TROLLING / DEPTH

The method of catching fish with downriggers is always by trolling. Here I will cover how to properly troll for salmon and at what depth one should do so.

TROLLING

First off how to properly troll for salmon. Well as covered during the downrigger instructions, the way to fish for salmon in the ocean is by slowly trolling with downriggers, with your gear down at depth.

How Fast

This really depends on the type of fish you are fishing for and where you are fishing. Some salmon prefer slower speeds and some prefer faster. Sockeye prefer very slow, large Springs prefer slower (in general), Winter Springs prefer slightly faster and Cohos actually will strike a lure going quite fast. Anywhere from 1-4mph is a typical trolling speed. It needs to be fast enough to allow the flasher to 'kick' properly and most importantly, to give the bait (if you are using bait) the proper swim, roll and kick to it. The best way to judge if your speed is good is by the angle at which the downrigger cable meets the water, they should be just back but not more than 45 degrees or so unless in extreme cases.

TIDES / CURRENTS

Sometimes when trolling you will notice when travelling one direction, say south, the downrigger cables are vertical and in the other direction, say north, they are pulling steeply behind the boat. This is due to the movement of the tides and currents. In this case, strive to keep the same angle of downrigger wire. The currents underwater will be pulling more in one nautical direction. As a boat that is not moving with the currents, whereas your downrigger cannonball is being pushed to, you will have to counteract for this.

Again, keeping the same angle on your wire will best indicate your bait's speed and action. This will be your best indicator of your bait's speed due to how much drag it is creating in the water.

TURNING

With downriggers, make sure you take your turns wide and slow. You do not want to get your lines crossed or tangled. When trolling, a way to vary your bait's action, and to attract strikes, is to turn. This speeds up and raises the outside lure while slowing down and lowering the inside lure.

CHECKING YOUR LINES

When salmon fishing, always make sure you are checking your lines. In normal cases I strive to do this every half an hour or so. This is done to ensure that your lines are free of seaweed and that they aren't tangled or anything else, and that they are fishing properly. As you will find sometimes in the ocean, there come days where there is seaweed everywhere. This can be especially bad in the Saanich Inlet and in back eddies around places like Beechey Head, Sooke. In these cases, when lowering, make sure the lines do not strike any seaweed. I would also check the lines every 15-20 mins or so and especially when you have no choice but to troll through a tideline or field of debris.

AVOID DEBRIS

When trolling, try your best to not troll through seaweed. What happens, is that seaweed will travel down your downrigger cable right to where your lure is. I'm pretty sure salmon don't like seeing moving pieces of kelp and seaweed in front of their food! So always keep your eyes out for seaweed in the water. Especially bad are pieces of kelp. These can get so large and in bunches, that they can almost act as a bottom hang-up, avoid kelp beds at all costs. Individual pieces of kelp, just make sure that the large part of it passes by the downrigger and the rest of the piece of kelp will avoid your lines. Another type of debris that is bad are ribbons. Seaweed ribbons, thin green pieces, seem to be attracted to fishing line especially.

Point being of all the above, is avoid this crap. If you see some coming, turn the boat or pick up the rod and guide it around the weeds, and lift the downrigger arm up so as to avoid weeds.

Many times I also find myself hanging off the front of the boat picking up pieces of kelp. I'd rather do this, take it down the centre of the bow and hand pick it up, rather than let the kelp or seaweed go through the gear. (lines).

FOG

Many summer days you will find are spent in the fog off the BC coast. It can get quite thick too. In this case, be careful of your surroundings. Make sure you know where you, relatively, are; especially with regard to the shore and any rocks. Always keep a keen lookout for other boats, and if fishing offshore, for transiting freighters, fishing boats, naval ships and other boats.

DEPTH

How deep to fish when trolling? Well this really depends. The species of salmon, time of day, time of year and location all are factors. One of the tricks of salmon fishing is not only finding the fish locationally but vertically. Balancing whether or not you are fishing at the right depth vs. whether or not the salmon are biting is tricky. You could be fishing at the same depth for 2 hours with no bites, and then suddenly the bite comes on and have a double header. If you changed your depth you might not have gotten this double header. The flipside is you could also fish for 2 hrs without a bite, switch your depth and hit fish a the new depth whereas if you hadn't changed your depth you would have missed the bite where the salmon are. It boils down to being at the right depth when the bite is on. Deciding on how to get there is going to be up to your judgement. Weigh out the factors and use your growing experience to make the right choice hopefully! Being "on time, on target" for salmon fishing with regards to depth is key.

SPECIES OF SALMON

First off the Species of Salmon. Chinook are the one species of salmon which are usually found relatively alone, whereas the other four species, Pink, Coho, Chum and Sockeye, are usually all found in schools. How does this come into play as far as depth goes? Schools are going to be all around the same depth whereas fish that are just milling around by themselves could be anywhere. In English Bay, if the fish are shallow, they are generally moving, if they are deep, they have probably been there for a while.

Chinook (Springs)

For large, mature, returning Chinook salmon, (summertime and fall), generally fish between 30-90'. Many times off Sooke and Renfrew during the summer I find myself hitting them between 45-65'. However I have caught big springs as shallow as 30' and I know for a fact up by Thrasher Rock, near Nanaimo, the springs can run quite deep, to below one hundred feet. However, generally, 30-90' are depths to try for springs. As with any salmon, they can surprise you any day of the week. Guiding last spring off the mouth of the Capilano River I hit a Spring at 35' on a Coho lure, with a Coho leader, in a Coho spot. It was the biggest Spring caught in English Bay all year to that point to my knowledge. I wasn't expecting it, nor were my clients. In fact this salmon had a hook in its mouth, must have broken another angler's heart! It was a nice fish, 24lbs.

