eggs under bobber?

[AK_BigO]

Haven't seen this set-up fished, but have been hearing a lot about it. Is it as simple as it sounds? Couldn't find much info on it searching old posts.

Any weight (or a jig head)? Cured eggs or roe sack? Best depth to start fishing it?? Places it works best (muddy/clear water seams, holes, slack water)

I'm guessing this works best on kings pretty fresh out of the ocean.... like Little Su and Deshka??

I'm not asking for your favorite spots, just for the basic technique. This ones new to me.

Thanks,

AK_BigO

 

[fishNphysician]

I'll describe the basic rig starting with your mainline.

Take a separate piece of 30# dacron fly line backing and tie a nail knot (uni-knot or bobber stop knot are all the same thing) with it onto your mainline. This knot can be slid up and down the mainline but holds in the desired position. Fluorescent dacron works best so you can see it... leave the ends about 2" long so you can re-tighten it down the road. Don't worry it will go thru the guides just fine.

Slip a fluorescent red or chartreuse bead onto your mainline. It will slide up to the stopper knot and STOP. If it goes past, use a smaller bead.

Thread a slip bobber big enough to suspend your eggs and the amount of weight you want to use. The faster the current, the more weight required to get you down quickly.

Tie the mainline to one end of a barrel swivel.

Tie your standard leader with egg loop and yarn to the other end of the swivel.

Add weight... several split shot or a rubber-core sinker works well. If you like slinkies, you'll have to untie your mainline from the swivel (sorry). Pass the mailine thru the slinky cord and then re-tie to the swivel. You'll remember to slide that slinky on there before tying the swivel next time.

Set your bobber stop to the desired depth. If the hole is 8 ft, set the bobber stop 7-7.5 ft from the hook. Better to err on the side of suspending off the bottom up to 12-14 inches rather than dragging bottom and getting snagged.

Cast into the slot, let the goods sink til your bobber is standing straight up and down. Take up any slack line, or if you prefer mend it up river like a flyfisherman. Feed line as it drifts below you. If the bobber is bouncing, you're dragging bottom.... reel in and move the bobber stop a little closer to your hook. The idea is for the bobber to drift down thru the slot without any drag. When you can no longer achieve a drag-free drift, or are unable to see your bobber, reel it in and do it again.

Pretty simple, huh?

When you get a strike, WAIT for the bobber to go completely under. DO NOT SWING YET! Reel down to the fish and take up all the slack line until you feel the weight of the fish, then come back hard with your hookset.

Let us know how you do!

 

[AK_BigO]

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks for the info fishnphysician. I'll have to add that to the arsenal and try it this week.

All the new set-ups keep moving my dynamite technique farther down the list.....

I'll let you know how it works out for me.

Thanks,

AK_BigO

 

[Ripper]

I've caught a few using this setup, and it is one of my favorite ways to fish some of the slower moving holes. All of the fish have been quite fresh that we have landed. Have not had any luck in areas where water was moving faster. I've just used eggs on a loop over a red 5/0 hook; leader was probably only 12" or so since we were fishing quite shallow. Let me know where you find the slip bobbers. I've looked all over the Kenai (Soldotna Trustworthy, Fred's, Ninilchik, etc) and haven't been able to find any. Guess I'll need to make a trip to Anchorage just for a darn slip bobber...

 

[AKmud]

Slip Bobbers

Slip Bobbers

Three Rivers in Wasilla has a good selection of them. They also have pre-tied nail knots on a small piece of a straw which you can just slide over your main line, push the knot off the straw, then tighten it up on the line and remove the straw. The kits come with 5-10 knots as well as the proper size beads. It's kind of fun being able to fish a bobber at 12' deep and still be able to cast the rig!

Also, eggs are legal only in the Deshka and at the Eklutna tailrace in the Mat-su. Using them on the Little Su will get you a hefty ticket!

