Wow, great tips and we are 40% to 50 tips in the first half day. Didn't expect it so fast at all; that's really cool. In the interest of those that don't access as often and having this thing last a little longer, I will up the good tips max from 50 to 100. The ending date will stay the same, no later than May 20th, to give me time to pick out a springer day with good conditions going for the trip for 2. Also, I think I will put up another thread for the funny tips like Os's that don't help catch fish or better your fishing equipment, rather than deleting them which I dislike (otherwise Os's tip is a very good one about the Redneck! ). I will call the fellow thread the Tip Dumpster (for lame or only funny tips), and simply copy such from this thread and paste them over in the other - if you have some plain ol' funny ones you can just post them there too. Thanks much guys and keep 'em coming. - Steve

[ 05-03-2001: Message edited by: RT 1 ]

Alright I couldn't resist here we go:

Jerry Garcia, you stole my biggest tip. Those coho off of the beach will only smack your bobber if your not looking at it. I perfer to set my rod down across my gut as I lay on my back on the beach. I have found that coho can not resist on swallowing my herring when I'm in this position.

O.K.,

Tip 1: If you're fishing with a "solid tie" mooching leader and your worried that the sharp teeth of a Chinook will chew through the line on the back hook . Tie a double line on the back hook. When you first tie on the back hook (stinger) leave a 6"-7" leader trailer, then complete your knot on the stinger hook and then put the excess leader back through the hook eye of the stinger and through the hook eye of the top hook. It is important that you leave enough of a leader trailer so that the second strand off of the stinger is the same length of the original strand between your hooks! After you have threaded the leader excess from the back of the stinger through both hook eyes,Bend the excess over the shank of the top hook towards the back of the hook and begin your wraps. Clip off the excess and burn the end of the extra strand of mono so it can't pull through the wraps. Bam! now you got double turbo line power on the stinger. I have had more than a few fish over the years chew threw on strand, and if it wasn't for the second strand they would be long gone.

Tip #2: Keep your fresh sand shrimp on wood pellets (the kind for pellet stoves) they'll last twice as long!

Tip #3: Poor man's bobber stop, use a small rubber band and tie a half inch with the rubber band on your main line above your bobber. Clip the ends of the rubber band, walla you have a adjustable stopper that holds! If it does start to slip, tie two half-inch ties in a row. The green rubber bands that are around your Seattle Times paper work the best.

Tip #4: If your plunking with a double spin-n-glow rig and your worried about your trebles snagging your main line on the cast, put a large marshmellow over each hook. The marshmellow will keep the hook points from snaring your leader on the cast and once there under the water they will disolve away.

Tip #5: If your unsure how to get land access to a fishing hole???? Pull up a satelite shot and zoom in. Try Terraserver http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/default.asp. You can pull up a aerial to any hole.

Bobber Down

"Keep your hooks sharp!"



[ 05-04-2001: Message edited by: Bobber Down ]

When ya just can't get those salmon to take a traditional plug cut herring, try a left handed bait, that is, point the head to the left hand side and cut the angle as you normally would. The bait will spin in the opposite direction. Great for those left handed fish. Sometimes a little different action does the trick.

1) When your plunking from the bank or anchored in a hog line and you get your plug or spin n glo hung up on the retrieve Take a water bottle or gatorade bottle and fill it almost half full with water. Then tie some string to it and attach a snap swivel. Hook this to your line and let it slide down while letting out some line so you create a bow in your line to the point the bottle is sitting back behind your plug a ways. Now give your rod a couple of jerks. and your plug should come free. If your worried about breaking your line and the bottle drifting free just attach it to the line on a spare rod.

2) another use for old detergent bottle is to get heavy weights back behind your boat when fishing places like the columbia where its not uncommon to use 32 ounces or more. Attach a downrigger clip to the old bottle then tie the bottle to an old rod with about 40lb mono. Clip the line your going to let out onto the downrigger clip and then float your weight back behind the boat. when it gets to where you want it give your float rod a big jerk to release the downrigger clip.

