Rigging for the Salmon Challenge

[Spot]

OK, so you guys probably want to make sure you're set for the upcoming Salmon Challenge.  This is the place to talk about rigging, gear and clothing.

Dress:
The estuary temperatures are fairly warm.  If you're planning on staying in Young's Bay, wear whatever is comfortable for the air temperatures.  A short soak shouldn't be life threatening.

If you plan on fishing the B10 area, please dress for prolonged cold water immersion.  This venue tends to be a lot windier and choppier than the Bay.  There's tons of boat traffic and there are areas that focus the chop into standing waves.

Safety:
- A VHF is a REALLY good idea if you're planning on fishing the B10 area (anywhere north of the Young's Bay bridge).  Set your VHF to monitor 16, and 13.  These are the CG and Shipping channels.  Also, the unofficial NWKA channel is 69.
- If you have a safety flag, fly it.  This is especially important in the B10 area.

Fishing Gear:
This will for the most part, be a trolling game.  There may also be the opportunity to mooch in some areas.

Trolling rigs:

Getting down:
4, 5 or 6oz cannonball weights on a sliding swivel (See the Springers for Dummies article). 
or
Delta, Dipsy, etc etc divers that put you around 20ft deep (Better for Coho but will work for Chinook)

For the deep water sections of this fishery, mark 40 feet of mainline with a colored bobber stop.  This allows you to feed out "20 pulls" of line without having to put down your paddle.  You may fish deeper or shallower but you'll know approximately how much line you have out.


Leaders:
Leader length should be between 5 and 7 feet.  There aren't many snags and these fish aren't leader shy so you can use a heavy 25 to 50lb leader.  Attach your leader to your mainline by way of a bead chain.

Bling:
You can use a flasher such as Konezone to draw more attention to your rig.  Bling is good.
If you use a flasher, make sure you add a bead chain before and after the flasher to avoid tangles.

Bait/Lure:
Spinners such as Yakima Baits "Bob Toman" or Luhr Jensens "Guide Tech" are the easiest to troll.  They tend to have really good results as well.


Brined cut plug Green label herring on a mooching rig just plain work.  To keep things simple, I will usually brine my herring, plug cut them and then return to brine.  On the river, I'll keep them in a small cooler on ice.

Green or red label herring on a rotator work as well and are easier to rig on the fly.
"http://www.youtube.com/v/OZxe4Tqldms?fs=1&hl=en_US

A relatively new choice would be using a Brad's Super Cut Plug.  This is a cut plug shaped lure with a hollow cavity in which you can place bait and/or scent.

Mooching/Trooching:
If you see schools of fish on your finder, you may choose to mooch/jig.
For hardware, consider using a smaller Buzzbomb or Pt. Wilson Dart
For bait, use a whole herring on a mooching rig with a 3 or 4 oz. mooching weight.
 
I hope this helped!!! Please feel free to post your questions on rigging to this thread. 

-Mark-

[Lee]

I would just add something for the jigging part.  If you plan to jig, it would be REALLY helpful to have a good FF and a line counting reel.  You don't HAVE to have it, but it would definitely make things better for you.

[coosbayyaker]

"Blue fox would work ok but i would put it behind a flasher and a little weight, a spinner by itself will just be a junk(smugula,as Ralph cals it) grabber . I'm using brads cut plug behind a dees flasher with a 12 inch dropper to 1-2 ounce cannonball. I don't know the area so may use more weight if there is stronger current."

1-2 ounces will work in the bay i'm sure, but like Spot said youll need much more in the mainstem.

I'm really liking the Brads cut plug. I do it like this, without the oil, i just squeeze out the oil and take the tuna with me in a little tuperware. After i load it i give it a squirt of scent and i'm good to go. I'll See how it works this season. I haven't used a super bait yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeBijaKkpLM

[ndogg]

Thanks for the tips.  As a newbie salmon fisherman, these pointed me in the right direction.  Unfortunately that direction is to the store, but at least now I will be buying the right stuff. 
Thanks.

