phillk6751

supposed to be great weather....and I hear the steelhead are starting to head upstream.

I just bought a couple of blue fox spinners, size 4 in black and size 3 in red-orange.

Might be doing those all day, possibly switching to some eggs and shrimp (or just shrimp tails, or just eggs...which is better for steelies?) and hopefully I don't get skunked yet again

any tips or tricks to spinning for steelhead?

osmosis

sandshrimp have been working better than eggs lately in the clackamas.

there are lots of different ways to fish spinners. I like to pretty much drift fish with them in the clackamas.
with the bell style spinners I cast 30 degrees upstream and give it a hook set type pop to get the blade thumping and then pretty much just reel enough to maintain a straight contact to the spinner (and keep the blade thumping) through the "swing" until it's near the shore and then reel up for another cast. every 4-5 casts I take a couple steps one way or the other.

unless you know fish are moving, I don't suggest getting caught up fishing one hole all day for steelhead.

probably the most important tip is dont give up.

JTLunker

How do you keep your confidence up when the fishing is tough Osmosis? I am inexperianced with the Steelies and have a hard time haning in there when I am solo fisihing. Any tips?

__________________
JT

FISH ON!!!!

osmosis

first: I suggest taking food or atleast snacks every trip. Not stinky things like beef jerky, fried chicken, bbq'd anything, but a bag of chips that you "pour" into your mouth without touching. Or a non messy sandwich and wash your hands with lemon joy afterward. things along those lines.
A candy bar doesnt cut it.
I notice it's nearly impossible to give it my 100% and have good, Smart, day on the water unless I have something to keep me fueled. Plus plenty of water - very important when you're hiking along the bank and fishing in the sun.

I use fresh bait, Clean hands, change leaders frequently, do everything I can to give it the correct presentation, correct placement, I move frequently, walk quietly and wade slowly and with soft feet, I wear tan brown or green to help mask my outline, wear polaroids, and many other things so that I feel personally confident that I am doing everything in my power to fish to me and my gear's potential.
Some days there just aren't any fish willing to play or arent any in the holes at all in that particular place, other days it's brainless. You just have to put in your time, eventually you will be there at the right time.

Thought of another tip. Many of the bank anglers are standing on the shore casting as far as they can out into the river, and many - 99%- of them go home without fish. In some spots that is what you need to be doing, not very many. in the clackamas you'll notice a majority of the people catching fish are fishing structure, cover, the inside of a corner,a known travel lane, a deep slow edge hole, or essentially fishing the outer 1/3 of the river on each side.

JTLunker

Those are great tips Osmosis. Good to keep in mind. Thanks!

__________________
JT

FISH ON!!!!

cchinook

One more thing - you are to early -at least for springers - end of May-end of
July is the way to go -no use tossing eggs$$$$ at nothing -

osmosis

there are plenty of both late winter and summer steelhead in the clackamas as I type. Very few chinook so far you are completely right, but it's far from a waste of eggs to fish right now.

phillk6751

so where is the easiest bank access for between 2-3 anglers at McIver park? I've got to bring my wife and 9 month old child with me tomorrow.

I think the whole day we're just gunna toss spinners in, maybe bottom fish with hot dogs if we have no luck, to at least try some catfish.

phillk6751

we went up to the upper boat launch and headed toward the end of the parking lot where you can walk up to the creek to the hatchery....took the right trail and the very first trail down to the river.....found a good looking spot which had no overhanging trees....good place to bring my wife and kid to set up.

the river there was very swift. Caught nothing....6th skunked trip....we tried everything from spinners to bobber and jig to straight up jigs. Nobody caught anything except for someone who was leaving at 7:30AM who caught 2 15-20lb steelhead. I sure would like to go back to that spot, but I don't know if the fish are plentiful in that area.

We lost a decent amount of gear on snags....i had to set my bobber to around 3-4' above the hook to avoid snags. I know it's a bit heavy but with my 9' rod to get out far enough I used a 1oz weight with a 3oz bobber(since I had no lighter bobber except for a 3/8oz bobber which kept drowning with 1oz weight) and either a 1/4 oz jig and a pink worm, or just straight 1/0 hook and a worm on it.

Was that a bad spot for steelies or are the steelhead still way downstream? Is it also possible we were too far upstream? I'm curious to know if the hatchery dumps fish above the hatchery or if they spawn above. I know how they will spawn where they get released, so if they don't get dumped above the hatchery then the amount swiming in that area would be small, correct?

Best part of the day was seeing a 30-40lb chinook jump straight up twice when shade kicked in around 7-7:30pm.

oh...and late in the evening we saw some girls in swimsuits jumping in the river! what the heck? that river was ICE COLD....they must be crazy.