[ Home ] [ 2011 Events ] [ Tips and Trix ] [ Capt. John's Log ] [ Members Only ]

Fishing West Coast Methods for
Great Lakes for Salmon and Trout
by 
Walter Piecuch

From July until the salmon move into shallow water for spawning they can be taken on these methods. For flashers color is important. I think these are the best flashers. Green glow, purple glow, red glow, coho special (on a red or a pink blade) blue/silver, chartreuse, monkey puke (great name huh) blue angel, magna glow green frog and magna glow mother of pearl. These colors are available from OKI tackle. For hotspots mostly the same colors as above and add in bull frog. As for salmon slashers a blue angel and transparent purple. I always stick with the 11 inch flashers.

I have had very little luck with the small ones. For teasers I only use Rhys Davis Large Teasers. For colors I go with green glow, red, chartreuse, chartreuse glow, purple glow, silver, coho special, blue glow, monkey puke and white glow.

Now for some rigging tips:
You have to decide of you want quality or quantity because it will make a difference on your set up. I'm assuming you know water depth the fish are coming from and that your setting up on a big school of kings. Yeah right. If it were only that easy. Anyway lest say you have friends on the boat and they want fish and don't care on size. Tie on a flasher of choice tie the line directly to the flasher. Then tie your teaser on. Don't forget the piece of herring That goes inside the teaser. I make my own leaders but if you bought them pre rigged make sure you have at least 60 inches. On my leaders I put a tinsel squid/fly 30 inches down the leader. I feel that it gives the rig more attraction. Sometimes 2-3 works good.

Now, the tricky part (you'll get the hang of it after a while), you'll need to bend the flat part of the teaser down away from the bait to give it more action. It should be a roll opposed to a spin. You don't want to bend it if your after big fish or ones that are not feeding actively. Now run the hook down to the end of the bait and use a tooth pick to hold it there. Now you are ready to send it down. I start 20 feet behind the ball and then adjust. Your speed should be 2.8-3.5 MPH. It seems fast but is good for the 15-25 pound kings. If your after the big kings then slow your sped down to 1.5-.2 and run the teaser with the bend that is out of the package. Also you may need to increase the leader length behind the flasher to 6 feet.

Another tip is to run larger herring strips. For me, the bigger kings I try to find them where they lay right on the bottom. Run the rigs 1-2 feet of the bottom. Longer leaders of riggers may be needed. Sometimes running 50-60 feet back is necessary. There are some other methods I use that seem to produce well. First with the clear water we know encounter running less flashers is better. I run 1 on each side of the boat with the middle rigger using a j plug or plain cut bait rig run down 5 feet deeper than the other riggers. This is called the V pattern. Also you can stack rods on the middle rigger. I like to stack plain cut bait rigs 3 feet apart and run them 20 feet back farther than the outside riggers to catch drop back fish. This works when fish are spooky.

Plain cut bait rigs work off of dipsys also. Sometimes I run wire dipsys and sometimes I put them on the riggers so it will at the same depth as the flashers but out to the side. Another tactic for shy fish. One last thing I should mention. I use glow colors in low light conditions and non glow colors when the sun is up. Sometimes the fish like glow stuff in the middle of the day so be diverse with you settings. I also like to match flasher and teaser colors.
Example: Glow green teaser on a glow green flasher. This is a very versatile bait that will out produce any lure when it is used correctly. These set ups can be used from late July until the salmon enter the rivers to spawn.

1. Always use a 60 inch leader from bead chain swivel to hook.
   

2. Always use stick on eyes.
   

3. Always use at least 11 inch flashers.
   

4. Always use a squid or two on your leader.
   

5. Always try to use fresh cut bait. It can be refrozen up to 2-3 times.
   

6. Always use high quality line for you leaders. I use Trilene big game 40 pound. Seguar fluorocarbon is good also. Just costly. You HAVE to use 40 pound line. Vicious kings have been known to bite through 40 pound test on the initial strike.