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Mooching for Salmon
From the best sources we find that mooching originally started in the late
1920's or early 1930's in Seattle's Elliott Bay because of the competition between all the
boathouses. The boathouses developed mooching as a popular way to fish to increase revenues thru the sale of bait, rather than relying completely on
boat rentals, as in those early days trolling plugs were the method commonly
used to fish for salmon. Mooching was developed mostly by the Japanese, & is
carried on even today thru the Tengu Derby - am annual mooching tournament interrupted by WWII when many members were
interred, and then has run continuously every year since 1946 in Elliott Bay.
The word is that when this method started, the Japanese fishermen in the area
did so well using it that when they came back to the dock with their fish, the
plug fishermen would "mooch" the rest of their bait from them, so they
could go out & mooch themselves. These Japanese got to calling the
other fishermen "moochers" and the name somehow got associated to the
method they were using.
The first time my uncle & I (I was only 12 at the time) saw the results of it, was about 1948 in
Sekiu. We spent a morning trying to troll flashers using Cuttyhunk line &
sliding snap sinkers in a windy-choppy water & had to come back in empty
handed & early
because it was too rough even inside the bay. Back at the dock was 2 Japanese fishermen with some
nice Chinook. When questioned how they caught them, the word was
mooching. My uncle, an avid salmon fisherman from southwest
Washington, had never heard that term used before then. They were
helpful in educating us & we soon learned how to go about it. He
moved to Westport shortly later & put the method to work catching salmon.
I believe that
he was partially responsible for the start of the great Westport charter boat
fleet, that used mooching exclusively. He & may aunt started a
mooching leader tying business & sold to most of the
charters. They tied leaders all winter & sold them during
the summer months.
The Gear - This
method consists of using 25# mono line, a kidney sinker attached to the end of your
mainline, and a leader usually 6' long with 2 hooks tied in tandem hooked into a
herring for bait.
The Rod - The
original rods were steel or solid fiberglas in lengths from 5' to 7', now they are usually from 8' 6" or 9' medium or heavy mooching rod.
You will however notice a few 10 to 11' rods being used. Lately you will
see graphite rods slightly lighter, especially if spectra type lines are being
used.
The Reel - The reel
is usually a spool type reel with a star drag. In the last 10-20 years the
level wind has become the dominate type. Size is usually anything
that is designed to hold about 200 yards of 25# mono. Some dedicated
"moochers" will use a direct drive reel so that they can be in more
direct control while letting the line/lure out by thumbing the spool, & this
reel will usually be associated with the 10' or 11' rods, as these long rods act
as shock absorber due to the inability of the reel to spool out on the drag
without you letting go of the handle.
The Penn
310 GTI was designed as a mooching reel with a feature built in it with a switch lever to disengage
the anti-reverse. This allows you to let line out & then just crank
the handle to reel back in without moving the anti-reverse lever. Many fishermen will use the Ambassadeur 5000/5500/6000/6500
steelhead reels. With the advent of the line counter reels, many
fisherpersons are getting spoiled.
The Line - Line can
be either the mono or spectra type lines. However with the advent of the spectra
type, they have taken over and are now being used by more fishermen all the
time. The good thing about this type of line is that you can feel the lightest
tap & you don't have to "rip the lips", just sweep the rod tip to
set the hook. Using spectra lines you can use from 14 to 20# however I
suggest going up to about 35 or 40# to keep the line size up & help
eliminate the smaller line cutting into the edge of the spool & getting
under other wraps, creating a "Bird's Nest". Using this line also allows you to use a sinker of about 50 percent
lighter since the line drag is significantly less because of the smaller
diameter line.
The Swivel - If the
swivel does not work, your mainline will get twisted. The kidney sinkers have
bead chain swivels on the front of the sinker to keep the line from twisting.
It
has been found the best swivel is a ball bearing type. There are different
prices on these swivels, the cheaper ones being about $1 each while the Sampo
brand running $5 a package of 2. To make your own test, take one of each,
the bead chain, cheap ball bearing, & the Sampo, & tie a looped line
long enough to go from the top of each swivel, around your hand & back to
the swivel. Put a short leader, 6" to a 2 ounce cannonball weight
& tie it to the bottom side of the swivel. Now spin the weight &
watch the reaction on the line you are holding onto above the swivel. If
the swivel is working right, the line you are holding above the swivel should
not get twisted.
The Sinker - Since the advent of barbless hooks being required
for most all salmon fishing, the method has changed slightly. Everything is
the same except the sinker is different. Place on the mainline above your
swivel to the leader, a sinker slider, sometimes called a Slido, (the same that the sturgeon fishermen
use) on this you can snap a round cannonball sinker. The cannonball
will go deeper for the same weight than the kidney, as the kidney has a tendency
to to "float" somewhat. There is also less resistance for the cannonball. Metzler
also makes a slider similar to a kidney that is removable & that attaches to
their slider. The reason for the slider, is that with the barbless hooks,
this slider does not give the fish as much advantage to use the weight of the
sinker to shake & throw the hook. With the kidney sinker tied solidly into
the system & a fish that jumps & shakes it's head can use the sinker to
help pull the barbless hooks out if not hooked deeply.
One good thing when using the round cannonball
sinker is that, if conditions change, you can quickly change sinker weight
simply by snapping on a new different weight sinker. You want to use the
lightest sinker that will get the bait to the bottom.
