newb to tbe salt

[mallard79]

I have never fished the salt on my own and havent fished the salt since I was little with a frie nd of my dads..... I have a good boat with downriggers....I have rods and reals but.what are the basics that I need to get started to catch the kings and silvers out in area 9?

Is 17# mainline enough?

 I want to hit it saturday and I am starting to feel an illness coming that might hit friday.....

[Mfowl]

Get yourself some hotspot flashers in green/glow or chartreuse/glow and some coyote spoons in cookies/cream,  whitelightening, 50/50 green glow. Tye them up 36-42" behind your flashers with 40-50lb big game. Clip your flashers in 10-25' behind your dr ball and fish where the bait is. If your fishfinder shows bait at 100' in 150' get your gear in that zone. The fish bite best around the tide changes and dawn/dusk. I would recommend bumping your line up to 25lb, stays in the clip better and you may hook a pig! Good luck, hope this helps!

[L-ofalab]

 

You will lose lots of expensive gear and fish with that light of main line, we run 30-40 with 30-50 behind the flasher.

[Button Nubbs]

Don't worry mallard, well get you all dialed in...

[mallard79]

Thanks....probly hittin outdoor emporium in a little while! 

[Mfowl]

Don't forget some herring or sardine procure scent to put on your flashers and spoons as well. Hit up the guys at OE for some info too, they could probably describe some spots to try.

[lokidog]

Personally, I like the break-away style flashers (by qcove) as I think I lose less fish because there is less resistance to pull the hook out as the fish runs past the dodger.

If using hoochies/squid/flies, you want 30-50 pound mono, as mentioned, for a leader as the stiffness of the line helps transfer the movement of the flasher to the lure which has no action of its own.  Not so important if using a spoon, herring, or other wiggly type lure.

Also, that heavier line is nice to grab when holding the fish next to the boat to measure and tell if wild or not.

[mallard79]

What size flasher? I see that hot spot has 8" and 11" sizes 

[lostbackpacker]

11"

[GEARHEAD]

Nicely put MFOWL, im thinking you saved the guy alot of time and money.  thats pretty much it.  Regarding depth, when in doubt, at first light (about 40 min before sunrise) i will have a ball down anywhere from 25 to 40 ft. after the first half hour at sunrise, i drop to 55, and then 15 ft  deeper each hour, stopping at 75 or 90 depending on luck or what the fishfinder is showing me, this is all just generally speaking of course,  after 8am 70 and 90 has been a good depth for me, just and only generally speaking....Regarding bait, MFOWL is spot on, sometimes the dogfish will tear ya up with bait or scent. i would go ahead and use bait, but if the doggys are killin ya, go with the unscented spoons.  good luck.

[Kc_Kracker]

mallard you have a pm 

[lokidog]

Gearhead, unfortunately, if the doggies are there, they seem to bite anything.  I catch them frequently on unscented spoons, though hardly on hoochies, go figure.   

[wildmanoutdoors]

Dogfish are slower in comparison to other fish. Speeding up a bit can greatly reduce your Doggie catch rate!

[mallard79]

Thanks for all the tips. I just got back from OE....ouch.  .....I got some heavier mainline and some flashers and some hootchies(thats what I remember using when I was younger). What size spoons should I be using? I got a handfull of the 4.0 and 5.0 sizes. They didn't have any cookies and cream that I saw. I will check elswhere tomorrow.

I also got some Nates herring cure. Has anyone used this to brine their herring?

[Mfowl]

I have used Nate's but I prefer to use Procure "brine n bite"for herring. Whichever you use put your bait on ice when you leave home, this will firm it up for when your fishing and keep it on the hook longer. I like to use the 3.0 and 4.0 coyote spoons. The important thing is to match the hatch so to speak. I pulled a herring that was about 4.5" out if the belly of a fish we caught on Tuesday, so your in the right size range.
A couple other things to keep in mind, while trolling flashers, keep your speed up enough to give your dr cables a 30-45° angle. Flashers need some resistance to spin properly. Too vertical on your cables could leave your flashers swaying side to side instead of the big wide spin you want. Tide, speed and amount of cable you have out all play in to this. Also cut plugs take some abuse behind flashers due to the higher trolling speed, I like to use a helmet if I'm using herring. One other thing, check your gear regularily and make sure to remove all traces of jellyfish slime from your flashers, spoons, bait and whatever else, including your dr gear. Salmon don't like jellyfish slime. I always have a rag which works well to get it out of your swivels and such. Good luck! Post some pics when you get some fish!