River Salmon help?

[Crazy Axe]

I'm going to be fishing salmon in a river for the first time ever. I don't have a real good idea of what to use for terminal tackle/bait. I've heard that when they enter the river, they don't eat to eat anymore. They will attack things instinctively, like spawn, because they are territorial.. So should I just focus on floating spawn? Can I buy spawn to use as bait? Should I even try inline spinners or maybe some big plastic minnow imitations?
Keep in mind, I'm going to be using a spinning setup, because I just don't have a fly rod.

[FishKilla419]

What river ya fishin slurpee? I don't fish for river salmon much after the first week of sept anymore. But Im sure I could give ya some good pointers.

[Crazy Axe]

I'm not really 100% sure.. My buddy just said hes got a spot up by the manistee river.. I'm usually pretty good with walleye/smallmouth on rivers so I'm confident that I will be able to figure out what to look for to cast toward and whatnot.. I'm just stumped as to what to use..

[mattm]

Try thundersticks, spoons or floating spawn under a bobber in deep holes.

[bigjonbuck]

thunder sticks and spoons under a bobber probely wont work.

[salmonslammer]

Guess its all relative to how big of a bobber u have!!

It all depends on which section of the river ur fishing and what time of the year it is.....seen fish caught on spinners, plugs, body baits, cranks, spawn, wobble glows, spoons and flies.

Im kinda partial to chucking flies with a 3 way rig...I like the drifting thing. Seems to work for me....Makes it real easy to switch over and fish for the trout... Had some great trout fishing days early in the run!!

[jiggineyes]

thunder sticks and spoons under a bobber probely wont work.


Uh yeah...they dont go under the bober. The spawn does!:lol::lol:




Thundersticks,hotntots and spinners work very well for newbies and spinning gear. Early kings LOVE to eat. Dont let anyone tell you otherwise. I take a trip the 2nd week of sept every year to the PM. I hook at least 10 fish a day casting these.

Floating spawn takes a little practice. Keep your line out of the water if fishing from shore.Keep cast short to avoid"dragging it". If fishing from a boat, float it down river behind you with an open bail.

Good luck.

[Crazy Axe]

I really appreciate the replies!

Do you snag a lot w/ spoons/thundersticks?
That's something I'm trying to avoid.. although it would be fun to hook some, even if I didn't get to keep any, I don't want to be intentionally snagging.

[Ralph Smith]

Josh, going to the Soo on Sept. 25,26,27th. Might need a 4rth guy if your interested? 4 of us getting a room, and fishing from shore. Might take my small boat also. Get ahold of me, won't be that much in costs, unless you plan on hitting the casino:lol:

[kwcharne]

Slurpee, you most likely will snag a few if throwing thundersticks, spoons, or anything with treble hooks. When the river gets full of fish thats just the nature of throwing those style baits. You will get some to bite throwing those baits also. Good Luck.

[jiggineyes]

I VERY rarely snag a fish with thundersticks. Just dont rip em through the holes. Swing them in the holes using almost all current or a slow reel.

[FishKilla419]

Drift glo wobble glos after hours and hold on. If your near high pressure areas (dams). Biters are much easier to come by after dark, especially if offering has a little glow to it.

[Chip]

My personal favorites- drift fish flies, crawlers, spawn, or wobble glos after dark. I tie my own flies and if you catch fish you can use the spawn, so this is a fairly cheap way to go. Get yourself a Noodle Rod about 10-11' long (Gander has some for about $30) and use a good reel (Abu Garcia Cardinal is about $30). 12-15 lb Trilene XT ($7) for a main line and 10-12 lb Seagar CarbonPro Fluorocarbon ($12?) for your leader. Use a good barrel swivel to attach about 3' of the Fluoro to the end of your stronger mainline. You can use split shot just above the swivel, or what I do is use punched lead on a snap swivel that I slide up the main line before I tie on the barrel swivel. Put whatever you have confidence in on the end of that fluoro and cast pretty much across stream from you.

