Those big arcs surrounding it sure do look a lot like salmon. The motor gets turned off and you drift in silence with the current, dropping and lifting your cut plug herring. Finally, the tides bring that happy hour where the salmon start biting. You hook up to a hefty Chinook and the only thing between you and that fish is a light mainline, a small sinker and two hooks. The battle is on! And no other salmon fishing technique rivals the the fight, enjoyment and fulfillment you will get from mooching.
Beyond finding the fish and bait, there are no fancy gadgets that can buy you a fish. Mooching is a time honored technique that is used to fish for Salmon across their entire saltwater range. From California to Alaska and deep into every bay, sound and passage that they swim. It is the most widely used light-tackle technique that allows you to fish for salmon with a rod in-hand.
It is by far my favorite way to fish. In this post, I will cover all of the intricacies of mooching, and hopefully you will be sold on using this technique during your next Salmon fishing trip! All you need to mooch for salmon is a rod, reel, line, mooching sinker, two-hook leader and a couple dozen herring for bait. Buying the gear is the easiest part of the experience.
But once you get out on the water, you still need to find a good location, set up a good drift, cut and rig the bait. And effectively work the baits up and down until you get bit! I feel very fortunate to have learned how to mooch from some of the best.
It then becomes a game of finding salmon and catching them. Here is what you need for mooching…. I opt for the shorter and lighter. If you hit the location just right for the tide, you will be able to identify on your sonar screen where the bait is and how deep you need to work your gear. For the most part, a line counter reel is critical.
My preferred reel is a Shimano Tekota Line Counter, but any reel that can hold at least yards of 15 monofilament and has a counter will be perfect. Fishing Line: Mooching is one of the only salmon fishing techniques where I feel that monofilament main line has a huge advantage. As you drop your bait down the water column, or retrieve it up to the surface, a Chinook Salmon will follow and mouth it until it commits, and the soft give of mono helps an eager and observant moocher from reeling down on a fish too quickly.
When there is no breeze and your gear is dropping straight down, tangles will happen… often. Unraveling a tangle with a mono mainline and mono leader is pretty easy compared to braid. My preference is 15 to 20 mono as a mainline. I also prefer a high-viz green or yellow line that makes seeing line angle easy. Mooching Sinkers: The mooching sinker is very specific.
It is a crescent shaped lead sinker with a swivel on one end for the mainline and a bead-chain swivel on the other end to attach the leader. The bead-chain helps eliminate any leader line twist that can occur from a constantly spinning cut-plug herring. Mooching Leaders: When mooching in most areas, you can legally fish with a tandem hook set-up. Here in Washington State we are required to fish with barbless hooks.
Regardless of how heavy your mainline is, the best mooching leaders are tied with 20 to 30 clear monofilament. When salmon are in marine areas, they are usually actively feeding, and are not line shy. Their mouths contain small, sharp teeth that are designed to shred apart their prey. Across the entire Pacific Coast realm of salmon fisheries, there are a number of baits that moochers fish with, but a cut-plug herring is by far the most popular.
Almost all of the moochers out here rely on frozen and packaged herring. If you can catch your own fresh herring on a sabiki rig, you have the best bait on the planet. What better to target salmon than the very live herring that they forage on. If you have the ability to buy live herring, do it! Great baits for mooching! A monster?
No, just over 18 pounds. But it had waged a valiant battle against the long, limber rod and single-action reel. This vignette took place at the Cape Mudge Lighthouse tiderip, one of the most productive Chinook areas in the Campbell River region. Also one of the most popular, as is often evidenced by 50 or more boats operating in an area encompassing 10 acres or so.
Until then, the most popular salmon fishing tactic was trolling, either from small, rowed boats, or larger, motor-propelled craft. This allowed anglers to range further off shore, and to fish in fast-flowing tiderips, where salmon often congregate to feed on baitfish. The object is to present a bait at the depth where salmon are feeding.
Coho are often within 30 feet of the surface, but chinooks may be down feet or more, in which case the bait is lowered to the bottom, then retrieved about 15 feet. If it fails to attract attention, it is reeled up in increments of 10 feet until fish are located. Rowed mooching is often a solitary endeavor. Salmon usually toy with the bait before taking it, so there is ample time to remove the rod and prepare to strike.
Mooching under power is best accomplished with one person operating the motor, while one or two others fish with hand-held rods. Moochers travel light. Aside from rod, reel and line, they require hooks, swivels, a sharp knife, pliers, a stone or small file for sharpening hooks, and a supply of baitfish. Rowers use sinkers of one to three ounces, while those of motor moochers range from four to 12 ounces. Herring are the mainstay bait, but anchovies and needlefish are also a part of the menu.
Cut plug herring, leader, swivel, and sliding sinker. The magic begins with a light pecking at your bait.
You may have the impulse to either do nothing in hopes that. Mooching allows everyone to continue fishing while fish are being landed. Light tackle adds to the challenge and excitement! To the weight eye or to the swivel--depending on the type of weight--is tied a leader in the fifteen to twenty-pound test range. This leader is usually four to five feet long and ties to another swivel. To that swivel is tied another two feet of leader, terminating on a circle hook.
This second swivel helps deter twists in the leader caused by a spinning bait. King salmon grow to almost pounds. For those questioning the lighter leader, remember that mooching means drifting. That means that the fish have as long as they like to inspect the bait and terminal tackle.
Heavy lines and leaders tend to spook fish in the clear waters of the Pacific. Lighter lines and leaders draw far more strikes. A reel spooled with the proper amount of line and a properly set drag will catch an awfully big fish.
Reels need to hold at least yards of line. In general, mooching reels are conventional reels, although a number of anglers will use spinning tackle. If you choose a spinning rig, make sure the reel has a large capacity spool. Mooching rods are specifically designed for this fishing.
As long as eight to ten feet, they have a good backbone coupled with an extra fast taper on the tip. This super-flexible tip is a key ingredient in the tackle recipe. That is they will take a bait while swimming up toward the surface. Many bottom varieties of fish come off the bottom, grab a bait and head straight down. Rods double over when these fish strike and they generally hook themselves. Salmon are far more subtle.
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