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So I have fished for a lot of different kinds of small trout over the years with my medium action pole and a spin cast reel.
I want to take a trip up to idaho this next year for salmon but I am not sure what I'd need. For example what pole weight, what line weight, what do the plugs look like etc? It seems like the only resources I keep finding on the net on this subject are guide services. I just want to spend the bare minimum on equipment and go make an attempt.
Can I get by with my lighter weight pole(20lb)? Do I need a heaver duty real? What weight of line? How do I rig the line?
Feel free to answer any of these questions or just post links to references if you know of any good ones I'd appreciate it!
Thanks
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Where do you plan on going? Knowing this will make it easier to answer your questions.
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Well I live in Boise so I have a good range of options. I was thinking about Riggins but again I have never been there or done this type of fishing so I have no idea.
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snafu,
I agree with the previous reply. There is a large variation in what is needed depending on where you are going and the manner in which you fish. For the most part, salmon are not real large in Idaho. I would guess the average fish goes about 11 pounds. You may then think that you could get by with the same gear as B run steelhead -- they average about 12 pounds. Your 20 # rod is what is typically used on B run steelhead. However, this has not been my experience because of two things. First, salmon put on one heck of a fight early -- usually involving a run downstream. Second, you are typically dealing with large current since it is a spring -- early summer-- time of year.
The flip side is that it is not smart in these tough economic times to invest in equipment that will be one-time use. Hopefully if you do buy equipment, keep it cheap and think of ways to use it in your other activity -- or plan another trip for big boys.
I would not bank fish for salmon on the Little Salmon River or South Fork of the Salmon River with anything less than 30 # leader. That means my main line will be in the 35 to 80 # test range (depending on whether it is braided or mono). My minimum pole is 25 # rated and one has to be careful not to break such a rod. A good but cheap 30 # rod about nine foot long is recommended. Such a rod that accepts a spinning reel will work well with a cheap Cabelas Salt Striker spinning reel (buy a big one) and the combination should be less than $ 150.
On the main Salmon River, from a boat, in certain places, under certain circumstances (i.e. freedom to use the boat to run down the fish), your existing (undersized) equipment could land a 25 pound salmon without much difficulty.
Most of the fish are not caught on plugs but on on roe, tuna fish or yarn. Plugs used include hot shots and flatfish such as Luhr Jensen K-14 series in a variety of colors.
I hope that helps.
FR
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Wow FR that was awesome exactly what I was after thanks!
Anyone else want to weigh in?
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I've never fished for Salmon in Idaho. But I worked for a sport fishing lodge in Alaska for three years and caught thousands of Salmon up there. The biggest fish I caught was a 42 to 44 # king, and I caught it with a medium weight trout rod with 8 pound mono. If you know how to fight the fish right you can land them with light gear. The trick is to not pull up on the fish, the fish will use its weight to pull down. Instead hold your rod to the side and pull its head toward the bank. A fish swims with its head, meaning where its head is pointed its forced to follow. So if you keep pulling its head towards the bank you will wear them out much faster than pulling up on its weight. It helps to have high quality gear, if you have some good equipment that can take some abuse I would just put some real strong braided line on and go for it. If you decide you want to make it a regular trip, then fork over the cash and get the real stuff.
The guy who taught me everything I know about salmon fishing is Bobby Kratzer, he runs a salmon camp in Alaska and also a guide service in Washington.
[url "http://www.anglersguideservice.com/"][/url][url "http://www.anglersguideservice.com/"]http://www.anglersguideservice.com/[/url]
For the cost of getting new salmon gear you could go to washington and catch some once in a lifetime fish with Bobby and he would teach you everything you need to know about catching Salmon in Idaho. Good luck.
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Pretty much summed that up, I can't think of one other thing I could say.[  ] I guess I could add one thing, if you go to the Little Salmon....Hang On!
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Sorry guys. Not trying to step on anyone's toes here, but I am going to dis-agree to at least part of what was stated previously. Here is what I do....
On the main Salmon I typically use a rod rated for 20# line and use somewhere between 15-20 # line on that rod. I have found this to be plenty. I typically fish side by side (from the bank) with guys using 40#+ line and don't break off any more than they do. By using the lighter line, I can cast farther and easier, my line will get down to the fish faster, and I can feel the difference between a rock and fish better, leading to more hook-ups. The rods I use are cheap. After trying expensive stuff and ruining it, I decided that I could replace the cheap stuff more often and still come out ahead. What I am using now I bought at Sportsmans Warehouse. Rod and reel combo with and extra spool was around $35-$40. I bought 3 of them (identical setups), so that if something breaks, I can swap parts or whatever to get back to fishing ASAP. I spool up 3 of the spools with 15-20# (usually 20) and use these on the main Salmon. The other 3 spools get spooled up with 30# for use on the Little Salmon and on the South Fork.
I do agree that 30# may be on light side for the Little Salmon (I rarely fish there, because I hook a lot more fish on the main), but seems to be plenty on the South Fork. Still, I have caught fish on the Little Salmon with line as small as 12#. I'll attach a picture of a fish I caught on the Little with 12#.
Soooooo. I'd say spend about $150 bucks and get geared up with three outfits. Not one. Then fish your heart out. ![[Image: happy.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/happy.gif)
First picture was caught on the main Salmon with 20#, the second was caught on the Little with 12#.
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i agree with you buggy the light line stays tange free much better than 35+, and much easier to tell a bite. I always say if you have your drag set right you can fight any fish, 35 lb test isnt much fun just to pull them in on a rope, just my opinion.
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Yup, the only reason I use 30# on the South Fork is for abrasion resistance, not line strength. Those fish like to wrap your line around rocks and the rocks can chew it up pretty good. If I wasn't too cheap to buy it, perhaps braided line would work better for that purpose.
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I am not a big fan of big name reels. Though I have a few penn's in my box. but I recently got back from a deep sea fishing trip where I was the only one with a spinning reel back-up. after several yellowfin and dolfinfish I switched to my Salt Striker Spinning reel and ugly stick. I cought several more tuna and mahi mahi and hooked into a blue shark and fought it for 20 minutes or so. the Salt Striker Reels I would recommend to anyone. I now have replaced all of my other spinning reels with the Salt Striker reels. Two Years ago I bought my first SS80 Salt Striker I went fishing for Kings in the Coquille river in Oregon. The biggest King that I cought was just shy of 42lbs, several in the 36lbs range. Then my brother and I went out for lingcod. We, in the two hours for fishing cought more fish than you could dream of. lings, rocks, all kinds of cod's, and a few silvers. that reel was awsome.
The more ball bearings the better the reel and at 10, the Salt Striker is a great reel
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First of all I just want to say that I'm totally jealous of those fish. Ive caught my share of salmon, but never one in Idaho. I should add that to my list of goals for '09. But I did want to say, that I fish almost exclusively braided line except for fly and ice fishin, and it's great for fish, trees, snagged hooks, but in my experience not rocks. I trust mono over braided when rocks are an issue by far, but that's just me.
Cool fish anyway!
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All I can say is you must have lucked out and caught some half dead Salmon.I have caught salmon smaller than that on the main, and I had 20lb test, drag was set as tight as it goes, and I had to put my thumb down on the line to try to stop him before I got spooled, and it just burnt the damned skin off my thumb, so I disagree w/ the pull em in on a rope statement, its nothing for one them to take complete control, and if you are there in the crowd, you better be ready to horse one in, or fight w/ the hundreds on the bank. I would love to catch them on lighter gear, but I just can't see it happening, not from my experiences.[fishin]
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