Rigging bait for salmon. Show us how you do it!

I'll check with Coyote Bait & Tackle to see if they have it.  They are the only local Tackle shop near my work in Morgan Hill.  Thought of another idea I want to give a whirl before making it "breaking news" as good or bad.

Why dont you guys troll?  Or is that too much work?

If Im mooching I use a 6, 8, 10, or 12 oz depending on the current or how deep they are.  I like cut plug herring since I haven a huge supply of large herring.  I use 2 hooks using a size smaller above the bottom hook Like a 4/0 and 5/0 octopuss hook or a 5/0 and 6/0.  I set my drag real light or free spool and wait for the salmon to swallow it.

No Octopus for mooching, only circle hooks.

.... and no slip rigs, fixed only!

North of Horse mountain it doesnt matter if you have octopus or circles and it does matter if its fixed or not just has to be barbless.  South of Horse mountain its fixed barbless circle hooks no more than 5" apart.  I know my ocean salmon rules.  I have been fishing them longer than most of yall and have caught many more than most of all.  I have caught over 20 salmon in one weekend off the North jetty in Samoa.

North of Horse mountain it doesnt matter if you have octopus or circles and it does matter if its fixed or not just has to be barbless.  South of Horse mountain its fixed barbless circle hooks no more than 5" apart.  I know my ocean salmon rules.  I have been fishing them longer than most of yall and have caught many more than most of all.  I have caught over 20 salmon in one weekend off the North jetty in Samoa.

  Thats pretty impressive.

North of Horse mountain it doesnt matter if you have octopus or circles and it does matter if its fixed or not just has to be barbless.  South of Horse mountain its fixed barbless circle hooks no more than 5" apart.  I know my ocean salmon rules.  I have been fishing them longer than most of yall and have caught many more than most of all.  I have caught over 20 salmon in one weekend off the North jetty in Samoa.

Wow we sure are lucky to have such a superior yet humble fisherman in our midst.

 

-Eliot

Samoa? Really?




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David -

I think you have seen this but this is I use as well as the rest of the Sur crew. The little rubber bands are for use on dental braces. Any orthodontist or dentist could sell them to you if you can't find them in a sporting good store. Sorry I missed you over the weekend.

Scott

Scott,

   It appears your rigging advice was the ticket for those who followed it!  I'm hoping to re-ring & try again this weekend.  I had an issue with line twist and not enough weight so I'm making chnages to both.  I also has magic bait that would vanish after a couple minute soak so I know there is room for improvement in my rigging.

   I tried a brief test last night with 30# floro to test it's breaking strength.  3 sample pieces @ 12" long with perfection knot @ each end.  1 left @ room temp & placed in the freezer (to replicate pre-rigging baits & freezing them).  After several hours I placed them under a gently increasing, measurable load on a scale.  The "room temp" unit broke at about 27#, the "frozen" one came apart at just under 26# and the final one was brough back to room temp before placing the load and achieved similar results as the "room temp" model.  The one thing I did notice is all 3 broke at the perfection knot.  I'm planning on repeating the tests with various knots and lb test of leader material.  Initial Conclusion:  Freezing the line las little to no effect on the material strength so I will be pre-rigging at home and freezing the rigs.  I would not recomend dry ice on or near the leader material, however.

   Just thought I'd pass along some of my personal research.... for what's it's worth.

Perfection knots aren't known for being the strongest loop knot. It's my go to, never had one break under load of a fish but have snapped them regularly on snags while fishing live bait.  For mooching I like a snell or direct connection to the hook eye, stronger knots and makes threading a tad easier on thawed baits (may not apply if you're pre-rigging them all  ). 

Regarding rubber bands.  I've fished them with and without.  Was told by an old schol party boat skipper that when anchovies feed they're mouths open and their gills flare just like when they're backspininng down as you drop em, once at target depth they'll still look like they're feeding as the boat rocks them up and down.  Rubber bands keep them streamlined for faster drops but its not the end of the world if you don't have them. 

And you should listen to me cause I caughts sos many fish I can only count dem bodies by the metric ton now. Ands I been doin it since poles were bamboo and I had to pull the safety pin out my diaper to use as a hook.....argh.     

 

   Love it!

   I see how the flared gill's would look like they are feeding.  Good point!  I can live with a slow drop down assuming I have enough lead on the line.  That was my largest issue this past weekend was not enough lead to keep the line in the zone.

I was not sure about the loop knot so I just direct tied every time I re-baited onto a barrel swivel. It was a little more time consuming, but I did not worry about the loop breaking.

I froze a few more loops of leader for further testing.  Prior to freezing, I applied a 15# static load to cinch the knots and pre-streatch the material a bit (30# fluoro).  Some of the perfection knots loostened slightly during the freeze period indicating to me that the material may shrink a slight amount.  Rethinking the loop and leaning towards hard-tie to a good quality bb swivel to help eliminate some of the line twist I encountered.

Scott-
I like it. Seems to follow the KISS philosophy. Surfing dude had a very simple rig and he limited out both days I was on the water with him.
My oldest just got her braces on. With the amount of money that the ortho is charging, I am gonna ask for some gratis rubberbands. Thanks again.

Fureyous1

David -

I think you have seen this but this is I use as well as the rest of the Sur crew. The little rubber bands are for use on dental braces. Any orthodontist or dentist could sell them to you if you can't find them in a sporting good store. Sorry I missed you over the weekend.

Scott

Perfection knots aren't known for being the strongest loop knot. It's my go to, never had one break under load of a fish but have snapped them regularly on snags while fishing live bait.  For mooching I like a snell or direct connection to the hook eye, stronger knots and makes threading a tad easier on thawed baits (may not apply if you're pre-rigging them all  ). 

Regarding rubber bands.  I've fished them with and without.  Was told by an old schol party boat skipper that when anchovies feed they're mouths open and their gills flare just like when they're backspininng down as you drop em, once at target depth they'll still look like they're feeding as the boat rocks them up and down.  Rubber bands keep them streamlined for faster drops but its not the end of the world if you don't have them. 

And you should listen to me cause I caughts sos many fish I can only count dem bodies by the metric ton now. Ands I been doin it since poles were bamboo and I had to pull the safety pin out my diaper to use as a hook.....argh.     

I used to feel the same way about the perfection loop and originally the knot was rated at 80%. When I started fishing Baja every year several years ago I noticed a lot of the crew were using perfection loops for live bait tuna and dorado. Then on a hali live bait trip 3-4 years ago I noticed ChuckE was using a perfection loop. If you read the fly fishing blogs, perfection loops are rated to 100%. Personally I think they are 90%. Anyway I use them for halibut and salmon and have never had a failure on seaguar fluorocarbon.