how to tie a hoochie rig
Well it is late but I here that guys are catching kings right now in front of the Harbor. Usually when they are late like this they are running by so it may not last long. Get your green gear, find something that floats and get on it!!!
Read up on how to rig stuff on the where and how page here
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
It’s the end of October and that means some great fall fishing is coming to a close and with it goes the retention of wild kings and the ability to keep two Chinook. The good news is blackmouth season is upon us. My personal favorite Puget Sound fishery is blackmouth, or local kings, so I get very excited about this time of year. We are back to releasing wild Chinook (adipose fin in tact) and only keeping one Chinook but there are still some chum around and local coho to fill the two fish limit. And we will have winter crabbing in area 11 this year starting November 21st seven days a week til December 31st.
There is nothing like a crisp clear winter day, where the sun is out and the water is perfectly flat. There is very little competition for these fish so I am usually the only boat out, or one of just a couple. If I’m lucky I can get my buddy James or one of the other hard cores to go. We fish Blackmouth mostly at the tide changes, and hour before to an hour after. I’ll fish the Girl Scout Camp or Point Richmond on the in and Point Defiance on the out. Or Gig Harbor on either tide. There is a hump just north of the harbor that holds fish on the leeward side.
I troll between 2.5 and 3 MPH but will go slower if I’m running fat plugs like the Tomic Tubby’s. I usually run spoons or hoochies in green. I also have a couple Tomic Plugs one white and one green that work really well for Blackmouth. For instructions on rigging these check out my youtube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe. And you want to run this right on the bottom. usually if you run your downrigger ball the same depth as the water, or even a little deeper for the angle, you will usually be close enough. These fish are sitting on the bottom and feeding up.
Don’t forget to wear a life jacket when fishing in the winter and let someone know where your going and when you’ll be back. Unlike the summer, there aren’t a lot of other people around so a small mistake could be disastrous. Good Luck
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
This has been by far my most popular post so I decided to re-publish it at the beginning of this season. I hope it helps.
That title ought to get some weird search engine traffic. I’ve posted a little about using Hoochies for catching salmon here in Gig Harbor. Since the invention of the downrigger trolling has become the most common way to fish in the Gig Harbor area. Hoochies are by far the most popular artificial lure in the Gig Harbor area for trolling due to their versatility and the wide variety of colors, patterns and sizes. I am going to show you a couple different ways I rig hoochie rigs for Gig Harbor Fishing.
First I tie all my own leaders. This way I can tie the hooks closer together or further apart depending on what species of salmon I am fishing for, bait and strike tendencies etc… I often like to put a couple glow beads in between the hooks. Also, tying my own leader ensures that I have no one to blame but myself if one breaks off. I’ll do a post on tying leaders for Gig Harbor Fishing soon.
Remember too that a hoochie by itself has no action. It just kinda
lays there. You have to run some sort of flasher or dodger.
My friend Jerry used to do real well with a white hoochie behind a silver dodger. Some people have success running Hoochies behind Les Davis “ford fender” Flashers.
I like to use green hot spot flashers with the glow on one side and the Mylar removed on the other.
The first Hoochie rig I will share with you is one that has worked well for me this year for Chambers Creek
cookie cutters. These are 15 to 18 lb fish that are passing Gig Harbor on their way to the Chambers Creek hatchery to die. This is a glow needlefish hoochie with a green, blue and purple salmon fly in it. This is a great example of an experiment that actually worked so don’t be afraid to try different things. I tied this one on a 38” leader of 40lb test mono with 6/0 owner hooks close together and two glow beads between them.
The other hoochie rig, and by far the most popular fishing in Gig Harbor is the green glow hoochie. Gig Harbor guideline number one is: any color as long as its green. I will usually tie this on the same leader rig as the other. Two owner 6/0 hooks close together with two glow beads. I’ll typically run 36” to 42” leaders for Kings and shorter for Coho 32” to 36” on a green hot spot flasher.
Some like to run a piece of yarn inside to hold your favorite scent product. Some like to run a twinkle skirt or a glow head insert. I’ve had pretty good luck with just the hoochie but try stuff. Experiment with it and make it your own.
Here’s a video I made on hoe to tie the rig for your hoochies:
Experiment and send me a note to let me know what type of hoochie rig works best for you. I love to hear from people having success fishing the Gig Harbor area (or any other) and as always welcome your questions and comments.
Good Fishin to ya,
Kerry W Allen
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
My friend John Keizer just did a great, if a little long, video on tying spoons with micro hoochies. I cant wait to try this.
Check it out here: 
Also check out his other videos on the Salt Patrol Website here: 
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
My friend “area 10 Ben” just sent me a message that he and his friends are catching good numbers of kings up in area 10. Up near Dolphin Point and Southworth Guys were catching limits just a couple days ago so hopefully some of those fish are headed this way. Cookies and cream Kingfisher3.5′s and green hoochies trolled about 75 feet deep have been the hot ticket for these fish. I will also be running my new favorite 3.5″ TNT. Maybe September is lookin’ up.
For demos on how to tie these rigs check out, and subscribe to, my youtube channel here.
Good Fishin’ To Ya’
Kerry W Allen
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
By far the most popular post on the blog has been the one I did last August on Hoochies. I have updated the post to include a video on tying hoochie rigs.
Check it out by clicking the picture and please let me know what you think.
Good Fishin’ To Ya’
Kerry W Allen
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com