Anyone catching steelies on hardware on the Sandy?

A
alm21
Curious... I hear/see a lot of folks primarily drifting, floating, fly fishing and such but I am wondering if anyone is having some success with lures?
 
A
Anyfishisfine
Kodiak or someone could probably chime in with more authority on the subject, but my understanding is that spinners and such are more for when the water warms up and the fish are willing to chase it a bit. Right now you need to almost smack them in the forehead to take the bait.
 
A
alm21
Anyfishisfine said:
Kodiak or someone could probably chime in with more authority on the subject, but my understanding is that spinners and such are more for when the water warms up and the fish are willing to chase it a bit. Right now you need to almost smack them in the forehead to take the bait.

Yeah, that's my same understanding but have been wondering if anyone has broken ranks and thrown some hardware with success. I'm itching to break out my lures but have held back based on the above.
 
Raincatcher
Raincatcher
I watched as Kodiak reeled in a nice chunk of steel on one of his TCO spinners on the Alsea this morning. Then there was Autofisher's nice fat steelie that took his Pop-A-Top yarn for a ride down the river with him after jumping five or six times. Fluffyfisherman and I were using spinners,spoons and anything else we could find only to have two leave him empty handed and me green with envy at all the action around me. I'm really starting to hate that color...8~(
 
A
alm21
Raincatcher said:
I watched as Kodiak reeled in a nice chunk of steel on one of his TCO spinners on the Alsea this morning. Then there was Autofisher's nice fat steelie that took his Pop-A-Top yarn for a ride down the river with him after jumping five or six times. Fluffyfisherman and I were using spinners,spoons and anything else we could find only to have two leave him empty handed and me green with envy at all the action around me. I'm really starting to hate that color...8~(

Not my favorite color either. :) So spinners are plausible for winters. Although not the widely accepted method I'm guessing.

You reminded me of another question I have. What's the preferred method for securing yarn when fishing yarn only? Slide it through an Egg Loop? Tie it around the leader? other?
 
M
minnowmagnet
Never underestimate a spinner

Never underestimate a spinner

True blue Fox #3 landed me my only winter steelhead this year. It wasn't in the Sandy though, it was at Eagle Creek. I fish spinners after I have given up on everything else. I think I am subconsciously hoping I'll get a trout to kill the boredom. I have caught a few winters this way, even in smaller rivers like E.C. I think a spinner will really ****-off an otherwise lethargic fish.
 
A
Anyfishisfine
alm21 said:
What's the preferred method for securing yarn when fishing yarn only? Slide it through an Egg Loop? Tie it around the leader? other?

I just slide it through the loop. I tried to tie it and didn't like how that looked.
 
E
eggs
Anyfishisfine said:
I just slide it through the loop. I tried to tie it and didn't like how that looked.

Same..
 
H
halibuthitman
If you can't outfish drift and jig fishermen for winters with spinners or spoons.... you are using them poorly.. It does not matter what you are using, if its not in the bottom six inches of water its not going to catch anything. spinners are hard to get down there, actually the hardest I would guess... but if a pink piece of yarn can **** off a steelhead enough to bite... why wouldnt an annoying spinner? drifting catches more fish simply becouse its the easiest way to get bait in the zone, so more people do it, and becouse they have success with it they never evolve past it. A properly presented spinner is by far one of the deadliest steelhead tools out there.
 
A
alm21
Skunk Lite

Skunk Lite

Alright, I went and hit the Sandy using my trusted lures today. Well wouldn't you know... I had three hook ups! The first fish made a run and busted a move jumping out of the water. Then the line snapped and off it went with my lure. It was a darker fish and my line had some abrasions from earlier snags and my drag was just a bit too tight. I had gone half the day without any action so I was sleeping at the wheel a bit.

After that I dialed my settings in and a few casts later. BAM!!! Fish on... This was a nice bright one and we went up and down the bank. The fish never seemed to tire out nor did it want to come up although I had it close to the bank. However, I was having a hard time to find a shallow spot to land it. Must have had that fish on for about 5min. Eventually the hooked worked it's way out right in front of me out of reach. That was followed by some choice words. :rolleyes:

I moved a bit down stream and again, hard strike but just a moment later, the fish showed me it's belly and spit the hook.

So, fishless but my best Steelheading day hands down.... and it was with lures, imagine that.:think:

I will definitely be going back to throwing lures as I'm realizing that I am a metal head and prefer that method any day. Also, time to buy a net I can pack around!
 
Last edited:
G
gordo
Nice man! Glad to hear of a few battles going on.
 
B
beaverfan
I hooked two and landed one a couple weeks ago on spinners on the Sandy, down by Cedar Creek.
 
F
fisch
I landed 2 nates on small coastal river this weekend on #4 BF. I spent half a day fishing bait, drifting, jigs, etg with no luck and then got 2 fish in an hour on a spinner - the same stretch of water. One of these years I'll fish spinners ONLY for winter steel, springers, summer steel, fall nooks and silvers. It would be interesting to see if I catch more/less fish. I think more :) Also it makes it pretty easy to just carry nice spinner rod/reel setup and few spinners with me. Now I got 6 rods and whole tackle box of crap and stinky bait with it :) Maybe next year. Anyone for a challenge? Kodiak maybe?
 
H
halibuthitman
Ive always wanted to try and invent some kind of castable leadcore leader for spinner fishing, if you can keep those spinners down.. your gonna slay fish. could you imagine how crappy that would cast though?
 
E
eggs
I have left around 30 spinners at the bottom of the sandy trying to keep them low..... rob loves me..
 
Y
youngbuck307
I know a guy who almost only tosses spinners ,beside fly rod on small water, no matter what he is going after....The guy puts a lot of fish on the bank.. go look him up "pacific ghost productions" on youtube and you will see who it is....Also alan is anouther guy who fishes a lot of spinners... you can cover a lot of water very fast tossing spinners.
 

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