Salmon are born in rivers and streams, but spend most of their lives swimming through the ocean. When returning to spawn, they travel upriver through what are known as holding waters to reach spawning grounds.
Locating these areas is key to your success, and learning more about the various techniques, baits and boats used for fishing salmon in rivers, bays and the ocean will prove useful.
Fishing Techniques
Be sure to have all your equipment before heading out onto the water. You’ll require an 8.5 to 9-foot fishing rod, salmon fishing line and an assortment of lures and flies for salmon fishing.
Importantly, knowing where and when to fish is also key. Salmon are anadromous fish which means they are born in freshwater streams or rivers before migrating out to sea for most of their adult lives – they then return back into their original streams or rivers during what’s known as their salmon run period to reproduce and lay eggs.
Fishing for salmon requires multiple techniques, one being trolling. This involves dragging your lure behind your boat – ideal for lakes where salmon populations are more dispersed. There are three kinds of trolling: motor mooching, diver trolling and down rigger trolling.
Lures
There are various lures designed for salmon fishing, including spinners and spoons. Your selection will depend on the water conditions; darker lures tend to work best during darker weather while heavier lures may be more effective when fishing faster-moving waters.
Large rivers and still waters often necessitate taking an alternative approach, such as float fishing (commonly referred to as “bobber fishing”). This technique uses a sliding float with weight attached and two-foot leader line attached for leaderline fishing; additionally bobber stops can help set the depth at which your sliding float settles.
Live bait such as herring, sardines or shad is another excellent method for salmon fishing. Just be mindful that when using live bait with this approach because salmon may become used to their presence and will no longer aggressively chase after an rigged plug.
Bait
Bait is any substance used to attract aquatic creatures into a net or hook, such as hook, snare, trap or net. Your choice of bait depends on which species of fish you’re trying to catch; generally speaking it’s best to choose forage fish from local waters as these provide fresh, high-quality food while being key breeders of healthy stocks.
Researching natural and artificial bait options is key when selecting your target fish’s bait, then picking an imitation lure that mimics it. Bait can be smelly if caught from nature; special storage considerations, like refrigeration and circulation water systems are necessary when keeping bait on board for storage purposes; it’s also more costly than artificial lures; yet fishing using natural bait may provide an enjoyable distraction during a wait for bite.
Boats
Boats provide access to rivers more easily and make fishing simpler, enabling you to explore deeper water in search of salmon as well as target specific areas along a river.
Salmon are prey for bears, otters, sharks and seals in both freshwater environments and ocean environments, but also human hunters for food or recreational hunting purposes.
As river flows increase, the traditional pattern of riffle->run->tail out will dissipate into an endless fast moving run – making it much harder for non-drifting methods of salmon capture to work effectively.
Downriggers
Downriggers are essential pieces of fishing gear when trolling for salmon or other species, enabling anglers to cast baits at specific depths (up to 100 feet deep!). Anglers use them to set hooks at specific depths when trolling baits or lures at specific depths.
Downriggers consist of a reel filled with stainless steel line or cable, a rod to transport it away from the boat and cannonball weight, and an automated mechanism which releases fishing line when fish strike.
Downriggers offer anglers an advantage over simply adding extra weight to a lure or bait in that when a fish strikes, its release clip detaches from its cannonball weight allowing them to focus solely on fighting their catch. Downriggers are an immensely popular method for trolling salmon and other saltwater species.https://www.youtube.com/embed/DAjwcAA_G2I