Salmon gear rundown

Good stuff. I love curing eggs and, trying out new cures I came up with. 

A buddy was just up there fishing the Kenai for sockeye. Are you in the middle of the chinook run or, are coho kicking off? 

Yeah. Each river is different. Even different sections of the same river. Tidewater fishing, I’ll usually add extra sugar. Up higher, the salts and, chemicals come into play. One thing about fishing eggs, the bite dies a lot of times. At that point, you gotta start cycling through cures and, getting a scent or, chem to trigger a bite. After that, it might be good for twenty minutes, an hour, then go flat again. Back to the drawing board. Biggest thing is being versatile with different combinations. 

I started fishing in California when I was six. Switched to spear fishing throughout my teens and early twenties. I still spear fish occasionally.  Moved to the PNW in 98 and, been fishing salmon almost exclusively since. 

Thank you. I appreciate it. I think the only thing I really do different is, I don’t get stuck on a bait that worked last season. Salmon can be picky. One year they want nothing but, crawfish scented eggs. The next krill. It can change daily what it is they actually want. Most people think, man, these eggs just killed it last year so, they’ll do a huge batch of eggs dedicated to that one cure. Then, wonder WTF!?! These worked great last year.  I usually go with 10 cures per 20 lbs of eggs. 
Or, one quart jar per cure which averages 2 lbs each. 
I’ll take a few pint jars which have been consistent over the years but, I’ll also take 1/2 pint jars to experiment with and change things up if needed. 
If something new I’m trying works, I’ll bring a pint jar the next time. I usually carry 9 pints worth of eggs to the river starting in October for coho

 

The chinook season starts in late July to early August. It’ll usually end in the third week of September. 
Coho takes off in October. It can stretch into December depending on the rain. 

I’m not interested in guiding. I helped a friend for a few seasons before his passing and, there’s too much nonsense to deal with.. Clients breaking rods. Showing up with a whisky bottle and wanting to argue when you say, your drinking in my boat can cost me my license so, don’t even open that bottle. Way too much time away from home as well. It doesn’t make sense to go back and forth daily with a boat and a one way commute nearly 120 miles to some rivers. My friend was gone six months out of the year minimum. Stayed in a fifth wheel at the river. I like going in, getting my fish and, heading home. 

It’s a very good day when there’s a couple guides fishing the same spot as me. Two years ago, I went 11:1 with a rep for a very well known bait company. 
I won’t go into the details but, after his posting a different spot I fished on the Internet and, it became crowded that year, the look on his face was hilarious when I caught 4 chinook and, he was not catching anything standing side by side with me. I had a friend snap a pic of me standing next to him posing like an asshole with that 4th fish. 

Yes, every rod is for a specific method. Some duplicates but, each one has a purpose. Some are for steelhead, most for salmon. Though I have rods for jigging herring (bait) and even squid for calamari. 


 

Thank you. I’ll post more as the season progresses and, as the weather changes. 
I think I only have about 3 weeks left of decent weather then, back to being soggy it is chasing coho. 

The chinook run hasn’t been off to the greatest start this year. Smaller than average fish and, tons of wild fish I can’t keep legally. It’s frustrating catching several fish only to go home with nothing. Last Saturday I left the river at 10 am. 

Caught 6 chinook.  Freezer..... 0 😂 

Fingers crossed it picks up or, the upcoming coho run is decent. 

Tying leaders in advance saves a lot of time on the water. Watching guys lose gear, pull out some line, a hook and tie while I’m fishing can be the difference. Salmon passing through in schools it’s best to get tied back up as quickly as possible. A school mat swim by while retying and, it’s a missed opportunity. Most of the time, I even throw a swivel on my weight in advance just to save that little  bit of extra time retying. 

I have two boxes dedicated to tying up corkys and yarn. I save my partial spools off line after refilling my reel. Though there’s not enough to refill another reel, there’s plenty of line left for tying several leaders. 

