Brief Summary
This video provides a comprehensive guide to salmon fishing, covering essential steps from preparing the boat and gear to landing and processing the catch. It emphasizes safety, efficiency, and proper techniques for setting up downriggers, managing lines, and handling fish once they're on board.
- Preparing the boat and gear efficiently.
- Setting up downriggers safely and effectively.
- Managing lines and adjusting drag for optimal fishing.
- Handling and processing fish to preserve meat quality.
The video introduces the topic of salmon fishing and highlights the importance of preparation and understanding the equipment. The host shares a personal anecdote about a disastrous first solo fishing trip, emphasizing the need for proper knowledge and setup to avoid common pitfalls like equipment breakage and lost gear. The video aims to equip viewers with the necessary information to have a successful and enjoyable salmon fishing experience.
The initial steps involve preparing the boat by starting the kicker motor, which serves as a trolling motor. A crucial safety tip is to ensure one engine is always running before turning off another. The presenter checks the tie bar connecting the kicker to the main engine, ensuring its components are secure.
The process of setting up the downrigger is described, emphasizing the importance of gently lowering the downrigger ball into the water to prevent damage to the equipment. With the boat moving at a speed between 1.5 and 2 knots, the flasher is let out about one and a half boat lengths. The presenter demonstrates a technique for controlling the descent of the 12-pound ball using a Scotty downrigger, which involves tilting the downrigger up, unhooking the ball, and carefully lowering it while managing the swivel block.
The presenter discusses setting the fishing line to a length of 15 to 20 feet and securing it in the clip. The boat is trolling at a speed of 1.8 knots in water that is 119 feet deep. Each downrigger operates differently, and the presenter controls the release of the line with a thumb or by setting the drag on the reel. Upon reaching the desired depth, the brake is applied, the reel is wound down, and the rod is placed in the holder with a slight arch to help set the hook when a fish strikes.
After placing the rod in the clip, the lever drag is engaged. It's important to release the drag before touching the downrigger to prevent the rod from being pulled out of the holder. The presenter prefers to set the drag loose when letting the downrigger go, using lever drags (specifically TR 2000 charter specials) to maintain tension on the line. The presenter advises operating the downrigger slowly to prevent equipment breakage.
The presenter explains how to use the button on the Scotty downrigger to raise and lower the ball, noting that the brake is released by pulling towards you and engaged by pushing away. The presenter keeps a thumb on the reel as the line goes into the water and monitors the depth, adjusting the downrigger ball accordingly. The presenter notes that during the summer, salmon can be caught suspended or near the bottom, depending on preference.
The drag is adjusted once the line is at the desired depth, and the presenter emphasizes the importance of not free-spooling the downrigger, especially with a flasher attached, to avoid tangling. Maintaining a consistent speed while lowering the line ensures everything is set up correctly.
Once a fish is on board, the presenter emphasizes the importance of checking whether the fish has a fin, indicating it can be kept. The fish is then dispatched with a blow to the head, and bled out immediately to preserve the quality of the meat.
Summarize any YouTube video in seconds
Get summaries like this one for any video, in your language, with the free Summ app.
