so one thing to note about Ucluelet is that it is not like some other areas that have really slow times and really good times. We have a large area to choose from and there are so many fish travelling past, that you almost always have a good shot of a good days fishing, whether coming in May, June, July, August or September.

Ucluelet, BC

Right now….

Chinook (King) fishing is the best we have seen in quite a few years right now. We are getting multiple double headers on and we are just having fun! Most of the salmon hitting are in the 15-30lb range and there are lots of them! Pilchards are abundant on the banks and this is causing a feeding frenzy. It has been a while since we have released so many fish and had so much action on 15-30 lb Chinook. Chinook are biting mostly on large Tomic spoons and 7 inch Tomic plugs. You can really use just about any larger lures that are matching the bait. Chinook are anywhere from the surface right down to the bottom. The two hotspots are Southwest Corner and the Starfish. We have tried many different colors and found most to be working. The best seems to the 158 plug. Chinook are mostly bright and are producing some great fights (clients are complaining of sore arms!)

Halibut fishing continues to do well at Big Bank and you can either bottom bounce them here or troll.  Halibut are also at the Wreck and on the outer banks. Coho salmon are also out on Big Bank, though because Chinook fishing has been so good, we haven’t been fishing them much.

Ucluelet’s  $10,000 Fisherman’s Salmon Derby August 14-16

Check out www.uclueletsalmonderby.com for the pictures of the derby winners! There were lots of fish weighed in and a good time was had by all! We would like to congratulate our client Bill Sarantopulous for getting 2^nd place! Our guides managed to get 4 fish in the top 10!

Till next time! Check out our pictures below from the last month!

Richard and Julie Griffis with son David August 2, 2010

Joe Flynn August 5, 2010

Scott Anderson group August 8, 2010

Philip Garnett group August 11, 2010

Mike Stickland group August 14,2010

Mike Stickland group August 15, 2010

Cory and Natasha Reynolds Aug 16,2010

Daren Kennett and Dave Plett August 18 2010

Daren Kennett and Dave Plett with 35 and 33lb Chinook August 20, 2010

Joe Sipeki with a 38lb Chinook August 21, 2010

Guide Dan Dowell and Roy Dawe with Derby leading 49 lb 10 oz Chinook Aug 23,2010

Blaine Luke group August 24, 2010

Blaine Luke group August 25, 2010

Gary Rich with sons Jeremy and Aaron August 28,2010

Now that you are becoming more proficient at catching salmon and halibut, here are a couple of very easy recipes that will WOW your friends and loved ones. Don't laugh if you think I'm kidding about the ingredients. Follow them, and you will have a fabulous dinner.

Halibut Recipe

Ingredients needed:

One small jar of capers
2 lemons
Dry white wine
White flour
Ground pepper
Salt
Basil paste or pesto
Butter
Cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a glass baking dish in the oven to get it hot.

Juice the lemons until you have 1/2 a cup of freshly squeezed lemom juice.

Take your halibut and cut it into similar size pieces, about half a serving. Try to have uniform thickness. Cut the thicker part of the fillet in half so that most pieces are no more than 3/4 of an inch.

Take 1/2 cup of white flour and add 1 tsp of salt and as much ground pepper as you like. Mix well. Roll the halibut pieces in the flour mixture and set aside.

Use a non-stick skillet and heat stove-top to about 7. Add twice the amount of butter that you would normally use to fry an egg. (I use quite a bit…about one third a 1/4 lb stick.) When the butter is hot, lay the halibut pieces in the skillet and cook until golden brown on both sides…3 to 4 minutes total. Some pieces will be thicker than others. Take the thinner ones out first. DO NOT OVERCOOK. Flake a piece of fish if you are not sure that it is done. The SECOND the meat turns from opaque to white..TAKE IT OUT. Place the fried pieces in the pre-heated glass baking dish.

Using the same skillet, once you have finished frying the halibut, add another third of the 1/4 lb stick of butter. When the butter is hissing nicely, add about 1/2 cup of the dry white wine and simmer for 3-4 minutes until half the liquid has evaporated. Pour in the lemon juice, and 3/8 cup of cream.

Add the basil paste. (I buy it in a tube from Safeway in Washington State. If you can't find it at the grocery store, use pesto instead. Just drain off the olive oil.) Amount of basil paste should be anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup. You'll tweak it to fit your taste. If you're not sure, use more rather than less. Stir in the small jar of capers and simmer for about 4 minutes.

