Jigging for Salmon?

[fishoil]

Does anybody do any jigging for salmon? I know we were poking fun at it (amongst other things) in a thread a couple of weeks ago, but this weekend I saw Gillespie's show and they were catching them jigging. It got me thinking about it seriously and I'm looking for any guidance that anyone can offer. Anybody wanna help me out??

[ChampionShip]

Talk to No Fish Nick and Fraid Knot

[fishinchips]

I've mooched for salmon off San Fransico and in Puget Sound. The captain watched his fish locator and told us how many passes down to set the bait. Both places they strung whole herring - single hook was placed near the tail with the line exiting out the mouth. Six foot leader was attached to main line and a four ounce weight was attached above the swivel on a slider.
We caught some nice fish but unless you were right on top of them it was pretty slow fishing.

Al

[iffy]

My dad has often mentions trying mooching in Michigan for salmon. He often fishes salmon on the west coast - Washington and Alaska and the way they fish is just as Fishnchips describes. They would locate bait balls and fish below them. But the trick was finding concentrated salmon. If they couldn't locate bait balls, they would motor mooch "troll" with the same herring rigs.

I guess a guy could motor up to the the Bank Reef off Sturgeon Bay, pick a nice spot right in the middle of the reef, drop anchor and start fishing. I would focus on early morning or right at sun set

[fishoil]

Jul 28, 2010 7:56:27 GMT -5 iffy said:

I guess a guy could motor up to the the Bank Reef off Sturgeon Bay, pick a nice spot right in the middle of the reef, drop anchor and start fishing.

Now thats funny!! If I try that I'll tell everybody waving at me that it was your idea. ;D ;D

[RedRider]

Jul 28, 2010 8:12:26 GMT -5 fishoil said:

Jul 28, 2010 7:56:27 GMT -5 iffy said:

I guess a guy could motor up to the the Bank Reef off Sturgeon Bay, pick a nice spot right in the middle of the reef, drop anchor and start fishing.

Now thats funny!! If I try that I'll tell everybody waving at me that it was your idea. ;D ;D

Better yet, use a blow boat ;D

[dward]

Back in the early eighties I lived in Port Angeles Washington and we used to jig for salmon with Buzz Bombs and lead minnows that we'd bend the head on to create action in the lures. The only place I remember jigging was off of the Dungeness spit where there was some significant structure that the salmon would push the bait up against. I think it was about 30 feet deep on top of the shelf and it dropped down to over a hundred feet. I'd usually only jig late in the evening when the fish got real active. I remember you could tell when the fish were starting to feed because you feel your jig hittting and hooking needle fish. You'd have to pull up and clean them off your hook.

So jigging does work, but you need to have some significant structure that attracts the salmon to the bait that isn't too deep.

[drillsgt]

"but you need to have some significant structure that attracts the salmon to the bait that isn't too deep"

Sounds like the Bank Reef to me! But I would look into "up-armoring" your boat first ;D

[dward]

We used to drift over about 100 yards of the shallow area up on top of the shelf. Depending on the tide we'd either fish towards or from the drop. The salmon would push the bait up into the shallower area where they were then more concentrated.

So a guy probably could try it on the bank where ledge is the steepest and it comes up to the mid 50s pretty quickly. If you came upon a big cloud of bait it might work. But I think I'll let someone else try it first.

[fishinchips]

If guys are catching fish off the breakwaters, why couldn't someone just drift off shore a little ways and jig?

Also, both north and south of the Ahnapee there are some reefs near shore where depths go from 30-40 fow to 15-20 fow quite rapidly. The lee side of the Kewaunee shoal may hold some fish as well.

During that midday lull, I would think you could target those spots and find some fish.

Al

[fishoil]

I like the idea of using structure to find concentrated fish and I'm sure the Bank would work under the right circumstances (with a bullet proof vest of course ;D). I've seen some pretty decent structure in shallow water near Algoma when I've been running in or out. So I think it might be worth a try there.

I've used Buzzbombs for deep lake trout in Canada but I think jigs would work better for shallow salmon. Does anyone have any ideas for a jig with a strong enough hook? I make walleye jigs but I'm thinking that the Eagle Claw 570's that I make them with would bend with a decent salmon on them.

I've got a trip scheduled to Stannard Rock next month so I'll see what we use for jigs up there. I would think that whatever they use for the big trout there would be strong enough for salmon.

[triton215x]

Use a Mustad 5/0 hook with a 1/2oz jig and a 5 inch Jerk Shad. Edge of Algoma reef or reef north of Manitowoc when water is cold and bait is present. I think you could jig suspended fish stacked on a temperature break or river mouth.

[walleyeman]

Finaly found a buddy of mine willing to spend some money to go out with a guide to jig fish for salmon in Milwaukee harbor on July18. Most fun I have ever had fishing for salmon. We hooked up with at least 30 fish, no exageration, but only landed 12 for 4 hours of fishing. Only works for specific conditions after we have had some consistant west winds to blow out the warm water but worth doing when those conditions are there. We used 1/2 oz Kalin bullet jigs (3/0 hooks) and just about any shad type soft plastic bait. You can use the 5 inch Berkley jerk shads, zoom 5 inch flukes. Use a pearl or white color. If you PM me, I can tell you about specifics on setup and boat control the guide used.