# Whatever happened to salmon eggs and a bobber?



## WEK (Dec 3, 2010)

Growing up that's all I used for stocked trout in small bodies of water (like the community fisheries) and I _slayed_ 'em.

Now it's all about power bait (or worms) and a sinker. If you're a young kid struggling to feel the strike, salmon eggs and a bobber seems perfect.

But I haven't seen anyone using that setup in a long, long time. Modern stocked trout just don't hit it anymore or something?


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

I have gotten to the point all i use is artificials 99% of the ti e at the communtiy ponds. There was a time where pautzkys. Balls of fire salmon eggs were a go-to for me. Those days are kong gone.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I've never caught anything on salmon egss. Tried them just never worked. Same thing for power bait. Jigs and Rapalas are my go to confidence bait.


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## WEK (Dec 3, 2010)

lunkerhunter2 said:


> I have gotten to the point all i use is artificials 99% of the ti e at the communtiy ponds. There was a time where pautzkys. Balls of fire salmon eggs were a go-to for me. Those days are kong gone.


What changed for you? Fish just flat out stopped hitting it?

I don't know why, but I find this fascinating--the idea that a bait that was so consistently successful on a species when I was a kid has all but disappeared and ceased to catch fish completely.

I suppose it would be possible to fish power bait beneath a bobber for my kid if there was a long enough leader with a split shot on it to keep the power bait down, right? (I've heard they do something similar with krill for trout up in Canada.)


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

My wife still uses eggs although no bobber does alright with them.


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## Hoopermat (Dec 17, 2010)

Have you bought eggs lately. They don't seem to be the same as they were. 
I took my son fishing last year and the first thing I grabbed was some fireballs. They were different then what I remember using as a kid. But we did catch fish with them.


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

WEK said:


> What changed for you? Fish just flat out stopped hitting it?
> 
> I don't know why, but I find this fascinating--the idea that a bait that was so consistently successful on a species when I was a kid has all but disappeared and ceased to catch fish completely.
> 
> I suppose it would be possible to fish power bait beneath a bobber for my kid if there was a long enough leader with a split shot on it to keep the power bait down, right? (I've heard they do something similar with krill for trout up in Canada.)


My ways have just changed. I have also found other more productive bauts at the community ponds. I still have salmon eggs in our "power bait" bag they just dont get used much. Ice fishing once in a great while.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

I would always use Balls of Fire on the bottom with a egg sinker and split shot above a swivel and just killem all the time as a kid. Any other brand of salmon eggs was crap back then. Now none of them are worth a ****.


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## mjensen1313 (Jul 29, 2015)

I've never had much success with salmon eggs either; we stick to worms on the community fisheries. I can't stand those who bring in live crayfish, hopefully someone at DWR can catch them at the Sandy pond!


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Though most of the time I fly fish these days, I still fish balls of fire salmon eggs on occasion. I like them on small streams. I get those snelled hooks with the little colorado spinner blade and couple of beads, and put the salmon eggs on the hook. Great for little streams, and on Idaho's small mountain lakes. I keep them in my tackle box for sure.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Salmon eggs were the bait of choice growing up... but I'll admit I havent used them in ages. We almost exclusively fish worms now for trout.


-DallanC


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

Pretty sure this is because of the lack of fertile fish in reservoirs nowadays. Especially in the case of fisheries full of sterile rainbow trout, the fish never see or smell salmon-like eggs and will never develop a taste for them. I have that bottle of ball o' fire too, and it's half gone over two years with no bites except from brood stock in community ponds, which makes sense if you think about it. 

My next salmon eggs purchase is going to be yellow or orange eggs to match kokanee and brown trout eggs.


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## redleg (Dec 5, 2007)

I'm still having the best luck in A. F. river with the Potskys balls of fire I have used since the 70s


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

I used to fish eggs. I use a glow bug now and don't have to re bait. Nothing better than bouncing a glow bug in the upper Sac.-----SS


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## WEK (Dec 3, 2010)

redleg said:


> I'm still having the best luck in A. F. river with the Potskys balls of fire I have used since the 70s


Are those sterile stocked rainbows or something else? I'm just wondering if that's the difference. Jedidiah mentioned it as a possibility earlier in the thread.


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