Nog's Needle Question?

cohochinook

Well-Known Member
Hi Guys,

I am hoping to get out this weekend at the Hump. Been reading the reports and seen some guys having success with Nog's Needle. I have used mine on the westcoast and done well, but only locally off the Cap last fall and in Howe Sound earlier this spring, but without any results.

It seems most guys are fishing them without flashers? Any other tips?

Thanks!
 
Hi Guys,

I am hoping to get out this weekend at the Hump. Been reading the reports and seen some guys having success with Nog's Needle. I have used mine on the westcoast and done well, but only locally off the Cap last fall and in Howe Sound earlier this spring, but without any results.

It seems most guys are fishing them without flashers? Any other tips?

Thanks!


Everyone I know who has these is catching without flashers and trolling a little faster.....stack one side using these and the other using the control lures...'chovies and other spoons..... Following the instructions on the website. Cap Chinooks are very reluctant to take anything other than meat...except for when they first show up in the first few hours.
 
That's what I was told too...........troll the Nog-needle fast.

Don't mix them up with any other lures at the same time.........run one Nog by itself ..or...run all Nogs at the same time........no flashers , no dummies.......you fish these like a plug.
 
That's what I was told too...........troll the Nog-needle fast.

Don't mix them up with any other lures at the same time.........run one Nog by itself ..or...run all Nogs at the same time........no flashers , no dummies.......you fish these like a plug.

2.4-3.4 mph...

So...fairly quickly at the upper end of the scale. A flasher and hoochie at 42" will work at the higher speed.

Drop down a couple of large wonders on the other side....

Personally, if fishing gets slow I stack a bunch of rods out all without flasher and pick up the speed.
 
Haven't run mine as of yet but for sure a quality looking/feeling spoon - and look very fishy. Just by their weight ( about an onz) they almost feel like a jig so can see why a faster speed and heavier line might be the order. I did however locate some information that seems interesting and a bit contrary to the fast speeds believed needed for this spoon. In fact Matt explains that they will fish well down to Soc speed but above 3 knots they can occassionally spin ( which is not wanted). This could be a bit of good news though for those wanting to run them with other slower fished gear.
Information direct from Matt/ Nog sometime last summer :

" we finally developed one that produces the Right Action anywhere between 2.2 to 3 knots. Beyond 3 knots (ie the idea of running these alongside plugs) works, but in the odd occasion they may spin. There is a remedy to that by relaxing the bends ever so slightly, but I would not suggest doing so unless you are dedicating That spoon to That task. These are TOUGH to modify, and once done, Tough to bring back!

Slower than that, almost right down to dead sockeye slow, the action is exactly what we were seeking.

I have run them occasionally behind flashers, and while that will work (5 - 6 foot lead) that was not my intent from neither a sporting nor commercial application. On the commercial rig, it tends to do best when swum solo, usually above (and behind) a short flasher below. Same is true for sportfishing. Either solo, or IMHO even better just above and behind a dummy flasher, is where it Shines. And a hell of a LOT more FUN fighting just the fish (and not the flasher) in that application."
 
Nog does say "Slower than that, almost right down to dead sockeye slow, the action is exactly what we were seeking." I converted 2.2 knots to mph and it works out to be 2.5 mph. I normally troll between 2.2 and 2.5 mph. Will be testing my Nog's Needles out this weekend and will report back.
 
I can say with confidence that the lure has been successful as slow as 2.0 mph, up to 3.5mph. There are some customers on the East Coast as well that are having success in blue water fishing, trolling even faster for Bluefish and Stripers off of New York. At those speeds there is an excellent knifing action, though it is a little too fast for our Chinook salmon of course.

But the lure and the fish are happiest at 2.5-3.0.


-Nick @ Iron Needle
 
I worked the Nog's Needle on the weekend out at the Hump. Only an undersize so far for me. The 6 Chinook that we did hit came on Irish Crème and white hoochie.

I was playing around stacking the Nog's Needle any where from 12 to 20 feet above my bottom line. Anyone have any further tips or advice on what's best set up? I am going to keep working it.

Also the new spoons I bought say that they're UV, but they don't seem to glow in the dark?
 
UV gives of ultra-violet rays... You can't see it under normal lighting conditions but fish sure as heck can. Different than glow which you can see in natural light. Some lures even have both now.

If you shine it under a black light, it will reveal what it somewhat looks like to a fish - very bright versus non UV I would think :)
 
UV flasher bodies or lures that have UV will give off a sort of bluish tinge when in the water. It will be FAR more noticeable if it is a overcast dull day. Looks almost spooky.

But if it's bright sunlight out, you won't see the effect as much in the water.

You are correct...trying to charge a UV product with a light is a total waste of time because they don't store light like a glow finish.

You can tell a UV body flasher from a non-UV by looking at it in almost any light though. When you hold the plastic at a certain angle it will look bluish or sometimes purply-bluish.

Looking at UV spoons or hoochies in normal light you can't always tell right off the bat...although they do usually tend to give off that bluish look to them.

UV products react to the UV rays in the water........which penetrates considerably deeper (past 600ft ) than the normal light spectrum

UV seems to work best on dull days.....not always as effective in shallow salt water on bright sunny days. (shallow being 100ft or less).
 
Well, this past weekend off the Hump wasn't a particularly good one for most anglers off the Hump and South Bowen so...l know that those who did well got the fish within a short period of time in a given piece of lucky water. IMHO, if this year is anything like previous years, the Hump fishery is past the April highs. i would say, to be fair, you would have to fish the Needles on 4 rods...and have another boat fishing the same area with the usual suspects for a control boat. The other thing is application...these are meant to mimic needlefish of which there are none in offshore Vancouver waters...southern Georgia Strait has sucked for needlefish for the last 20 years. Anyways... It's a tough situation to get an exciting piece of tackle and have it catch nothing in the first few trips.
 
You could also try and stack the flasher on top of the Needle. This way any fish coming up to check the flasher will likely see the needle on it's way upwards and then you'll get the attraction of the flasher, the opportunity to catch the fish on that line, AND get to fight a fish without the flasher if they hit the needle on the way up!
 
You could also try and stack the flasher on top of the Needle. This way any fish coming up to check the flasher will likely see the needle on it's way upwards and then you'll get the attraction of the flasher, the opportunity to catch the fish on that line, AND get to fight a fish without the flasher if they hit the needle on the way up!

Wouldn't the flasher wrap around the lure?
 
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