Close, but not quite close enough...

[ChezJfrey]

Well, well...I actually lured a steelhead out of its holding spot yesterday; this was the first time I've actually seen one that was interested in what I had to offer.

Was reeling in a brass spinner and about 4 feet from me, saw a steelhead chasing it, but when it got within about 3 feet of the bank, did an about-face and retreated. Had a pretty good idea where it was hiding out, so I tried a couple more casts, switched to a drift rig, then a different spinner entirely, but I guess it spooked or moved on.

Closest I've witnessed that my efforts have been even mildly interesting to those critters

I'll credit Damon for getting me to actually look in the kind of spot I found this one...before, I would have likely passed by the type of water as being way too fast/choppy, but those big fish can find all kinds of cover in there.

And of course, obligatory trout...I'll credit Damon for that too...I went from 0 to now having caught literally dozens of stream trout (only lake stockers before) after going out with that guy...perhaps I learned the wrong lessons? LOL!




P.S. That bottom one was really stout for its length and apparently quite agressive; thing struck the spinner the second it hit the water, like it had ESP or something and just 'knew' something was gonna drop from the sky to chomp!

 

[Kevinb5688]

i fished 3 days with spinners and didn't get one fish, then a very experienced guy came down to my spot and caught 3 fish in 30 minutes on the same type of lure. i asked what i was doing wrong and he told me his trick. i then caught one or two the next 5 outings. casting straight up stream in 1-3 foot of water barely reeling and letting a size 4 or 5 blue fox clink on the rocks. works amazing!!! heres some of my fish

 

[ChezJfrey]

casting straight up stream in 1-3 foot of water barely reeling and letting a size 4 or 5 blue fox clink on the rocks. works amazing!!! heres some of my fish

I was using a different spinner than a Blue Fox, but what you describe is the exact method that got this fish moving toward my lure.

The funny thing is, that most of the trout I catch are when it gets downstream during this method and they hit it on the swing.

 

[Kevinb5688]

I use size 5 so a trout wont hit it.

 

[ChezJfrey]

I use size 5 so a trout wont hit it.

Yeah, I've been debating this size thing. I've been trying to stick with the Jed Davis size suggestions based on water temp/clarity/sunlight, so have found myself using size 3/4 in lighter/warmer conditions.

 

[beaverfan]

Yeah, I've been debating this size thing. I've been trying to stick with the Jed Davis size suggestions based on water temp/clarity/sunlight, so have found myself using size 3/4 in lighter/warmer conditions.

I have been fishing spinners quite a while and I've found that size 4 is by far the best all around size spinner for the way I fish them, sometimes I will drop down to 3 in the summer when the water is super clear but 90% of the time it's a size 4. I do change colors depending on conditions though, in high water with a lot of color I will through on something chartreuse, if the waters low and clear I've found black/pink to go very well together.