 

[ClearCreek]

Ripper:

Take a look here:

http://www.qualityfishing.net/forum/tips/bobberstops/

It shows how to tie a bobberstop onto your line without having to thread your mainline through one of those little straw things.

ClearCreek

 

[fishNphysician]

A great place to get slip bobbers if you can't find them locally:

http://www.hloutdoors.com/

They sell the ESB ( not RedHook)... or Everlasting Slip Bobber. This is an excellent product, especially when using abrasive superbraid for your float-fishing mainline.

 

[AK_BigO]

Great Info...worked great!

Great Info...worked great!

fishNphysician,

Thanks for the details on the set-up. Picked up some slip bobbers @ Sportsmans on the way out Monday. Corkies, etc was slow @ Deshka so I tied up one of your set-ups....and bam, fish started hitting like crazy. Had a King came out of the water hitting it as I was reeling it back in while I was trying to get the depth set right. Hooked about 15 in a couple hours, landed about half of that (trying to teach the wife how to set a hook) including the wifes first King. No big ones there, but all super fresh. Caught a nice 44"/37lb hen @ Willow on Monday night which supplied us with super fresh bait.

BTW, Willow was pretty hot Monday with a LOT of nice fish size coming out.....started fishing @ 10:38PM, had a nice one on the shore @ 10:50.

AKMud,

Thanks for the Deshka river info, we went up and found a nice gravel bar. Didn't camp up there, but spent the day. We ended up having our own island/hole to fish all day, uninterrupted except for the boats coming by. That made for some excitement as there is a huge wide shallow area......so you got to see how fast people could hit full throttle, let off and bottom out or make a sharp turn for the channel. I did the same thing the first time I was coming down, chose full throttle and got to test the "how shallow can I go" on the new boat. Walked it afterward and would say 4"-6" in part of it.

All-in-all, great trip. Can't think of a better anniversary trip I've ever taken. Thanks for all the info, I may see you up there this weekend if my other river doesn't pan out. We'll be headed back down that way tomorrow.

AK_BigO

 

[fishNphysician]

fishNphysician,

Thanks for the details on the set-up. Picked up some slip bobbers @ Sportsmans on the way out Monday. Corkies, etc was slow @ Deshka so I tied up one of your set-ups....and bam, fish started hitting like crazy. Had a King came out of the water hitting it as I was reeling it back in while I was trying to get the depth set right. Hooked about 15 in a couple hours, landed about half of that (trying to teach the wife how to set a hook) including the wifes first King. No big ones there, but all super fresh. Caught a nice 44"/37lb hen @ Willow on Monday night which supplied us with super fresh bait.

AK_BigO

Good to hear of your success.... 15 bobber-downs in a day! Yee Haw.... hell of a good showing for the first attempt! Had my best ever day of king fishing in Alaska using that same setup on the Gulkana in 1997.... 17 fish to hand in 24 hrs, all from the bank.

Drove back down to Ship Creek for high water and got a chrome 30# hen about 14 ft down. Funny how the on-lookers (who didn't understand the mechanics of a slip bobber at the time ) were all telling me I'd never catch a fish with my bait only 3 ft below the float. Their jaws just dropped when that chromer sprayed all of us as it went airborne.

 

[Marcus]

What is it?

What is it?

"Had my best ever day of king fishing in Alaska using that same setup on the Gulkana in 1997.... 17 fish to hand in 24 hrs, all from the bank." —posted above

"Can anyone provide information on king salmon fishing Theodore, Lewis, Buluga, etc?**I'm interested in the numbers/per hour and size of the kings in these rivers as well as peak dates." —posted on another forum last year or the year before

"During my best day on the Aniak last year I hooked and landed 49 chinook salmon. My body and equipment are simply torn up after a day like that." —from a past article in a popular Alaska fishing magazine

Is this sport? Is it fishing? Is it even fishing-related?

 

[yukon]

What???????? Yes to all of the above.