The BnR Tackle Soft Bead for king salmon fishing has changed the game. JD Richey is a full-time fishing guide in Alaska and California, Fish Alaska Salmon Sense columnist and contributing editor. He guides the Togiak River in Alaska all summer, and it was there that he first discovered how willing king salmon are to take a BnR Tackle Soft Bead.

They catch a lot of kings on the Togiak and many are taken on cured eggs. As a result, many are deep-hooked, and JD wanted to find a way to fish a presentation similar to eggs, but without undue risk of deep-hooking mortality. He started with 16 mm Soft Beads, and as BnR Tackle started producing bigger Soft Beads, he moved up to the 25 mm Soft Bead. 

The results using BnR Tackle Soft Beads while bobber doggin’ were phenomenal—so good, in fact, that since starting to use them two years ago, he hasn’t gone back to eggs on the Togiak. The fish are almost never deep hooked, and since small hooks (size 4 to 1/0 depending on size of the Soft Bead) are used, very little damage is done to fish intended to be released. An obvious, added bonus is there’s no need to rebait every couple casts.

JD goes into detail explaining how to rig up BnR Tackle Soft Beads the way he uses them on the Togiak for bobber doggin’. JD uses 40-pound leader on the Togiak, which also helps land fish expeditiously. He rigs the Soft Bead about an inch and a half from the hook. There’s a diagram in the video to show you how to set up the complete bobber-doggin’ rig. He also tells you how to fish the rig. Reel ‘til you feel, baby!

BnR Tackle Soft Beads are made in a rainbow of colors and a variety of sizes so you can match your Soft Bead to the fish you’re chasing, and the water conditions you find on the river.