Salmon Fishing Newport Oregon

Salmon fishing can be done in many ways.  We troll with lures or sometimes whole bait and when the Smilies bunch up, we mooch.  The method we use depends on the density of the schools we are fishing on, the weather and sea state and simply what is working best.

Trolling for silvers (coho) requires a faster troll than for Chinook, about 3 knots.  We use some deep lines on down riggers at the bow, down to about 25 feet, and divers on the other lines fishing the surface from 5 to ten feet.  Most of the time we use “hoochies” of various colors behind small flashers.  When trolling, you must be with your pole at all times because when a coho gets on, you’ve got to move quickly and get your rod tip up and keep a strain on the line.  Coho are a dancing fish.  They run, they jump, they cartwheel and generally act like they are throwing a temper tantrum!  So you must play the fish to the boat paying close attention to keeping the line tight but not yarding the fish in because coho have soft mouths and the hook will pull out if you work too hard.  Many times you will hook numerous fish just to land one.  But that’s fishing for you.

Chinook fishing is somewhat the same but we tend to troll deeper.  And when the schools are thick, we like to mooch.  We send a piece of bait down to the bottom and slowly work it back up about 20 feet.  Chinook don’t strike real hard when you mooch.  The fish will pickup the bait and mouth it and then carry it a ways before taking it in.  And when they get hooked, they swim in the opposite direction of the weight so often they only time you know a fish is on is when your line goes slack.  Then you must reel like crazy to take up the slack.  When a chinook is on the line, it will swim to the surface and fight against the pull.  It can be quite a struggle when you get a really big one on!  And often the fish will charge the boat and again you must reel like there’s no tomorrow!

The biggest problem dealing with salmon fishing is when you’re fighting one, you get all kinds of free unasked for advice.  That’s just the nature of the beast, everyone (especially the captain) thinks they know best how to land one and will be coaching you.  It’s all in good fun though so don’t take it personal.  You probably won’t even notice them yacking at you.