I have one more.
1. If you ever have a rattling plug that just doesn't produce, Or you just hate rattles period and can't find non-rattling ones, its time to remove the rattles. 50% of the time when these plugs are produced some of the bb's get stuck to the side of the plug. I believe on some plugs especially small ones this can be just enough to throw the action off. Their very easy to remove esspecially after you have done a few and know where the chambers are located. To get them out start with a small drill bit and drill where you think they are. Once you get a visual on them you can slowly work up in bit sizes until the BBs fall out. After that you need to find something small like the screwdrivers you use for glasses and start scraping the insides to make sure they all came out. Once their out Grab your wifes glue gun when she isn't around and fill the hole. Every plug seems to have a different numbers of rattles in them. The least I have seen was 2 only one was working other stuck in glue to 18 rattles in 3 sizes in one particular Magnum Wigglewart. It took 3 holes to remove em all because they were in three different chambers. I had to remove them because I refused to fish this plug since I could hear it amplifing the rattle sound through my loomis and the boat when the plug was 50ft in front of the boat about 12 feet down. Before I started drilling holes in plugs I was cutting them in half. One of my hottest plugs currently in my box is a medium size hot n tot I cut in half and epoxied back together to remove the rattles for a diver. I soon learned fish were hitting the plug more than the diver so now I just run it straight and panic if I ever get it hung up.

[ 05-03-2001: Message edited by: QwikSticks ]

OK last one

1. If you have those long Fish-on or look-a-like rod holders and your friends or yourself occasionally have troubles getting the rods out of them in a hurry then this modification will really make your day. Make a mark about 3 inches back on the top from the front of the rod holder. and then make another mark about 2 inches back on the bottom. Take a hacksaw and cut off the end lining your blade up on the two marks. Next lightly file or sand the jagged edges so it will not eat into your cork. With the rod holder modified like this you will now be able to grab cork when you go for the rod and you will be able to take the rod out at an angle instead of straight up or down. My fishing buddies and I have done this to our saltwater (with downriggers) and freshwater boats and have never once said gee I wish this rod holder was longer.

[ 05-03-2001: Message edited by: QwikSticks ]

When drift fishing try curly tail grubs instead of yarn when things are slow or in a combat zone like blue creek the little extra action is all it take some times

Tip 1. If you use a Mag Wart or Hot-N-Tot for a bait diver try this to increase your catch. Take a piece of surgical tubing and put over the rear treble hook on the plug so that it sticks straight out behind the plug and won’t tangle with your leader on the front belly hook that has the bait. Bingo if a fish decides to take a smack at the plug he has a treble hook staring him in the mouth or he can go for the full meal deal and grab your bait, which is a few feet behind the plug.

Tip 2. To add color and flotation to a beaded hook on a Kwik fish or Mag Wart in one easy step. Heat the shank of the treble hook just enough to melt its way through a cheater put it in the position you want and when it cools it will be glued in place.

Tip 3. Use a small piece of tape-backed foam to stick on plugs and lures to add your favorite stank juice to, this method will hold the scent for a long tome.

Scott [img]null[/img]

[ 05-06-2001: Message edited by: RiverLiver ]

if you are fishing a river tide water area trolling plugs and fish are jumping and you get no bites, speed up to 4 to 5 mph and set your drag loose, i have caught a ton of silvers and kings going that fast, when they hit the plug it almost pulls the rod out of the boat. a light drag is a must.(parrot magnum)

[ 05-03-2001: Message edited by: dogsalmon ]

When the water is low and clear as it was this year fish a jig and bobber right down through the middle of the rapids. You'll be surprised how often your bobber will go down in the rough stuff. Make sure you fish your jig a foot or 2 deeper than you normally would though because the jig will definately not be drifting straight below the bobber.

