2008 » December

By Chris H



As you can clearly see in the above photo…..everyone has their own method they use for catching fish

For the purpose of this exercise, I would like to hear about your very favorite and/or most productive method for catching Winter Steelhead. Hell, even MR can join in from MI with this one. Sorry Bobby D, although I do try to throw in some Bass references. Just trying to keep it “allaround”. I’ve shared some of my own stuff to get it rolling here…..

In the spirit of beefing up the content on the site when we’re not knocking ‘em dead……I thought I’d start some dialogue that might help us all become a better Winter Steelhead fisherman this season. Early reports aren’t bad here, locally, but what about readers from all over the Northwest who want some tidbits of information for their own backyards? You’ll find that a lot of methods for Winter Steelhead only vary slightly, based on the populous of fishermen and what they have discovered works best.

That is not only true of Winter Steelhead fishing, but any anadromous fish we may chase…….for example: When I went to Kodiak a few years ago, the local fishermen (and women; Auntie) have their own preferred methods of catching their local Salmon….any number of species. But however, due to the lower than normal river levels for the month we were there…..the fish required something different. Something other than what the local anglers are showing them all the time. I happened to have a piece of tackle that doesn’t exist in Kodiak: Jensen Eggs. Simple drifting methods alike…..the Jensen was just different enough to work. It worked to the tune of 26 nickel fish in one afternoon.



So as I stand at the Allaroundangler work station in my basement….appropriately situated next to the big screen television, of course…..I’ve propped my small window open to survey the cruddy weather. The breeze makes me wish I had a debit card that worked…..a trip to Hood River would be real nice this time of year. No people. Dreaming….back to the point of this posting, which is….to share methods of Winter fishing that have been successful for you….?



To start it off, I’ll share my favorite way to fish for Winters. I’ve only been using this method for about five years, but I absolutely love it. You’ve heard of it, of course…..but my riggin’ is slightly different than your classic ‘dink float, look-a-like’ Steelhead bobber fisherman. Just ask LipRipper. I don’t know that he’s quite a believer in my bobber outfit, but he certainly has seen it take chrome Winters.

Unless you guys ask me, I won’t go into detail that most of you already know about how to rig a pink worm under a bobber, but I will point out what is different about the rig I run, versus traditional Canadian rigs:

1) I run a crap load of lead on my terminal gear as well as along my leader. Much like Sal does on the method he uses most often (If you wanna share, Sal, we’d love it). However, different from Sal’s riggin’, I put a decent sized slinky or pencil lead directly onto the terminal snap, as I mentioned above.



In addition, by pinging shot along the leader as close as a few inches from the head of the worm, you are allowing that bait to drop like a Bass plastic….straight down. This has many advantages, many of which may be obvious but are worth sharing anyway: Your worm falls straight down which helps your plastic get somewhere near where you were actually trying to drop it.



Remember, Winter fish are much lazier than Summers and will sit next to structure, again like a Bass does. Considering the current you are dealing with, even if very light, that extra lead helps start your drift out the right way.

2) Because of the non traditional amount of lead I am using, I must also run a float can support the weight. If you wanted to run your traditional dink float, you’d be using a bobber the size of a beer can….a la Trask River Fall Chinook. So, I recommend the 100% cork, standard, round float. You can run a spinner bead and a corky on either side of the float to ensure slidability (this is a bobber stop rig not a fixed rig) as well as visibility for you. Orange seems to work really well against the light of the sky (remember the fish is seeing the sky as it’s backdrop, not the bottom of the river like we are….color schemes that do not interrupt them is of course arguable).



3) Collaterally regarding the extra weight; it also allows an angler to fish faster seams than ever before. And, although I said Winters’ are lazy, they will still sit on heavy seams, especially in higher water. My rig kills on high water days, obviously.

4) Finally, you must use a worm threader for your four inch pink plastic. If you try and ‘weave’ an octopus hook through the worm instead of threading it…..this will still work, but will require you to adjust your worm almost every cast while finally your plastic must be changed out often..



I am curious to see what other cool methods some of you may want to share. Sharing is easy! Just click on the comments tab, enter your name and email address….then make your comment in the text box! Never shared before? No biggie. Start now. Tight lines.

H3llcat, Site Founder