For those of you who missed Thad’s summer chinook and summer steelhead seminar….it was a huge success. Thad had over 90 people in the audience and succesfully communicated his best tactics and instruction for methods that flat out produce. I was able to capture much of Thad’s seminar and am offering it on DVD. Here’s a taste. Thanks Broken T!!!
Around the month of January, 2010, my friend, colleague and local fishing guide Josh Leach began to talk about the success a person can have drifting and swinging spoons. I asked him for a little more details and explained to him that it’s been over a decade since I last caught a spoon-fed fish. Steelhead or salmon. I talked about my old spinner-making machine, the Deschutes river and the huge in-line bladed spinners I used to mix into my rotation for a scattered result. Josh walked me over to our section of unrigged Pentac BC Steel spoons and chose a matted silver blade to work from. By the end of his impromptu seminar at the tackle counter there was at least 7 or 8 fishermen listening in for the tutelage. I took my new lure that Josh made me that day and entered it into the rotation of baits/lures to see my primary Lamiglas drifting stick….the 9′2″ mag taper XMG…..whenever the right water jumps out at me. Here’s the set-up photo:
A 2/5 ounce Pentac BC Steel spoon in matted silver…
Lobbing the shoulder straps of my heavy-duty waist pack over my head…..I velcroed my two rods together for the steep downhill hike to some new steelhead water with my main man, MME. Matt noticed the big 2/5oz Pentac I had secured on my drift outfit and made a comment that flattered my decision to throw it in the mix today. My typical roll has me ending up swinging a spoon but almost never starting out. Wrong thought process, I realized. If I only threw this spoon at the ends of my days then how will I ever catch something on it? I decided I would go with the 10 dollar, custom-built/siwash-hooked lure straight out of the gate. Feeling good about the resurrection of my hardware-chucking alter ego I opted to leave the spoon fastened to the monofilament bumper section of line attached to some 14lb Fireline crystal braid. My bumper consisted of some 12lb P-Line Halo flourocarbon. Nice.
MME and I had intended on fishing another river for salmon today…a plan we devised during the blowout NBA basketball game from the previous night. When we arrived, however, we found the flows to be too high and off color to decend upon. Back up plan: Swing some spoons and float some jigs for steelhead. The water Matt and I were coveting was being looked at with a different perspective since we hiked up the opposite side of the river we normally would. That was my call. Matt was on board with that decision and we found a little trail down to our first piece of castable water. I looked at the run and imagined how some of the big water in Canada must look just right for that spoon angler to make a throw of it: A gradual tapered bottom with a consistent current across the river and some big underwater boulders to spice up the target water. On my third cast from our first location my spoon came to a full stop and a fish flashed against the BC Steel spoon and almost ripped the rod right out of my hand. It was a small fish…..but I will definitely take it: 23″ inches of pissed off little spring blackmouth. Fought like a twelve pound steelhead in that current. It weighed 5 maybe 6 pounds and MME captured a few shots.
TeamSalmon/H3llcat/2010
Fishing is a lot like your favorite team sport: You’re never sure which shot will give you that confidence you need. Sometimes it’s a small fish or a short shot that gives you the most swagger…if you let it. I earned this spoon fed salmon, no doubt.
On two different occasions in the last two weeks……Rowdy Thad Tyler has shown us bank/driftboat maggots that he can play in our sandbox just fine. Personally, I love a guide that can say f*** it and just grab his bank rod and head out. THAT is the definition of an Allaroundangler. Thanks Rowdy and nice nickel buck you got there.
This fish was taken on a float and jig….and I know Thad only uses 2 different color combinations on this river…which puts me halfway to figuring out what he got him on.
Dang it feels good to be writing about steelhead again. There’s nothing quite like moving up and down the banks of a gorgeous steelhead river here in the Pacific Northwest in search of that next adrenaline rush. You hope the rush comes from a ‘bobber down’ at the end of a long deep tailout. Or maybe that adrenaline rush comes from the ‘thudding stop’ of your drifted hardware along a deep seam……with the water gulping and cusping to a natural rhythm in the stream ahead of you. I spent the last two days fishing with my main man Matt the Metal Enforcer and we were chasing the sparkle and shine of 2010 summer steelhead. We fished hard for about a day and a half for two bites. One day in Matt’s boat and half a day today on the bank. As you’ll see from the video below, Matt stung his chrome pig buck summer out of the boat yesterday on float and jig. Today, we hiked the river like hard-core river commandos. We fished higher in the system and I managed to fool a great big chrome fish into eating my nightmare #63 Aero. My adrenaline rush was intense because it’s my first fish out of this system. I can see why people respect this stock so much. These fish are slabs and they are not the cookie-cutter xerox summer fish you might be used to. Slabs. I yelled down to Matt and he was already watching the fight. Luckily for me he saw the fish roll and flash back and fourth before spitting my nightmare. I literally sat with my head in my hands half-way out in the river on a rock. Today, that fish beat me. But yesterday, MME definitely got the best end of his hook-up. Check it out. By the way, HUGE shout out to MME for sponsoring me this weekend. Great time on your home water, brother. Thanks for showing me how to land those pigs. H3llcat
***NEW MOVIE HERE!!! NEW MOVIE HERE!!! NEW MOVIE HERE!!!
The time is just about here for a very brief and special season on our Big River: June Hawgs.
