im new here, my upriver springer tips

C
cobias
I probably wont be taking the boat out much this year due to lack of funds but luckly i have a river near to my back yard and i can do some plunkin.

Here are some tips for ya...some of these are for fishing in a boat, some can be used from both bank and boat.

1. Bobber n bait: (bank or boat) In those deep slow holes next to a current seem (edge between fast and slow water) springers will often rest before heading upstream...or if its right below/above a rough shute/rapid they will keg up. This is where you can get em with bobber n bait. Now, i see a lot of guys and even guides using the same setup for springers as they do fall chinook.I have a setup that works much better...I use a 8'6" mh spining rod/reel setup loaded with 50lb lb green braid. The rig goes like this: add a tie style bobber stop about 2 feet up your main line,slide on a small bead (usually comes with bobbers), slide on a danielson foam bobber rated for 1/2 oz weight. Now tie on a barrel swivle (use the black ones,i paint mine flat green)....now heres the different part....tie (or buy)3', 3 or 4/0 hook normal egg loop tied salmon rigs, add yarn in the egg loop (i do flo green, white,orange) slide on a red or green bead. Now, buy some 1/4 ounce egg sinkers (little ones shaped like an egg) and paint them...you can do the powder paint but i just use white primer first then make orange,green, and pink and white ones. The color combinations i do are, white yarn with the pink and white weight, green yarn with the green weight, and green or orange yarn with the orange weight. Slide the weights on to the rigs, tie one on to your barel swivle and...Boom! yr ready to fish. I add both eggs and sandshrimp to the eggloop. This rig works as a natural depth finder and a better bite detector. To fish this, set the bobber stop to mach the approximate depth of the hole your fishing. If the bobber lays flat on the surface of the water,reel in and adjust the bobber stop (twards your bobber) in small incraments until yr bobber stands straight up....once it does then reel up and move your your bobber stop about 1 1/2 foot down (twards the bobber so you will be that distance off of the bottom. Now yr fishing. Its a good idea to also use bobbers rated for 1ounce and have rigs tied with 1/2 ounce weights as well...for holes with more swirly water. The bite can be either your bobber going down (duh!) or it all of a sudden lays on its side....the oldschool bobber setup dosent have the same sensitivity.

2. Eggs: Go with amermans eggs if you can get them....or 3,2,1 (borax,sugar,salt) cured. If you can only get the store bought Guides choice you can make them as good as any other eggs....take them out of the carton/jar, cut them into salmon size chunks (50 cent peice size) and coat them in confectioners sugar...i mean COAT! Pute them back in the container and fridge. You will have good, tough,sweet eggs by morning. Salmon and steel like sugar! and remember ADD A SANDSHRIMP!

3. diver and bait from a boat:...im not going to explain the whole setup on this one. Go to luhrjensen tech tips and look up how to rig bait behind a jet diver. I use size 20 and 30 divers with 15lb brk xt mono mainline. I rig the diver on a slider system (its on the luhr jensen site). The tricks i use though are: paint your divers flat olive/army green. I do this so the fish dont spook from them or chew on them.And use at least a 7' leader to your bait...some people say as short as 4' but i never hooked anything on that short of a leader.Use a double tie hook setup (you can use a 15lb mooching leader if you dont know how to tie a double hook setup...just tie in more leader so its at least 7'). Use a size 8 or 6 spinglow with bead,yarn in the front loop(same color combo as bobber setup), eggs and shrimp.Let the divers out to 40-50' and backtroll like yr pullin plugs.

4. Plugs(boat) My favorite plug for upriver springers is a m-2 flatfish. Silver with florescent green head and tail. This plug should be called salmon killer. I was never that succesfull with the satandard kwikfish because the standards dont dive well and the action on most of them is inconsistent. The m-2 flatfish dives good and has great action. I change the hooks out to owner brand trebles because the stock ones bend easy. Usually u dont have to tune these plugs out of the box but if you do just turn the head eyelet left or right until the plug dives straight in the current(instructions on package). I flatline these plugs on 15lb berk xt.No diver, no weight. In water temps in the mid to upper 50s chinook will not always be on the bottom and they will move to take a plug. I also add a sardine wrap to the belly of the plug(look it up) but i use 3 small clear hairbands to hold the wrap in place instead of thread or line.If the water warms and clears more i use #35 metallic green, blue pirate, or copcar hotshots. you can add shrimp,craw or sardine scent. I also run the hotshots on 15lb mono.

