Fridays King Salmon Results and gear pics!

[gstours]

Yesterday My good fishing buddy got the day off and since the weather had broken from crappy to partly crappy we decided to troll some more.  Seems like the tide was fairly low and still dropping so that suited me fine.
   We fish a fairly simple way for the winter feeding scattered kings here, following the shoreline in 20 to 50 feet of water and troll real slow with medium size whole herring using a diving planer to control the depth.   See pic below.

another variation is the camo paint and bead chain to prevent line twist.

the rods are 9 1/2 and 10 1/2 ft with backbone but a fairly soft tip, and of course the reels are the mooching reels and our favorite for salmon  below are two types,  and braid line is the ticket.


the herring are whole and bent and held in a slight bend curve by round toothpicks, and the mouth tied shut to keep it from complaining!  we use 40# mono leader, and a combo of j hook up front and a treble in the rear.  the leaders are about 9ft long and add more excitement when getting the fish tired for the net as you might start to imagine

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so thats about it for a primer on how to!   If you are lucky you might one of these,

this one was fun, too!   or my buddy got one that looked like this.

These were exactly what we were looking for.
    The weather was grey and some dampness fell from the sky but overall we had fun.  The only birds we saw were gulls, a couple of herons at the shoreline, mallards passed overhead as did a few honking geese.   But then we rounded this corner and quite a ways away was a cow and calf moose that I tried to photograph for this little story,  Not the best picture as we were a little shaky on the water,   
 
  So thats my little story for my friends and people with an interest in something different,  like me.    ha  ha!    Enjoy    gst.

[Tightlines667]

Do you ever fish flashers, spoons, j plugs, or use downriggers?  Looks like your simple method is producing just fine.  Thanks for sharing.  You sure seem to be picking up some quality fish.  Is there any moving water to fish 'em when they are running?  Guess these fish are nuch better quality, seeing as that they are still green.  Easy enough to downsize on tackle if you want to play around.

[Maxed Out]

Those are some fat healthy fish for this time of year. I would be smiling just the same.

Congrats on the nice fish and hitting the weather window, and thanks for sharing your herring setup.

Looks like S.E Alaska or BC coast....love em both

[Shark Hunter]

Thanks for sharing Gary! I always enjoy your posts.

[Keta]

Looks like S.E Alaska or BC coast....love em both

Northern SE Alaska, Glacier Bay area.

[Newell Nut]

Thanks for sharing the pics and nature.

[LTM]

Thanx Gary, and great details.

Leo

[Dominick]

Gary I never heard of round toothpicks.  I assume the idea of holding the herring in a curve is to give it action.  Years ago I used to fish in Washington where the herring were cut on an angle and bias to get a spinning and diving up and down action.  Do you know what I mean?  Have you tried both your way and the cut way?  I am curious to know which works better.  Thanks for showing us big fat healthy salmon.  Dominick

[Bryan Young]

Wow, thanks for sharing Gary.  Amazing scenery right in your back yard.

[whalebreath]

Years ago I used to fish in Washington where the herring were cut on an angle and bias to get a spinning and diving up and down action.  Do you know what I mean?

That's called Cut Plug Herring it imparts a spinning action depending on the cut-no up 'n down though.

[gstours]

Herring cut the way you described and rigged with hooks are as earlier stated as cut plugs,  cut on an angle with the innards removed, these are effective as well,  we dont do it that way,  Ive tried it with really large herring to make them into a smaller bait.  But they are generally trolled at a faster speed, or behind a flasher.  The speed we troll is too slow and they dont spin but sway and wag back and forth, which to us might seem ok!    The toothpicks just help hold the bait in a curve so when they are pulled slowly thru the water they imitate a dying or injured easy target for food.  Seems like these kings salmon are spooky and wont hit a fast or flashy bait in the winter or spring.   There are many ways to choke a herring!  When I lived in washington state they fished way differently there too.  When in Rome do like the Romans do!

[Rapchizzle]

I guide in SE Alaska in the summer time and am under the impression there is a 2 hook rule.  Meaning you may only fish with one treble or 2 single hooks on one line at a time.  Is this the case or is that treble J hook combo exempt?  I'm very interested in this as I think that treble is a good idea to keep the tailbiters from getting away!

[harryk3616]

thanks gary, nice fish, great story and as usual great pics of the wild life, beautiful,   taken care my friend

[gstours]

It is my understanding that a treble hook is a hook.  and it counts as the first one.  yes you are allowed 2 hooks per rod,reel.   also in some areas you are allowed two rods per person.  But that generally changes as do the bag limit during the calender year. 
  Treble hooks are a pain in the neck, they are weed and grass catchers, and always get caught in the net, and will snag up on just about everything.   The Jury is still out as to if they hold the fish on better,  Its an Opinion thing!    gst.