The Strange & not so…
December 22nd, 2009
What is ‘Strange’ but something new, right? Hmmm. I can think of many ’strange’ methods & artificials that I’ve wanted to fish for steelhead with…haven’t you? I mean those goofy things gobble pink worms for crying out loud. Seriously, this is how a great unknown bait can become known ……from…a brainstorm.
As I wander around the store sometimes….I try to imagine new or different…or down right ’strange’ artificials that I think would be sweet under a steelhead float or on the drift for some metal. Here’s a mixture of some traditional baits and then some…well, not so…….we’d call those the ’strange’.
Our rivers can go in and out of fishable shape so quickly from day to day this time of year…that it is very important to be ready for both high and low water conditions….steelhead green, cloudy or clear water conditions, color-wise….along with little nuances that change each time out to your favorite river.
With these things in mind…and in the spirit of trying something different…here are a few suggestions of new artificials to try both on the drift and under a float…..remember that adding extra weight to the leader will be necessary with many of these suggestions.
Eagle Claw has some cool warm water intended baits that I think might just work in the right situation for steelhead in our rivers and streams…..
These worms in actual size are about two inches long and very skinny…my idea would be to rig them ‘wacky-style’ and float fish them…….yours?
I don’t know how well these would stay on a hook but they sure look like a low-water banger to me……they are the size of a small single egg……
A warm water-type cluster bait dished up in a little teeny jar for almost 8 bucks. Yikes. Normally I would say that my yarn balls, pink worms and drift rigs are all that I need. But I keep walking past these things thinking……they look killer.
NOW THESE ARE JUST WEIRD:
To the left are round shaped and sized….clear plastic with blue fleck…plastic eggs baits. The idea here is the UV play. I dunno. But what a trip, right? The drift bait spider look-a-like to the right sits on a drift rig…allegedly. That’s close to some Star Wars stuff right there, really.
And for a couple peeks and some more traditional plastic baits……
Those Zipper cluster baits in the top left are very small. That’s what entices me about them. Most cluster type baits are much too big for steelhead in our rivers. Those Zippers are tiny.
Mad River has done some cool things with their color schemes….I love those washed out dark skein look-a-likes….can’t wait to try ‘em, actually.
SIDE NOTE(S): The Mad River plastic eggs are the closest thing to replace Jensen Eggs since their discontinued status thanks to oversees production…..
Wondering why EZ Eggs aren’t featured?? It’s because they are kind of in a different class all on their own and pretty much own their catagory of egg pattern plastics….That’s a ‘go-to’ whereas many of these ideas might hold a ‘maybe but not yet’ status.
H3llcat
