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There's never a question
on Pat Abel's boat,
whether he's going to
fish or cut bait.
The Beaverton fishing
guide's boat rarely
lacks action.
And that's because Abel,
50, never fishes until
the bait not only is
cut, but cut just right
-- as in right roll,
left roll, slower
chinook roll, faster
coho roll.
More than 90 percent of
salmon anglers use
herring or anchovies,
both of which are real
baitfish that salmon
naturally eat at sea.
Anglers most often go
for herring because it's
much easier to net or
raise in pens and, thus,
buy. Herring also has a
better shape for
freezing, and best of
all it has a firm enough
body to slice in various
ways to resemble a
wounded fish when pulled
through the water at
trolling speed.
The process is called "cutplug"
herring, in which a
knife is used to cut a
beveled edge diagonally
across the herring's
body. The "plug" is then
attached to hooks so it
will twirl at the end of
the line in the
artificial current
created by the trolling
boat.
The way it twirls can
get a salmon to strike
-- or take a hike.
"It makes a huge
difference," Abel said.
Abel, a former sheet
metal fabricator who
became a full-time guide
seven years ago, grew up
bouncing between his
home in Forest Grove and
Tillamook Bay, feeding a
serious addiction to
salmon and steelhead
fishing.
He watched the
old-timers, anglers who
consistently caught more
fish than anyone else.
"They all cut their bait
exactly the same," Abel
said.
And so did he -- playing
with the precision of
his rolling bait for
several years.
About 15 years ago, he
built his first "Master
Plug Cutter," an
aluminum device with
angled openings to guide
a knife blade. It acts
"just like a miter box,
except for bait instead
of picture frames," Abel
said.
The device eliminates
the risk of a wrong
bevel and thus a bad
spin, he said.
Other manufacturers make
similar devices, but
Abel said he was the
first to put a new spin
on his spin -- in the
opposite direction.
Half a dozen years ago,
Abel was fishing with
his wife, Kathy, who was
left-handed. He
suggested she cut some
bait. She did --
left-handed -- and
caught fish when he
didn't.
Abel, who is
right-handed, added a
left-hand Plug Cutter to
his line and immediately
noticed the difference
in his own fishing.
Most people are
right-handed, he said,
and thus cut their
herring with a
right-handed roll.
"A left roll gives the
salmon something
different to look at,"
Abel said. "When I'm
fishing four or five
customers, the left roll
gets more bites than the
right."
Abel sells his cutters
at most coastal sporting
goods stores,
Fisherman's Marine &
Outdoor stores and on
his Web site,
www.patabelguideservice.com,
for about $7.
He even has color-coded
them to be politically
correct -- blue for a
right-hand roll and red
for left.
Yes, those are exactly
the opposite of implied
political leanings for
Democrats (blue, liberal
left) and Republican
(red, conservative
right).
"That's for the
conservative Republican
who can't bear to cut
left and the Democrat
who doesn't know how to
cut right," Abel said,
tongue firmly in cheek.
"These are their guides.
They appreciate that."
Bill Monroe:
503-221-8231;
billmonroe@news.oregonian.com
©2006 The Oregonian |