Let it sink and follow the line with your rod tip. You should feel it tick the bottom every so often and eventually it will swing up off the bottom and directly downstream from you. A hit can be real light-like a perch bite or a walleye sucking in a crawler- to a slam.

Test out and set your drag before you get to the river- then you can put the wood to the fish and know you are safe. Some guys snap rods- every time I've seen it, they were holding the rod above the cork- don't do that. During a fight, keep the rod in a "fighting C" shape. This forces the whole rod to work, rather than dipping the rod toward the fish and losing the flexiblity of the rod tip and snapping the line. Most guys say "keep the rod tip up" to encourage the proper angle, but you can tip the rod to the right or the left, as long as you keep the bend going.

You will probably catch a lot of snags-logs, rocks, tangles. Get good and fast at tying your knots. Also, have your gear on you where you can find it and try to keep that line in the water as much as you can. This time of year, a wave of fish can push past in a half hour of high paced action and then it can be dead for hours. You will have the most fun if you look at this first time as a learning experience and then any landed fish are a bonus.

With the above set up, you can switch over to using a bobber pretty easy- just put a bobber on above the rig. You can take the bobber, weight, swivel and leader off, tie on a spinner or some other hardware and you are ready to go. Or, better yet, have a second Medium action 9' rod with about 12-15 lb line ready to go with a quality snap swivel- pop on your lure and try it. I don't do these much because I hate losing $5-7 lures to logs. However, there are spots you can get some casting in and even fight fish without too much of a problem.

I hope this helped you and you get to fight some fish. Most guys I've seen go out the first time do not land a fish, but get a few hits, maybe some fish fights, and come back again and again. These are big fish and they pull hard- so enjoy, but don't be disappointed if they seem hard to find, hook, and land- they are!

Take care and let us know how you do,
Chip

[Crazy Axe]

Thanks guys! I think next weekend is the target to get out there.. We'll see what happens...

[Fishslayer5789]

I VERY rarely snag a fish with thundersticks. Just dont rip em through the holes. Swing them in the holes using almost all current or a slow reel.

I second that. If you are fishing TSs, Hotntots, etc correctly and not giving them a super fast pull to yank them through the holes, you will almost never snag a salmon. I honestly don't think I have ever snagged a salmon by accident while running plugs.

[riverman]

I second that. If you are fishing TSs, Hotntots, etc correctly and not giving them a super fast pull to yank them through the holes, you will almost never snag a salmon. I honestly don't think I have ever snagged a salmon by accident while running plugs.

Fish em long enough it will happen. Two weeks ago out on the lake we wasted 25 minutes of prime morning bite trying to get a snagged salmon to the boat. More than once I wanted to just touch the line with a smoke and be done with the fish, but noooooooooooooo, brother thought he had a new state record on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JackieB]

Is cured skein that one purchases about as effective as what you prepare yourself? I will try to get some skein from someone cleaning fish on the Big Lake, but if I can't, I'd like to know if I'm OK just buying it?

[Whit1]

Is cured skein that one purchases about as effective as what you prepare yourself? I will try to get some skein from someone cleaning fish on the Big Lake, but if I can't, I'd like to know if I'm OK just buying it?

No!

[Trout King]

Don't waste money on buying store spawn. It just doesn't work. Throw some lures until you get a female.

[JackieB]

Thanks very much! You just saved me $10 that I was seriously considering spending on packaged skein. I've got plenty to do, and learn, keeping myself busy with crankbaits and spinners for the time being anyway. Maybe I'll pick up a female. I'll also stop by when a charter boat comes in and ask if they will give me some. Will those guys give you the skein for free?

[BigUglyStreamer]

Slurpee, see ThousandCast's post "Lets make this simple" there's some good info for you in that thread.

[Crazy Axe]

Slurpee, see ThousandCast's post "Lets make this simple" there's some good info for you in that thread.

