With steelhead fishing kicking off, it never ceases to amaze me at the goofy things some folks do on the river. Most of their errors are simply due to not knowing any better.
I've notice a few guys eager to learn to catch steelies. So, lets share a few basic tips that might help them out.
My first bit of advise is to watch other fishermen. We've all heard the old adage, "90% of the fish are caught by 10% of the fishermen". I can watch a line of guys and tell you within minutes who has the best odds of being within that 10%. Watch and learn...
Let's hear your advise....
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Best advise I can give is to fish with someone who knows what they are doing. Ask questions and watch how they fish. I have been steelhead fishing for 6 or 7 years and I am still learning new things every trip.
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Ive been fishing for steelies for about 16 yrs and have found that the more you treat steelhead like a trout the better you will do. What would trout eat and if your fishing and are catching trout when steelhead fishing then your on the right path.
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I would start, the river runs north.
idaho
Atleasted, my Salmon. It would be nice to see some Red Fish...
Tip 16.
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I am definitely one of the 90%ers for salmon and steelhead.
PLEASE HELP
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Here are a few more simple tips...
Experiment with your lead / weight size. Most guys I watch use way more lead than what is needed. The heavier your lead, the bigger the belly is in your line = the tougher it is to feel the bottom, and thus the fish. It amazes me when I see the amount of some guys lead. On the other hand, I've had guys ask me, "are you really feeling bottom with that little chunk of lead?" Most folks think if they're not feeling the bottom, then they need more lead, when usually the opposite is true.
Keep your rig moving. If you are fishing slower water, then "bounce" your rig towards you in tiny increments. If your offering is just sitting there, a fish can pick it up, spit it out, and you're never the wiser. I love drifts where I can cast into the "soft" water on the far side of the drift, and then bounce my rig into the main current seam. A lot of fish will hold on the soft side the seams. Too many guys cast into the same water, and then just let their rig sit. Don't be that guy, as not only will you miss fish, but you'll slow the drift down of everyone else on the hole.
Keep your hooks "sticky" sharp, meaning if you lightly drag it across your thumb nail it will stick. I'm constantly checking my hooks, sometimes after each drift. I use a small hook file made by Luhr Jensen to touch the up point. If a fish picks up your offering, and spits it our before you feel the take, I'm convinced that if that hook point will stick to your thumb nail, it'll stick to the fish's mouth. That gives me a split second more to feel the take...
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I would say dont be afraid to try something unorthodox....last year my nephew was bored and fishing was slow so he tied on a bass lure...we actually had a few neighbors laugh at us beside the fact we were using 8lb test on 6' 6" med wt rods...on that Lure I caught 34 in 4 days my nephew caught 15 and now thats basically our first choice when rigging....I have been once this year and caught 4 last Friday on that lure in 8 hrs fishin way upriver from Salmon where they supposedly arent yet and many of the folks we talked to around Salmon and below said it was atypically slow...moral of the story during the spring get creative and put something in front of them that might look like something that will piss them off
on the upper Salmon I notice alot of folks use really heavy gear....even in a stiff current I havent had one break me off or overpower me with the lighter set up. Thats just my 2 pennies
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Too much lead is the biggest mistake I see, 2nd is the dudes using giant corkies paired up with big old hunks of yarn...... If the ditch isn't riding dirty then your probably spooking more fish than your hooking.... I've watched thousands of bites materialize that the dude never felt because the bite could only be seen in the rod so watch that rod tip, lastly is watching people cast into the exact same spot over and over all day long......... work the water in a grid pattern.
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Huntsman - I think I have been using too much lead like you suggested. How much lead would suggest using for the Salmon river canyon? How much for around Challis? I've always thought more lead the better but that may be why I'm not catching fish.
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If you think you are, you definately are. I always try to keep that in mind, and sometimes I still end up using too much. Generally, you will use more down the canyon than you will @ Challis, but there is no way I could give you a length. It depends way too much on the specific hole.
Think about what he said about your belly. Pay attention to how far dowstream your line is entering the water compared to where your sinker really is. When you snag up (which shouldn't take too long
) it will give it away.