An easy way to organize leaders is with a piece of cpvc pipe, a rubber  band pulled through it and, tied off over foam insulation. Wrapping the leaders over the rubber band then tucking the tag and under it, is a good way to save space but, also keep the line tight and secure. One thing to keep in mind is keeping contaminants off the set up. I usually use a one gallon zip lock back to hold 4-5 of the rollers. Gotta figure, salmon smell in parts per billion. 
Put it this way, picture 20 train box cars filled with water. If a tablespoon of salt was added to that volume, the salmon will detect it. Having clean hands is very important. It’s even more important when egg fishing. I always wear nitrile gloves when I do. 





For knots, an egg loop knot is probably the best knot to tie on the hook end of the line. It’s a 100% strength knot. Other knots don’t hold line strength reducing the actual pressure it can sustain. Some knots reduce strength as much as 30%. 15lb test is now 10 lb test. It’s a waste of time for me to tie anything else. Plus the loop gives me something to tie my yarn to or, secure my eggs with. For tying onto a swivel, I’ll use what’s called a rivers inlet knot. It’s also a 100% strength  knot.


 Egg loop pictured above. 



One thing I do different is cut a notch into the corky with my pruning shears. It allows the hook to ride up a bit higher giving it a base to rest on and, is held secure using a toothpick with the excess trimmed off. Without pegging the corky, the hook flops around which could be another variable losing fish, not getting a solid hook set. 

Tomorrow, I’ll show how I actually rig my weight and, swivels. 
 

I’m not a sell out. 

People who push tackle, bait and, gear on social media for large companies made me push myself. I ultimately ended up despising those people. I refuse to use anything endorsed by certain companies. They’re pushing labels. 

One company, I can’t stand the most is Pautzke. Years ago they sold single salmon eggs in little glass jars for trout. Now, in the PNW they push a substandard egg cure by people who fish those eggs all day, catch fish over several days and, act like it all happened in one day. Though it said, I’ll leave out the details, one guy who really endorsed that company ruined a river I fish. I’ve always had a love hate relationship with this river. I lost a shit ton of gear the first two years to it before even landing my first chinook. It’s one thing to hook a 25 lb salmon. It’s another to land it. Especially with submerged trees in the river. After finally learning it, it became my meat river for chinook. I get 75% of my salmon here. Anyways, after this prick posted exact directions online in an article to a spot directly across from the hole I fish, I went from being able to show up first on the river at 4:30-5 am. Now, I have to beat the crowds to get my spot. It’s only three people wide with a private property on one side and, a huge  bush on the other. My spot is one of the deepest on the river and, the fish stack it throughout the night. Making for really good fishing in the morning with us just having access because it gets shallow just after the bush. With this dick posting my spot, I have to be on the river by 2 am to beat the crowds that show up around 3:30. I’m sleep deprived because of this guy. After reading his article it ended with, make sure to buy your Pautzke salmon cure.. FUUUUCK YOU!!!

This prick is on YouTube all the time. I comment on his videos once in awhile saying, we don’t name rivers. Anyways, we finally cross paths on a different river. I see his truck with a huge Pautzke sticker on the back window as I’m pulling up. I tell my buddy, that’s Duanes truck. Today is going to be interesting. So, we gear up, cross a river in the dark and, he’s in this spot I know very well. He’s surrounded by four other people. Cocky as hell. He walks over as I’m opening my bait cooler. He looks down in my cooler and, all he sees is my jars numbered. I don’t name cures. I use numbers because of people like him. I have a recipe book at home, I take notes on the river which “numbers” worked the best while fishing. Time of day, river flow CF’s , water temp etc. He asks, what bait am I using. 
Ehh... A little this and, a little that. How about you? 
He says, I use nothing but Pautzke. Do you know who I am? I said, yep. You’re the ass clown I have to remind on YouTube, stop naming rivers. By the look on your face, you know who I am. Today should be interesting. A little nobody like me, without endorsements or, Internet fame going head to head with you. He said yep. 