Transcript
Full transcript of “Salmon Trolling Basics”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:04 so when you get a fish on the other person if it feels like it has some dirt to it you get your gear out of the water and out of the way if it's your first time out salmon fishing it's super super helpful to kind of have an understanding of what everything looks like the first time you send gear down by yourself it's funny i have spent so much time on other people's boats but that very first time that i went out on my own boat and tried to fish honestly it was a disaster and things broke and i lost some gear and it was kind of a bummer i just wasn't quite prepared so that's why i'm creating this video for you today hi i'm jamie with anglers unlimited where we help you catch more fish and have more fun out on the water if you like videos like these make sure you subscribe to our youtube channel follow us on facebook or
0:50 instagram or even better check out our website at anglersunlimited.com and sign up for our email list and we'll keep you in the know so let's jump right into it so we got to the fishing spot and the first thing we're going to do is get the kicker going so we have a kind of a trolling motor running and ready to go when we get our gear and a little thing that i always say is never shut off your other engines until your other engine is running so you always have an engine running so you can hear the big ones running i'm gonna start the kicker you've got a tie bar
1:36 you may not i've got a tie bar a good thing to check on these is always check the ends i got one that busted off the snap ring but it stays on in smooth water so we're gonna we're gonna get this thing on and get it running and while he's working on the kicker i can start getting the downrigger out so you just put it out to the side you want to make sure when you drop the ball over the side but you do it really gently so it doesn't reef on the jit on the end of the downrigger just like ease it into the water so we've got the boating gear we've got some forward momentum
2:22 about uh somewhere between one and a half and two knots i let my flasher out i usually go about a boat length and a half back and then you can see my damage is still stowed and i'll show you my technique it's a little uh it kind of helps you control the 12-pound ball going down uh most of them if you have scotties they tilt up so i just tilt it up and when it's standing up like this you unhook the ball and then the ball just kind of hangs there then so you kind of you can control then as you uh let it down i grab it i hit the swivel block and then just rotate it out and lower it at the same time it's a nice gentle smooth uh let down
3:08 and your damage is in place and you're ready to go if you don't have as much core strength it's harder to do that so in that case just do what is easiest for you like we definitely do things different you don't want to drop it though that's yeah don't drop it and i like to let my line out to 15 to 20 feet or so i tend to run it shorter to the clip it just depends on your preference so i'm all set up i got my line in the clip [Music] we're trolling uh 1.8 i'd like to look at the depth that's 119 feet deep where we're at right now and each downrigger that you
3:54 operate will probably be different i have three downriggers and each one of them is different the way they operate they have their own little characteristics after a while so as you start to let it down you can control the release of the line with your thumb or you can a lot of people set the drag on their reel i just go ahead and do a full release and then lower it you can see when i got close to my depth i just went ahead and put the brake back on and stopped it it was 119 feet and i just stop it at 119 and then i uh reset everything i wind my reel down set it in the rod holder
4:41 adjust the drag you want a nice arch on the rod because that's going to help set the hook if a fish takes it and pops it out of the clip the release of the rod will actually help set the hook a little bit on a salmon so so you get them in and now you want to just take a assess where you're at look at your depth we're at 117 feet i put mine down at 119 and we have a lot of uh scope on the lines right now so we're safe from hitting the bottom now we're just we're just looking for that elusive chinook salmon so once you have your rod in the clip you want to go ahead and drop the lever drag down you never want to touch your downrigger until you've dropped your lever drag
5:26 down or whatever released your drag so you do not rip the rod out of the rock holder then put it in your rod holder or hold on to it it's a preference thing i like to set my drag loose when i let the downrigger go keep your thumb here so now that i've released it partly you can see it's spinning so as i tighten it it will stop i really like these lever drags because you can set them exactly where you want so i highly recommend the tr 2000 charter specials so that keeps tension on the line and that way i don't have to reel in a bunch of slack as it goes down so i'll just keep it loose and then when you grab the downrigger break go really slow every downrigger is different you're going to feel you're going to feel them and you'll see but the key is to just don't do anything fast because when stuff breaks
6:13 it's really not fun so here's the button on the scotty downrigger if you push and hold it will come up until you stop if you take this and turn it to the on position it will automatically come up the brake on the scotty pull towards you to release push away to stop it so always keep your thumb on your reel just in case even if you have the drag set and then go easy into the water make sure everything looks good and as it sends down i'll ask what's the depth 132 and then i will make note of that and decide where i want to set my downrigger ball since we're fishing in the summer you can catch them suspended or you can go
7:00 towards the bottom it's up to you the biggest thing you'll see though is so now that it's down where i want it i'm going to flip my drag to where it should be take any extra tension out because i had it on pretty loose that most of the tension went down with the ball i never free spooled the downrigger you don't ever want to freespool the downrigger especially when you have a flasher it'll go too fast and it'll wrap up and then you just got to reset your gear anyway so just do it nice and easy at a really consistent speed going down and everything will be set just the way you want it let's try to net him on my side hey okay here you go
7:46 [Music] yes once you have fish on the boat the first thing you want to do is get excited because it doesn't have a fin which means you can keep it okay and you hit them kind of right in between the eyes and then you want to bleed them out as soon as you can because that way you don't taint the meat
