Now you are probably thinking, "What am I talking about mooching for?" Well a good mooching rod makes a good downrigger rod. And as I have noticed the trend in mooching rods is to go to noodle rods. So a good steelhead rod makes a good mooching rod as well as a good downrigger rod. In a nutshell, if you have a good noodle that you like to mooch with, use it to troll with.

Just one side note which has to do with sealions, "*&$%%#!^^@@@." In the event of heavy sea lion action fishermen have been known to troll with high speed tuna gear and hump the salmon in. It takes the sport out of it but you lose less to the sea lions. A Penn 16H two-speed in high gear makes short work out of bringing a fish in.

Fishing reels and line:
I shall just give you a brief opinion on this subject. I have seen fish caught on Penn 60s and fancy Calcuttas and both brought the fish to the boat, so any reel will work for that purpose. What doesn't work is to compensate for a stiff rod with a light reel. And you don't need a Penn 113H either. I do feel that you need some line capacity. 200 yards is nice. Counters are nice as well, they are just not exact, so don't complain when the counter doesn't match the depth sounder. Look for a reel that has a good drag system. The smoother the better. And I personally don't like the knuckle busters either, although many people do. One last thing; the recovery rate should be around 4 to 1.

As for line I land more fish with 30# line than people do with 20# line. They just don't break off as easy. What I use is 30# line that has 20# diameter. That way I still have my line capacity with less breakage. The color doesn't seem to matter much as long as you are not using bright orange or yellow, get my drift?

TERMINAL GEAR

Rigging the bait:
I rig my bait 30 to 40 inches behind the flasher. I have caught fish with bait 12" behind and five feet back and I don't think it really matters as long as you get good action out of your flasher.

Flashers in general:
Put your flasher in the water and watch its action. If it is swimming side to side then your speed is OK. If it is twirling or erratic slow down.

FLASHERS

Hot Spot or Big Shooters:
This flasher is used by many in the commercial fleet. If you have ever seen salmon free swimming you know that they swim in formation. A flasher attracts fish because, in my opinion, it looks like another salmon. When the fish gets close to the flasher -- wham! -- he hits the bait. These by far attract more fish.

Kelp Kutter:
These work just about as well as the above and should be used on boats that can't troll slow. These troll faster than the Hot Spot or Big Shooters.

Dodgers:
I have had very good luck with these in the past. These troll at a relatively slow speed, slower than the Hot Spot and Big Shooters. Many boats can't troll that slow, so make sure they will work for you.

Apexes:
These work well if you have the right color. These come in a multitude of colors too many to list here. The most commonly used colors are light green (chartreuse), regular green, bright silver, blue and clear. Kinda like tuna fishing, you have to find the right color for that day. I have a few on board that I use off and on. They have good action and can be used by themselves without flashers.

Rotary Salmon Killers:
These require special rigging but can work real well. I don't really think the color matters a whole lot with these. I buy either the blue, green or clear or whatever is in stock. Now rigging these is more important. The hook has to be rubber-banded on and I use a toothpick to pin the line so that the hook stays at the end of the bait. These have one downside, they will twist up your line like no tomorrow. The best way to avoid this is to not put it too far behind the release and/or use a flasher

Hoochies:
These are the choice of many of the commercial fleet. Now talk about a choice of colors, in this category you have more than you would ever need. But you only need a few primary colors. Top color is purple haze (golden bait #OA12R), Second to that is all white (golden bait #OA11R) third is blue and white (golden bait #B44W) and a couple of others are Speckled Frog (golden bait #OG140R) and also a couple that don't have trade names are (golden bait #29CLRP and #J82). Rig these 30 to 40 inches back from your big flasher and put it on the bottom rig.

Crow Bars or Cable Baiters:
When using whole bait these are the best. I have found no difference between the catch ratio of either of these. Make sure you use the right length for your bait. The hook should come out the tail and pin and wrap the nose. Use the pin and cooper wire setups for this purpose. Rig this so that it is about ten feet above your bottom flasher and run it without a flasher.

Spoons / Crocodiles:
These are used by about 60% of the commercial fleet and hardly at all by the sport fleet. Weight doesn't matter with these too much. Primary colors to start with are blue mackerel, chrome and silver, white or pearl and green or chartreuse. Rig these the same as Hoochies, 30 to 40 inches back from your flasher, or above the bottom rig, instead of bait. Now if you are in the Great Lakes fishing for salmon this is all you would use. (I can remember being on a charter boat and the captain had no less than 300 spoons hanging from the curtains down below.) Don't ask me why sport fishermen out here don't use them that much.

Speed:
The best speed for trolling for salmon depends on several factors. Depth of fish, weight used, flasher used and surface conditions. Best rule of thumb is slower is better. 1.2 to 2 knots is best. Now, if you are trying to get to deeper fish you might have to go with a bigger weight and also go slower. If there is a headwind you will have to adjust your speed and also if there is a following wind or seas. If you cannot run at that slow speed then you have the following choices: get a pair of sea anchors or have a trolling valve put in.

Sea Anchors or Drogues:
The best sea anchors I have ever found for the money are made by Moss Landing Marine Covers. They're in Moss Landing, California. They make them to order and they are super duty. I have two and they will last me until I die. Rig these along the side of your boat. Tie one end to a side cleat and the other to a stern cleat. Make sure that the anchor has enough slack to open properly but not so much that it can reach your propeller. As for size, Moss Landing Marine Covers can help you with that. If there is any doubt go to the bigger size, you can always throttle up.

Trolling valve:
A trolling valve is basically a switched valve that allows your transmission to spin the prop at a slower speed. It does no harm to the transmission. This is only available for some transmissions and is not cheap. Check with your local mechanic for specific details.

Next article is the meat, the HOW TO's.