Pour the whole skillet full of sauce over the fish in the baking dish and place in the oven for about 5 minutes.

Serve with fresh basil leaves as garnish. Make sure all servings have plenty of sauce and capers as well.

EASY STOVE-TOP HALIBUT

Butter
Ground pepper
Shake-and-bake
Lemon

Cut halibut pieces to uniform thickness. Pepper generously. Roll in Original Shake-and-bake and fry in a non-stick skillet over medium to high heat, until just cooked. Again, make sure you do not over-cook. Squeeze fresh lemon over the haliut and serve.

MY FAVORITE BAKED SALMON

Ground pepper
Salt
Bernsteins Herb Garden French Marinade
Lemon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Take 2 medium sized skinless salmon fillets and lay them in a glass baking dish. (If you prefer boneless salmon, either pull out the pin bones with a pair of pliers, or cut out the narrow strip of flesh that contains them)

Pepper generously and shake on your desired amout of salt. Pour about 1/2 bottle of the marinade over the fish. If you can't find Bernstein's at you grocer, use a high quality French salad dressing. Cover dish with aluminum foil, and bake for about 27 minutes, until fish is JUST barely done. Remember, it will keep cooking in the hot glass dish for at least 5 minutes after you remove it from the oven.

Garnish with lemon slices and serve

Like any fish, salmon feed from instinct passed to them for millenia from their gene pool. They are not meticulously analysing every lure and bait that passes by, choosing the ones that look the most realistic. They feed when they're hungry, and at predictable times of the day, such as dawn, dusk and tide changes. When they are in the feeding mood, they will strike at anything that resembles the food in their native water. But…that is not to say you will catch them with anything in your tackle box or that favorite lure, even though you got a big one using it just last year!

When the fish begin to feed, there will be dinner already present to feed on. Herring, squid, needlefish, pilchard, anchovies and even perch will be roaming the waters, waiting to become the next meal for the hungry salmon. Often when I clean a salmon, I notice that the stomach has only one type of bait. Very rarely do I see three or more kinds of baitfish in the entrails. The salmon will be stuffed with herring, or sqid, or anchovies depending on the type of feed in the area. So when the salmon start to feed, you want to know what they are feeding on in order to maximize your chances of a strike.

If you know from observation or questioning of other fisherman that the salmon are feeding on herring, you will want to know the approximate size of the herring in the vicinity. Then you can match your lure to the size of bait in the area. If the salmon are feeding on needlefish, try a long, slender spoon or a needlefish style hootchie. If it's herring you are trying to duplicate, use an appropriately sized Coyote spoon or other herring imitation. Don't just wing it and hope your favorite lure will work for you this time.

One disclaimer. Salmon always seem to have a weakness for squid. Maybe that's why hootchies will work even when there are no squid present in the general area. They're like me. When they see calamari on the menu, they have to give it a try. So the next time you are on the water, do your best to match your lure to the bait, and if all else fails, fish a glow hootchie 41 inches behind a good flasher.

Keep your hooks sharp! Til next time..

In my experience, most fish are lost in the first 20 seconds after hook-up, or right at the boat. I'll go over some techniques that will help you cut down on lost fish right after hook-up in another segment.

If you think about all the fish you have seen lost at the boat, or the number of fish you have lost mere feet from the rim of your trusty net, don't you think it would be prudent to reconsider the whole method of bringing your prize aboard? Improper use of a fishing net could be one of the single most important contributors to improved salmon runs in recent years. (Tongue firmly in cheek) So many salmon, swimming free…

But before you put a "For Sale" sign on your net at the next garage sale, let's figure out what is the cause of so many straightened hooks and broken leaders when your fish is along side the boat. In a word, it is only one thing: ADRENALINE.

Adrenaline is the powerful drug that keeps us coming back again and again in pursuit of the giant salmon. Unfortuately, it is often keeps us from thinking rationally and from doing all the things we should to execute a perfect landing. It is also surging through the salmon on the end of your line, helping it power through that last run in a desperate attempt to escape. With all this excitement (on your part) and panic (on the fish's part) it is understandable why so many errors are made.

