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Headed to Salmon area this weekend looking for steelhead. Two went up on Thursday and set up camp. Another went up Friday morning. That day the new guy caught a hatchery steelhead that was then released (beginners luck). The next day we started out heading down past owl creek and and managed to have a blow out on the rear tire of one of the rigs. Fortunately we had a full size spare so the only thing lost was time. Once we got to our planned site the new guy again got a solid hit right off. However being new to the whole concept he has his drag extra loose and the fish was just ripping off line. Once we got it tightened enough he dropped the rod tip and the fish threw the hook seconds before he could be netted. Live and learn I guess. After a while there we packed up and headed back up to the gorge area to fish there most the afternoon with no action at all. Saw a few fish here and there through out but no big numbers landed. F&G didn't even have their usual check point set up. Ended up fishing tower rock for a while before heading into town for dinner.
The next day we hooked up w/ a nice guy and his son from I.F. that we picked up hitchhiking the day before and they offered to teach us spey casting and show us some holes on the river. By now we were down to just 2 of us so it worked well w/ the boat. We ended up floating red rock to dead water, stretching it into a full day float. They weather was perfect. Light breeze, blue sky, and golden leaves falling w/ a high temp of around 50. I did land 2 suckers that day to keep the skunk off. My buddy had one solid hit from a probable steelie, but no real way to tell. The gentleman showing us around landed one. Had another on for about 10 seconds and had one about 3 feet from the net before it threw the hook, then who knows how many hits. Definitely made me a believer in flies on that river.
Despite no fish the knowledge gained yesterday alone was well worth the trip! The fish are there, just weren't real aggressive at the time.
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Your trip sounds pretty similar to mine. At least we got that first slow trip out of the way, the next one should only get better. I think here in the next couple weeks things are going to light up down there, there's just to many fish coming to have a slow fall. We were a tad early anyway. I'll be down there this weekend again, hopefully the river is a little cleaner and a fresh batch of steelie's roll in! I did see/hear about 20 fish caught last weekend though. Just not by me.
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grandpa went up again last week and came back thursday and he brought home 15 fish, said he let a few go, had break off and had atleaste that many throw hooks right at the bank, he said the weekend was very slow but the bite was good the 2 days. He was fishing the clam hole and ebeneizer i believe. so down river a bit from you guys so maybe a big pod is moving in. i am still trying to get a trip together. maybe even a bft trip?
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You know me, if it involves Steelhead I can't say no! Ya, there was some good fishing in Clam and Ebenezer, one day at the top of the holes the next day at the bottom, you never new where they were going to be, I of course was always one step behind, kind of like my hunting went this year. I'm heading down Friday and then again in a couple weeks, there's to many fish coming to opt out this fall.
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im down for a bft steelheadtrip just figure out the details
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me too, I would love to meet all you ironheaders!
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i will be down the 5th-8th at pot's my good buddy from IF has a trailer that we saty in. i had a question about how you rig your helgies i started useing them last yr allway's been a roe guy but thing's were slow and i gave them a try and holy s%#& thay worked but i was using#4 gama and missed and lost several fish i used a newer color a chamelin? have to look on lunker city again but it's a pink and purple with flash it rocked i now that it out fished every thing we throw at them thank's for any help my problem seemed to be not having enuf hook but i like to keep stuff small was taught to keep it small for the steelhead and big on the salmon ? thanks hope to see a few of you on the river.ash
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My dad uses 1/0 gamakatsu's and I use 1's or 2's, never made a difference in hooking ratio, but he does land more fish than I do...[:p] must be the deeper hookset he gets. As far as rigging a helgie, I rig it just like a worm or anything. Through the head and out the mid section, but I always run it up over my knot. ? Does it protect it, I don't know? But I'm finicky.
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do you run the hook out the back or the belly ? does it even matter? just need bigger hook's i guess i do use #2 alot on the FG kokanee have to dig some out of the koke box.thanks again ash
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when im in a hurry i run it out the belly and slide the head over the eye of the hook and the knot it seems to hold a lot better. but i tie up a lot of my gear before i head up i tie my hook on to about a foot and a half of leader then i slide a small bead on the line then i use a needle and then thread on the helgie so the bead rest right up against the helgie inbetween the two tails then i slide on my corkie before i tie it on. i got the tip off of a website of a guy who fishes for steelhead exclusivley. he said with that hook hanging down at the bottom and not being in the plastic you get more hookups. well so far he is right as far as my observation goes i have had more and better hook ups with it rigged this way i posted pictures of it once on here i will see if i can find it.
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here is the link to the post i made with the pictures of how i rig my helgies there is also a picture of the way i rig a pink worm they do really good for me on the salmon river also
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=473561;#473561"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=473561;#473561[/url]
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im sure you will see me at some point as soon as i get these 2 deer tags in my pocket filled i will pretty much be living in salmon
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Great way to rig a helgie! Does it tend to hook the bottom a little more?
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if you use the smaller hooks it doesnt hang up any more than normal. but hooking up with fish it works phenomonal!!!!
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Hey thanks man I'm gonna give it a try...where can I find helgies??
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damn near any store that carries a good bait supply from challis to salmon or sportsmans warehouse as far as up north im not sure exactly up north but i imagine its alot like challis and salmon
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Thanks I'll try Sportsmans in Boise on my way up
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