Goofiest gear you've caught Salmon on.

[TheBigGuy]

Seeing as how it’s probably going to be pretty quiet now that the Chum derby is over. I thought it might be time for something humorous. What is the goofiest, or most unlikely gear that you have caught or seen Salmon caught on.

Off the top of my head I’d probably say my kid managed a strange one. We were at Poet Nook and a Pilchard jumped out of the water and landed on the dock. The kid through it in the cooler. We went bottom fishing later that afternoon and were using heavy rods with 100 lb spectra, 1lb weights, and spreader bars with 18 inch long 60lb mono leaders. For a laugh the kid put the pilchard on. He caught a Coho as he was bringing the gear up. So much for the long light leaders that moochers think necessary, go figure.

Coho can sure be stupid at times. Also in Barkley Sound I’ve seen Coho striking my downrigger clips before I could even attach the line. What about you guys, I'm sure you've got some funny stories.

 

[blueorca]

Plain black hooks for Sockeye and Chum
and once a beer cap crimped around a hook caught a small spring near the Trap Shack in Sooke.

 

[blueorca]

Plain black hooks for Sockeye and Chum
and once a beer cap crimped around a hook caught a small spring near the Trap Shack in Sooke.

 

[danthewire]

Back in the early seventies my uncle was staying at Salmon Point,near Campbell River.I came up most weekends through the summer to go fishing with him.This one weekend he says look at this,a guy from Texas swears by it,out comes this plug...thing.What is that? I say figuring i'm getting set up for a joke.It's a bomber plug, they use them for bass,and thats what it looked like, a cartoon version of a bomb,15 pulls behind the boat he says.Well,it worked he caught quite a few through the summer on it,me I wouldn't be caught dead dragging it around, I used my haida hooker.DAN

 

[danthewire]

Back in the early seventies my uncle was staying at Salmon Point,near Campbell River.I came up most weekends through the summer to go fishing with him.This one weekend he says look at this,a guy from Texas swears by it,out comes this plug...thing.What is that? I say figuring i'm getting set up for a joke.It's a bomber plug, they use them for bass,and thats what it looked like, a cartoon version of a bomb,15 pulls behind the boat he says.Well,it worked he caught quite a few through the summer on it,me I wouldn't be caught dead dragging it around, I used my haida hooker.DAN

 

[TheRock]

Bannana led weight, hammered out so its some what straight, put a split ring and treble hook on it and were jigging for cod/bottom fish in Sooke. Hooked a 15lb. spring ! We got it in the net, we had a good laugh.

 

[ferret]

while guiding in the charlottes a few years back, the fishing was pretty good at the time, i'm cleaning our catch for the day at the dock and i noticed one of the springs had a couple of herring heads in it's gut, discards from cutplugging, so the next day for a laugh and with my customers permission i fished 1 rod for a couple of hours with just the heads from my cutties, we nailed 2 springs on that rod, we then switched back to the cutties as they were producing a lot better. i also caught a 10#coho off macpherson pt., langara while fishing for hali's, 240'deep,2# weight, spreader bar, 2 9/0 hooks and a foot long 3" wide slab of spring belly, couldn't believe it when it came to the surface, lol. also caught a 50# spring on the same type of hali hook-up in 180' water at qcl, had herring on the rig this time so probably not too unusual.
cheers and tight lines, ferret

 

[SerengetiGuide]

One time when we were jigging for hali's at the mouth of Knights awhile back, as the spreader bar w/ herring was going down (and fast too) a 25lbs Spring nailed it and the line suddenly went slack, so we brought er up and there she was....a gorgeous Spring. Oddly enough, that was the only thing we caught...so when we went back to the cabins @ barnetts....last thing everyone expected to see coming in.

 

[Robert Warren]

Charlie White's "The Lure"...?

 

[tyeegalore]

quote: Charlie White's "The Lure"...?

First time I've heard anything caught on one. Nice to know they actually did work, other than making Charlie a lot of money!

 

[Pippen]

Two years ago while on a two week cruising trip up towards Broughton we were at anchor and I was on the back deck of a big 58' trawler style boat bbq'ing dinner. Decided to throw this horrendous looking heavy jig (still to this day don't know wtf it was) over the side and let it sink to the bottom in hopes of some bottom fish to add to dinner. Threw the rod in a holder and literally just left it there; well about 10 minutes later the reel is screamin' and I leap over to the other side of the deck and 15 minutes later I have a nice 18lb spring on board?? Must have been in about 80' of water and we weren't drifting so the jig was almost sitting right on bottom. Crappy thing was that I burnt the steaks as we kind of forgot about them. [:I]

I am pretty sure this was some freshwater contraption that made in o board from one of a buddies freshwater excursions as I have never seen one before.

