Complete mooching rig: sliding lead, swivel. leader and plug-cut herring.

Why do salmon strike a spinning mooching bait? The general consensus goes to herring behavior. When wounded, disoriented or otherwise compromised, herring tend to flutter, flash and spin. Truthfully, I’ve watched schools of herring at our dock and have yet to see one spinning like the baits we create, but they do flutter and flash.

A spinning bait has a lot of flash which salmon find hard to resist. My experience is they like a plug-cut herring that spins tight to the axis. If you imagine a herring on a rotisserie with the shaft running straight down the spine, your bait should spin right on that shaft – no tail wagging, no big corkscrew pattern. In practice, you can’t make this happen. There is always some amount corkscrew to the roll, but you want to get that bait as close to spinning on that axis as possible. You also want the bait to start spinning at a very slow speed through the water. A slight twitch forward and your bait should begin to roll. A slow troll and it should be spinning at a good clip.

How do you create such a spinning herring? Check back for the answer and more on Presentation and Position fishing tips, or follow Angling Unlimited on our eNews, Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to keep up to date on the posts.