Non-Fly Dirtbag river Coho '24'

speedbird said:
For chums I run a 6-12lb Okuma SST spinning rod and get a great fight while keeping control of the fish. The chums I fought on it were similar sized to our coho, so I imagine it would work great. Although nowadays for float fishing I far prefer my GSP baitcaster, controlling drifts is so much easier. Only 9 foot though, I bought the medium model for tributary Kings, specifically the now non existent fishery for Skykomish summer Kings. At some point I need to get a longer lighter casting rod
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I use SST rods for most of my spin setups (the lone exception being a beefier Fenwick that I use for big water salmon duty). Not as nice as a Loomis or Lamiglas, but very nearly as functional and much cheaper.

And salmon are not typically leader shy, so go at least 10 pounds, preferably a little heavier, to avoid losing fish for no reason. Coho pull hard. Kings pull even harder. Chums make you beg for mercy and grant you none. Gear up accordingly.
 
Shad said:
I use SST rods for most of my spin setups (the lone exception being a beefier Fenwick that I use for big water salmon duty). Not as nice as a Loomis or Lamiglas, but very nearly as functional and much cheaper.

And salmon are not typically leader shy, so go at least 10 pounds, preferably a little heavier, to avoid losing fish for no reason. Coho pull hard. Kings pull even harder. Chums make you beg for mercy and grant you none. Gear up accordingly.
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I've yet to fight a fresh chum, my only experiences were just around Thanksgiving on the upper Green. I have a feeling fresher fish will not cooperate with 12lb leader as well as the older ones. My main reason for using Okuma for most of my rods is just how good their warranty is and how easy it is to get replacement tips. I think I might be alone in missing the brown color scheme though
 
speedbird said:
I've yet to fight a fresh chum, my only experiences were just around Thanksgiving on the upper Green. I have a feeling fresher fish will not cooperate with 12lb leader as well as the older ones. My main reason for using Okuma for most of my rods is just how good their warranty is and how easy it is to get replacement tips. I think I might be alone in missing the brown color scheme though
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Mine are all the old, brown ones. Haven't had any warranty experiences, because I've never broken one in 15 years. If anything, I wish they had more flex throughout the blank, as a good, deep bend sometimes helps to keep fish pinned. That said, they are plenty strong and have caught me a lot of nice salmon and steelhead over the years, so I'm a "fan."

And 12# Maxima will handle any chum, as long as it's hooked in the mouth. You can put a LOT of pressure on a 12# leader. Even so, I've been amazed how long it can take to land even a 10-lb. Chum; pound for pound, they're the meanest thing swimming in the PNW. I actually try to avoid them at times, to preserve my joints and my gear!
 
Shad said:
Mine are all the old, brown ones. Haven't had any warranty experiences, because I've never broken one in 15 years. If anything, I wish they had more flex throughout the blank, as a good, deep bend sometimes helps to keep fish pinned. That said, they are plenty strong and have caught me a lot of nice salmon and steelhead over the years, so I'm a "fan."

And 12# Maxima will handle any chum, as long as it's hooked in the mouth. You can put a LOT of pressure on a 12# leader. Even so, I've been amazed how long it can take to land even a 10-lb. Chum; pound for pound, they're the meanest thing swimming in the PNW. I actually try to avoid them at times, to preserve my joints and my gear!
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Such aggressive fish too, pretty sure you could catch some of them without a hook
 
speedbird said:
Such aggressive fish too, pretty sure you could catch some of them without a hook
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While they can be fantastic biters on occasion, I have found chums to be the hardest salmon (besides maybe sockeye) to make bite most of the time. Maybe that's just because of how many I have accidentally snagged in the butt while trying to find coho in late October, resulting in hours of cumulative wrestling and gear wear... a snagged chum administers enough punishment to make even the hardiest angler think twice.
 
Shad said:
While they can be fantastic biters on occasion, I have found chums to be the hardest salmon (besides maybe sockeye) to make bite most of the time. Maybe that's just because of how many I have accidentally snagged in the butt while trying to find coho in late October, resulting in hours of cumulative wrestling and gear wear... a snagged chum administers enough punishment to make even the hardiest angler think twice.
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Bobber and jig tipped with a piece of prawn if you actually want to target chums. The bobber will go down a lot.
SF
 
Stonedfish said:
Bobber and jig tipped with a piece of prawn if you actually want to target chums. The bobber will go down a lot.
SF
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Caught at least 16 on that setup Thanksgiving 2022 fishing for four hours. I didn't even use the prawn after 3 bites. Homemade pink and purple marabou with a 1/4oz jig head worked for me
 
Just curious. Excuse my ignorance if so.. Do people use a bobber and jig set-up, with a spin rod, off puget sound beachs for coho.? Can you cast it far enough.?
 
Chums are pretty easy, until they become fungus ridden, purple and green zombies.
They're not much fun at that point either.
 
Pink Nighty said:
Are you trolling them or casting them? I'd casting, mind sharing your process?
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Just casting them. Deep water areas on the Columbia I know fish to concentrate. I run a 3/4 oz inline weight, 36" leader. Just cast and retreive. Not much else to it.
 
Evan B said:
Just casting them. Deep water areas on the Columbia I know fish to concentrate. I run a 3/4 oz inline weight, 36" leader. Just cast and retreive. Not much else to it.
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Love it! I've never used an inline weight for them, just dug them in on the retrieve. But a chartreuse wiggler accounts for my only top water salmon!
 
Pink Nighty said:
Love it! I've never used an inline weight for them, just dug them in on the retrieve. But a chartreuse wiggler accounts for my only top water salmon!
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Has more to do with casting it than getting depth. Tossing one on my Calcutta baitcaster doesn't work super well since they're basically weightless.
 
Evan B said:
Has more to do with casting it than getting depth. Tossing one on my Calcutta baitcaster doesn't work super well since they're basically weightless.
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I use brad’s wigglers trolling in the sound too. Some days they are what the fish want, especially late season. They do have a poor hookup per hit ratio on the troll though. Do you run just a single hook with a long bead chain? Does that work better?

Dick nites do have a place in my arsenal. I fish some slow moving upper estuary areas, where they do well on days when the fish are too jumpy to chase down a plug or a spinner. Getting the depth and retrieve rate right seems to be the key factor.
 
Chucker said:
I use brad’s wigglers trolling in the sound too. Some days they are what the fish want, especially late season. They do have a poor hookup per hit ratio on the troll though. Do you run just a single hook with a long bead chain? Does that work better?

Dick nites do have a place in my arsenal. I fish some slow moving upper estuary areas, where they do well on days when the fish are too jumpy to chase down a plug or a spinner. Getting the depth and retrieve rate right seems to be the key factor.
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Yeah I'm no fan of trebles. I actually lose few if any fish when I run the bead chain to a single 5/0 hook.
 
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