Great video on mooching

Great vid on how to mooch Washington (Puget Sound) style for salmon by local guide Keith Robbins. Use your fish finder to find bait and then drop the herring through them and WHACK! Good times.

Good stuff Zee, thanks.

I've always heard of cut plug herring but never really took the time to figure it out.  Now I know.

Thanks for posting the video. I have had success with trolling for salmon but never mooching for them.

It's good to see you contributing here again old friend.

go hawks

Welcome back, Zee!

Howdy Zee! Since are circle hook regulations here in Cali for king salmon its been hard to mooch with pluged baits. Back before then, that was the way to go.

Rubber band the hooks to the plug cut bait.

Howdy Zee! Since are circle hook regulations here in Cali for king salmon its been hard to mooch with pluged baits. Back before then, that was the way to go.

We slow troll them all the time.  8oz banana weight and barbless octopus hooks.  Lots of big salmon caught that way!

Josh

My dad and a couple buddies took me out mooching for salmon in Puget sound when I was 12. We were used to rock fishing jigs and didn't really know how to get to the depth needed when the captain would say "60" or "80", do we'd drop it to the bottom and come up a couple cranks. All we caught were dogfish and flounder! We were the only group to not get at least one salmon. I did have one rip my bait off when I was bringing it up to the boat. I'd way rather mooch or jig than troll.

thanks for sharing, but where's the part about how to keep rockfish from taking your bait 

I was surprised at how few bait balls we actually saw up here in Ft Bragg this year.  And when we did try to mooch we ended up with Jack Mackerels and CoHo Salmon.  Still fun but would rather bring some kings home.  Are they usually hitting the bait from below.  Maybe I should have put some more weight on the bait to get past the top feeders?

I was surprised at how few bait balls we actually saw up here in Ft Bragg this year.  And when we did try to mooch we ended up with Jack Mackerels and CoHo Salmon.  Still fun but would rather bring some kings home.  Are they usually hitting the bait from below.  Maybe I should have put some more weight on the bait to get past the top feeders?

The bigger older salmon are a bit smarter and lazier.  They tend to hang out around the bottom waiting for wounded bait to come their way.  Cut plug herring emulates a baitfish thats wounded and spiraling toward the bottom.  When I slow troll CPH I will look for bait balls and slow down over them allowing the bait to drop. 

Josh

That's a good video I have seen it before.

When I fished on C'mon Sportfishing with Jared out of Shelter Cove he threaded cut plug herring upside down with one j hook.  He kept the motor in gear so we weren't technically mooching, but the technique worked pretty well with the tough bite last year.

I learned the method of fishing cut plug herring from NCKA member "Prophet" (Gary Mason) and I've caught all my salmon since using it.

I've seen a lot of videos online and this one is probably my favorite:

It works best when fish are in closer to shore in areas like Shelter Cove.  You know what I'll be using in May!

Josh

Thanks for posting the video. I have had success with trolling for salmon but never mooching for them.

Sure. Glad it helps.

You can fish it a few different way with trolling. You could just paddle around looking for bait balls, then when you find it, mooch through it. Or you can troll, the when you find bait, mooch through that.

 If the bait balls are around it's really effective and really the most efficient way to kayak fish or salmon here in Puget Sound. Especially when they're really deep around 120-200'. For most places it works well for the kayak since you're not paddling against current, drag of your gear etc.. Just paddle to the bait and mooch through it.

It's good to see you contributing here again old friend.

go hawks

Thanks buddy! Those 'Hawks turned on some magic but a little too late.

Welcome back, Zee!

What up!

Howdy Zee! Since are circle hook regulations here in Cali for king salmon its been hard to mooch with pluged baits. Back before then, that was the way to go.

I imagine forcing the issue with a circle hook is harder.

My dad and a couple buddies took me out mooching for salmon in Puget sound when I was 12. We were used to rock fishing jigs and didn't really know how to get to the depth needed when the captain would say "60" or "80", do we'd drop it to the bottom and come up a couple cranks. All we caught were dogfish and flounder! We were the only group to not get at least one salmon. I did have one rip my bait off when I was bringing it up to the boat. I'd way rather mooch or jig than troll.

Yeah, dogfish and flounder are a part of the game. It's all about location really. If you get into a mess of dogfish it's time to move before they destroy a bunch of gear. Flounders means you're just getting too close to the bottom. A good line counter reel is really helpful.

Mooching can be really exciting. One trip I had a 20ish pound chinook grab the bait on the drop (about 50' down) and it came rocketing straight up and blasted out of the water, tail walking before heading back down. I can remember it so vividly still.

I was surprised at how few bait balls we actually saw up here in Ft Bragg this year.  And when we did try to mooch we ended up with Jack Mackerels and CoHo Salmon.  Still fun but would rather bring some kings home.  Are they usually hitting the bait from below.  Maybe I should have put some more weight on the bait to get past the top feeders?

The bigger older salmon are a bit smarter and lazier.  They tend to hang out around the bottom waiting for wounded bait to come their way.  Cut plug herring emulates a baitfish thats wounded and spiraling toward the bottom.  When I slow troll CPH I will look for bait balls and slow down over them allowing the bait to drop. 

Josh

I haven't really noticed much difference in fish size based on depth. I've gotten really big fish shallow and dinky fish super deep. And when you get fish you don't want, there's not a whole lot you can do. You could size up your bait if you get shakers, and if there's a ton of trash fish, just move.

thanks for sharing, but where's the part about how to keep rockfish from taking your bait 

If you're getting a lot of rockfish either you're too close to the bottom or you need to move. And some spots just aren't really good for mooching.