That leads to the age old question of:

What is the difference between spoondogging and spoondrifting?

Not to be confused with the "drift fishing" of the spoon world, good old fashioned Spoonswinging.

Spoonplunking and/or spoonwobbling is pretty self-explanatory. If not, Stlhdr1 will remind us all how spoonwobbling works come June and the CR Summer kings.

I really don't think "spoondogging" is what they were doing. Just my opinion.

IF spoondogging actually exists, it would seem to be dragging the spoon behind the boat while the boat is moving downstream.

no its top secret bro, id have to kill ya if i told ya the method...

What Kaiser said, its basically spoon pitching....

I forgot to add in spoonplugging. With and without divers.

And, during the salmon season, one can take it to the "next level" and try sardine wrapped spoonplugging.

I see some STS and SSJ articles in the near future!



PS. I just had a great promotional idea for RVRFSHR. Every time someone buys a spoon, they get a piece to puzzle that has to be decoded. The decoder takes 25 special pieces. After you have collected the all the necessary 25 decoder pieces (how many spoons would one have to buy to get all 25 pieces, assuming one doesn't always get a new and different decoder piece with every spoon), the puzzle is revealed, which says:

"Buy More RVRFSHR Spoons."

Genius!

(Wish I was on a river spoondogging now. I'm jealous.)

i love fads!

I've tried the stacked technique before but don't think I've ever hooked up. I'm curious if you guys were stacking them for the blinking/contrast because of water conditions or more to throw a heavier spoon to get down in the deep pools? Doc mentions something about 20' lie. That's some pretty deep chit.

Doublestacks are for primarily for weight-add... to get down in deeper or faster water. I dont think color matters as much as presenting it correctly.

Thanks. That's kinda what I figured since once you stack em they're gonna be heavier. I read Spoonman's book many years ago and it opened up a whole new thang for me. Unfortunatly I suffer from CRS and should probably read it again. Bent metal has been good to me!

I stopped saying "can't lose a fish on a sickle" way back last August after dangling spoons over bazillions of pinks. Up til then, I could honestly say I'd never lost a fish on a sickle.

I guess sample size finally caught up with me.

I don't care what hook you use, if you don't get a purchase on enough tissue (or better yet bone) you risk the hook tearing out or coming unbuttoned. Anyone who thinks otherwise just isn't being intellectually honest.

Will I still use 'em? Yah-yoo-becha!

I'll just chalk up my three in a row to a case of incredibly bad luck. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

Maybe a better claim might be to say that if you get past those first 10 uncertain seconds after the strike, chances are damned good that fish is coming to hand.

Neal - like a heart attack during sex? Good thing I was drinking anything when I read that, or it would be all over my monitor!

Jeez Parker, this could get really complicated. Maybe that's why Summerrun would have to kill Kaiser if he told him? I guess it's even more top-secret when it's double-stacked spoondoggin'. Hmmm, that's starting to sound dirty.

Doc, I think I'll just stick with flies and keep it simple.

I'm still trying to fully "appreciate" the sickle hooks.

I'd say that along with getting a good part of the mouth, setting the hook on a cast spoon WHILE THE BOAT IS MOVING is generally tough. Unless you are working overtime, the line is losing tension with every inch the boat moves downstream. Which is actually the OPPOSITE of what happens with "doggin".

you bobber boys confuse me...

Not sure if I just coined a "new" term for presenting spoons by calling it spoondoggin', but basically all I was referring to is presenting spoons with a downstream swing from a moving boat progressing downriver at something less than current speed.

Nothing really new to me, as I've caught plenty of salmon on the lower Kenai swinging spoons and spinners in similar fashion. Done the same downstream swing from a moving boat with fly gear... works great. Really helps to keep your goods in the zone without getting rapidly pushed back to the surface when fishing deep and/or fast current as compared to making the same swing from a stationary position.

Salmon g reinforced the principle in my head when he first mentored me to my first Skagit steel on a Spey rod. He kept pressing me, "Are you camping out?" referring to my tendency to not move down the run fast enough. He showed me how to cast - mend - swing -AND- slowly keep stepping downriver throughout the entire swing. Helped to keep the fly deeper AND cover more water faster.

You know that Sg is pretty flippin' smart!

Not sure that's the whole story.

So what about backtrolling and backbouncing? If done right, the boat continues to move downriver thru-out the strike. Yes, technically the boat is moving downriver, but at less than current speed, so part of the current is still helping to keep things tight for you. You're not really losing tension.

Two of the three fish I hooked, line was leaving the reel when they came unbuttoned. The third toad just wallowed under the surface without budging (no gyrations, no violent head shakes) about two rod lengths port of the drifter, and the rod was bent to the corks.... suddenly, pop went the hook! Go figure!

I'll stick with the "not enough meat" theory for now. But if the situation makes a nasty habit of repeating itself, I might have to concede to trying another hook. Doubt it.

Nice fellas.

Looks like the river hung in there quite nicely despite the rain. Over here.....another story.

Camping out, potted friggin plant... Commin through! I like to fish fast, and have a hard time getting stuck behind someone who fishes slow. Unless its my buddy Jon, and I just tell him to start behind me or prepare to be passed
I like your idea for the new line of rvrfshr product Parker. I might just wrap a stacked presentation for my next trip to the columbia!
Side driftin spoons.... hmmm.
dragging spoons through a hole.... Thats just trolling.
swinging spoons through a hole.... Traditional (my favorite)
swinging spoons from a moving boat..... lots of fun
plunking spoons..... maybe for sturgeon with some bait attached? unless your vhawk and merg who have seen fish dive down and rip stuff off the bottom of a river...

Nice job, fellas!!!! Sweet fish. I want one of those spoon fish bad, but being a bobber boy has been so good.

"Plunking" spoons for salmon is quite effective in tidewater... especially out of an anchored boat. Strikes are hellacious, especially if you WAIT WAIT WAIT for that rod to load and line to strip, much like every other straight downstream presentation I've ever tried.



"Driftfishing" Pixee spoons is the first method I ever learned to fish for salmon in AK. We'd cast quartering upriver 45 degrees, slow retrieve just off bottom, slower still as the spoon would drift downriver from the casting position, and finishing with an abbreviated swing as the very last portion of the cast line was retrieved.



I'd call that dragging spoons.... kind of like dragging worms. Cast way upriver to the side of the boat and drag the spoon thru the likely holding water with a more/less free-drifting boat, perhaps holding the boat back a little if it's sitting in swift water. The same effect could be achieved from a stationary position (bank or boat) by casting upriver into the holding water, and power retrieving the spoon back downriver to give it action just above bottom. We did drag spoons in a few of the spots last Sunday, but did not hook up doing that.... a swinging presentation was definitely more productive.

If the spoon were directly upriver of the boat as it travelled downriver, I'd call that downstream trolling.... just like they do with herring or spinners. I've downstream trolled wobblers on the Kenai without success.

"Swinging" spoons is just that... cast down and across and simply let the spoon flutter on a tight line with little or no retrieve as it swings back over to your side of the river. I think of gear guys emulating fly guys. (Or was that the other way around?) CAST - SWING - STEP... repeat.

Maybe we should call the Ripley method "Power Swinging" - swinging a spoon from a moving boat under power (as opposed to being anchored or stationary or free drifting without power). And yes, I'm referring here to power delivered by either oars or a tiller.

"El Ripper en Fuego...."

Nice job Fellas.....