Four fish into the morning, he was pissed. All within 45 minutes. I didn’t keep one. I didn’t want to stop fishing. I wanted to tally up as many fish as possible while alternating baits throughout the day. I mean, he was fishing Pautzke cured eggs. He’s a fishing celebrity so, this was my “CHANCE” to wreck him and his ego in front of his group. The bite died, I switched bait and, got another bite going. Released another three fish. Every hour, I was switching cures. By the end of the day I had 11 to his 1. His group as a whole, got 4. With my friend who was using my cures, between the both of us we got 16 fish that day. 

At the end of the day he asked, what was I using as he’s never had his ass handed to him like that. I told him, Pautzke. With different dyes. Was I lying? Fuck yes I was because if I told him what was in any of my cures, it would end up published in Salmon Trout Steelhead magazine the following month. 

I like being the nobody. Let those people feed their egos. Let ‘em make money. My day job pays decent and, being the nobody, I enjoy wrecking people like him on the river more then anything. Being the nobody, is more humiliating for guys like him compared to getting smoked on the river by another guy with a name in the industry.

He is a huge egg guy. That’s almost all he pushes is curing eggs. I love egg fishing myself. The only reason I started tying jigs was because I heard this guys son was selling jigs. His son is the same as him. Pushing endorsements, naming rivers, making them crowded while also being in the article regarding the river they gave  directions to.  I wanted to crush them with eggs as that’s where my passion is. There was no point in pulling out and, switching jigs when I’m already pulling in several fish.  Now, I’m waiting until I cross paths with his son and, outfish him using jigs. Hopefully, that’ll happen but,, if not, it’s fine. I’m sure a friend of mine will with my sticker on his cooler. 

Sorry if this turned into a rant but, that’s my story. 

I do sell my jigs I tie and, lead weights to friends.  I give them a sticker now that I can make them. Everything fishing related is over priced so, I try to help my friends by selling them tackle that I made 1/2 the price they’d be in stores. The only thing that might be egotistical on my part is the feeling I get fishing with a small group of friends who have my sticker on their coolers, thermoses or, water jugs. It’s a small circle of 5 but, I guarantee you, that guy and, his son will remember that sticker and, that day any time they see it. 

Once I get my garage organized, I’ll show the rest of my gear. It’s salmon season so..... It’s kinda messy atm LOL

Fall fishing, bobber and, eggs for coho is where it is for me. I fish hard and, it’s basically work for the chinook I’m filling my freezer up with. When coho come around, I can relax a bit, sleep a little more and, actually begin to enjoy myself. We eat salmon once a week so, that chinook run is important. All my coho are for the smoker. Like dessert at the end of a season LOL. 

Edit:  If you’re interested in curing eggs, read up on it. Learn to butterfly the skeins. Get all the blood out. A simple way is buying commercial cure. I would highly recommend using Beau Macs Pro Glow egg cure. Go light with it when applying it.  They use a quality sodium sulfite which really helps the eggs milk out in the water and, with the dispersal of scent. That’s a mid range cure imo as far as chemical spectrum. My guide buddy not only used it for salmon but, also Steelhead when having to turn over high volumes of roe. That’s one cure company that puts out a quality cure. 

This set up is very basic but, it took awhile before I learned to tie up this way. 


  
The yellow string is used for bobber stops on sliding bobber  set ups. From my main line. Bobber stop, bead, snap swivel, bead, barrel swivel, leader. I normally fish using a 5’ leader. I just tied up this way to give an idea of how everything looks.  With the bobber stop, you slide your line through it, push the sleeve out, pull both tags to tighten it and, trim off the excess tags on the stop. 

Corkys are buoyant. In strong currents they do have the ability to pull out excess line. I used to rig without the stop. While bouncing along the bottom, I would feel a fish, set the hook and, nothing. Yes, I know the difference between a rock and, fish lol. They feel different. Anyways, I wanted to see what my presentation was doing so, one day I cast into a very shallow section of the river. I could see my corky taking excess line with it. I could also see my weight. I had painted it bright orange to help see where my hook was and, where my weight was. The current was pulling the hook away from the weight before it even hit the bottom of the river. I wanted everything settled together on the bottom as quick as possible. So, the stop helps control how much line gets pulled out before hitting the bottom. Being on a sliding set up, when I would set the hook, the weight would slide several feet up the main line as well. I’d have to reel in the slack to feel a connection with the weight. Setting the stop about 5 - 6” above the barrel swivel also serves another purpose. Fishing in the dark in the past, i would  reel in until pulling the first bead completely through the first guide on the tip of the rod. Depending on the size of the beads, the would get stuck in the guide. I couldn’t see this in the dark. It limited how accurate my casting would be. With the stop, I can feel it hit the eye in the dark before the bead and, not pull the bead through. 