 

[esora]

Couple of years back Coho fishing was hot.Connected some red Sleeman beer tabs together with split rings and attatched a hook, wasn't down more than a minute and whamo fish on. Still got the old Sleeman Special in the box.

Esora

 

[fishspoon]

about twenty years ago in late heatwave morning near China Creek marina, we were sockeye fishing. Anchovies were rotten in the box due to heatwave. We knew the anchovy wasn't clean, and still being rotten, torn, wasn't rolling properly in action. We knew we would not catch a spring because the weather was too hot, and almost a noon.

Weird thing, the rod bent hard, and the another rod went off shaking. My father had the rod, struggling to reel the line up. I had success landing a sockeye salmon on the other gear. My dad was reeling with the rod, it didn't fight at all.The rod bend down. We assumed a bait and hook was stuck on the bottom. Fortunately, a large old fashioned flasher came up on the surface, we spotted our spring salmon, I grabbed a net and netted my dad's 21 pound spring salmon.

 

[wildwest]

green glow herring jig,2 little gold hooks in the tip of the cohos mouth,had some big herring on that rig before but they dont run like that!!

 

[adrianna3]

I've caught coho on purple bubblegum and yellow wire nuts out off Port Renfrew. Don't ask how we came up with those ideas.

 

[Robert Warren]

quote:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie White's "The Lure"...?
---------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:First time I've heard anything caught on one. Nice to know they actually did work, other than making Charlie a lot of money!

I've had a couple fish on charlie's lure.. One actually spooled me at Ballenas Island. It just kept going and going.. I was in shock. And no it wasn't a seal.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

A number of years ago i got a 20 pound spring on a dew worm in the fraser.

 

[finaddict]

I know this is a salmon thread, but I caught a river otter in the Thompson one year on a shrimp pattern fly (Squamish Poacher). Got him right on the bridge of the nose where the skin is very thin and the hook was just through the skin. I didn't really know what to do with him once I was close. Man was he p*ssed! once he got close and I let off the tension on the line he just swam away snd the hook came out. Barbless hooks Do have their advantages!

 

[ipbuckin]

Off Sooke last year, I caught a 9 lb. Coho with a pikepole! I was trolling amongst several boats, who were catching fish, when I spied a flasher floating on the surface. I steered over to pick it up, but as I approached it veered off. Then I noticed, that although I was heading into the current, it was swimming agaist it and I also noticed a slight ripple on the water indicating it was under power.
I could not get close enough to net the flasher, but I also spied some line floating astern of the flasher. I was just able to reach the line with the pikepole and haul it in. So I not only scored a fish but a flasher and a hootchie. I guess some poor guy had the hooked fish cross someone elses downrigger wire severing the line!

 

[Little Hawk]

Howdy,

Mouth of the Capilino River, fall 77' or 78'. Didn't have a boat then and decided to do some spin casting for coho's at the river mouth. Had never tried it before.

Shows up late at about 8 am wearing my cheap (Army & Navy) .59/cent thigh-waders with my old glass casting rod. Much to my chagrin the joint is packed with shore-fishermen; there must have been 20 or more of em'. They're standing elbow to elbow swearing at each other as they tangle their lines; I keep walking past them, admiring their priceless neoprene chest wader's and top of the line spinning gear.

I finally get downstream to the last guy. He and his buddy start laughing at me as I hook-up a big cork float with an eight foot leader and a huge frozen herring. They procede to show me the 'correct' lure to use at the mouth of the Cap (some stupid little plug-thing they probably mail-ordered).

I ask them, "anyone caught any thing here today?"

They say, "No." They'd been there since sun-up.

I cast my setup out into the current then leave the bailer open. I'm furthest downstream and my float is soon carried about 200yds out into the chuck. I wait, I watch my float.

Sure enough, less than five-minutes goes by when I look out and discover my bright orange float is nowhere to be seen amoungst the heavy chop. I grab my rod to take up the slack and see what's up.

Ten minutes later - with four different guys coaching me in the fine art of beaching a salmon - I brought the scrappy nine-pound coho onto the rocks.

I packed up my gear then carried my prize proudly as I walked past the long line of (now silent) Ted Peck's back to my truck.

I was in and out of there in less than an hour.

Cheers,
Terry