Before you get too hard on yourself, I've seen pro sports players who should know a thing or two about adrenaline make the same rookie mistakes as the rest of us. I've often joked that I would like to run my gear with no swivels, with just the lure tied to the end of the line with no leader so I could watch my clients try to wind the fish through the rod tip. (Believe me, in the excitement of the fight, they would).

The best advice I can offer is try to stay reasonably calm. Keep your net stacked under a pile of gear in the bow of the boat so it will take at least 10 minutes to get it ready. That way, the fish will have had time to tire out, and the fisherman will have had time to calm down!! Keep a reasonably tight line on the fish, but NEVER LIFT IT'S HEAD OUT OUT OF THE WATER. A fish weighs much more out of the water than in the water, so pulling upwards on the fish so as to bring it's head increases the strain on your leader.

If I use a net to land a fish, I will often do a couple test runs first. I tell the angler to guide the fish towards the boat. I make a fake stab at the fish to see how much power it has. I warn the person on the rod to be ready for another run, so they don't clamp down on the reel and hang on for dear life when the fish makes it's last run. Often a seemingly tired fish will find one more burst of power when it sees something (the net) swooping down from above.

When the fish is dead tired, lead it head first into the net. I hold the bottom of the net bag in the crook of my forefinger and release the bag into the water as the fish slides in. Don't let the net bag float freely in the water while you are waiting to net the fish. If the fish turns or dives and catches one of the hooks in it's mouth in the mesh, you can say bye-bye fish. Make sure you leave at least eight feet of line between the rod tip and the fish. Guide the fish near the boat by lifting the rod, not cranking down on it 'til there's only inches left.

By taking you time, going slow, and remembering to take extra time by the boat, you will dramatically increase your netting success. Til next time,

Tight lines!!

The hapless and clueless fisherman is sitting above, dutifully dodging seaweed, other boats and the occasional log wondering why fishing is so slow. Finally he notices a bite, grabs his rod and starts adjusting the reel, only to realize the salmon has come unhooked.

But when it’s decision time in the hook aisle at the fishing store, there are so many choices. Stainless hooks, circle hooks, octopus style, siwash hooks–the vast array can be confusing to say the least. Then there’s the prices. Why spend a couple bucks on a hook when I can get a pretty good one for 20 cents?

CHEMICALLY SHARPENED HOOKS

With the invention of chemically sharpened hooks, I reach for the whet stone or file more and more infrequently. Most hook manufacturers offer some type of pre-sharpened hook, but all hooks are not created equal. The different brands vary in shape, thickness, and sharpness.

GAMAKATSU

Gamakatsu hooks are in my top 2 favorite fishing hooks of all time. They are deadly sharp and they set easily. An all-around great choice.

Drawbacks

Electrolysis in the saltwater also seems to burn the points off a little quicker than other brands. The nickel colored hooks seem to disintegrate the quickest and the red ones aren’t much better. The black ones are best.

When fishing barbless, what makes the Gamakatsu a deadly hook as far as sharpness and hooksetting abilities works against it when fishing barbless. The super strong narrow diameter wire they use to build the hooks seems to fall out rather easily once the barb is pinched.

OWNER HOOKS

My favorite hooks are made by the brand Owner. Most of the better tackle shops carry them, but they are expensive–generally about $1 each. I like the Cutting Point model, because they have a very sharp point that holds it’s edge for days in saltwater. When fishing barbless, the hook widens out below the tip, helping the hooks stay in and giving you an added edge.

PLUGS AND SPOONS

For plugs and spoons I usually fish with a large stainless single hook. I use Coyote spoons fairly frequently, but I ALWAYS change the hook to something at least 50% larger. They make a deadly spoon, but they equip it with a wimpy hook.

For some reason, some hooks don’t seem to sharpen very well. I find this most often when attempting to sharpen large plug or spoon hooks that are made from stainless steel. I suspect that in some cases, the quality of the metal is not very good, so it’s difficult to hone a razor sharp point. If I can’t get a good point after a couple of minutes, I’ll generally toss it and find another.

I bend the curve and point of the hook with a pair of strong pliers so they are not in line with the shank. This seems to help in hooksetting. If you need a visual clue, look at the difference in shape between a Siwash hook and an Eagle Claw hook. Try to give your hook the same type of bend.

And if I stay it will be double…

Should I stay, or should I go?

