Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I am new to salmon fishing. Just went out for the first time last week on the north shore and had some success. I was happy to justify spending the amount of money I have this past winter on salmon gear (lures, rods, reels, fish hawk, etc.) by bringing home some fresh salmon. I told the wife, I can either spend money on salmon in the grocery store or on the lures and bring home fresh fish for years to come. As long as I keep bringing home fish, I will hear less and less about the cost of this expensive habit 8)

 

While fishing, I was catching a bunch of shakers but every now and then I would get into a bigger 20+ fish (about 1 big fish for every 10-15 smaller ones). My question is do salmon of the same size school together or is there a mixture of size? This is assuming salmon even school together.

 

If people are fishing and they start to catch nothing but shakers, do you leave the area or keep working it to get the bigger ones that may be there? It can be a hassle to be constantly resetting everything due to the smaller fish.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I was using spoons. I was fishing all depths from 40 down to 100ft. I guess I honestly wasn't paying attention to what depth the bigger ones were hitting but I will pay more attention in the future.

 

So the shakers don't like really hit on FF or meat rigs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They'll still hit it but with much less frequency in my opinion. I'd run 1 spoon in your spread and maybe a cheater on that spoon rigger and then a Sd and fly or rocket and a paddle and meat or paddle and flyou. One of the latter on a wire line, copper,lead core. Spoons work Well early and then Flys and meat typically better now and later

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I completely disagree with abandoning the spoons. Why would you ever stop running something that's catching silver fish? Do what Tim says above. Run your baits deeper. Also running meat on a deep rigger in the ice cold water 42-48 degrees can work well for bigger chinook.

Spoons work all day long and from spring to fall

Mix in flashers and flies though but I wouldn't run just one spoon for sake of just catching bigger fish

Good luck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try running the spoons closer to the weight  (e.g. 10-12 ft) and possibly use a magnum sized one as a slider above it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I usually run a free slider but it's always the smaller spoon. Good idea on the magnum. Would you run the magnum slider fixed above the main lure (i.e. attach w/rubber band), or as a free slider, which would in theory get to about 1/2 down the main line.

One of the best setups for Kings off spoons is a MUP rig. (Mag Up) which is a Mag spoon on a fixed slider about 10' above smaller spoon in same pattern.

Like said above above if you're hitting smaller fish drop your riggers deeper as the smaller fish to seem to be in top portion of column with bigger fish deeper in colder water

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I am new to salmon fishing."  You might want to pick up Keating on Kings and his other book Great Lakes Salmon and Trout fishing. 

 

Very good information breaks down a lot of the stuff you'll need reduces the learning curve.

 

http://www.bluehorizonsportfishing.net/salmon-fishing-books-videos.html

 

 "My question is do salmon of the same size school together or is there a mixture of size?" Yes they do.

Edited by Charlie P
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...