Chinook RV

King Salmon - Chinook


Went Salmon fishing recently at the Douglston Salmon Run in upstate NY, used 10 weight fly rods with 12 & 16lb leader/tippets in different combinations. Caught a bunch of Kings (Chinooks) and Coho's. When hooking a king at 20+ lbs you basically hold on until he stops running then try to get under control, most break off so catch to land ratio crazy low, insanely hard but fun fight.

My motorized Chinook not ready for adventures yet as I still need to replace tires once lift on, but hopefully soon, it would have been great to have on this trip.

Nice fish! Do you do anything special to fish out of the RV? I have some friends that fish the salmon run at klamath, ca with popup trailers. They do a week long multigenerational family trip. Lots of gear, but they have a boat and a the fishing specific stuff goes in there.

Manitou wrote: October 18th, 2018, 10:22 pm Nice fish! Do you do anything special to fish out of the RV? I have some friends that fish the salmon run at klamath, ca with popup trailers. They do a week long multigenerational family trip. Lots of gear, but they have a boat and a the fishing specific stuff goes in there.

Thanks, salmon are fun to catch. Their trip sounds great, having the boat to store stuff really help, I store stuff in kayak when traveling.

Fly fishing gear breaks down pretty small so it will fit in overhead or rear locker behind refrigerator. I also do bass fishing out of kayak. With my Jeep grand cherokee I put kayak in rear and have an extend a tongue hitch thingy for long items, I put all poles and gear in kayak and have kayak cover to keep all secure.

With Chinook I am looking at a small trailer for kayak and will tow it with gear in kayak secured by cover. Long rods and poles can go inside at night if I need or I can store on top lashed down (not driving, just when sleeping.) to keep them from prying hands.

For what I take the Chinook will be perfect to allow me to get someplace at night, boondock and be on water at break of dawn without getting up at 4am....or not needing hotel when weekend fishing or traveling half a day to get to to remote mountain streams.

I have a picture of some hoist on top of a chinook lifting a kayak up there haha. I could see beverly hillbillies 20 foot tall chinook if I close my eyes .

What kayak do you use? I've been researching the pedal ones and the old hobie brand keeps popping up. Even though it's like $2500-$3000. (with no motor!)

Manitou wrote: October 20th, 2018, 9:23 pm What kayak do you use? I've been researching the pedal ones and the old hobie brand keeps popping up. Even though it's like $2500-$3000. (with no motor!)

I have the Hobie (PA 12) ProAngler 12 with the pedal drive. I love it, the pedal drive works great with steering from either side and you can easily fish on the move. It's really wide so I can stand up and fish no problem, lots of room for all our stuff without cramping up in front of you. The seat is super comfy, I can sit all day no problem and stand and fish when I want to stretch or need higher angle.

You can do lots of add-on's:
There are alot of options for trolling motors if you want. I did the modification to the "Snake" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHjteqNflS4) and it works fine. It's really inexpensive, less than $100 I believe, but negative is you need take out Mirage pedal drive to use it. There are times the pedal drive is perfect and times trolling motor is perfect. Right now I use both but it's not "fast" swapping them on on water since motor blades need to be lined up perfectly. Next year I will be looking at fixed rear motor to use w/ pedal drive, several companies offer.

Fish finder, Pro Angler comes preset up with nice recessed area and cover for transducer, I use the Lowrance 7 and big screen for my eyes is great.

The negatives are cost which you mention, any Hobie is not cheap but PA12 is up there.

The other negative, others may not see it as negative, is weight. It's 105lbs without rigging, so unless you're a hulk you aren't car topping. And not sure I'd want that much weight up top anyway.

Also fully rigged it is still heaving moving around on wheels. I upgraded wheels to make easier to launch and move around.

All in all it's awesome, good luck and let me know what else you are looking at.

Here's a pic fully rigged, if I am going out for day and not fly fishing I bring 6 rods, sometimes 7, and always wish I brought the one I left at home...haha.