The Clash, lyrics: Should I Stay or Should I Go?   1982

The longer I fish, the more I realize that many life lessons can be learned from the art of fishing. Intuition, or that “sixth sense” is definitely no exception. Every now and then we’re faced with decisions that seem to require guidance from outside ourselves. Or maybe, deep within.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re thinking about changing careers or pulling out of the stock market. Or sticking it out in a certain area waiting for the bite to come on, or pulling the gear and making a run for greener pastures. Is it better to stay with a chosen course, or change plans and hope for a better outcome?

There are so many factors to consider as a professional fisherman. Wind, tide, fish and bait movement, light conditions–they all factor into the decision making process. If it was a full moon last night, were the fish feeding all night? Will they be as hungry as usual in the morning?

I think the pressure to perform can be just as intense in the sport fishing profession as other more publicized venues. Only I am performing without a camera following my every move. Decisions on whether to move to a different area, change lure size or color, or even fish a little deeper all end up affecting the size of the catch at the end of the day.

For me, there’s few things worse than hitting the dock with only 2 or 3 salmon in the hold and seeing the competition laying out 12 beautiful salmon and halibut. (Of course, his has never happened to yours truly).

Every once in awhile, I’ll hear a fishing charter captain lamenting the fact he burned 400 litres of fuel and covered 60 miles of ocean in search of good salmon. On the surface it sounds impressive, admirable even. He was so committed to finding fish for his customers, he gave no thought to the money vaporized into the ozone on burnt fuel.

But here’s the thing.  Nine times out of ten, that guy is a rookie. He hadn’t factored the tide change into his plans.  He hadn’t considered which side of the bank he should be on when the tide changed. He probably only had a rough idea what the fish were feeding on that day. Basically, he didn’t have a well-thought out itinerary when he left the dock, and he kept “winging it” from there on out, with predictable results. (I speak from experience, as once upon a time, I too was a rookie.)

Without a well thought out plan, pretty much all that’s left is to “go with your gut” and hope for the best. Throw the dart. Drop the chips, and let them fall where they may. All too often, people who go with their gut will tell you, “I just had a feeling.” When it works out, they look like geniuses. If they come up empty, however, you usually hear very little. I think we all tend to remember our victories, while the times we came up dry fade into the recesses of our memory.

The same principle applies to the poker table. Some of you might know I’m a poker buff. About once a week, I’ll play in a small stakes Texas hold-em poker tournament. The guy who just won a big pot with a terrible starting hand invariably gives a little grin and says, “I just had a feeling.” The thing is, if you watch the same guy over the course of the evening, he gets these “feelings” fairly often and, most of the time, he’s wrong. Good for me, because this is where I pick up most of my chips. In the long run, the math always rules.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m a big believer in “going with my gut” and all that. It’s just that I’ve become a little more scientific in my thinking over the years than chalking it all up to some special foreknowledge, some magic, and some intuition that makes me a little special. Hunches, or going with your gut, are usually based on prior remembered experiences, whether subconscious or otherwise.

Our subconscious “remembers” things we’ve long forgotten. Sometimes these memories show up in dreams, or are triggered by a smell or sound we haven’t heard for eons. Suddenly, memories come rushing back, events and people from long ago. That’s why we sometimes can’t put a finger on why exactly we did something, only we knew it was the right thing to do.

I think most of you would agree that history and experience teach us that keeping to a well thought out course for the duration pays off handsomely in the end. Investing consistently every month, through ups and downs over fifty years it seems to be a recipe for success.

But then again, we’ve all heard of the guy who switched stocks at the last minute and made a killing and retired at 40 years old. Or the story on the dock about the fisherman who pulled into a spot at the last minute and filled the boat. There’s nothing quite like choosing a course of action, all the while harboring a nagging feeling that you’re really missing out. So what to do?

A couple of years back, I had a group of guys from Alberta fish with me for 3 days. One guy in particular by the name of Wade really wanted to land a salmon over 30 pounds. Usually I don’t pay too much attention to clients telling me they want a certain size fish unless they make a good case for their request. I take the boat out every day, do my best to catch fish for everyone, and let fate decide who catches what.

