Non-Fly 2024 Summer Salmon

ThatGuyRyRy

ThatGuyRyRy

Life of the Party
Hey guys, I was wondering if anybody had any other insights into rigging hoochie's other than the double hook rig? I think I've seen others who run a barrel chain to a single sidewash eye hook instead of the double hook rig. I'm thinking about trying to limit impacts to shakers and wildfish. If anybody has done this, have they noticed a lower hook ratio?
 
ThatGuyRyRy said:
Hey guys, I was wondering if anybody had any other insights into rigging hoochie's other than the double hook rig? I think I've seen others who run a barrel chain to a single sidewash eye hook instead of the double hook rig. I'm thinking about trying to limit impacts to shakers and wildfish. If anybody has done this, have they noticed a lower hook ratio?
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I switched to a single large siwash on my hoochies on the ocean a few years ago. This is how most commercial trollers out here fish them, and I'm a big advocate of taking advice from the folks who literally have to put fish in the boat to make money.

We call this setup "the leash" because once a fish is hooked, it's not coming off. I'm not sure if the initial hookup ratio is any better or worse than a standard two hook rig, but I can say with confidence that once hooked, we lose far fewer fish with that setup.

I am a total believer in rigging that way, however I don't think I'd run that setup in the sound, at least how I run it on the ocean with a very large hook. Out here we don't release "wild" chinook. Any chinook of legal size may be retained. I find running a large single J hook like that leads to many more fish that are impaled in a way that I wouldn't want to release them. Brained, eyeballed, and other such wounds occur often enough that I don't think I'd feel right about fishing that setup in any sort of selective fishery. I suppose you could run a smaller hook to help alleviate some of that, but IMO running a smaller hook might start to diminish the advantage of running it that way to begin with, but that's just a guess. I've never tried it with a smaller hook so it may work just fine in the sound.

Just my two cents.
 
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One other thought, at least for me I find that it can be difficult to rig the single hook to where it doesn't sort of sag a bit lower than I'd like since I don't have the advantage of some thick flouro for support. When it's on any sort of swivel it wants to droop a bit.

Not a big issue for me as I troll faster than most on the ocean and that seems to keep it up enough, but if you're one who likes to troll slow then it might be a bit of an issue, I dunno
 
I switched over to a single siwash with my hootchies last year. Had tried it off and on before. Reason I went to siwash this time is that I found a great new hook that I had good retention with fish without the barb. It was an Owner siwash and it worked out great. Siwash to barrel swivel to three or four glow beads to the plastic squid head insert to hootchie.

I also went back to occasionally putting a glow spin and glo on the front of the hootchie. I used to fish that way all the time and I think it is a good change up. It certainly works. Another curve ball for you to try is the B2 squids. Sometimes those work well too. Good luck!

SR1
 
ThatGuyRyRy said:
@Nick Clayton, I had remembered you mentioning this and I appreciate the insight.

Do you encounter the amount of shakers we do in the sound?
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We encounter a decent amount of shakers at times, though perhaps not quite to the level you deal with on the sound. I honestly haven't really found a way to avoid them. I know some people claim running big plugs and such will minimize them, but I haven't found that to be the case.

My favorite way to target chinook out here is fishing deeeeep. Sometimes 400-500' OTW. If I don't have to fish shallow to catch them I don't. Definitely don't seem to deal with as many shakers fishing deep, but that's about the only way I've found to avoid them out here.
 
Nick Clayton said:
I switched to a single large siwash on my hoochies on the ocean a few years ago. This is how most commercial trollers out here fish them, and I'm a big advocate of taking advice from the folks who literally have to put fish in the boat to make money.

We call this setup "the leash" because once a fish is hooked, it's not coming off. I'm not sure if the initial hookup ratio is any better or worse than a standard two hook rig, but I can say with confidence that once hooked, we lose far fewer fish with that setup.

I am a total believer in rigging that way, however I don't think I'd run that setup in the sound, at least how I run it on the ocean with a very large hook. Out here we don't release "wild" chinook. Any chinook of legal size may be retained. I find running a large single J hook like that leads to many more fish that are impaled in a way that I wouldn't want to release them. Brained, eyeballed, and other such wounds occur often enough that I don't think I'd feel right about fishing that setup in any sort of selective fishery. I suppose you could run a smaller hook to help alleviate some of that, but IMO running a smaller hook might start to diminish the advantage of running it that way to begin with, but that's just a guess. I've never tried it with a smaller hook so it may work just fine in the sound.

Just my two cents.
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I run 2/0 siwashes for coho. Significantly cut back the amount of bad shape releases, and I don't have issues keeping the fish on the line but short strikes are pretty rampant. Gonna try setting the hook further back in the future. If you're ocean fishing and not worried about releasing fish add a bend to that hook, drives it super deep into them, and honestly more effective than a barb
 
ThatGuyRyRy said:
Anybody get out for coho in 10? From what I heard, everything was real small.