The Leader -
The average length of pre-tied leaders are 6 foot. Some
guides however recommend a leader of up to 10'. The hooks can be either tied
solidly into the leader with about 2" between them, or the top hook being
tied as a slider. In use, the solid tie is used mostly for cut-plugging
herring, while the slider will be used with whole bait. The slider can be
adjusted after it is inserted into the herring to bend it & give it the
desired action. Sinkers will range in weight from 2 to 8 oz. depending on
the depth fished & the current, with a 4oz. the most commonly used size when
using mono. The kidney sinkers are equipped with a swivel on both ends. You want to tie the
barrel swivel onto the mainline, leaving the bead swivel rearward to allow the
leader to rotate & not twist your mainline. Hook size for ocean
fishing typically will be 3/0-4/0. Leader strength will usually be about
25#. Hook size for Puget Sound fishing can be smaller as the baitfish
& therefore the bait should be also smaller with a lighter leader in
the 15# class.
Washington State laws allow 3 single hooks per
line. At times when the fish are striking short, the third hook may be an
asset. As with it you can let it dangle right at the bait's tail.
The Bait - When
buying bait herring, look at the eyes, they should not be bloodshot, but have a white
dot or clear in the center. This white dot indicates the bait was fast frozen &
will usually be a better bait than the ones you find that have bloodshot eyes,
which means the bait may have been dead for some time before it was
frozen. These bloodshot bait could be somewhat deteriorated before they
were frozen. During the peak part of the season, good herring will get
hard to come by. Buy what you will need ahead of time & keep it frozen
yourself.
To toughen the bait, soak them in a mixture of 1
cup rock salt to 1 quart of water. The most important thing is to ALSO
keep them cool. Put the brine in a refrigerator. This brined chilled
bait will last for 2 months or more. You can add more herring as needed.
When using, take a small insulated lunch box / 1 quart large mouth thermos with
the bait & keep it in a larger iced cooler until needed.
Hooking the Bait -
When
hooking or cutting your bait, you want to leave all the scales possible on the
bait. To help facilitate this, put the bait into saltwater to thaw out,
plus wet your hands, knife & cutting board. Wetting everything will
help keep the scales from sticking on you or the board & on the bait. You want to present a bait that is as
natural & attractive as possible. When cutting a cut-plug, the angles
should be near 45/45. That is a 45 degree angle front to back & a 45
sideways. To increase the spin change the front to back angle more
straight up & down. For hooking cut-plugging herring the simplest & known as the
West Port hook up is to just hook the front hook in thru the belly cavity &
out the top at the backbone, leave the back hook dangle. A modified
version of this would be to run the back hook thru the belly cavity & out
the short side, back about 1", then let it dangle.
One trick when using a cut plug, is to cut a
slight "V" notch out of the rear of the lower body cavity. This
will allow the water to flow thru the bait & not create a problem with
tearing the cut angle. It can also allow air bubbles to escape thru this
hole, creating an attracting feature also.
For using whole herring, the slider hook is best
as it can be adjusted for the proper spin on the bait. Run both hooks thru
the bait, starting just below the lower jaw, & coming out the top of the
head between & rearward of the eyes. This helps to hold the mouth
shut. Hook the rear hook into the herring on one side so that the hook is
pointing forward & comes out the side about the location as the anis, insert
the slider front hook on the same side & with the eye of the hook laying
behind the gill cover. Hold onto the front hook & pull the leader
enough to put a bend in the bait. Put the bait in the water & pull it
thru the water to see if you have gotten the proper spin in the bait. It
should have a spinning action. The old saying was that Chinook liked a
slow roll, while the Coho liked a fast roll, may have some validity, as many
fish have been caught using this idea.
Scent -
Yes, I would recommend injecting scent into the bait, or smearing Smelly Jelly
into the body cavity of a cut plug.
The Technique - Initially the method was just dropping your gear to the bottom & let
the tide carry your boat & the bait along. As time went on, the
charter boys at Westport found that if everyone on the boat would drop down
& then reel up, they created what the fish thought was a school of
baitfish. This also allowed for the salmon to be "searched out"
in different water depths. So the recommendation is to drop the gear to
the bottom & reel it up a handle crank at a time, stopping between the
cranks for 20 seconds or so. You can also let your gear down in this same
manner.
You want your line to run out at about a 45 to 60 degree angle, as baitfish do not
swim STRAIGHT UP. To do this adjust your sinker weight. If this does
not give you the proper angle, then you may want to "Motor Mooch". This is
covering the water dead slow & not to be confused with slow
trolling. In use, run your kicker motor allowing the lines to go
out, shift it in neutral, allowing the lines to sink, put in gear again &
repeat the process, moving along with little movement, stopping, & move
again but never actually stopping to allow the lines to hang
vertically. Some fishermen use drift socks to slow the movement.
Never fish against the tide. But go with the tide
or current, & when you get to where the bait is no longer, or the rip has disappeared,
pull the gear in & run back to make another "drift".
This type of fishing means you DO NOT put your rod in the rod
holder & forget it until it hopefully goes down. You want to have
control of the rod & reel at all times, & have the rod tip pointing at
least horizontal or even downward near the water, so that you can set the hook with the least
amount of effort, & as soon as you feel a bump.
One thing if you are using the cut-plug setup with the back hook
trailing, when you net the fish, do it GOOD the first time, as sometimes the rear
hook may not be in the fish. If you get a near miss with the net &
happen to hook the loose hook in the net, you now have the line attached to the net &
the fish is outside of the net, spooked & wanting away very badly.
Copyright © 2004-2006 LeeRoy Wisner All Rights Reserved
Originated 02-09-2002 Last updated 02-04-2006
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