Wanted Non-Fly Gear for salmon - Jigging/Mooching, whatever you got for cheap'ish

H

holtad

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
Hey Friends,

I have buddy looking to get into fishing in the PS for the first time. Has a friend with a boat but no gear & minimal knowledge of what he's doing. He wants to try next week for Coho but isn't fully ready to commit the $ to buying all new. I figured some folks here may have some used stuff gathering dust that could get put to good use and get him hooked!

Looking for
- Rod + Reel combos (full setup would be ideal)
- Lures/Jigs
- hooks/swivels
- Divers/Flashers

I don't think he's into full down-riggers.. yet...

LMK what you got here or via PM. He's in Seattle and would be looking to get set-up in the next 4-5 days.

Thanks!
 
holtad said:
Hey Friends,

I have buddy looking to get into fishing in the PS for the first time. Has a friend with a boat but no gear & minimal knowledge of what he's doing. He wants to try next week for Coho but isn't fully ready to commit the $ to buying all new. I figured some folks here may have some used stuff gathering dust that could get put to good use and get him hooked!

Looking for
- Rod + Reel combos (full setup would be ideal)
- Lures/Jigs
- hooks/swivels
- Divers/Flashers

I don't think he's into full down-riggers.. yet...

LMK what you got here or via PM. He's in Seattle and would be looking to get set-up in the next 4-5 days.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
He’ll have a better chance catching coho with a down rigger. My next door neighbor has gone out nearly everyday for 2-3 hours. He told me his down rigger is set anywhere from 65’ - 95’ down. He gets this info from other salmon fishermen out there and they all have down riggers.
He and others have been catching their coho on this white hoochie squid.

IMG_7787.jpegIMG_7787.jpeg
 
I like the Shimano Tekota 300lc for mooching and jigging but for trolling it is a pain to reel in. Every bit of flasher resistance gets felt on that reel. Okuma have stellar products for the money and stand by them, I like the guide select pro rods for shorecasting and the guide select classics for trolling and mooching kings. Imo a lighter rod would be more fun to mooch with but I can't justify buying a specific rod for each run of salmon, especially with seasons so short now.

Canadian style mooching rods (Shimano Technium is awesome) and reels are fun too, but I've yet to have a puget sound fish bust my knuckles like they did in Tofino.

For hooks, I love owner, during pinks I lost considerably less fish running owners than Gamakatsus, could be luck, could actually make a difference. I've downsized all my hooks to 2/0 or less since it seems to mess the fish up less. Kings I'm not daring to go below 3/0 and on the big plugs I run 5/0-7/0 since the point of those is running something too big for the little guys to wrap their mouth around.

For trolling gear, keep it simple. Herring aide and cookies and cream 3 and 4 inch spoon for Kings, Green glow and white UV hoochie with ace high fly inserts (or even just the fly) for coho, pro troll flasher with the light, if he runs divers get the columbia river models with the fins. Green hornet for Kings, Purple Haze for coho. All these gear combinations will work for coho, Kings, and pinks (I found trolling at coho speeds or with King gear selectively targets larger pinks) I just fish those because a lot of other fishermen have success with them, and being more inexperienced the most important thing with gear is fishing stuff you are confident in. I have become a better troll fisherman by remembering the conditons I caught fish in, and features about the places I hooked fish that may have made them attractive to them, not by messing with gear, I leave that to guys with more time.

I am not the person to ask about jig selection and I am also interested in getting some tips from folks more knowledgeable
 
Last edited:
Ernie said:
He’ll have a better chance catching coho with a down rigger. My next door neighbor has gone out nearly everyday for 2-3 hours. He told me his down rigger is set anywhere from 65’ - 95’ down. He gets this info from other salmon fishermen out there and they all have down riggers.
He and others have been catching their coho on this white hoochie squid.

View attachment 82074View attachment 82074
Click to expand...
thank you for this. I am fishing Sunday and have been getting my coho at 50 feet down using bait.
I'll try this on the second rod. sorry to steal this thread.
 
If you don't get hooked up with some gear, I have been mooching this summer with a whole setup I picked up from Walmart of all places for about $120 total to see if I liked it. Okuma Celilo 8'6" Medium Heavy 10-20lb casting rod with a Okuma Magda 20dx Line Counter reel, 25lb mono, 4oz mooching weights and a handful of 20lb 3/0-4/0 eagle claw mooching leaders. I like it...the reel will probably be the first thing I upgrade but it's been serviceable for the handful of trips I've done so far.
 
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