By Doug Rose

If a dedicated spring chinook angler had the time to drive on U. S. 101 and I-5 north from California to the tip of Washington, they would discover that each region's anglers have localized ways of targeting early-returning salmon. Anglers display variations on everything from watercraft to attire to the way salmon are cooked, and certain baits and lures are favored on different rivers.

However, one thread connects passionate springer fishermen from the Sacramento River to the Cowlitz - the use of wobbling, banana-shaped plugs.

Anglers who have fished throughout the country know that these plugs, which float on the surface but dive steeply and wobble enticingly when trolled or retrieved, are productive on a variety of game fish. Just as they take largemouth bass in Michigan, northern pike in Minnesota, walleyes in Wisconsin and rainbow trout in Colorado, so too are they effective on chinook salmon.

"The Flatfish was designed in the early 1930s in Detroit," said Rob Phillips, spokesman with the Yakima Bait Company, the current manufacturer of the lure. "It was originally designed for bass." Phillips isn't sure when West Coast anglers began using them for salmon. "But I know they were fishing them as early as the 1950s."

Over the last half century, the Flatfish and Kwikfish, a Luhr Jensen product, have become inextricably associated with salmon, especially the choice, early-timed, succulent spring chinook.

"We acquired Kwikfish in 1989," said Luhr Jensen spokesmen, Dave Tonn, "but they've been using them for chinook forever."

Photo by Dave Vedder

According to most accounts, California's Sacramento River was the site where banana plugs were first fished for spring chinook. The plugs were originally fished as they came out of the box, but during the 1960s anglers discovered that adding a strip of baitfish to the belly of the lure made it even more productive. Bait wraps, as they came to be known, were perfected and popularized by Clancy Holt, one of the West Coast's legendary river guides, and today most anglers troll the plugs with a strip of sardine, anchovy or herring meat lashed to its underbelly.

Indeed, Flatfish and Kwikfish have become so established as integral to chinook salmon angling that the manufacturers now publish detailed instructions on how to rig and fish bait-wrapped plugs on their Web sites.

All fish use their lateral lines - the dark, horizontal stripe down the side of a fish - to sense objects in the water much like we hear sounds. A slowly pulled plug sets up a detectable pulse in the water that the fish hone in on. As with wobbling spoons and spinnerbaits, this sound is more like a vibration to the fish and is often the first thing that attracts a fish's attention. Once the salmon investigates, the seductive flutter of a Flatfish or Kwikfish probably triggers the fish into attacking it.

"If I knew what made them work I would be a millionaire," explained Tonn. "But it's got to be the action. The design just trips their trigger."

Phillips agrees. "There's just something about that wide wiggle and action," he said. "But I think more than anything, these plugs just tick the salmon off."

Although they were not originally designed for salmon, the physical properties of banana plugs are ideal for attracting spring chinook. For one, springers, as with all aggressive predatory salmonids, key in on wounded fish, and the plug's action clearly represents an injured baitfish struggling in the water column. Moreover, the soft to moderate flows where Kwikfish and Flatfish are most effective tend to be the same type of water that large spring chinook often hold in on their upstream migrations.

Of all the lures manufactured for salmon, banana plugs are also the most versatile in the manner in which they can be fished. The majority of anglers work them from boats, but shore-bound anglers also regularly take chinook by plunking from gravel bars or by wading and casting. Moreover, there are several different techniques of fishing plugs from a boat.

Back-trolling consists of slowly fishing a plug downstream through salmon holding water, while back-bouncing uses more weight to search the deeper holes where spring chinook often congregate. Instead of lead weights, some anglers employ Jet Divers to pull their lure down into the productive depths.

GEARING UP! Most spring chinook anglers prefer relatively heavy tackle to fish wobbling plugs.   Standard rods are 7 1/2 to 9 feet long and feature a relatively soft tip that tapers quickly into a stiff butt section. A flexible tip telegraphs the plug's action, while the power end lets you drive hooks even with the dampening weight of a diver or lead.   Virtually all plug anglers use traditional levelwind bait-casting reels that are beefy enough to handle the terminal tackle, heavy water and one of the strongest fish in fresh water.   Depending upon the size of the water and the average size of the fish, main lines can range from 30- to 50-pound monofilament or 60-pound braid or high-tech lines. Leaders between 15 and 40 pounds are popular.   Finally, maintenance of hooks is critical. They should be sticky sharp at the day's beginning, and it's smart to touch them up as the day progresses. -- Doug Rose

"We even find that the same plugs work on the rivers that drain into the Great Lakes," Phillips said.

According to Phillips, the T4, M2 and U20 Flatfish are the most popular Yakima patterns for spring chinook, although the U20 may be on the small side in some areas. As a rule, bright fluorescent finishes tend to be effective on dark days, while softer colors are usually more productive under a bright sun. "Fluorescent red is popular," Phillips said. "So are the chrome finishes and the ones with fire tails." These models are effective trolled behind divers or bounced along the bottom with lead. The T-50 is the deepest-diving Flatfish, and is capable of probing the depths without added weight of diver.

The K13 is one of the most popular Kwikfish for spring chinook, and Luhr Jensen recently offered it in a new configuration. "We have a new side-by-side molding process," Tonn said. "It can dive deep without a diver and you don't need to tune it. They have been an absolute total success."

The K14 and K15 Kwikfish are larger and common on bigger systems, and they are often used with bait wraps. The most common combinations are multi-colored Hot Tail plugs in silver/green chartreuse, silver/purple cerise, silver/fire and gold/fire. "We also introduced a new Dill Pickle finish that is a glow green," he said. "It has been very good early in the morning or late in the day."