I am hearing from several salt laiden fisherman that encounters with bright dog's are becoming more common out there. Any of you dog chasers wanna share your favorite method/rig with the rest of us? Aside from the usual Hoodsport and John's creek corkey rig.

I'll start.................

A fellow fisherman imparted this wisdom on me the other day, He motors around looking for the usual giveaway for schools of chum. They like to porpus as they travle. He will then motor ehead of them (quietly) and cast 3/4 oz. pink and white marabou jigs at them. The key is to keep your rod tip high and reel as you work the jig with rapid jerks. This will allow him to keep the jig high in the water column whithout reeling too fast.

Sounds like a great way to flossem in the salt maid me do it

Try a cut plug made from the smallest herring you can find, fish it about 3-4 feet under a bobber.

If there are Dogs around they will slam this like almost nothing else.

You can catch chum with hootchie and flasher trolled very slow. Troll slow enough that a Hotspot flasher just wags side to side. 36" or so leader on a dark green or army truck hootchie. Chum seem to be a bit more boat shy than other salmon so put the gear maybe 50' behind the downrigger. Strikes are either very subtle(line goes slack as dog swims along with gear), or it nearly rips your rod off the boat!

BTW, chum are being caught in area 11 right now!

Chums catches in the salt are usually incidental. The only success that I've had (boat or beach) is a small herring or a jig/fly under a float. Fished shallow and dead drifted. Chums don't chase well in the salt.

I've caught bright chum in the salt three ways: tossing flies around the mouths of creeks, casting a smallish chartreuse jig with soft plastic tail (had them chase the jig all the way to my feet), and trolling with a pink corkie between two painted pink steelhead hooks and that mess behind a flasher. I've seen the bobber and cut-plug guys literally slay the chums, and that will likely be my go-to this year.

Keith

"Incidental"????

I guess that is true if you aren't fishing for them or don't know how to!

Nailed a 14 lber off Meadow point yesterday afternoon. Green hootchie behind a hotspot flasher. Slow down a little bit and they'll hit. They aren't as agressive as silvers, but they fight like a king.

Caught on off Edmonds a few weeks back...same gear.

They tend to stay up high. Run your gear 30-60 feet down.

Use a big squirt of shrimp oil on your gear, too.

Hey,
I like chasing the dogs to help my kids enjoy the fishing. We live in Puyallup, and I fish hoodsport. Does anyone know of any areas closer to home than Hoodsport. Also, where is John's creek. Does john's provide easy access for the kids. Any info would be appreciated!

Thanks

hungry4fishn:

I sent some info to your PM.

The Campbell River guides have been targeting chums for some time now. They tend to favor a hotshot flasher and pink hoochie. Success is sporadic. Some days they slay them other can be tough.

As KJ said the herring under a float can be dynamite. I find chums are the most fickle of all salmon. I fish them in the Harrison every year. The river is absolutely stuffed with them. Sometimes we go hours with out a take. Then as if someone threw a switch it fish after fish till our arms get tired.

Hungry4, here in about a month or so Minter Creek is great for the kids and its not that far either, definately nonstop action. Even went out there Thanksgiving morning for a little fun.

The "trick" is getting them when they are still bright. Once they get to the terminal areas like Hoodsport, or in the rivers they get pretty knarly. They can be darn hard to catch when bright enough to keep, yet will darn near bite anything you put in front of them when their all striped and toothy. Sure are fun to catch regardless.

Hey,
Thanks for the info. But where is Minter Creek? Is there good parking there? I am new here, so I appreciate all of your help!

Anybody fishing for chum in area 8-2 yet? Last weekend, it appeared that the silvers are still out there, but not as many.

Hi, I sent you a couple more PMs