99% of Baker Sockeye are Harvested this way

We wanted to test Brian's new bow mount Garmin Force trolling motor in a lake. So we went fishing for some green water salmon. Fish were caught using shrimp and dodgers by running to a tight band right around 45 feet down. We calibrated our downrigger depth counters to zero at the clip rather than the ball because of how exact you have to be with depth.

This is a finesse fishery. Slow trolling speeds, small baits, and light downrigger balls seem to work well. We used the legendary FG knot to connect our heavy saltwater braid to lighter 12 or 15 pound mono. This allowed some stretch when fighting the fish in close. Mono is also better than fluorocarbon because it is more neutrally buoyant.

Speaking of buoyancy, I would recommend you pay attention to that on the business end of things too. a complicated rig with too many beads and large hooks is going to sink unnaturally between dodger strokes. Because the fish are extremely finnicky and wary of the thousands of lures in the water around them, try a light wire 1/0 back hook with a 2/0 lead hook. offset the weight of the rig with a corky or a spin-N-glow. If the rig is small and sleek, yet barely sinks, you did good.

Get out there as early as you can. They will bite in low light and get more elusive once the sun is beating down. Look for cloudy days too. It seemed like the fish didn't move deeper as the sun rose; the bite just died. The fish are not feeding, just staging to get it on. More Stuff in the video