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With the weight thing.. I use more weight than most because of the way I fish. I have 3 rods rigged with different set ups. When Im drifting flies/yarn type stuff I use lighter lead. When Im drifting eggs I like a little slower drift so i use more lead than what I would use for flies/yarn. I look at bites in two ways. Reaction and Eating bites we will call them for example. When I fish with eggs I get eating bites so when my gear is slower they have more time to take it. When Im drifting with flies and yarn i consider these reaction bites. People have different views. This is how I break down my fishing patterns. Both work amazingly well. Biggest thing about it is like stated before you dont use monster corkies and handful yarn. lol
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if youre using coiled lead just snip off pieces of the sinker until your gear is ocassionally tapping bottom...sometimes it takes 3 or 4 passes through the seam until you are satisfied
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The size of lead I use is not only specific to the hole, but to each part of it. I may change sizes several times depending on which section of a drift I'm fishing. I use a small 1" piece of 3/16" tubing dropping from a snap swivel so I can change lead quickly. I like my rig to move as close to the current's speed, while still allowing me to stay in contact with the bottom, so that I feel the "stop" more quickly.
A couple of things for you to ponder. The larger your weight, the slower your rig moves, which in turn does two things. One, as mentioned before, it makes your line belly larger. It amazes me when a guy hangs up, and when he sets the hook you hear several "line cuts through the water" hisses as he sets and reels, sets and reels, to pick up all the line he has out. If this happens with a snag, what happens when a fish picks up, if he feels it at all.
Second, the bigger your lead results not only in the slowing of your drift, but the power of the current will force your rig onto the river's bottom. Thus you'll need more flotation (bigger corkie), or smaller weight to stay in the fish's zone.
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[
]I just had a custom rod made back in 3/95 by some dude from Timberline Custom. I had him train it to catch fish before I took it home. Seems to have worked pretty good for me.
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You must also remember how privileged he felt to build a rod for a guy who was a master at wielding it as well...[
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Huntsman--I agree with everything you say, with possibly one exception. Almost every time we fish from a boat, the guy in the front hooks most of the fish, and that is because he has the most weight, and therefore the most tension on his line. Sometimes all of us put on more weight (even from shore) to "drag the bottom" and put more tension on our line. Just the right amount of weight, so you feel a rock every couple feet is usually perfect, but sometimes we slow down our drift and it pays off. Ever experience this?
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Theres more than one "style" of drift fishing. Dredging the bottom with lots of lead, dragging the bottom which is very similar to dredging, drifting so your rig makes bottom contact a handful of times throughout the drift, and what I like to call the "swing" where you lead never makes contact at all but you have it trimmed in such a manner that you are close enough to be in the strike zone but the bottom is never touched.
Here's another mistake I see many people making since bead fishing has taken off here in Idaho. I know tons of guys that exclusively fish beads and only beads and yes they do work well but sometimes they don't just like any other setup. Don't be afraid to put down the beads and try some yarnies, eggs, shrimp, or any other rig you used before you started fishing beads.
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Like the Kid says, there are all kinds of "drift fishing methods", and sometimes I see guys catch fish doing things that I'd have swore would have never worked, however....
There's a drift between Salmon and North Fk where the fish hold on the far side of the river. The only way to reach them is to huck a pretty good chunk of lead. Luckily the water is deeper on that far side so we can still get a pretty good drift. Being able to adapt, as mentioned, is key to catching fish in some holes. Usually, we don't have to be so extreme, nor cast such distances to catch fish.
On the other hand, there's a great run above Challis where the main current elbows around from left to right. There's a large rock about three quarters across the river, centered right in the current seam, and fish love to hold around it. 90% of the guys that fish the hole center their focus on that rock. One day I stopped in after a couple of windy days at Sumbeam. There were 4 or 5 guys fishing, and after watching them for a few rounds of casting, I asked of I could "play". They said fishing had been slow, so they were cool with my joining them. I was at the top of the top of the run and as I waited for my turn to cast I slipped in a tiny 1" piece of lead. There's a soft secondary current seam inside the main current and these guys had totally ignored it, and the fish holding there. I hooked and land three fish ove the next 45 minutes, never once drifting through the traditional slot.
Yes, being able to adapt is sometimes key, and on this occasion, it was dropping to the lighter side to fish water that had been overlooked...
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Fishing this past weekend we used eggs with the smallest corkies. Couldnt get any bites after about 45 minutes so I changed up and added lead and put on a midsized corkie. First cast banked 26" native. I put on enough lead that so that it would drift extremely slow and I was almost jigging it along the bottom. Picked up 4 fish in about 2 hrs.
HUNTSMAN I think I know what hole you are talking about and I do know about that seem. If it is just my group I put on enough lead I will kinda long line behind that rock from the upper part of that hole. I will jig eggs behind it until I finally get kicked out by the current. Have caught a lot of fish by doing that. To be honest I have caught about 50% of my steelhead from not actually drifting but just letting it sit there and waiting for a bite. When I am doing this I usually have eggs or a night crawler following a small corkie. Not to many people do this and I think it is one of the most under rated techniques. Do have to say it all depends on who is fishing around you so that you dont impede others methods.
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