If you're booking a salmon fishing charter trip this summer, preparing yourself for the challenges and excitement can be half the fun.
From knots to jigging, here are some of the ways that you can catch more salmon on your trip.
Better Knots
Pound for pound, few fish fight like salmon. If you hook into a big salmon, the knots you normally use might not be up to the job.
- Loop Knots: adding a looped connection to your bait or swivel can give your lure more action. When you use loop knots for salmon it helps to add more strength by making a few adjustments. First, consider running your line through your terminal tackle two or three times. When you wrap your line through your eyelets, make sure that the line doesn't cross. By keeping each strand separated, you'll prevent the line from putting extra strain on these loops. This step is critical if you're using a braided line, which can slice through overlaid knots.
- Weedless: many salmon fishing charter captains use drifting methods to catch schooling salmon. When drifting, the bait tumbles along the bottom with the current to look like natural forage. The downside to this approach is the potential for snagging vegetation and other stuff on the bottom. You can make your drifting presentations weedless by adding a bobber stopper directly above the knot. This extra bit of rubber will prevent vegetation from catching on the knot.
Patient Jigging
In addition to drifting, most salmon charter fishing captains use jigging when they locate a big school of salmon.
- Circle Hooks: most anglers struggle when jigging with circle hooks for the first time. Unlike conventional hooks, circle hooks are designed to rotate vertically to hook fish in the roof or corner of the mouth. If you attempt to "set the hook" by yanking hard when you feel a tug at the end of your line, you will probably yank the hook right out of the salmon's mouth. Instead, you'll need to softly reel into the tension when you suspect that a salmon has eaten your bait.
- Ten Count: most salmon fishing trips are largely catch and keep. Because you're unlikely to release any salmon you catch, you need to let the fish swallow the bait. To make sure that you give the fish time to properly swallow the bait, it's important to use a slow ten count. You can start your count when you feel the thump at the end of your line.
To learn more, contact a local salmon fisher charter near you.
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