Salmon behind prop wash ???

A

anorthernhunter

Active Member
I have fished in Campbell River for years growing up and now fish yearly
at North Island Lodge up at Langara Island Haida Gwaii.

I have watched and heard about fisherman laying their back line out "10 or 15 or 20 pulls" and
have never done it because I always though that being so close to the motor the exhaust smell
in the water would deter them. (recalling water skiing and smelling the exhaust smell in the water
thinking that the fish wouldn't stay around that smell).

Well reading on this forum and in particular watching a video just posted showing salmon grouping
just behind the boat in the prop wash got me thinking ... maybe I am missing something.

I always put my back line waayyy out back ... maybe I should rethink this.

Any thoughts on this ... especially around the motor smell in the water?

I believe that no matter how long we fish/hunt etc., there are always tid bits we can learn and I
am open to rethinking this "behind the boat" strategy when I go to Langara next month.

Thanks,

Northern
 
After watching lots of my on videos I seen that the Coho were all with in the actual prop wash. I would estimate ~20-30' max behind the boat. I don't know why but when they are thick they love the prop wash.

I plan on trolling a small spoon out the back with a small amount of weight so that it's just below the prop wash.
 
Guided in the gwaii for a couple years now. General consensus for guides running riggers from a number of camps in less than 60 ft of water seems to be 6-8 pulls on the back rod. Some to the biggest fish I've guided have come on the back rod in the holder opposite my kicker where I can check my bait just lifting the rod tip. No more than 6 pulls
 
Rover,

Thanks for the reply ... for a gazillion dollars, I wouldn't have thought 6 - 8 pulls (20 ish fee) behind the prop. That's interesting to think that within 18 - 20 feet of your boat just under the surface there could be salmon. Good intel ... would you run a spoon or cut plug herring or it doesn't matter behind? Thinking the cut plug could absorb some of the motor/exhaust smell?
 
anorthernhunter said:
I have fished in Campbell River for years growing up and now fish yearly
at North Island Lodge up at Langara Island Haida Gwaii.

I have watched and heard about fisherman laying their back line out "10 or 15 or 20 pulls" and
have never done it because I always though that being so close to the motor the exhaust smell
in the water would deter them. (recalling water skiing and smelling the exhaust smell in the water
thinking that the fish wouldn't stay around that smell).

Well reading on this forum and in particular watching a video just posted showing salmon grouping
just behind the boat in the prop wash got me thinking ... maybe I am missing something.

I always put my back line waayyy out back ... maybe I should rethink this.

Any thoughts on this ... especially around the motor smell in the water?

I believe that no matter how long we fish/hunt etc., there are always tid bits we can learn and I
am open to rethinking this "behind the boat" strategy when I go to Langara next month.

Thanks,

Northern
Click to expand...
Basically "Bucktailing" for Coho. Semi popular before down riggers where invented.
Coho feed in schools and when attaching a bait ball a guess there are alot of scale loss etc. The prop wash mimics this i guess, kinda like tuna fishing. For giggles tie on green or blue and white bucktails and power up to 3+ and throw 3 rods in the wash. There are various other options as well. Flyrod and a minnow fly in the wash slowly trolling kelp. Few old books reference bucktailing and are good reads
 
One of my favourite ways to fish coho on the surface right after the wash .. what a blast when there thick of coho those are knuckle busters , the most violent
take so awesome ...
even on the side of the boat close to the wash if the coho are thick you could see some dart up to the spoon , or when reeling back in they came right to
the side of the boat following the spoon ..
 
i think Coho also like the slow beat of the big high thrust flat blade Yamaha prop - must so something for the lateral line...
watch out for the rare but it happens suicidal fish that grabs the spoon and runs right thru the prop / protector...it makes a God awful noise, the Yamaha does not like it and a great lure goes goodbye..

on the positive you now have a chum trail
 
Reeltime said:
One of my favourite ways to fish coho on the surface right after the wash .. what a blast when there thick of coho those are knuckle busters , the most violent
take so awesome ...
even on the side of the boat close to the wash if the coho are thick you could see some dart up to the spoon , or when reeling back in they came right to
the side of the boat following the spoon ..
Click to expand...

