I’m not sure why, but anglers often don’t connect the dots regarding the relationship between boat speed and bait speed while mooching. It’s pretty common for bait speed to be associated exclusively with what you, the angler, is doing. Specifically we’re talking about how fast you let line out while dropping the bait through the…
Cutting and rigging a herring for mooching seems relatively simple. We went over what I believe is the ideal spin in last week’s post about spin control. What wasn’t revealed is that I cut my bait upside down and those baits spin counter clockwise. Most people cut them right side up and they spin clockwise.…
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.…
I like simplification. It brings me to a center from which to operate. For instance, Sigmund Freud once said life gets down, “work and love.” Pretty simple and I can’t argue with that. Find work that you enjoy and brings meaning to your life. Build a loving family and good friendships. Is there anything else?…
About 15 years ago, Mike Chamberlain and I were examining a Shimano Bantam 1500LC (LC stands for line counter). Mike owns Ted’s Sports Center in Lynnwood, WA and knows just about everything about tackle and fishing. The 1500LC was the first high quality salmon mooching reel with a line counter that we’d seen. Gimmick or a…
A downrigger is a large spool containing heavy stainless steel multi-strand cable combined with an arm that extends over the water. Downriggers come in two basic types: hand-crank or electric motor for retrieving the wire. The wire has a heavy snap affixed to the end which to clip a cannon ball – commonly eight to…
Each winter when I get tired of reeling in small perch and bluegills, I get the itch to fish for bigger, stronger fish. Since fishing in Sitka is still months away, I make an annual fishing trip to Nestor Falls, Ontario to fish for lake trout through the ice. This year, three friends and I…
Last week I spoke four times at the Seattle International Boat Show. The turnout for the first talk on Tuesday was intimate, about a dozen people showed up to hear about Angling Unlimited and fishing in Sitka. The final three talks were all about our method – mooching for salmon and turnout was great –…