The fine art of boondogging

With river salmon season just around the corner (they?re actually already going in the Feather and Sacramento rivers), I thought it would be fun to show you a new and deadly technique that?s sure to put more fish in your boat this fall ? boondogging. Actually, it?s not new at all and has been in use since the 1940s on salmon and steelhead streams from the Sacramento River to the Kenai in Alaska?but many people in this area are unfamiliar with this technique. No doubt you?ve read about boondogging or ?dragging? in the local fishing rags but you?re not totally clear on the definition, right? Well grasshopper, let me enlighten thee. Boondogging is the act of dragging roe downstream from a drifting boat. It?s fairly easy to get the hang of and, because you drift at the speed of the current, you can cover a lot of water in a short period of time ? something you can?t say about popular but snail-paced techniques like backtrolling Flatfish or back-bouncing eggs. Start with an 8 ½- or 9-foot rod with a stout backbone and soft tip that?s rated for 10- to 17-pound test. You can go with either a spinning or baitcasting reel ? whatever you?re most comfortable with. To the end of your main line (15- or 17-pound test), tie a snap swivel and the tie a 5-foot leader (2- to 4- pound test lighter than your main line) to the other eye of the swivel. The business end of the leader should feature a No. 1 or 1/0 Gamakatsu octopus bait hook attached via an egg loop knot. Slip a thumbnail-sized piece of fresh roe through the loop and then slide a hot pink or orange Quickie Puffball onto the hook to give the bait some buoyancy.Finally, add a Slinky sinker or piece of pencil lead to the snap portion of the swivel and you?re ready to go. Use just enough lead to keep your bait on the bottom. The concept here is pretty simple. Get into position above a likely-looking piece of salmon holding water and then turn the boat broadside to the current. As the vessel starts to drift down river, cast directly upstream and allow the sinkers to hit bottom. As you drift along, your sinkers should tap-tap-tap along the rocks. Use a trolling motor or oars to keep the boat perpendicular to the current and continue drifting with your lines upstream of your position. With your sinker constantly bouncing off the rocks, it can be a bit difficult at first to decipher a bite from a bounce, but, boondogging, as they say, isn?t rocket science. When you?re blazing downstream at a high rate of speed, there are only two things that will interrupt your drift ? snags and fish. At the point of initial contact, both feel similar in that your rod tip will load up. Snags will remain solid, while your tip will pump and feel spongy when you?ve got a fish. Another helpful clue to keep in mind is that a hooked fish will often ?come with you? as the boat continues to drift downstream, while a snag will stay put. If the rod loads up and line doesn?t fly off the reel, it?s a fish. Since the boat moves so rapidly away from the fish in this technique, salmon will regularly hook themselves.Unfortunately, we don?t have enough space here to really get into an in-depth discussion on how to boondogg for kings, but this should get you started. If you need more info, feel free to contact me and we?ll get into more detail. Give this technique a try?you?ll like it! J.D. Richey is a 1986 Placer High graduate, and his outdoors pieces have been published nationally. You can find him on the Web at www.thesportfisher.com