So, it controls excess slack and, serves as an indicator before reeling the bead through the eye of the guide. Fishing in the dark sucks. Even with a head lamp. You’re fishing completely by feel. 

The beads serve the purpose of acting as a dampener between the snap swivel and, knots. 

Thought this was a pretty cool pic. I noticed my buddy’s shadow along with mine as we were walking up the road, back to our trucks. He hooked 6 and landed two. I hooked five, landed three but, two were natives and, had to be thrown back. I left with one. Fuckers! 😂

 I’m so damn tired. Crashed out at 10:45 pm, woke up at 1:30 and, was on the river by 2:30. 

I’ve kept a journal for 17 years. I also have a recipe book for curing  salmon eggs with 57 different cures in it that I’ve used on different rivers throughout the PNW. Not to mention my small notebooks I’ve kept throughout the years. 

Maybe, when I retire I’ll reach out to Salmon University and, see if they would be interested in publishing something. 

For now, I like the system I have. Selling small amounts of tackle to friends each year is enough to sustain my fishing. It covers a couple new rods and, reels each year. Material for tying jigs, new lead molds. Hooks, line. Anything fishing related. Even gas money. Plus, it gives me the ability to give away a rod every so often. I’ve crossed paths with youngsters or, single moms trying to fish with their kids. Seeing them loose fish after fish throughout the day and, keep trying. First thing I’ll do is glance at their set up as I’m walking back to my truck. I’ll offer and, say here, try this rod. Once they, hook into a fish, I’m already crossing the river and, I’m gone. I couldn’t do that with jig quotas. 



Two years ago, I looked into starting a small business selling my salmon/steelhead jigs. I tied as many jigs as I possibly could for 8 hours a day. Five days that week. After figuring the math out on it and, subtracting material costs, I would only be making about $25 hr. After the 4th day, I absolutely hated sitting at a table tying these things. I became a slave to the vise. Hobbies for me, need to remain fun. Once the fun is gone and, it becomes something  I have to do, I’ll hate it. Just like plumbing. 

Tying small batches for friends keeps it pleasurable.

I’ve watched videos from large companies on how to tie jigs. They cut corners. Minimal glue, cheap hooks, not enough thread, shitty material. When bills need paid corners get cut to make a maximum profit. I refuse to do that. To me, that’s selling out. Pushing a label over a quality product. Addicted (tackle company) comes to mind.  Higher quality materials are way more expensive yet, most people won’t understand that when they’re looking at a package hanging on a shelf and, comparing prices. They only see the pretty colors and, how much it costs. 

First pic, on top are squid jigs I poured the lead for, powder coated and, tied. I sold these for awhile many years ago walking around piers at night during squid season with a Milwaukee Pack Out loaded with them. After beating the 💩 out of 2 people because I was infringing on their sales area and, one pulled  a knife on me, it wasn’t worth it. I just remember getting called “Ping Pong” or, some shit then seeing a knife.  Squid fishing is very territorial. Families show up early in the morning, lining up the piers and, rotate on shifts to keep piers to themselves. Some of them are really cool. The majority are complete a******s. The ones  that we’re cool we’re only decent because they remembered my son and, I jigging when he was little for herring. 


The spinner blades, I powder coated myself.

Here’s the difference of a store bought squid jig and, my jig. My jig is on the left. I spent a lot of time trying to find the brightest glowing paint I could find. It costs 6 times as much as the paint used on the store bought squid jigs. Quality over quantity doesn’t matter 90% of the time. Once again, what I tie, just stays in my small circle of friends for now.