The Outdoor Line Forum

So... I am a moocher...just like mooching and feeling the rod in my hand and the, hopefully, bite and run. Well, after much craziness in learning how to use the downriggers, I am now a fan...oh yeah. I still love mooching but downriggers.....I hope no one saw all the chaos of the learn, though. FULL FISH BOX!!!! Thank you!
And, oh yeah, Gary found a great way to tie on the herring...quick, easy, effective. I like baiting methods that are easy for me to do! No helmets, no lassoing, no craziness..easy peasy...boom, fish on!

Linda

Welcome aboard the 'rigger express 'Creek!

I realize there's a learning curve but like anything else, practice makes perfect!

One way to view downrigger fishing is that it's just one of the tools in your box and I'll bet that your mooching background has put you on the fast track to trolling success. In other words, there are aspects to mooching that have taught you things about trolling and vice versa.

While trolling, I always have mooching and jigging in the back of my mind so in a way, the low-effort, long duration technique of trolling is a way to finding opportunities to employ the high-effort, high-yield vertical techniques of mooching and jigging.

One key slide in my salmon angling PowerPoints has this statement and I stand by it:

"There are times and tides every day that one technique will out produce the others. Our challenge is to recognize the conditions that indicate the use of a particular technique"

When you learn the best times to mooch, to jig and to troll you're on your way to becoming consistently successful as a complete salmon angler.

All right Nelly,

Area 10, I have a Hobies Kayak and a little rigger and I picked up a 4oz mooching weight. I hope to launch out of Ballard and fish north of Golden Gardens Park, my rage is limited because it is a lot of work, but I hope to make it inside the curve there above Golden Gardens.

Given the tide, when should I troll and when should I mooch? I think I switch to mooching at the peak of low tide, but i don't really know the technique. *Tennessee boy trying to learn out here *

Hey PC,
I would agree that from the kayak you need an efficient, tide friendly opening day gameplan
Take a look at the Navionics screenshot below as I believe that it encompasses the area you landmarked.

Assuming you're launching at Shilshole, I would recommend you start at the point marked by green can #1. Troll with the tide to the end of the flat marked by the green fish, Then, plan your troll to be back at the green can for slack tide and mooch until the flood statrts pushing you south,


Good luck out there and if you catch one you owe me a post on the fish report page!

Awesome! Thanks, I have my expectations set to learn and to just have some fun and get out.

This was my project last night, a little setup Brad Hole helped me with: https://www.facebook.com/KayakFishingWashington/photos/?tab=album&album_id=702590569879247!

Or if you really wanna get crazy... hop the edmonds ferry and go mooch the low at No Point. You wont be disappointed.

I did not see any fish, not really any a bait, got two dog fish. I got two nice purple backed dungees which made the effort to get up so much better.

I saw dolphin around 9am, and herring jumped a little bit around 9:30.

Maybe I'll check out no point next weekend.