Sometimes I get told they want the biggest salmon in the world. I smile and say, “We’ll see.” Some 45 minutes later, when they’re struggling with a 10 pound silver and asking for help because, “My arms are killing me”, I smile quietly inside know they wouldn’t last 10 minutes with the world’s biggest salmon. But this guy had fished all over the coast and was still in search of that elusive tyee, a Chinook (King) salmon over 30 pounds

Now a 30 pound salmon is a special fish. In Ucluelet, during late July and August, they seem to come a little easier, but they don’t necessarily happen every day. Every year is different (fortunately this year we are expecting great fishing for big fish). Some days you can hit a good patch of fish and catch 2 or 3 over 30 and a few just under 30. Then a couple days will go by and there won’t be anything over 29 pounds. So you never know. Besides all this, this was early July. I really wanted to get Wade a tyee because I could tell he had paid his dues and fully understood what was involved.  I knew I had my work cut out.

The first day, a brisk Northwest wind was blowing, making an offshore trek a little dubious. Since we were trying to track down a trophy size fish, I started at the north entrance to Barkley Sound, just inside Cree Island. Even though it was July, I was hopeful we could find an early fish working it’s way back to the Stamp-Somass system at the head of the inlet. I fished anchovies in a teaser head 6 ½ feet behind a Hot Spot flasher. We landed a 2 Chinook in the teens, a bunch of shakers and a few sea bass. Right at the end, a good fish popped the downrigger clip and swam right to the surface behind the boat. Once there, it rolled and the hooks came out. I saw the bronze and gold on it’s side and knew we had lost the fish we were looking for. Not quite the start I was hoping for.

The second day, we headed offshore to Big Bank. At 18 nautical miles out, fish from just about every major river system in North America will migrate through at some point during the year. Huge white springs from the Harrison, the thick, fat fish from the Columbia, and the hundreds of thousands of Fraser fish.  Fishing was fast and furious. We trolled up our “chicken “ halibut in record time, and had the Chinook coming over the stern every 15 minutes or so, because the Coho (Silvers) were everywhere and were distracting us from getting our trophy. At the end of our trip, the trophy ones were conspicuously absent, our biggest weighing in at 23 pounds.

The third day, we started at Wya Point, a few miles north along the coast. I figured that since we had hit one fish the first day farther south, maybe more of the main body of fish was farther north. About 10 o’clock with nary a fish on board, I had a decision to make. I had made a calculated guess, and guessed wrong. We had no fish to show for 3 hours fishing. Should I stay, or should I go?

On the one hand, we had little success the day before on really big fish on the offshore waters. But for some reason, I kept thinking about Southwest Corner, about 11 miles out. Was it intuition? That sixth sense? Or something else?  Logically, it seemed like the decision was a bit of a toss-up. We’d tried offshore the day before, and hadn’t found anything over 23 pounds. Beautiful fish nonetheless, but not that trophy salmon. On the flip side, we hadn’t hit anything through the tide change where we were, so a move seemed to be in order.

All at once, I made the decision to go. It was a perfect day. Slightly overcast, no wind on a gentle swell. Travel time of about 28 minutes. I started at the bottom end of the Corner and let the current push us in a northwest direction towards the Starfish, another place that can sometimes produce good results. I was still fishing anchovies behind a flasher and decided on a depth of 85 feet on the port side and 50 feet starboard, even though we were in 160 feet of water. I kept our speed right around 2 knots, much slower than what I would troll with conventional gear. 40 minutes passed, and we hadn’t had so much as a sniff.

I had my back to the port side, but I heard the downrigger creak a bit and I turned just in time to see the rod trip. Wade was on it in a flash and quickly reeled up the slack before the reel began to shriek. It kept going, and going, and going. I knew this was it.  Sure enough, 20 some minutes later, he was the proud owner of a 38 pound tyee salmon. We finished the day out with 2 more beautiful salmon in the twenties and headed for home, a jubilant group.

How did I know to pick up the gear and run 11 miles for the last 3 hours? In heady moments after landing a really big fish, it’s easy to believe that somehow I have a special gift, a sixth sense of where and what to fish. But I believe it’s usually a little simpler than that.

Good decisions cannot be made without good information. Some of that information is cognitive, where I have a logical reason for deciding a course of action, and some of it come from years of storing tidbits of data that come back to help the next time around. And there’s always time to listen to that still, small voice that seems to come from outside ourselves that lets us know exactly what to do. Some of you know of whom I speak.

