Show me how to catch salmon in the ocean?

I'm pretty new to kayak fishing.  I've been doing really well with black bass and lingcod but i would really like to catch some salmon.  I'm wondering if anyone would like a show me how it's done.  I would like to go out around newport or depoe but PC would work too!

I've been whitewater kayaking for about 18 years and surfing for about 12 so i'm super comfortable in my boat in the ocean.  I just haven't fished since i was a kid and decided to buy my tags this year but only caught one steelhead this past winter.   I will be in newport this coming weekend but my schedule is pretty open after that...fri-sat-sun.

Fishing Coho in the ocean is dirt simple, so I'd encourage you to just try it.   Coho are hungry and agressive and eager to bite a variety of lures.  I got a few from my rowing wherry and the Youtube shows the rig I use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yizy9gJ1n5I&feature=youtu.be

Troll at 3 or 4 mph.  Look for birds sitting on the water, current breaks (rips), weed lines, bait balls.  If you see any of those, troll in that area.  If you see concentrations of boats those are likely spots as well.  "Normally" the fish are in ~120 to ~180 feet of water, which is several miles offshore.  They are near, but not on, the surface.  I'd say they are usually hanging out about 10 to 20 feet below the surface, though they can be right on the surface or down to 60 feet or so. 

However at this time of year they can be as close as the surfline.  In a kayak you're always moving at trolling speed, so put your troll gear out as soon as you clear the surf.  If you don't have any recent intel on where they are, troll from the surfline out to 150 feet of water.  Constant trolling is actually a huge advantage of yaks/rowboats compared to powerboats.

To get your lure down to the ~20 foot level you'll need either a diver or lead.  I find lead simpler to use.   My goto rig is a 16 oz banana sinker, clipped to a rotary flasher (Shortbus, Fish Flash, Kone Zone, etc.), clipped to a salmon bungee, followed by a 4 or 5 foot leader and then an Apex lure.  You could also use a Coyote spoon instead of an Apex.

I like the 4.5 to 5 inch Apex in Watermelon color, or any color with some green/white in it.  Re-rig the Apex with 30 or 40 pound mono or fluoro leader.  The stock leader is pretty wimpy.  All ocean Coho fishing requires barbless hooks, so pinch down the barb with pliers. 

You'll see the rig in the video.  And you'll see how clumsy the rig is when fighting a fish.  That's just part of the deal with Coho.  The diver or lead and flasher makes for a clunky rig no matter how you slice it.

To let the gear out paddle a bit to get some momentum.  Then slowly let your line out so the gear trails behind and doesn't tangle.  You'll let it out using "pulls".  This means you grab the line at your reel and pull of ~22 inches.  Count the number of pulls and remember it.  Start with 15 pulls, which means about 20 feet of line out, which means your lure is running about 15 feet below the surface.

If you catch a fish, go back to trolling at 15 pulls.  If you don't, try increasing to 18 or 20 pulls, or decreasing to 10 pulls.  And if you have a line-counter reel you don't have to mess with pulls at all.  The point is to keep track of how much line is out so you can return to the strike zone. 

You'll see from the video that fighting and landing a Coho with all that claptrap on your line and barbless hooks is a bit of a cluster from an unsteady rowboat or yak, but that's part of the fun. Expect to lose plenty of fish.  To make it even more complicated you can only keep hatchery (finclipped) Coho.  Clipped fish are missing the adipose fin. 

The powerboat fleet generally heads straight out to the 100 to 180 foot depths.  But don't overlook the inshore fish.  At PC a good spot is just outside the rock and around the buoy area.  In a yak you're always at trolling speed, so take advantage of it.  I think a yak or rowboat is a superb Coho platform. 

Best of luck!

I would honestly start out with 15 pulls right now.  They are really aggressive and really hungry.  Had one hit my bait 3 feet from the engine Sunday, before I had a chance to put line out.

Tinmans' post is right on. If you do exactly that you will get fish if you're willing to put the time in to find them. I like to use lead cannonballs on a weight slider, usually between 2 to 10 ounces depending on how deep I want to be, or I use a delta diver if I really want my gear to stay down deeper for chinooks. Coyote spoons, cut plug herring, brads cut plugs... Lots of stuff will catch fish on the ocean. They're more in feeding mode so they tend to not be as picky as they can be when they get into the rivers.

Great post, thanks. I'm going to put in a bit more effort this year at PC. With the tandem, putting 4 coho in the cooler sounds like a pretty good way to spend the day.

You can fish rockfish after coho as long as your barbs are pinched down, IIRC.

Great post, thanks. I'm going to put in a bit more effort this year at PC. With the tandem, putting 4 coho in the cooler sounds like a pretty good way to spend the day.

You can fish rockfish after coho as long as your barbs are pinched down, IIRC.

I will keep trolling the reef with the same gear to get rid of leftover herring. That is how I have caught my biggest rockfish (22+ inchers are common).  It also works well on lingcod and cabbies.  I slow down though a get the lead a few feet above bottom.  Another option is to shoot in to shore, gut the salmon, toss them on ice, then head back out so you can switch to barbs.

Guys this is great stuff. Love this forum.

Just limit on rocks and lungs in an hour then chase salmon till it hurts.

Best rowboat video I've seen!  I like how you "rodeo" the coho into the boat.

Thanks guys!  I forgot to mention that i did try trolling for coho one time. i used a herring with a 3oz cannon ball weight.  I paddled pretty far offshore and i think i covered 5-6miles of water.  It was a few weeks ago when the water temps were up around 62 degrees.  I didn't get any bites so i gave up and went fishing for rockfish. I only caught one ling (worst day yet) before getting a little sea sick and heading back.  Does the water temp effect which fish are biting?   How many of you are catching salmon without using a fish finder?

Tinman, thanks for the tips. The day i went out the swells were around 6-7ft. I didn't see any charter boats out so i wasn't sure if it was because of the swells or maybe because the fish moved to deeper water with the warmer water temps.  I will pay more attention to how much line i let out and i'll try to put together a similar trolling setup like the one you use in the video.  cheers!

A few weeks ago they were 10 miles out, now they're within 120 feet of water or less.

aahh, okay that gives me hope. I saw people posting pics on here a few weeks back so i figured they were within kayaking distance.  I'll try again.  I'm in corvallis so if anyone goes to newport or depoe let me know and i will join you. 

Darren, I don't use my fishfinder when trolling for Coho.  The reason is the transducer is on a side-mounted pivot arm and it causes a lot of drag when in the down (operating) position.  I'll put the transducer down once in a while to check water temperature, but most of the time it is up and the fishfinder is off. 

62 degrees is warm enough to depress the bite and send most of the fish farther offshore.  It isn't hopeless though. 

All the standard Coho catch info is listed above in these post. But one thing that's easy to write off is Coho in heavy currents. Coho love structure and rips, boils, whirlpools, eddy lines are all structure to a Coho. It's tough to fish in a kayak or any boat for that matter but if you get your gear into these conditions you'll find them stacked with Coho right at the transition between calm laminar flow water and the turbulent eddy water. I snapped this photo last weekend put the camera down and a coho slammed that rod tip into the water. I landed 3 fish in 4 passes thru the eddy and was limited out. A lot of PBs were fishing 100 yards are more away and not doing much but watching me limit out in no time. Don't fear the rips they are stacked with fish.