currents

[KJ pluggin]

I was watching bassmasters today and they were talking about fishing the bass faster when the the currents were stronger and slower with a weaker current. Do you think that this is something that also holds true when fishing for salmon out on the big pond?

[Adam Bomb]

That seems backwards to me.....Anyhow, I guess it depends what way your retrieving your bait into the current. Retrieve faster going with it and slower going into it. Same reasoning you gotta slow down going into a current or speed up going with it.

[KJ pluggin]

Sorry for the confusion. What I was trying to say is, do salmon prefer a more aggressive presentation when the current is faster. For example, faster down speeds and shorter leads on flies.

[pulpfishin]

I believe there may be something to that theory. This summer we were trolling into a strong current at about 1.2 sog, 2.4 down speed, and could not get anything to go. We were passed by a boat going the same direction, so obviously he was trolling faster. He boated 2 fish right next to us. We sped up to match his speed and started banging king's also. Of course most of your baits are speed sensitive. On this particular day we were running mostly clean spoons (stingers), and spinny's on the low divers. I like the stinger spoons because they don't seem to want to foul at most any speed.

[Blue Knight]

One thing to remember there is nothing set in stone in fishing for salmon. Experiment, experiment when it comes to speed at least. Out west the commercials are running at 4 knots. I've been up to 3.6mph sog & down to 1.4mph sog & caught fish. Obviously you have to run within a speed that gets good action from your lure. Most of the time I'm running either Hot Spot flashers or Apex or both in a spread. They both run well & the only size Apex that I've found speed sensitive is the #4.0 which shouldn't be run over 2.5mph.

[KJ pluggin]

I know the connection between currents and down speed are not going to be something that is going to hold true every time out. I agree, you do have to experiment with speed out on the water. If salmon do prefer a more aggressive presentation during faster current it would allow you to start at a higher speed right away and adjust from there and hopefully find that optimum speed sooner. It is something I will pay more attention to next season.

[1mainiac]

Personally most of what I learned in early years is from my uncle who is a commercial fisherman in AK and much of his setup is run something you know they like run lots of it and go fast so they don't have time to think it over. Salmon can swim close to 30mph which is why we can get explosive hits. So going fast does not mean you will out run them it does mean you will cover more water and put your lures in front of more fish. However many lure setups don't run well fast so you do have to adjust you speed to make your lures work. For this reason when I am in search and distroy mode I don't run flasher flies or divers they just don't work well at high speeds in haul butt mode I stick to heavy spoons and a few body baits like Thin Fins and Rapala style baits. Not sure who started the 1.8 and straight trolling that many live by but I consider that drifting.

[Blue Knight]

Maniac just to clarify one thing. There's no reason why you can't run flashers at a high speed. Over 90% of the commercials out west are running nothing but 11" Hot Spots & a pile of them. There spread obviously are a lot bigger than any of ours. There leads are a lot shorter but that's about the only difference I could see. When I went out there a couple of years ago I was invited on one of the commercials to take a look at their setup. That was too much like work for me LOL!

[SUPERTRAMP]

One thing the west coasties don't figure into their speed is the Steelhead and Lake Trout that we in the great lakes get. I wonder if your Trout catch will suffer by trolling at the higher speeds?

[DIRTY DOG]

nope i can account for many lakers at speed close to 4mph and i no a good charter capt that can also. He shown me how to do it.

[southtrollsouth]

nope i can account for many lakers at speed close to 4mph and i no a good charter capt that can also. He shown me how to do it.

ssshhh DD, that's Uncle Don's secret sauce!

[DIRTY DOG]

sorry.