Til next time,

Ray Vandervalk

If you ask me, bait of just about any kind is more effective than the artificial lure. It doesn’t matter whether I’m fishing with herring strip, the rotary salmon killer, anchovy, or cut plug herring. Fishing for Coho or Chinook, bait will get more strikes, 8 times out of 10. Many of the biggest fish I’ve brought aboard were hooked on bait.

But here’s the thing. Even though I am a professional charter captain, I fish with bait less than 10% of the time. I am paid to produce the most amount of fish in the shortest period of time. Here’s why I choose the artificial lure:

1. Fishing with artificial lures allows me to fish faster and cover more water.

2. I don’t need to worry about not having the right action on my lure. As long as I’m fishing within the speed range for that particular lure, all I have to do is wait for a strike.

3. Because I can fish faster with lures, I can use a heavier leader and larger hooks. This cuts my loss ratio when I have an inexperienced client on the rod.

4. I can change the color, shape, and size of the lure to match the feed that’s in the area at a moment’s notice. I rarely take 3 or 4 sizes of bait with me if I plan to fish bait that day. On the other hand, I have dozens of different color lures in all shapes and sizes.

5. I can fish with large lures to attract only the larger salmon. If smaller salmon take a swipe an miss, the action of the lure stays the same and I’m still fishing.

6. Bait attracts all types of fish, and because you generally fish bait more slowly than lures, you can attract more attention from dogfish which if hooked will make you re-tie your leader.

7. Because of the delicate nature of bait, even a small strike can alter it’s action, making it ineffective. Especially when fishing bait from a downrigger, these small strikes can be imperceptible, especially when fishing in rough water. You could be dragging bare hooks or a badly mangled bait for as long as it takes for you to figure something is wrong because no fish are hitting.

8. Bait must generally be changed every half hour or so because of the water drag disintegration of the bait.

9. Fishing with bait usually requires fishing with a lighter leader and smaller hooks. Perfect for the true sportsman in search of his trophy. Not so perfect for a charter operator with a first time client on the rod.

All these factors lead to less time actually fishing, and more time checking and resetting bait, shaking off undesirable fish, and retying those light leaders after each dogfish.

But from time to time, bait can be the solution that will elicit a strike from that large chinook. When I’m fishing an areas such as bays, inlets, and estuaries that are holding places or stopping points for mature king salmon, bait is often the most effective. It’s also my favorite way of fishing when I have time to myself and I am fishing close to shore. There’s nothing like the feeling that at any moment the reel can be zinging and  you hooks in the stomach of another large Chinook!

Bottom Line: Fishing with lures allows me more time with gear in the water, fishing effectively than fishing with bait where it needs to be checked or reset every few minutes. Day in and day out, this will produce more fish for my guests, which is what everybody wants. But if you are looking to catch the derby winning salmon at this years’ Ucluelet salmon fishing derby, you may want a good supply of bait in your cooler. And, if you prefer fishing exclusively for trophy Chinook, check our TROPHY PACKAGE.

‘Til next time

Ray Vandervalk

If you are fishing an inlet, sound, or straits, it should be fairly easy to determine from which direction the water flow is coming. If you are unsure of the direction of the current, such as when you are offshore or fishing a new area, one way to determine is to watch the angle of your downrigger wires as you fish in different directions. When you are fishing with the current, your wires will be the closer to straight up and down than when you fish other directions.

Before you drop your gear in the morning, determine from which direction the current is coming. Consult the tide tables to determine when the current will switch directions. I will often plot out my intended course on the map or GPS before I start fishing, letting the current push me over my intended fishing grounds.

If I can fish over a 2 or 3 mile patch of productive ocean, such as along the edge of a shoal, and then fish back over it when the tide changes, I will measurably increase my catch ratio. If this is not possible, especially if I have hit a few fish on my first tack, instead of fishing back the way I came into the current, I will pull my gear and run back to my starting point and fish it again. That way, I avoid wasting valuable time pulling my gear upstream and noticeably lower catch results.

The second option is to fish cross-current. While generally not as effective as fishing down current, it can work well in some locations.

CHOOSING A GOOD SPEED FOR THE CURRENT

Finding an optimum speed can take a little trial and error. Primarily, I check the SOG (Speed Over Ground) on my dash mounted GPS. This will be different from the speed function available on some depth sounders. The depth sounders use a stern mounted baffled wheel to gauge the speed of water flow. If you are fishing downstream in a 3 knot current, the depth sounder could show a water speed of 2 knots, while the GPS shows a SOG of 4.2. Drifting down a river with no power would show similar results. If the boat was light and stayed with the current, the depth sounder might show a speed of .5 knots, while the GPS would show a SOG of 5 knots.

