After seeing BB member Jerry Garcia's beach caught coho pic in the 'Bright fish ...' thread I meant to ask, but forgot, about float fishing plugcut herring off Whidbey. I've heard about it before, but not the particulars. In fact, a member here did a post about it last year and I have a print-out of it but can't find it. It's something I've never done. A few people do chance the jetty's in places like Nehalem Bay down this way and do pretty well on silvers just floating them a few feet under a bobber and the chop puts enough mooching type action to get bites. Obviously there commonly is enough chop off Whidbey for this to work well. There is a particular popular Whid. Is. beach for this I heard about; can't remember the name or location of it. This summer with my family we crossed over Admiralty Straight from Port Townsend to the terminal on Whidbey (went to visit our friend Dan stationed at the Naval airbase there - there's a chance he might get the call to go help root out Osama and gang via continued air backup). I saw a few potential outcropped pieces of land or beach that could get you near the fish travel lanes; either side of that area. Still looked like a long casting deal. Someday I'd like to try that. Bobber down in the salt - cool. Any techs you or others can offer?

And I haven't yet tried this on fresh water salmon - how well does that work. I've backtrolled small herring behind my sled out in the current and done well with that up in the rivers, but the floatfishing thing sounds fun (maybe a little late for this season?). Thanks for any feedback.

RT

I've never done well fishing plugcut herring under a float of Whidbey but have done very well fishing a whole herring under a float.

I think the JG can give you the specifics if he wishes to.

RT
It's a beach caught 'nook. It's all pretty simple, lots of guys are now using dinks[fixed], one ounce mooching lead, 4 to 5 ft. mooching leader double hooks, spacing and hook size depends on the size of available FRESH dead herring, can plug cut[ Bobber Down does and catches a lot of fish] or fish whole[4 to 5 inch is perfect size]. Cast out let drift with the current, or a couple of reels and let it sit a couple of seconds and repeat. My biggest silvers have come within 10 ft. of the beach. If I told you how many I've c&r'd in a day you'd think I was lying.

Just out of Yakutat, Alaska we fish a bridge over a tidal saltwater estuary....some of you may know of it....the Anchow bridge. When the tide is running either way the silvers cruise in and out of the estuary like fleets of submarines in full view of us. We commonly use mooching leads and herring (either plug-cut or whole) to "troll" off the bridge. When the tide slackens a bit we have used bobbers to keep the herring off the bottom. It is a very effective and fun way to sight-fish these aggressive biters. Also a good way to learn about their biting patterns. If you try to set the hook on one with a herring in it's mouth most often the fish just opens its mouth and releases the bait. But if you wait until the fish turns away that critter is doomed to the BBQ for sure.

This is also a neat way to get blackmouth in the sound down around seattle. Instead of running a fixed float hook up a slidder and put the stop maybe 20 feet up the line (or more) then you just cast off one of the piers (86, alkai or the one by the aquarium)and let the herring drift naturally. You don't want to be right near the bottom or you'll catch alot of bottom fish. Size and color of the herring are the most important factors. They need to be as bright as possible and around the size of the forage fish that are in the area. Smaller sizes in the spring and larger ones in the fall is the general rule I go by but never over 6 inches. As far as fresh water is concerned it's definetly worth trying, I'd probably start with a small one-if nothing else you'd probably get alot of dollies.

I have been casting cut plug's for years.I don't use a bobber,instead I cast it into the tide flows and let the tidal current spin the bait.This tecnique is deadly for all salmon and cutthroat.I catch blackmouth in the winter 20 feet off shore,early in the morning.I'll drift in my boat 60 feet off shore and cast small cut plugs right at the shore then just drift with the tide realing reel slow.Deadly for huge cutts.I don't do it anymore now that the state is catch and release,too high a mortality.I started using it in my favorite king river and will probably never catch a bigger king.I have probably caught a dozen down river brights fishing springers in the spring.It is just plumb deadly.It is tricky to do though.Took a couple of years to perfect.

AuntyM,

Tidal flow is way more important than chop, and of equal impotance is getting a good spin on the herring.

Had good luck catching Silvers off the beach at Seiku this summer using the plug cut under a float. Candle fish under a float was even more productive!

FJ...out.

RT I've had excellent luck fishing whole herring under a (dare I say it) "wood" float in rivers under certain conditions. We all know about those carp water back eddy spots that fish like to stack in ...pain to get them to bite. Even worse when there's a bunch of snags on the botom.
Saved many a day.

gooose

Hey RT:

Yeah I was the guy that typed up that post a while back on beach bobber/herring fishing. I tried performing a search for it, but it has seemed to vanish. I think you were going to slip the article in your book?

