Mainline and leader

[Sage_Flyguy]

Hey everyone , sorry if this topic has been discussed to death.

About me , I am very new to steelhead fishing this year is my first real year of doing it. I have been throwing corkie and yarn and managed to land 3 on the S. Santiam. I am abolsutely hooked , I have been going down to the river quite a bit before work and on my days off.

Now on to my questions.
The guys that I have been fishing with and teaching me the ropes are telling me how this is when the fishing is suppose to be red hot , but it appears to me that it has slowed down. Is it possible that with the river much lower than a month ago it has become clearer and the fish are able to see the leader ? I have also heard people saying that the Chinooks have moved in and if so I should try my luck a bit further down river.

On my rod I am using Izorline xxx 10lb mainline and I am using the izorline xxx 8lb for the leader ,this is a super co-polymer mono. I have been trying to research this topic online and I am seeing that for summers a lot of people are using 6lb and 4lb leaders. Now I hope this doesn't make me sound too dumb , but is there really that much difference in the dia of 8lb and 6lb that makes 6lb invisible to the fish ? To sum this up I typically run about 6 - 7ft of leader when drift fishing , should I change my mainline and leader to something lighter or just keep the 10lb mainline and run a lighter and longer leader ? Also for summer steelhead what would you reccomend for # test leader ?

Sorry , my posts tend to get a bit wordy.
Is it possible I am just over thinking the process and with the water dropping and the salmon moving in that the fishing has just slowed down?

Thanks for the help guys
Jer

 

[Raincatcher]

Is it possible you are simply trying to throw a dead horse topic out to see if you can get folks riled up...again?!? The topic of "6-7ft of leader" has been discussed at least two dozen times. Check the archives and make a decision. I apologize for such an aggressive reply, IF you aren't baiting the members. rotest:

 

[bran_man]

No your leader length is def not the problem, that is PLENTY long. It's kind of a "general rule" that as the water gets lower, your leaders should become longer and vice versa with rising higher water (shorter leaders). But your leaders are already sufficient. It def. could be a possibility that you may need to go even farther down on pound test. I really dont like to use less than 8lb test leaders (i usually use 8 or 10 lb test) for steelies but it is possible that going down to 6lb test or maybe even as low as 4 lb test might just be the trick to get them to bite again. just gotta really play them out with absoulutely no horsing. There could be a ton of factors on the slowing action. It could just be with the waters becoming lower the fish may just need some time to adjust. The run should not be slowing though unless the s. santiam has a really short run to begin with. I'm sorry I do not really know much about that system. If you're willing I would just try and switch some stuff up and see if anything works. Can't hurt if you're already not catching fish...

 

[dtikey]

yup swich it up they are seeing the same stuff over and over day after day and swim by it snagged on every rock.If your that concerend about them seeing it try floracarbon.I do.I have dropped down to 5lb maxima leader before and landed fish but pay the price with lots of re ting due to all the other line in the river that just tears your leaders up.In your situation stick with your 10lb main and run a 8-10 lb floracabon like sea gar or I use maxima.It will break before your main as it is not nearly as tuff due to the density.Maybe shorter leader to so you can actually feel the soft bites where they just pick it up then spit it out before you can feel it.

 

[Sage_Flyguy]

so I hit the river again today for about 2 hours , hooked 2 landed 1. I switched it up and went with a lighter leader 6lb Izorline xxx. HOLY COW this stuff is strong. And as the mainline the Izorline 10lb xxx , I might have officially became an Izorline guy. I have a few trips on this line now , Incredibly strong and as far as I can tell no memory ( well I am using a baitcaster ). Thanks for the feedback guys , another great trip on the water. I think the lighter line was the ticket.

Jer

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

It kind of depends on the water you are fishing. There are areas where guys are drift fishing very fast water and the fish have once second to see their yarn and corkies. So the lighter leader will not really help in that water and it will be harder to horse the fish in heavy current. If you are fishing slower water or float fishing walking speed current then lighter leader can help a lot because the fish have more time to examine your bait/lure.

 

[BlackBass]

8lb leader is all the lighter you will EVER need to go on the S Santiam. You can fish 6lb leader which will allow you to make effortless long casts with light lead, this is sometimes necessary when you want to fish the other side of the river, which would be the main reason behind lighter line! I have fished that entire river from up top to down low , and the shallow clearest water is up hi next to the dam or Wiley Creek Church Camp etc. 5 foot leader 2 250's , or even better 1 250 and a 125 with a spinning rod or a very hi end baitcaster.
I would also suggest using 8lb mainline. Corkie and yarn or just yarn drift fished will work, That area really heats up after the Springers get out of the way, September can be Epic.

 

[OnTheFly]

6lb. For stealhead really? 8lb. minimum! When I caught a 8.5lb. summer on a fly I was glad I was using a 10lb tippet.

 

[fredaevans]

Is it possible you are simply trying to throw a dead horse topic out to see if you can get folks riled up...again?!? The topic of "6-7ft of leader" has been discussed at least two dozen times. Check the archives and make a decision. I apologize for such an aggressive reply, IF you aren't baiting the members. rotest:

RC, know you here and 'elsewhere,' and I have to be honest. You're answer above offended me... like a lot.

In this game there are few 'new questions' and that's a fact of life. If this Fora (and any other) were a 'question gets asked once and move on' this place would have shut down years ago. As I'm in a 'different mood' lets take your Avatar as an example. I've seen three dead fish before so who cares?

Or for that matter all the other 'Good Day' photo's that get posted up?

Don't post here all that often, though I do follow on occasion. Why not more often? Go back and re-read your post.,

Straight forward question looking for personal answers. I find no offense in that as that's the bottom line with 90% of what gets posted where-ever.

Have a good night sleep.

 

[steelheadstalker31]

Chad and I use 6lb year round. We do ok.

 

[rippin fish lips]

Chad and I use 6lb year round. We do ok.

I use 6lb all year long to. You just can't horse the fish in, and u have to play the fish to where... it's almost playin you. haha, basicly no hard pulling on the fish, just easy... steady... pulls, if the fish wants to run let it and hope it doesn't keep on keepin on.

Your leader length is not the problem, but it wouldn't hurt trying to change it up to a 3-4 foot leader if the fish aren't biting.

 

[salsinker]

Over the last two years I have used a line loop rig and it works well especially with light fluorocarbon line. I tie a snag resistant sinker on the end of the pole line and about 4 inches above the sinker I make a 3 inch loop in the line. I then tie the leader and with to the loop. The leader is allowed to free drift with no sinkers attached. This configuration raises the leader above the bottom where snags occur and the fish can see it better. If conditions are rugged you may want to adjust your leader length and move the loop further up on the pole line.