Rig set-ups aside, cutplugging and motor mooching differ only
in how the boat engine is used. With the former, the cutplug
is trolled at a constant speed. With motor mooching, the engine
is deliberately put into and out of gear to maintain a 30- to
60-degree angle on the line descending from the rod tip. This
imparts a tantalizing crest and trough pattern to the cutplug—rising
and speeding up when the gear is engaged, then dropping and
slowing to an irresistible occasional flip when the gear is
disengaged.
| SALMON
HOOK KNOT |
 |
| Loop-the-loop:
run the leader along the hook shank (Step 1); make
a loop and run the entire length of the leader through
the hook eye (Step 2); make at least four smaller
loops over top and around the shank (Step 3); finally,
pull to tighten the smaller loops and until the
large loop is snug (Step 4) |
|
One thing to keep in mind when motor mooching concerns the strike.
More than 50 per cent of large chinook will mouth the bait,
sending tiny signals to your rod tip. Resist the urge to lift
your rod, and instead fire out two pulls of line, each two feet
in length. Then, and only then, lift the rod from the holder.
This delayed action moves the bait into the fish’s mouth
as it opens to force water over its gills. If a strike is not
forthcoming, fire out two more pulls and pull up hard. Either
you’ll get a strike or the fish will have moved away.
While on the subject of trolling,
some final advice. Chinook prefer to migrate slowly, from back
eddy to back eddy after dark, and they’re the only salmon
species specifically associated with underwater structure—reefs,
bars, banks and spires—at all times. And unlike coho, sockeye
and pink, which regularly migrate miles offshore in surface
waters, chinook are usually found within 100 yards of shore.
Perhaps due to their size, or
their king-of-the-ocean mentality, large chinook do not chase
prey for long distances or at high speeds. Thus, as one would
expect, a slower trolling speed of one and a half miles an hour
is mandatory. This can be achieved by throttling back the engine,
letting out a sea anchor or, when fishing the ocean, trolling
with the tidal current rather than against it. 
|
