Too early? Bad water? Wrong technique?

[halibuthitman]

ok, first things first, steelhead water changes constantly, but there are constants, im gonna describe a situation that should remain a constant. 1. you walk up to a piece of water, set down your gear, look around for a high point you can stand on, a rock, log, the bank, now look at the run, just stare at it for five minutes and take in the whole landscape. our imaginary run is 60' long, 25' wide, heavy water runs down and pours into a deep run, say 15'.. very turbid and swirly at the head then halfway down slows and flows into a rock garden like you mention thats say 5' deep, then slows down to a gravel tailout and then back into 50 yards of rapids. now split that run in half starting at the first rock in the rock garden and focus on the water below that, work the closest water first this should be the visible seem of the current on your side of the river, work it all the way into the tailout always letting your gear swing all the way through the drift, now toss a couple into the heavy current then the seem on the other side.. now lets say this run has a rock or clay bank at the far side in the last 15' of the tailout.. the waters green here and you can't see the bottom but you know it isn't deep, this is the money slot, I take about half my fish of a season right there in less than 2 or 3' of water.. the fish rest here, and frequently stack.. stacked fish in shallow water are biters.. the rock garden may hold fish, the flow hight of the river will determine that daily.. the rock garden will also eat a lot of gear. Now you can go up and fish the head on both sides of the dump or shute, but your odds of keeping gear on the bottom there are low.. I almost always skip it, unless im really feeling it.

 

[halibuthitman]

Tips
1. don't worry about where the boats are fishing, they might as well be on another planet, bank and boat fishing are two completely different approaches and styles of fishing.
2. look in the trees, gear in the trees will lead you straigh into a popular drift.. if you can avoid adding to the gear in the trees
3. don't take more fishing gear than can fit in your pockets... you will just spend all day " switching it up "
4. when you think you have enough weight.. add more
5. always use a pegged corky when drifting yarn or bait or the combo
6. learn to rig drift and float style pink worm
7. don't get hung up for more than half an hour on a spot, cover the water and move on.. unless you are fishing the river on the rise.. traveling fish will come to you if your in a producer spot
8. pay attention to the river and the other bank fishermen, if you find a rig in the sand look at it, it may be the locals go to set-up
9. don't make the mistake of thinking a good trail leads to a good spot, I know bank spots that the vegitation is just stomped down to bare earth that have never produced a fish for anyone I know.. sometimes the same applies to those rigs in the trees... sometimes

 

[MattZ]

thanks, great post!

 

[capblack]

HHM have you considered writing a book? good information in your posts!!

 

[flytrekker1007]

HHM awesome post man. You should draw something up of the water you described.

 

[waco]

Great info Brad, thanks that would help a lot!

 

[billfisher]

Good Info! I second the book!

 

[Raincatcher]

Well, if Brad's insight doesn't help, you might want to take up crocheting in an easy chair with a lap blanket and mangy cat at your feet. :lol: Thanks Brad! :clap:

 

[mccarrel]

delet this post please its a duplicate

 

[mccarrel]

The first fish is always the hardest to get. I started three years ago looking for Steel on the Sandy and spent the first summer getting skunked until one lucky day on the Deschutes. After that my hook ups got closer and closer, its really about experience and really learning a river system. I've spent most of my time on the Sandy, with kind of a home base around Dodge Park, Its a crowded spot but if you're lucky you'll meet some guys that are catching fish. One of the guys down there seemed to hook up everytime, I started to copy his presentation and bam, started hooking fish. After learning that stretch spent some time learning more holes and sections of river, at this point I feel pretty confident with most of the mid and upper system. I also improved my technique with different methods, If you can hook a fish on Hardware drifting and bobbers you'll be able to fish more fishy water in different conditions. I usually like to fish a couple methods in a hole to see if there are any biters. Usually throwing jigs first, then drifting some bait and then either a pink worm or hardware. You can put bait in front of the same rock all day but sometimes the guy thats willing to try a jig or a pink worm is going to be the one that hooks up.

Float fishing is probably the easiest method to learn, if you're float is weighted right you can just keep dropping it until you hit bottom, once there just pull it up a bit so you're getting a good drift, I really like having a long rod for it as it allows you to keep the line from dragging your jig out of the strike zone. Drift fishing can be a bit challenging but once you learn a spot and where the snags are it can be deadly.

One thing that really helped me hook fish on the local rivers was taking a guided trip with Ed Fast. Think of it more as a private lesson with someone that really knows the river. If you're willing to invest money in gear and bait a guided trip can be dollar for dollar a much better investment.

Anyway these are from this weekend, Each was caught in different type of water on a different method. As a group of four we went 10 for 4 so there are definitely fish in the water.

 

[azbohunter]

Very nice fish and great insight.
I made my very first steelhead trip with a guide and boated 2 of 3. I learned a lot. My next year in Oregon I did a Salmon trip with the same guide, hooked up twice and landed both. When I was young I guided in the mid-west for walleye, (35 years ago) and I told my clients, "you can get your monies worth if you make it an on the water seminar" that's what I felt they should have been paying for! So when I go with a guide or anyone that knows more than I do, which is almost everyone who fishes Steelhead, I try to copy their presentation and pick their brain. And learn to sort the wheat from the chafe!

 

[flytrekker1007]

Nice fish man. Did you catch them above or below oxbow?

 

[mccarrel]

I've only caught one steelhead below Oxbow, next piece of water I need to figure out. Did get some decent Coho action this fall though.

Nice fish man. Did you catch them above or below oxbow?

 

[flytrekker1007]

I would really like to go adventure up farther on the Sandy.

 

[Jiggy]

I've been hitting the lower clack for a few weeks. This year I decided I'm going to learn to fish the river near my house. I've seen fish caught, seen them roll, but could never get ahold of one. After picking the brains of some of the guys on here. Whammo! I'm using the pink worm and bobber method. The guy next to me hooked one 3 seconds later. We got both natives in and released them. I understand that my success is nothing but dumb luck mixed with good advise, but keep your line wet. Mine was only 8 lbs, but I got a rush that will keep me on the chase well into summer. Good luck

 

[Jiggy]

I would love to figure out how to get upriver coho. Hope to see a thread on that this year.