A transitioning run of really big chinook genetically predisposed to make a journey 100 times that of a lower river Toule.
Designed to blast up river for hundreds of miles….these elusive kings are almost here. Know anyone that’s hooked a June Hawg? Want to learn how to catch them?
Well here, take a peak at DD’s June Hawg from two years ago and then tell me you don’t want to come learn how to catch them from Thad Tyler of Broken T Guide Service.
Allaroundangler 2008 June Hawg Video
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FREE SEMINAR AT DELTA PARK FISHERMAN’S MARINE & OUTDOOR
**This article is a direct result of the input to me from readers emailing & asking for articles and tips explaining different methods/styles to read and learn about…..This one is from, Bulldog Cowden.
This is Ed Cowden & he wrote in asking for instructions on how to ‘plunk’ a river for salmon & steel…..Thanks for a great suggestion, Ed!
Where did the name ‘plunking’ come from, you ask? Well, don’t worry your little casting thumbs about it. I’ve got you.
In 1967, A company called the ‘Ideal Corporation’ brought to market a game called “KerPlunk” consisting of some sticks, tubes and marbles. The marbles are placed on top of the tubes once they are webbed together…..the idea being when the marbles outweighed the tubed webbing it crashes to the ground making an onomatopoetic sound that describes it’s name.
Hence the origin of the name “Plunk”….which describes the sound of what is usually a large fishing weight hitting the water….furthermore describing the river/current fishing method of your stationary bait: Plunking.
You have all plunked before whether you knew it or not. Maybe it was only a worm for trout or a dough bait for carp but you’ve done it at some point most likely. Some form of it at least.
This article will arm you with some basic information that should jump start your efforts and give you all the confidence you need, minus your first fish, to go and fish a plunk-rig for salmon or steelhead.
THE CONCEPT & METHODOLOGY:
Although we have all probably ‘plunker-hated’ at some point in our river fishing careers (due to them blocking a hole or run)….this is still a very effective method to intersect migrating salmonids. Plunkers need to remember, however, that drift fishermen on the move should have their fair share of access to the waters we all covet.
Many pieces of water that may be some good plunking prospects must be passed up to allow the movement of upstream and downstream anglers. In other words; just because you are plunking run or hole doesn’t mean you have the right to barracade the use of that water to fishermen trying their hand at other methods.
To properly plunk a drift, run or hole you have to have a few things going for you and your plunking efforts: 1) Your target water should be water that can be imagined as ‘transition water’ for these migrating fish.
This type of water can vary in speed and depth depending on the river but must segway itself before or after some higher gradient flows or depths. Transition water is water that will hold a number of fish due to it’s proximity to enable the least energy required for upstream progess.
2) Current is KING as it dictates most of your preparatory steps….length of leader, amount of lead, placement of cast etcetera…..The flow of your target water should be steady in speed and allow you to choose a direction for your set-up cast which presents your bait in a resting area.
3) Bottom structure must be minimal. The best type of bottom would be fist to pea-size gravel overall with larger boulders or depth changes scattered about. The reason for this is derived from the need to remain in the strike zone while avoiding the need to run extremely long droppers to your lead to avoid the ‘masking’ of your baits by these structures to upstream-moving fish.
4) The water you plan to fish should either, by nature, push the fish into a common area (like a narrow deep run) or fan them out over a larger area but restrict them to a common depth (water passing over a gravel bar with a gradual break). Here’s a picture I dug up of some water I would look for when scouting out plunk prospects.
You can see this piece of water above represents the latter of the described waters…..here an angler would choose where they think that ‘break depth’ is and attempt to stick their lead in or around that break.
End your bottom drag or downstream roll in a place that the fish MUST pass by or close to before moving upstream. Change your dropper line to your lead as needed or to experiment if you are on reconnaissance and fishing somewhere for the first time.
Water conditions usually dictate whether plunking should be in order more than any other factor. Higher water on a slow drop would be my ideal plunking condition. Here the fish would be in a migration mind-set and would most likely be taking advantage of their mostly unimpeded ability to move upstream.
It’s always about moving upstream. Always. The reason a stationary bait works so well when fish are on the move is mathematical. Especially if you time it just right.
Again, lengthening and shortening your leader or your lead line is a good way to tinker until you find the magic combination…..color and size variations should also be explored as sometimes the smallest things make the difference. Just the color of a spin/glo wing, white versus mylar, can make the difference of a bent rod or not.
Basic mylar-winged spin glo….just add beads, bait and hook…..
I have borrowed the following image from www.oregonfishingforum.com and it describes to a “T” your typical plunking rig I’ve been explaining the uses for today.
If you would like some ‘out of the box’ ideas combined with this traditional explanation of my interpretation of plunking methodology….let’s start the thread here……Thanks everyone. Hope this helps you out, Ed.
**It’s important to note that anything can be plunked: A plug, spinner, bait, plastic, etc…..ANYTHING! If you have current…you can plunk.
