Hey all,
A friend of mine has recently bought a boat and expressed interest in taking me out to fish Salmon. Turns out he's not a fisherman of any description so it looks like I'll be the one to guide us. The first thing I've done is picked up the regulations book, and bought my Saltwater fishing license + Salmon tag. I don't know too much about trolling the ocean for these fish and so I read up on trolling with dodgers/flashers with different herring/spoon/hootchie presentations. I'm also not very knowledgeable when it comes to "runs" of fish, and when in the year they are generally abundant.
The boat he purchased lacks a down-rigger, so I'm prepared to use a large keel weight, flasher, and plug/spoon/hootchie. I'm rigging up my shimano cardiff with 25 lb monofilament line and looking at options for gear. (Dodger vs Flasher, weight, flasher color, size, etc)
If anyone would care to toss me a few pointers and help a novice get off his feet, it would be greatly appreciated!
- Weight - How much weight should I use and what type? Keel weight, Spherical ball weight (betty) with a tri-swivel? something entirely different?
- Line strength - I've read 20-30 lb high quality green/colorless monofilament line will get the job done. Some guys swear by fluorocarbon leader material. Is this a good bet?
- Locations! - We're moored in Port Moody, by Rocky Point Park, and prepared to go where the fish are to get into some Salmon, I've heard mouth of the Cap, but any other general areas would be enormously helpful!
- Depth - I've read "50 feet and above for Coho and 50 feet and below for Springs" - As we have no depth sounder it's likely going to be tricky to find these fish.. any rules of thumb for depth?
- Time of Day - It is mentioned that 1 hour before a tide change, during, and 1 hour after are typically regarded as good fishing times, as well as low light situations as in early morning and dusk. Is this the right idea?
Apologies if this is not the forum for these types of questions!
Thanks in advance,
Jonathan Hill