I just saw that yesterday.. Good post! :fish2:

[brookies101]

Just stop by the fish cleaning station. More than likely they are just gonna throw it out anyway, just jump in a ask them before they do. Or like others said, do it the fun way and crank in a hen :)...... I used to fish hardware alot until i lost a few and the tackle box started looking bare. Skein/spawn is lots easier on the wallet. Especially with school to pay for yet. It is a rush though. Wont find a better fight around than fresh/aggressive kings, thats for sure

[JackieB]

Just stop by the fish cleaning station. More than likely they are just gonna throw it out anyway, just jump in a ask them before they do. Or like others said, do it the fun way and crank in a hen :)...... I used to fish hardware alot until i lost a few and the tackle box started looking bare. Skein/spawn is lots easier on the wallet. Especially with school to pay for yet. It is a rush though. Wont find a better fight around than fresh/aggressive kings, thats for sure

Thanks, brookies101. That's really good advice.

I'm intrepid when fishing with crawlers for browns/rainbows. If I break off three times in 15 minutes because I was throughly fishing runs with structure that I couldn't see, then that's just fishing. But with these $5 crankbaits, I'm a lot more timid and I don't like that feeling.

Now I understand that one can freeze skein. Does it work well when thawed, or should it only be kept in the refrigerator?

[Whit1]

Now I understand that one can freeze skein. Does it work well when thawed, or should it only be kept in the refrigerator?

Fresh is the best, but it can be frozen, thawed and used. If you freeze it your results will be better if you use a vacuum sealer. This, of course, is true with any kind of freezing.

[JackieB]

Fresh is the best, but it can be frozen, thawed and used. If you freeze it your results will be better if you use a vacuum sealer. This, of course, is true with any kind of freezing.

Thanks, Whit. I've seen "recipes" online for preparing skein with egg curing powder. It looks easy enough to do. I have to do this, right? I can't just use the skein without preparing it.

[Frogfish101]

Some just water cure the skein....let it wash in river water for like half an hour. I prefer to cure mine with firecure.

[Whit1]

Thanks, Whit. I've seen "recipes" online for preparing skein with egg curing powder. It looks easy enough to do. I have to do this, right? I can't just use the skein without preparing it.


When using skein I actually prefer fresh and untreated over treated. You'll hear both sides and they both catch fish. It boils down to, in many cases, what one uses the most. Let's use Panther Martin spinners for instance and I'm speaking of upland trout rather than salmon in the rivers. I catch most of my spinner caught trout on a black body/yellow spots/gold blade spinner. The reason for this is that's what I toss most of the time when spinner fishing.

[JackieB]

When using skein I actually prefer fresh and untreated over treated. You'll hear both sides and they both catch fish. It boils down to, in many cases, what one uses the most. Let's use Panther Martin spinners for instance and I'm speaking of upland trout rather than salmon in the rivers. I catch most of my spinner caught trout on a black body/yellow spots/gold blade spinner. The reason for this is that's what I toss most of the time when spinner fishing.

Thanks, Whit. That makes perfect sense. So much of it does come down to what we have confidence in using (assuming we have the basics correct). I just fish much more diligently and patiently if I have confidence in my gear and the spot. Undoubtedly, this is the key to success far beyond the finer points of which spinner one is using, which curing method, etc.

[Crazy Axe]

So we made it out that way yesterday.. There were a few fish in our spot but we couldn't get anything to bite. We really only tried skein on a small hook w/ a split shot.. (LOTS of snags where we were fishing)
I did get a chance to be upstream from a fish for about 20 minutes, dangling a spawn bag right in front of its face.. I thought for sure she was gonna bite it but I couldn't push her over the edge.
Also, we only fished for a couple of hours. The trip was kind of last minute and not planned very well.

It was really neat to get out there and see all those giant (to me) salmon running in the river. We may go back next weekend, but I think maybe I need to figure out some more options to throw at them when they aren't easily enticed to bite..

[Ralph Smith]

tuff to get them bite in the rivers alot. If you can see one and get something in front of it, try a plug of some type. Seems to make them mad when a little fish is wiggling it's ass in front their face:p