Idaho steelhead 2018

[mattdog231155]

Has anyone been having any luck between salmon and challis so far this year? I have fished there 2 times a year for ten years and still have never landed one. Any tips or things that have worked for you? I usually use a bobber with a bead or a jig tipped with shrimp.
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[rutnbuckhunting]

Wow you haven't landed one in 10 years. I don't fish the upper Salmon but the lower Salmon and the Clearwater.I am no pro by any means but I catch a few. You might try hooking up with a guide or some one who knows. I fly fish usually egg or leach patterns on or near the bottom. Time of year I am thinking upper salmon mid march early April after ice breaks out. The fish hold lower in the big water for high water before they move up stream after ice out. Roe is a good method if you can find any.
They are catching fish now on the lower Salmon below Riggins but that is big water I have a hard time with big water. Best of luck wish I could be more help. Beads, yarn, roe, egg pattern and shrimp and the bottom. Rut
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[blacktop]

You have been unlucky. Your method is what I use mostly. Last year was a bust with the high water only one good hole was producing. I generally fish the area between the Pahsimeroi and Cronk's canyon. Best fishing is from March 20th to April 10th. Fishing is tough in that area in afternoons because fish move to fast and are not territorial when water warms during that time however. You don't need a guide most good fisherman can outfish them 3-1. Drift a pegged 10mm corkie orange red or pink at current speed and you will be very successful as well. I have probably caught two or three hundred fish in that area over the last ten years. Best fishing the first of March 1st-20th is just below Salmon and corkies are my favorite. I like jigs a lot but single trout beads below a bobber with the split shot four or five inches off the bottom to avoid false pull downs are always effective. I run two and a half feet of leader to a barrel swivel with a split shot just above the swivel and eighteen inches of leader with the blood dot bead rotating above a blood knot two and a half inches from the hook. You can peg it as most do and be as effective. The Oregon Cheese and Montana Roe 10mm are my favorite colors but I have caught over 500 steelhead on a 12mm Mottled tangerine Blood Dot.
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[blacktop]

Another thing small is usually much better 1/16th oz jigs above Salmon. Have caught over a thousand on jigs with none using scrimp. Brine scrimp are very effective below a bobber hooked in the crook with a trailer hook tied on a double egg loop setup with a little flame yarn in the upper hook. Use size four hooks. Corkies and scrimp in an egg loop are always effective drifted as are eggs the first hour in the morning at the Pahsimeroi.
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