Moutcha Fishing Tips and Tricks

All,

Nobody has mentioned how we've fished that bay in the past and what we used to catch them.  Okay, here you go:

What to take?  Okay, for this trip specifically you won't need many lures at all.  Something called a Zelda (go for green back with white or hologram chrome body, maybe pink on the belly) is what has worked the best in the past.  Something called a Zinger (same colors) is a close duplicate.  I've also been able to catch them on Point Wilson Darts (Herring or Candlefish pattern, blue or brown back, chrome or bronze body).  You'd think that all this would mean that Buzz Bombs would work well too, but they haven't been that effective in this bay in the past.

A TOTAL of maybe 6 lures will be plenty for this trip, since the bottom of the bay is all mud and then we catch them at 15 to 25 ft deep in maybe 90' of water by jigging and almost never trolling.  The big 5" and 6" sizes seem to be best, but I've caught them on 3" Point Wilson Darts before.  I like to use 20# line for the challenge, but yeah... I break off a few.

If you'll use these lures that I've described and try to fish next to Polepole at all times, I guarantee you'll be bringing home a few 20+ pounders.  How can you win the derby?  That part looks to be near total luck to me.  Well, except for that time that Caroline won... that was nothing short of an AMAZING display of salmon fishing accumen.

Fishin-T

try to fish next to Polepole at all times

< insert witty response having something to do with sinking all nearby kayaks >

Seriously though, you gotta fish where the fish are.  I used my eyes and ears (and fishfinder) at all times to locate the schools and stay on top of them.  I caught over 20 fish last year (hooked almost 50).  I think Matt_K had similar numbers.  If you were there last year, you would have seen both of us "working" to keep on the schools.

One one day I was making my way out to "the spot".  On the way, I noticed a few fish surfacing off the left away from the spot.  What the heck?  I fished it and pulled 3-4 fish out of that pod before the masses noticed and came on over.  Moral of the story, you can always go off and find your own fish.

What was the lure I found most productive?  Green/Nickel Point Wilson Darts in the larger sizes were money for me.  I don't know the exact size off hand, but I know it when I see it.  I tried many different types, sizes, and colors and this one was what I kept going back to.

This year I'm bring the bug wand and plan on slinging flies 50% of the time.

-Allen

try to fish next to Polepole at all times

This year I'm bring the bug wand and plan on slinging flies 50% of the time.

-Allen

Yeah, he's bringing the bug wand cause that thing guarantees that we have to keep our distance.

Fishin-T

Whoops!  I forgot to mention ANOTHER really big opportunity for fishing fun while you’re at the bay.  Yeah, the derby is all about salmon and everybody will no doubt focus all or nearly all of their time on that species.  But I highly recommend that you give some thought to the mackerel in the bay.  I’ve heard estimates that say that there are usually around 40 THOUSAND chinook that pass through Moutcha on the way toward the hatchery up the river.  My own personal estimate is that there are probably 5 mackerel in the bay at that time for every salmon.

These mackerels are about 12” to 14” and they cook up great at the campfire when they’re fresh.  How can you catch them you ask?  My first answer is “by the bucket full”, but more to the point, think in terms of really really easy rockfish.  Use gear sized for about trout though.  A spinning rod will work great; and for me, speaking of bug wands this is where I plan to get my bug wand fix for this trip.  They’ll bite on nearly anything small enough, but pieces of fish (like salmon guts) is the easiest.  Where will you find them, you ask?  You’ll see them feeding just about anywhere in the bay that the salmon are not dominating.  But mostly you can find them picking over the leftovers near the cleaning station, once we get one going.

One more thought on mackerel… Mouthcha Jim says that you’d be doing him a favor to take a few cause they are hell on the salmon smolt and the smolt’s food supply when the smolt first get back to the bay.

Fishin-T

I caught over 20 fish last year (hooked almost 50).  I think Matt_K had similar numbers.

I didn't need to hear (read) that.  I just convinced myself that I'd be okay with my wife's plan to have us visit her parents in Fresno the weekend of Moutcha.  My in-laws even purchased the tickets already.     Maybe I can use those stats to get myself out of this.. I doubt it.

Brian

I caught a couple on a 5" chartreuse/yellow BuzzBomb, before breaking it off. Smaller ones were not as effective.

Last year, the fish seemed to be in the deeper water off the dropoff at the beginning of the weekend, but by the end were often in shallow and scooting for the river.