Puget Sound salmon: live bait

I haven't read much about people using live bait while targeting salmon. I am thinking about using a sabiki rig to acquire herring, and then drop the herring down on either a school of fish, or just drift the herring at the depth I'm seeing schools at. I'm planning on using a calibrated line counter reel, so I should be able to target depths with decent reliability.

This approach is appealing to me because
(a) This approach would minimize the amount of terminal gear (a small weight and a couple of circle hooks)
(b) Live bait was my go-to method back on the east coast.

I scanned through the WDFW rule book and don't see any indication that this is illegal... has anyone tried this?

Haven’t done it but know a buddy who is keen to try. See attached page, credit to Frank Haw’s (out of print) Saltwater Fishing in Washington.

Looks like fun, when we fish in Florida live bait is the name of the game!

Hey, man! 

Was fun fishing with you and mikeee on Sunday. Here's a link to an article by rawkfish which also works for herring. This is how I rigged my setup when I caught my first (pink) salmon last week. Trolling this behind a pro-troll dodger:

https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=21591.0

He also goes into how to rig your dodger with a simple break-away system that he says works really well. Worked perfectly for me.

Hey Dawn Patrol, thanks for that info -- I was going to use bigger hooks... Size 6 sounds awful small, right? I was thinking more in the ballpark of size 2.

Noob Noob -- I had a blast with you guys! There were a lot of marks below us, but I guess we weren't serving what they were after (or maybe it was sea weed, lol). Thank you for that link -- I have been wondering about trolling cut-plug herring. Also, given the resilience of herring, I'll probably wind up with a fair number of dead herring, lol. I'm going to add the break-away flasher to my list of tricks... that's a cool idea.

I think I'm going to give this a shot next time I go out. The idea of dropping live bait down to where the fish are sounds obvious when I say it out loud. I'll probably use a fairly light weight leader in hopes of keeping the fish alive for as long as possible. Will post results (or the more likely lack of results). If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them 

It's definitely legal - I did a lot of searching about this topic as I am keen to try it myself.

Somehow every time I manage to get out there with my sabiki rig it seems like the bait balls disappear lol.

I plan on adding either a very light metzler style sliding sinker or fly lining them weightless on a spinning reel so I can let the line out freely. Also got one of those floating bait bags so I can keep them alive in the water without bringing too much extra gear/hardware on board : https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/ranger-nets-floating-live-bait-bag-17rneufltngbtbgxxfac/17rneufltngbtbgxxfac

I will probably visit this again when chinook opportunities come to a close so I can experiment more.

What kind of hooks were you using when doing this on the east coast? I have a couple packs of the owner ghost circle hooks but am always open to better ideas.

I spent my first 2 years of kayak fishing mostly trolling choked or cut plugged herring in the shallows very early in the morning with a light spinning rod.  This is an effective method for catching Coho. I started  with no weight and did quite well. Eventually I switched to clipping my line to a 2 lb lead weight held by a 2-4 foot piece of string (basically a very light downrigger-like set up). This method helps keep the herring free of weeds and provides a few seconds of slack line which, I think, is crucial for minimizing tension so the fish doesn’t spit the bait and even gives the fish time to turn such that ensuing hook set holds. I mention all this on this particular thread because even if you don’t end up fishing live bait, I’ve found fresh herring are at least 5 times more effective. I now have a special bait rod in my yak designed for sabiki rigs. Works great and nearly eliminates tangles (very common with sabikis) Something like this where the reeled-in sabiki is inside the rod:
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/danco--7-3-bait-stik-baitcasting-sabiki-rod-heavy-power--19609932?mrkgcl=481&mrkgadid=3076579155&cm_mmc=PS-_-Google-_-GSC%2520-%2520Product%2520Type-_-19609932&product_id=19609932&adpos=1o2&creative=108421551844&device=m&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiv2NyZGS5AIVgchkCh2XzQdAEAQYAiABEgLdGfD_BwE

bpm2000 -- That floating minnow net is a good idea. If this works out, I'll likely invest in one. For the time being, though, I'm using a plastic 2.5 gallon water jug. It floats by the boat when I'm not traveling, and fits in the boat (and holds enough water) when I'm moving. On the east coast I was using 3/0 & larger... but I was using 6-8" baits, going after spanish, kings, blues, and cobia, with the knowledge that more likely than not I'd get into sharks. I think I'll use the rest of my size 2 hooks -- I need to get more hooks!

SciGuy -- That's good knowledge, thank you for sharing! I will likely give that tactic a shot next time I go out. I was taught that it's best to use bait that you yourself would eat (the fresher the better), so it's cool to see that concept gets more fish out here too. I also like your light-downrigger setup -- I can see that applying to most of my trolling setups. How shallow do you troll when you're looking for early AM coho? I'm going to try to make a board to organize my sabiki rig, but will likely end up buying a rod similar to the one you posted... again, thank you for sharing!

SciGuy -- How shallow do you troll when you're looking for early AM coho?

Usually I’m in 10-25 FOW over eel grass beds or around points. More so than specific water depths, I look for good current, evidence of bait, and, of course, signs of bait getting chased.

Description sounds like Meadow Point from the old pilings going N. Eel grass and sandy bottom, pretty shallow, and usually a lot of bait activity inside.

A buddy of mine regularly casts choked herring from the shore (by the pilings) with good success when coho are in. Will have to try that next time out there.

Choked herring is an under-rated technique, I think. They spin nice and tight when you get them rigged right.

I hit the area between Meadow Point and Carkeek for a couple hours this evening -- saw lots of bait both on the FF & visually just off of Carkeek, but couldn't get any with my sabiki rig. I'll have to read up on sabiki tactics... this is my first time using one.

The area was looking pretty fishy. Fish jumping all over, stuff on the FF, a school swam under my boat. I got two solid bites on a pink coho killer, but they were off as soon as they were on.  I think I need to switch my weight from a spreader to a slider so that the fish can't use the weight as leverage to throw the hook so easily.

Were you able to confirm any of the bait you found were herring? Sand lance, perch, and other smaller fish can give a strong signal on a FF but are reluctant to grab a Sabiki. I look for schools on my FF in 20+ feet of water or (and preferably) bait fish that are “popping” (releasing air bubbles). I think it’s more about finding schooled fish that are actually herring and less about technique (I typically just use a slow 1 foot jigging motion ... nothing too fancy).

SciGuy -- I'm fairly confident that the fish I was targeting were not herring. Thank you for the tip about targeting schools in 20+ FOW, and the 'bubbles'. I've seen those bubbles, now I know what they are.