Coho

Coho are found relatively shallow. Anywhere between 20-50' are typical Coho depths. Cohos will also strike surface lines (bucktail flies dragged along the surface of the water), or even I have had Cohos hit flashers dragging on top of the water. I have also had Cohos as deep as 60-70' at times.

Charlie White actually had a theory on 'Deep Running Cohos'. He stated how he had been catching Cohos running deep in recent years. He mentioned how he thought it possibly an adaption to traditionally shallow catching of Cohos, therefore the Cohos began running deep, around 70-90'. Natural selection? Whether this is true I don't know as I have rarely caught Cohos this deep, but it goes to show that there are no limits on fishing. Cohos can swim like crazy and at places such as Swiftsure Bank, they will grab anything they see.

Pink

Pink salmon are often caught while fishing for Springs or Coho. Pinks run anywhere from 20'-90' or so. Pinks can be in schools or branch off a bit. However they usually are in a school. Many times I have had my gear down around 60' or so for Springs and end up getting Pinks. However if fishing out at the tidelines offshore they usually run shallower when moving or travelling any significant distance. (As most salmon will be shallower while moving).

Sockeye

Sockeyes generally run again, between 20'-75' or so. It really depends. But usually Sockeyes are caught out in the Juan de Fuca straight moving along around these shallower depths. Sockeyes off Vancouver Island will often either be there as a school or not at all. Using the fishfinder in this case to see the schools is key. It will give you a positive identification of the school and a depth to fish at, say 50' or so.

Chum

Although not commonly targeted by sportfishermen, Chums generally run mid depths, around 50-60' up to 120'. The most success I have had for Chum has been up in Seymour Narrows, near Campbell River, around 100'. This is almost contradictory, due to the fact that when Chums are around, you will likely see fish jumping at the surface.

FISHFINDER USE

Using the fishfinder to determine what depth to fish at is great. If you see schools or depths at which it appears there are fish, try it. In general when trolling, start fishing at the depth you have been locally told is working. If not, switch on the Fishfinder and if you see schools, bait or salmon, fishing around these is a good idea. Again, the point of the Fishfinder is to see trends, not individual fish. Humanly determine what is fish and what is junk, don't let the depthfinder do it for you. Use your head.

CHANGING DEPTH

Do you change depth or stay true to your original plan? In areas where the water visibility is good, changing your depth by 5' is not going to matter. 30'-60' will matter. If you have fished diligently and properly for a couple hours at say 45' with no luck, lowering the bait down to around 70' could indeed pay off. Lowering the bait to 48' is ridiculous. I have seen it done. In the odd time this is done and an angler gets a hit, they will most likely go on and on about how 3' makes a difference. Welcome to the world of fishing, where the line between fisherman and nutcase can be very thin. Many opinions out there among fisherman are absolutely out to lunch. If it doesn't make sense, it probably isn't true.

Nevertheless, changing your depth is a good idea. One technique which is quite effective is leaving one rod at say 55' or whatever, a depth at which fish are constantly at, and changing the other rod's depth until hitting fish. When I start out in the summer I frequently go 40'/60'. If no luck, perhaps 50'/70' and so on. It does require some guess and test to find the location in the water column at which the fish are holding. Remember, salmon are not a bottom fish, they can essentially be anywhere.

DEEP FISHING

The one exception to this, salmon, being anywhere in the water column, is for Winter Springs. Winter Springs in general are deeper. They are often bottom feeding fish. See the section on Winter Chinook. In this case, troll your cannonball just off the bottom or on the bottom. Use your depthfinder to see how deep it is and voila.

The other catch about trolling deep is your downrigger wires will appear to have more of a drag on them due to the amount of cable out. In this case, do not slow down, just perhaps allow extra cable out to get to the depth desired. Your bait will still be trolling at the same speed as the boat. Of course if there is a current to compensate for, then you may have to speed up or slow down. The water can be moving completely differently 200' down than it is at the surface.

The other note about fishing deep is to let your lines down slowly, and make sure the release clips are attached properly. It's not alot of fun winding in the downrigger because the line came out of the release clip for no reason at 180'.

Lastly, don't hesitate to drag or bounce the bottom if it is muddy or sandy. For Winter Feeder Springs, they will see this dust cloud and believe it to be an intruding fish. (Winter Springs are very territorial). As long as there are no reefs or rocks, dragging the cannonball can work. However it can make it very difficult to determine a fish strike. Just look for any movement slightly out of the ordinary, this will take experience.

TIME OF DAY

As the day goes on, you will want to change your depth. In general, as the sun goes up, the salmon go down. Early in the morning salmon are found at shallower depths than say around the early afternoon. They swim deeper to avoid the top of the water column during midday. This affects how we fish. At first light in the dark, fish shallower. As the day goes on, you should slowly be lowering your lines every now and then. The reverse occurs during evening fishing. Near last light the salmon will be found shallower than during the afternoon.

DEPTH & COLOURS

As you fish different depths, different colours have different properties. Some colours are not visible at depth. Red disappears the first. I can't remember officially when it fades out of visibility but I believe it is around the 50' mark or so. As follows is the colour spectrum, Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet. Essentially, Violet is the last colour to be visible at depth. Therefore, if fishing very deep, a red flasher may not be the best idea. Would it still work? Quite possibly. How much does this theory affect fish? I don't know I've never asked a fish what colours it can and can't see. However one of my best winter spring flashers is a Purple Flasher with Gold reflectors. It is probably the most visible at depth. In contrast, a Red Flasher is often effective in the summer for big springs swimming shallow off Sooke.