Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service
Started fishing at 6:45am just SW of where the oil dock used to be. This has been a good spot over the years at this time in September. We always seem to catch fish in 300-400 feet of water here. Used green prism flasher and Gold Star OG142R spatter back squid with twinkle skirts (the old standby go-to rig) with 28" leader. Caught four fish in an hour and a half, 5-8 lbs., between me and my buddy with 45 to 60 feet of cable out on the downrigger. I like to use the squid as I get way fewer shakers than on spoons, and rarely a dogfish. I like to troll with the tide to cover more water. There were nets everywhere. It is a banner year for Coho
Many folks have been talking about a lot of Coho spitting the hook this year. I was reading a discussion online from 2008 about guys fishing off the mouth of the Columbia River talking about the same thing and this is what they said and I tried. Use Siwash hooks instead of Octopus and leave the entire trailing hook beyond the end of the squid. Use larger hooks. I used size 6, but I think you can go even larger. I believe you can use pliers to offset the hook point from the shank, but I just left them straight. Also, keep the motor on for several seconds after the fish is hooked so they get no slack in the beginning. Results: Last time out, prior to making these changes, I lost four or five and boated one. This time, after making the changes, we boated four out of five hooked fish.
Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service