What you want to achieve is a good speed for the gear you are pulling. And since you will be trolling down current much of the time, in order to have your gear working properly, you will need to make sure you are pulling it fast enough. (See my previous blog.) I check the action of the lures I am pulling beside the boat and adjust the speed as necessary. Trolling down current, you will cover a lot of ground, just as you would trolling downstream in a river.

Another method I use to make sure my speed is where I want is to keep an eye on my downrigger cables. If I am not fishing too deep and I see them stretched way back, I will understand that the water drag has increased and my gear is probably working much faster. (Not always a bad thing!)
Watching the angle of your downrigger wires at different depths gives you an idea of your speed. The deeper you fish on your downrigger, the more angle you will have on your wires. I call this “the angle of the dangle.”

So in summation, choose where you want to fish in conjunction with the flow of the current, and try to spend more time fishing downstream. It will be worth it.

“Til next time….tight lines

Before I go any further, there are some methods of salmon fishing where this will not be effective. If you are fishing with bait that has no teaser head, or fishing with some types of spoons, then don’t rely on this “trick” to work. But if you are trolling with plugs, flasher and hootchie, or even flasher and herring strip, it can be dynamite.

There is this little known grease that you spray all over your lure and BINGO!! BANGO!! BONGO!! You will have more fish in your net than you will know what to do with. For only $39.95 an ounce….okay, okay.. I’m kidding. I’m sure some kinds of over-the-counter fish attracting oils can’t hurt, but in the saltwater, I still haven’t really decided how effective they are. I still spray my gear with WD-40 from time to time, especially if I think my lure has come in contact with a surface that has been exposed to gasoline. WD-40 works great for steelhead in fresh water, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

I want to discuss one of the most-believed but most fallacious adages of all time in salmon fishing. Here it is. “Fish fast and shallow for coho, slow and deep for the kings.” The first half can be true very often, but some days I’ll catch more coho at 200 feet than anywhere else. The second part, “slow and deep” for kings is based in the experiences of the old-timers and got passed down to us. Before the days of downriggers, to troll below 30 feet took a considerable amount of lead on the line or a planer, like a Deep Six or a Pink Lady. I remember as a kid fishing with a pound of lead on my line in the form of a slip sinker, attempting to get down to where the big one were.

The problem was, the faster the speed of the boat, the shallower the lines would fish. So if the fish happened to be swimming deep that day, it was necessary to slow the boat down and allow the lines to settle to a greater depth. We would putt-putt along, and every once in awhile, would catch a king salmon. We were ecstatic to have landed a king, and the logic seemed to hold true. Slow and deep for kings.

FISHING, 2010

Because of big advances in downrigger technology, I can fish at almost any depth I choose, at what ever speed I want. The latest upgrade I’ve done is to get rid of the stainless steel cable on my downriggers and replace it with 200 lb test Power Pro. The smaller diameter line coupled with a 15 pound cannon ball greatly reduces the amount of water drag, allowing me to troll deeper and faster than ever before.

Since I no longer need to go slowly in order to fish deep, my options are greatly increased. And here’s what I found. Generally, FASTER IS BETTER. Especially when you are fishing with plugs like a Silver Horde or Tomic model, make sure you are fishing at least 3 knots. If you aren’t hitting any fish, go faster. The same applies to fishing with a flasher hootchie. The more flash and dash, the better. The fish have less time to make up their minds and micro-analyze the color, shape, and action of your lure. The frenzy catches the attention of other salmon, and they will compete over who gets your lure first. I’ve caught 35 pound kings trolling at 4.5 knots (yes, that’s about five miles an hour) on flasher and hootchie. They hit so hard, it will straighten the hooks if your drag is set too tight.

Of course, there is still a place for fishing slowly for those big lunkers that don’t want to burn too many calories chasing a small bait. One of my favorite methods is slowly fishing a cut herring in front of kelp beds and shoals for mature king salmon. Too much speed in this case is detrimental, and slow usually rules the day.

But the next time you are trolling and not having much success, bump that speed up..way up. You will be pleasanly surprised.