5.Drift fishing: (bank or boat) Now some people would say backbouncing first but i like driftfishing better. You dont have to anchor in the middle of the hole(clogging it up for others) and i feel i get more hookups cuz im setting the hook from the side of the fish not the front/top of the fish. The rig is simple: 8'6" heavy casting setup with 20lb berk xt mono. The rig : Tie a very large snap swivle to your mainline attach a 3/4 to 1 1/2oz(depending on current speed) bank weight to the snap of the swivle...tie a 3' 20lb egg loop tied leader (4/0 hook) with #8 corkie or spinglow/bead and yarn (same color combos as bobber rigs) to the free end of the swivle.add eggs shrimp. Cast upstream and let it drift down with a tight line. If the current is too slow for even 3/4 ounce use a slinkey or a piece of pencil lead with a hole punched in it for the snap. (you can buy hole punch needle nose pliers at s g stores). I would describe the bite on a drift as a rubbery tug,tug.

6. Spinners: (bank boat) casting: in slow bobber water if the fish are there but not biting bait i will switch to throwing a spinner. My favorite are blue fox in size 5,6 silver blade with flo green body or brass with flame body. Sometimes silver blade metallic blue body. I just cast and retreive SLOW usually near the seam of fast slow water. If the water has some current to it i will rig them like the drift fishing setup above and swing them through the current. Cast upstream, let them sink a little, real up the slack and then let the current pull them down and across the river. Its good to use a casting setup for this so you can let out line if the spinner starts to pull to the surface.I also plunk spinners in the upper rivers and it is DEADLY when the salmon are on the move. I dont use standard spinners....i use whats called a corkie spinner or "cherry bombs" is our code name for them. You can buy them from wordens lures but i have mine made cause its cheaper. all they are is a size 6 spinner with a colorado blade and a body made of size 10 corkies. I plunk them like so: Tie a three way swivle to your mainline. tie a 20" dropper line off of the bottom part of the swivel add a 4-6 ounce pyramid weight to that. Tie a 40" 40lb leader to the center swivle part.Tie on a snap swivel...snap on the spinner. If you dont want to buy or make a corkie spinner you can use a light spinner like a size 5 clearwater flash or half-fast.If you use these spinners use a shorter leader so they wont hang down and ruin the action.Green w brass blade or green with brass and rainbow blade are good colors. Just cast this rigup out carefully. The best place i found is halfway between the center of the river and bank.....closer to the bank if the water is high, closer to the center if its low. Just watch your rodtip when its out....it should be doing a fast 'thump,thump,thump'. If its not reel in and shorten your leader until it is thumpin.Add scent or a strip of sardine to the hook for added attraction. Have your rod ANCHORED or in your hands....the strikes can be vicious!!!!

Good luck kids!
 
Raincatcher
Raincatcher
Nice starting post

Nice starting post

cobias;
Welcome to the fishing forum find of a lifetime! Wow! Talk about sharing & caring,you came in with the right attitude! Thanks for the timely tips. Sounds like you've been fishing for a minute or two. Seriously,we love sharing info and answering questions. What all do you go after? If you are in the Eugene area and go after bass, you are invited to the OFF bass bash at Delta Pond this Saturday. It should be a blast,come out and meet a great bunch of members and float around on a 'toon or float or walk the bank. The sun is even supposed to be out! The invitation is open to all members who want to get together and have fun. Catching anything will be a bonus. I just recently got a pontoon and will be taking it out for the first time down there with people I trust...I don't swim,not a stroke. Sink like a rock,yes. Anyway, welcome aboard and, oh yeah, I forgot to tell you,we love pictures! There is a member who nearly has a meltdown if he doesn't get a pic fix daily. Be safe.
Barb
 
H
Hawk
Welcome to the Family Brother Cobias......................:D:D

Thankyou fer all the tips...............


c&r some Big'un Lunkers..............................:lol::lol::lol:.....................:cool::cool::cool:
 
M
Mike123
Very good post Cobias!! :clap:
I'm going to try that bobber set up this year. I've always thought about doing that with the painted weights above your hook. There's a company that actually sells painted drift weights just for the purpose you mentioned.
 
A
ArcticAmoeba
Cobias, you drift fish, or essentially sidedrift from a boat with over an ounce of lead??? We are using between 3, and 8 grams of split shot, and drag bottom quite often. It appears your rigging is extremely heavy for fishing in OR. 1/0, let alone 4/0 hooks have, and will continue to spook fish, especially Steelhead in my home river this Summer, so I am having trouble wrapping my brain around where you would fish such gigantic rigs. But painting swivels in O.D. Green, or a matte forest green is effective, especially when the flows come down in the dead heat of the Summer.
 