My son is doing his workout so he is ready to catch some big kings tomorrow.

View attachment 116899
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I’ve seen some reports and pictures on MA 10 coho. Some look decent size with folks saying they are 21-22”. I’ve seen others that look like maybe 16” or so.
Also saw one picture that contained what looked like two undersized chinook. The poster didn’t say what MA they came from and the post soon disappeared. That stuff doesn’t happen on just odd years……
SF
 
Buddy caught a real fatty, looked a good 4-5lbs
Stonedfish said:
I’ve seen some reports and pictures on MA 10 coho. Some look decent size with folks saying they are 21-22”. I’ve seen others that look like maybe 16” or so.
Also saw one picture that contained what looked like two undersized chinook. The poster didn’t say what MA they came from and the post soon disappeared. That stuff doesn’t happen on just odd years……
SF
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speedbird said:
Buddy caught a real fatty, looked a good 4-5lbs
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Definitely possible in June to get a fish that size. Not the norm but there are always a few that are jumbo sized compared to the others.
Personally I wish they would wait until July to open it to let the fish get bigger, but it is an extremely popular fishery especially with the charter fleet.
SF
 
Stonedfish said:
Definitely possible in June to get a fish that size. Not the norm but there are always a few that are jumbo sized compared to the others.
Personally I wish they would wait until July to open it to let the fish get bigger, but it is an extremely popular fishery especially with the charter fleet.
SF
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I’ve got mixed feelings as with the Blackmouth fishery ramping down it really limits the amount of saltwater salmon time we get. I’d be in support of closing it in exchange for all of October in area 9, or an extra month of Blackmouth but neither of those things seem likely these days
 
speedbird said:
I’ve got mixed feelings as with the Blackmouth fishery ramping down it really limits the amount of saltwater salmon time we get. I’d be in support of closing it in exchange for all of October in area 9, or an extra month of Blackmouth but neither of those things seem likely these days
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I’d be for conservation techniques for the other [new] apex predator that don’t seem so susceptible to water changes, aka 🦭s. Resident killers used to keep that population in-check I’d assume but the game is far too skewed now. Not to mention we raise plenty of (dumb) hatchery fish that make easy meals for the 🦭s.

Bit of a tangent that blows my mind.
 
speedbird said:
I’ve got mixed feelings as with the Blackmouth fishery ramping down it really limits the amount of saltwater salmon time we get. I’d be in support of closing it in exchange for all of October in area 9, or an extra month of Blackmouth but neither of those things seem likely these days
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I don’t think we’ll ever get to see blackmouth fishing again like many of us got to experience. I think the fishery in MA 10 this past spring is about the best it will likely be in the future.
I also don’t think we’ll see a MA 9 October coho fishery again unless a million fish are forecast and a big bunch of those are wild and headed to the Snohomish. That shouldn’t stop you though from continuing to submit comments yearly requesting it. I certainly will be doing so.
Sorry to sound like a downer. Those are just my opinions and I sure some won’t agree with them.
SF
 
Divad said:
I’d be for conservation techniques for the other [new] apex predator that don’t seem so susceptible to water changes, aka 🦭s. Resident killers used to keep that population in-check I’d assume but the game is far too skewed now. Not to mention we raise plenty of (dumb) hatchery fish that make easy meals for the 🦭s.

Bit of a tangent that blows my mind.
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It's been a few hundred thousand years at least since the SRKWs ate seals, the "fish eating"/"mammal eating" divergence happened long enough ago that the two have started to become separate species
 
You got a tasty bugger stuffed full of these pink shrimp today. First time that I found a king stuffed with shrimp, usually it has always been bait fish.

It was interesting to compare how red this King cut compared to the standard pink hue of the one that we caught in a different area that had a bunch of herring but n the area but still had an empty stomach.

PXL_20240608_003030406.jpg
 
ThatGuyRyRy said:
You got a tasty bugger stuffed full of these pink shrimp today. First time that I found a king stuffed with shrimp, usually it has always been bait fish.

It was interesting to compare how red this King cut compared to the standard pink hue of the one that we caught in a different area that had a bunch of herring but n the area but still had an empty stomach.

View attachment 117302
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Hows the crowds down at the bubble? Might head there tomorrow
 
ThatGuyRyRy said:
You got a tasty bugger stuffed full of these pink shrimp today. First time that I found a king stuffed with shrimp, usually it has always been bait fish.

It was interesting to compare how red this King cut compared to the standard pink hue of the one that we caught in a different area that had a bunch of herring but n the area but still had an empty stomach.

View attachment 117302
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Did you eat the shrimp? Shrimp stuffed salmon?
 
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