Here is another tip
When fishing for Coho I have found that they like spinners with white on them if you dont have any spinners with white on them thake some white out and you can make your own designe I like either striped or spotted they go nuts over that stuff

OK when fishin at night take along a little camera flash and before every cast hold the golw in the dark lure or what ever up to the flash and flash it the lure will glow much longer remember to cover the flash completly so you dont spook any fish.

This is the last one I can post so I better make it good right

This one might be well known I am not sure
When fishing a new river stop and take a look at what you are going to be fishing
Admire the scenery look at what god has graced you with.

If you take the time to look at the little things your fishing adventure will be much more fulling regardless of if you catch any fish

Well Doug Jr., you still get another posted tip to try - because the second of your 4 in a row goes over to the TIP DUMPSTER thread . But I truely agree with that last one there!

RT

[ 05-04-2001: Message edited by: RT 1 ]

1.Use orthadontist rubber bands to hold bait on a jig head. You can get them at some sporting goods stores.
2.Chap stick will make a good emergency line floatant like mucilin.
3.Cutting a Double Taper line in half and attaching dacron to it makes a great shooting head fly line.

Best tip I have is if one wants a good day of fishing is to make sure you leave the wife at home. That way you have no complaining about the weather, slow fishing, or uncomfortable conditions, You can also avoid multiple trips to shore to get her to a bathroom.

When fishing Kwikfish, I put a small piece of velcro on the belly near the back hook and attach strips of mylar to it. The action of the Kwikfish "swims" the mylar and the flash and additonal movement seems to drive em wild. If you bead chain your treble(s) you can lengthen the mylar and get even more "fish tail". I like to hide the hooks in the mylar. Strikes are vicious.

If fishing double rigs like a lot of tend to do on the willamette. Run a barrel swivel up your line then a T bead below it, tie your normal setup for single rigs on. run the t bead up to where you want your second rig. Push a toothpick into the bead and attach your second leader to the barrel swivel with a snap. Work great keep your upper leader about as long or shorter than the distance to your lower rig to help avoid tangles when realing in. When fish hits the upper it slides down to the lower and you dont have a huge distance of leaders to try and reach a fish with the net. Also while sitting in the baot trolling get other rigs ready, spinners and other baits tied to a leader with snap swivel can be changed quickly. Experiment dont get stuck trying the same bait all day if they arent biting give the fish some options.

Here one tip that I won't get killed for telling. It has helped land many salmon.

On cut plug herring, using slip tie. Pull the back hook so it is 3-4 inchs behind the bait. Many times the kings/springers(depending what country you are fishing) will swim behind the bait and nip the tail, and turn away. This puts the trailer right in the corner of their mouths. This works well for anchovy rigs also.

Here is one that I have done without any pressure to catch summer runs and spring chinook and thought it would be a great tip to share with those that are avid fisherman, and a tip to get away from most fisherman.
Take a sled or driftboat up and fish from 9:00pm on fishing vortex's (the lighted lure). I have done this for 7 years now on the NF of the Lewis with no pressure. I take the sled up late and backtroll vortex's through the same way I would backtroll baitdivers and shrimp. But at night it is a little different. First you need an extra battery with a spotlight to navigate the river, second I recommend using 30lb tuff line and a little light stick that you tape to the tip of your rod so you can enhance and see the action of your vortex's. Next, as I mentioned earlier backtroll these through the same water you would fish regular plugs but also fish the softer water too. Fish that water that moves real slow and is 4-8ft deep, fish get lazy at night and tend to lay in softer water, hence the tuff line to help you see the action of your plugs better. We usually start this around the middle of june when the weather gets nice and do it through the end of august, and average 3-12 hookups a night. And one other thing we did land a adult sockeye in the lewis doing this once, green body and red head about 6 pounds, must have been a kokanee that made it below the dam and to the ocean and back???
Good luck and we will see you there!
Keith