S
steelheadstalker31
Thats a really fishy idea, painting some egg sinkers and putting one just above the bait. I'll be sure to give that a try this year.
 
C
cobias
ArcticAmoeba said:
Cobias, you drift fish, or essentially sidedrift from a boat with over an ounce of lead??? We are using between 3, and 8 grams of split shot, and drag bottom quite often. It appears your rigging is extremely heavy for fishing in OR. 1/0, let alone 4/0 hooks have, and will continue to spook fish, especially Steelhead in my home river this Summer, so I am having trouble wrapping my brain around where you would fish such gigantic rigs. But painting swivels in O.D. Green, or a matte forest green is effective, especially when the flows come down in the dead heat of the Summer.

Im talking about hatchery spring chinook in the mid fork willamatte, Mckenzie,south santiam. Drift fishing....not side drifting. I also mentioned that you could size down to pencil lead and slinkeys if the water was slower.
 
F
FishSchooler
ArcticAmoeba said:
Cobias, you drift fish, or essentially sidedrift from a boat with over an ounce of lead??? We are using between 3, and 8 grams of split shot, and drag bottom quite often. It appears your rigging is extremely heavy for fishing in OR. 1/0, let alone 4/0 hooks have, and will continue to spook fish, especially Steelhead in my home river this Summer, so I am having trouble wrapping my brain around where you would fish such gigantic rigs. But painting swivels in O.D. Green, or a matte forest green is effective, especially when the flows come down in the dead heat of the Summer.

I was gonna say, what? all the stuff that AA has told me are lies?! :lol::lol: Maybe I'd use 1.5 oz of lead for fishing a waterfall, but thats just about it... :shock::lol:

Welcome to OFF cobias.
AA is talking about drift fishing. It's the way he catches most of his fish (like all of the fish to me ;)). He stresses to use the least amount of weight as possible, like 2-4 bb split shot.
 
M
Mike123
ArcticAmoeba said:
Cobias, you drift fish, or essentially sidedrift from a boat with over an ounce of lead??? We are using between 3, and 8 grams of split shot, and drag bottom quite often. It appears your rigging is extremely heavy for fishing in OR. 1/0, let alone 4/0 hooks have, and will continue to spook fish, especially Steelhead in my home river this Summer, so I am having trouble wrapping my brain around where you would fish such gigantic rigs. But painting swivels in O.D. Green, or a matte forest green is effective, especially when the flows come down in the dead heat of the Summer.

I must say I've never used that much lead for drift fishing either!
I think the most I ever use is about maybe a 9 or 10 shot of .250... And thats the most! I don't think 1/0's are too big for Springers though...
For bobber fishing I stick to 1/0's to 3/0's depending on water clarity.
 
C
cobias
i have a little experiance

i have a little experiance

I have been fishing for salmon and steelhead since i was 5 years old, was floating the river by myself when i was 14...i had a guide buisness in 2001-2002 called All About Fishin guide service. If you use 1/0 hooks for springers good luck! Even a small springers mouth is rather large and the skin in their mouth is tougher than a steelheads. You not only have to penetrate their mouth but the hook has to hold. when the water gets low and warm i dont even bother with bait...i use #35 hotshots. Yeah, you can catch old dark fish on bait later in low warm water(i have even caught them on nightcrawlers) but plugs at that time are better and you hook fresher fish. As far as lead...when your drift fishing(not side drifting) water with moderate flow, your using 20lb mono and you need a slow drift you usually never go below 3/4 ounce weight. If i need more than 1 1/2 ounces then i feel the water is too fast for salmon to hold in anyway. I do know guides that have backbounced with up to 12ounces of weight...sometimes salmon will hold in fast water when they have to ie; below bonivile dam.I dont fish in water that fast because unless your using 80lb braid and have a sled landing a fish in that can be tough and dangerous.

For steel i use a 36" 10lb leader, size 10 corkie pegged with a rubber band,1/0hook with yarn. Pencil lead or slinkey on snap swivle for weight. when water is low i will go down to a 48" 8lb line size 12 corkie with a size 1 hook. If the water is so low that i need to go below that i will swing flies or toss small spinners.


If im fishing holes that are so slow that they require tiny weights the water is usually better fished with a bobber setup that i mentioned above. every one has their own style so its cool...mine has worked
 
F
Fishtopher
Welcome to the forum Cobias!! and thanks for the info.


"Maybe I'd use 1.5 oz of lead for fishing a waterfall, but thats just about it..."

Maybe you'd catch a fish if you did...:tongue::lol:
 

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