Surprised no one has mentioned this yet... Quite a few times I've had a coho (even a pink one time) come up and take a lure on the surface while I was tending to another rod or other task like resetting a downrigger, all within 10-15' of the boat. These all happened with a flasher and spoon or hoochie setup.

Good point with the bucktails. I've run a 'center' rod out the back of the boat but have been further back than that. I think this year I'll try to run closer in the prop wash and try it with bucktails but on the troll.
 
On the few occasions I have been fortunate enough to fish Haida Gwaii, we only ever cut plugged herring and the back rod with 4 oz. of weight and 8 to 10 pulls often caught the bigger fish on our trips. I will say that we caught more fish on the side rods that were using heavier weights and 15 to 22 pulls, but the back rod, especially first thing in the morning tight to the kelp beds, seemed to have that magic of finding the bigger fish.
As for bucktailing, not sure there is anything that gets the adrenaline pumping more than when a feisty Coho hits the fly right on the surface in the prop wash and your fly reel screams like it is going to explode. We have taken the odd Chinook that way around Tofino as well, but obviously more rare.
Here is a video clip from Mark Pendlington's show from a few years back at Legacy Lodge in Rivers Inlet. There are a few plugs for gear and the lodge in here but the fish is extraordinary.

 
A couple years ago we were at The Outpost with a couple boats with buddies. We had our rods up but the rod on the other side of the boat from where they were going to raft up to use was still in the water but fully reeled up. One guy on the other boat said 'hey - your rod is going off over there' as a joke to get us to panic and between the time it took from when he said that, and the time to turn around and grab the rod a 24 lbr had hit the rod - literally just a dangling herring maybe 3-4' under the boat! Pretty funny reaction on the other boat....
 
I ran a 3rd rod behind the prop all last fall in Renfrew with just a spoon and picked up coho on it. I've caught many fish close to the boat over the years. My most memorable was in the early 90's in Winter Harbour I was changing setups and at the time didn't use quick releases. I had the flasher in my mouth and the hootchie hanging over the side while I trimmed a little line before tying it up. A nice little 5lb coho hit it and just about tore the flasher out of my mouth.
 
I often stack a rod with a whole herring or a big spoon above 30 ft and you'd be surprised at the chinooks that produces.
 
anorthernhunter said:
Rover,

Thanks for the reply ... for a gazillion dollars, I wouldn't have thought 6 - 8 pulls (20 ish fee) behind the prop. That's interesting to think that within 18 - 20 feet of your boat just under the surface there could be salmon. Good intel ... would you run a spoon or cut plug herring or it doesn't matter behind? Thinking the cut plug could absorb some of the motor/exhaust smell?
Click to expand...

I actually exclusively run anchovie with teaser head on my back rod. I find it lasts a lot longer, and is less likely to catch weeds. When I guided out of the aluminum boats or smaller whalers most lodges run up there I found the outboards were often overpowered for trolling cut plugs so on turns the cut plug should often strip off or get mangled while the ones on the riggers would be ok. That was my original reason for going to anchovie and have never looked back.

I've guided some pretty impressive fish but the largest "one that got away" had been right up to the boat before the guest backed up to the other side snapping the line in the gunwhale (smh) was in my estimation easily 70#.
It took the bait with the line in my hand as I was clipping it into the rigger clip right on the surface within 5ft of the kicker. Watched the take

I run dummy flashers and sometimes when offshore for coho while changing bait I bring up the flasher and leave it skipping on the surface and it is followed up and tracked by a bunch of 12 inch bluebacks sometimes a few mature coho and I've even seen pilchards and mackerel when they used to be thick off the west coast of the island doing this
 
The Best motor I ever used for this was a 2 stroke Yamaha 30hp the stream of bubbles it put out was like crack for Coho.
 
Good topic guys.

Rover/others, Do you just put a third line close to the prop wash when you are in tight/shallow ie. 60 feet or less, or if you are stacked 45/75/ 90/120 down 150 ish would you put one out then ... or do you find they hit the high line close in only when you are shallow?
 
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