Can you give me some Columbia River salmon fishing tips?
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Keep your bait fresh, don’t try to make your herring, prawns etc last too long. When in doubt change it out! 45 minutes or less is a about right for herring. 45-60 minutes for prawns but you want to inject them with scent half way through.
Use lead for trolling on a short 12? dropper, and forget about divers.
Use a three hook rig for trolling bait (check your regulations).
Anchor fishing with wobblers; tune your wobblers to get the desired action. Don’t just assume that the action they come out of the package with is the only action they are capable of. Bend them to change the action. Slather lots of scent on them too.
Run line counter reels so you can duplicate success, and so you can add measurable variation to your spread of rods.
Get a really good digital combo gps/fish finder.
Wait for the fish to take it! The rod should be doubled over hard and line coming off the reel before you grab it. Way too many anglers grab the rod too fast and either don’t hook the fish or lose him on the way to the boat.
Stop fighting the fish so hard. Just keep the line tight and let them run against a moderate drag. Pump up and reel down to get him in. When he pulls give to him. Remember … they aren’t always hooked well! When they are well hooked they won’t come off and you don’t need to horse them, when they aren’t well hooked you will appreciate having not pressured them too much.