[Madoc]

The failed tuna trip that I went out on friday from Garibaldi turned into a salmon charter in the last two hours - hatchery coho were smashing the green rapalas that we were trolling, and so we switched out to salmon gear in order to take advantage of the presence of fish.  Dipsy diver followed by an hootchie and a wobbler.  I ended up with a decent coho as a result.

Lesson that I took away from this - Salmon University is correct - any color as long as it is green.  And R15 Magnum X-raps work to catch salmon.

[Spot]

Here's a little sum'n sum'n posted on iFish this afternoon....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I fished all day say in youngs bay with 3 poles. Had one take down in the morning and lost it at the boat. Sunday fished all day had two take downs first thing and then at high tide in the evening the bite turned on. We landed 3 nooks within an hour. All on hardware and all over 30lbs. I saw lots of fish netted on sunday.

[pelagic paddler]

curious if he means inside Youngs bay proper or the "area" often referred to as "Youngs Bay" which is upriver from Skipanon to up around the green can and upstream to the meglar bridge?

I've been playing around with the gps chartplotter and a guy would need to cover some serious distance to get to "traditional" trolling areas in that part of the fishery.  Might have to start thinking outside the box

[Spot]

curious if he means inside Youngs bay proper or the "area" often referred to as "Youngs Bay" which is upriver from Skipanon to up around the green can and upstream to the meglar bridge?

I've been playing around with the gps chartplotter and a guy would need to cover some serious distance to get to "traditional" trolling areas in that part of the fishery.  Might have to start thinking outside the box

Mind if I borrow your Hobie?   

[pelagic paddler]

is it a group launch or can we hit the water whenever we want so long as we are back for the weigh in at 2pm?

[kykfshr]

Not sure if this was mentioned but if you don't have a line counter reel mark your fishing line in 10 foot sections up to about 50 feet.  with braid use a contrasting color sharpie.  mono tie a bobber stop on.  it's easier to use this as a reference instead of counting pulls.

Scott

[Spot]

is it a group launch or can we hit the water whenever we want so long as we are back for the weigh in at 2pm?

I believe that the launch location was mandatory.  This was to be an equalizer for those who wanted to fish the B10 zoo and have a chance at the URB and upstream tule runs of Chinook.

-Spot-

[coosbayyaker]

is it a group launch or can we hit the water whenever we want so long as we are back for the weigh in at 2pm?

I'm sure you can hit it whenever, just not wherever..

I believe that the launch location was mandatory.  This was to be an equalizer for those who wanted to fish the B10 zoo and have a chance at the URB and upstream tule runs of Chinook.

-Spot-

How far is it to the "B10 Zoo" , is that over 2 miles?

[Zee]

is it a group launch or can we hit the water whenever we want so long as we are back for the weigh in at 2pm?

Technically it's a 5AM launch which should put you out there in pitch black conditions.

How far is it to the "B10 Zoo" , is that over 2 miles?

It's just over 2 miles. Its going to be really hard to say where will produce better though. 2 miles is a long chunk of time that could be spent fishing. And Kykfshr proved there's fish right off the launch. Stragetty time.

Z

[Spot]

While prepping for Saturday's Tournament I found that the reel on my salmon rod has eaten itself.....  The prawl that re-engages the handle after a cast has been worn down by salt, sand and abuse and no longer contacts the trip gear.  Tried a shim but it still didn't engage every time..... @#$%^&*()_   

Check your gear carefully between now and Saturday folks.  I'd hate to have learned this on my 1st drop!!!!

Now to find the time to get a replacement.....

-Spot-

[pelagic paddler]

Spot, if you need a loner I can hook you up...


Also on another note: 

A net is a must for this fishery, a proper salmon net that is.  You can't lip grip these and Oregon regs state you can't gaff them either.    Buy or borrow a proper salmon net to prevent potential heartbreak on the water.   I have tried and its almost impossible to land a decent sized salmon from a yak without a net.