Anyway, it's a simple fishery. Sliding Beau Mac big bobber, tie a half-inch with a rubber band about 1-2' above your bobber onto the main line, tie on a 1-1/2 - 2 ounce crescent sinker, then I tie up a solid tie double hook rig about 3' in length (Jerry Garcia and others go with a long 5' leader, I don't think it matters to a pea brained fish, the shorter leader is just easier to cast for me). I usually plug cut my herring, especially if it's fresh and less likely to tear apart on the cast. I think the plug cut gives you a tad better spin on a slow retrieve over whole herring, the extra blood in the water can't hurt either!

As Jerry Garcia (JG) said, you don't need to cast far. The biggest challenge for newbies is casting the rig and not have their herring fly off the hooks. JG started out being a fellow big bobber thrower until he decided to unintentially release a few floats out into the sound, then it was dink floats from that point on. I like the bigger bobbers because there easier to see and the buoyancy of the float acts as a gauge to the size of the fish that's on the other end. 70% of the time the small fish don't take the float under the water, where as the bigger Cohos take it down quick! The biggest two mistakes I think newbies make out there is fishing to deep of a dropper (remember fish look up not down) and reeling in to fast over the last 10-15 yards of water before your rigs on the beach. As JG mentioned most strikes are in 2-3 feet of water upon the retrieve.

You should let Jerry and I know when your going to be in the Everett area next August (if area 9 is open for salmon) and we'll show you the ropes. We can talk more about it this spring when I cash in on that personally RT guided springer trip.

I did it this summer of the Jetty at Ilwaco, and it was pretty productive.

I used the big styrofoam floats, sliders, with about six to eight feet between the bobber stop and the weight, which was a two ounce bananna sinker. Next came a five foot double hook mooching leader.

I used whole anchovies. I would have preferred cut plug herring, but anchovies were all i could find, and they were frozen and small. Plug cutting them would have made baits that were very small and not likely to stay on the hook very well.

I put the front hook through the head, in at the bottom and out through the top. The second hook was pushed all the way through the bait about two-thirds of the way back and the hook allowed to dangle free about even with the tail.

The current was very strong, right to left, with about six foot swells. I'd cast straight out and as it got about 45 degrees below me, I'd feed it line slowly, slower than the current. It was kind of like back bouncing without touching the bottom. Due to the heavy current and swells, no fish were caught on the retrieve.

When fish hit it, it went down hard! Lots of silvers to be caught there this summer, that's for sure. Even caught a few rockfish, some flounder, and a lingcod, in spite of being quite a bit up off the bottom.

It's certainly not river fishing, but it's pretty darn close.

Fish on...

Todd.

P.S. Spray some WD-40 on your bait, too.

this is a very interesting techniqe. i think i will try this. i have some big clear floats with a peg in it. would these work?

Thanks BD. I still have your post from last year, but it's tucked into a huge pile of papers. I'd still like to quote your info briefly in my book. And trying out that type of fishing with you and JG sounds like fun. I hope I can make it up there to try that out next year. Later. - Steve

i HAVE FOUND THAT SIMPLY CURING THE BAIT CAN REALLY HELP THEM STAY ON THE HOOK.sorry,caps lock was on.I cure mine in salt and borax and they definatly stay on the hook better.Usually I just do it in a ziplock dry brine already plug cut.If the plan is to fish all day go reel light on the brine.I usually am just fishing the first couple of hour in the day so I tend to go heaviar.Expirement and you will find what works for you. Using the super braid lines with a 10'-6'' spinning set up really makes it easiar.The super braid doesn't twist like mono and casts easiar.I try to use two or three swivels to keep the line twist down and to help the bait spin.This also tends to catch the seaweed too,Just leave the tad ends long.I used to do it alot out at Pt. no Pt but once again crowds got to thick.Hope some of this helps

I fish the exact same method as "bobberdown" from the south jetty at Nehalem. A whole herring under a float bobbing in the chop works best for coho, and a cutplug under a float with a slow retrieve works best for nooks. This year is the first year I've fished this way, thanks to a post by "fishbait". I've had a blast with this method, thanks fishbait.

Sean

I've fishing this technic for years here in the South sound.
I normally fish whole herring under a brute force (large thill woody) but have been experimenting with some "WestCoast" brand floats I got from Willierower.I really like them so far.

I 've hooked more fish in 2' of water at my feet on the retreive than I ever do in 10-15 ' of water.....Os