4) STORIES & ARTICLES

The Art of Backbouncing


By Chris Heller

I go fishing with all kinds of people. People of all different skill levels. People with all kinds of different backgrounds who fish certain ways because that’s what they were doing last time they caught a fish. So by all means, continue to fish on anchor in the Columbia the way you always have if it works for you. All I am going to do here is point out some things I’ve noticed people doing/not doing that might help some of you eliminate some problems out there on the water you run into with your gear, bait, presentation etc….we’ll consider different currents, bottom contours, visible obstructions/cover and how external forces can change one or all of the above.

Let’s start by talking about what the purpose of backbouncing is: In this application we’re talking about backing down or presenting your bait/lure down river…from a fixed or anchored position up river. Sure, everybody gets that. But what I see is that most people don’t understand or haven’t visualized what is actually happening with the bait/lure when bounced back versus casted off the boat….or simply dropped over the side.


This is the Diamond converted for big water (anchor system added…seats removed…long shaft 15 kickin’…)

Backbouncing has many benefits over the casting off the side/back of the boat method. Usually, much more skill, patience and concentration is required in order to correctly backbounce versus making a cast. Even though casting a heavy salmon or sturgeon boat rod with a big open-faced casting reel on it requires skill, more skill is required to bounce your bait/lure down river in a way that will ensure proper presentation…AND in a way that gives you constant communication with your rig.

I remember during salmon/sturgeon university in my teens working for Fishermans-Marine one of my mentors telling me to ‘fish your lead’….meaning: Always have contact with your lead and the bottom. This rule is also true with other methods of river fishing as well, such as; trolling for fall salmon, drift fishing free flowing tributaries….but it’s not nearly as important as it is when you are backbouncing.

How to effectively backbounce your bait/lure out behind your anchored boat:


Here’s DD and H2O backing down…concentrating on bottom contact…

1) Choose your lead: Like any kind of fishing, you need to assess the water you are about to fish for the amount of lead that is going to be necessary….usually, you’ll ‘guess’ based on past experience or people you have talked to about an area to try out. Once you get there, take a stab at the amount of lead you might start with based on the current running beside you.

2) Now you’ll free spool your lead and rig over the side/back of the boat. It’s very important while doing this that you keep a slow steady tension on the spool with your thumb and avoid a jerky fast release. I suggest to people to ‘dip’ their rod tip into the river as a way to accurate keep the tip steady. Your bait/lure will have less likelihood to twist or get foul-rooted on the way down…..especially during the fall season when you are fishing in up to fifty feet of water.

3) Once you’ve hit bottom, you’ll remain in free spool, but with your thumb pressed firmly on the line of the spool. You’ll begin by lifting and dropping the rod tip, slowly and steadily, in order to feel contact with the lead on the bottom. While you are doing this you are not letting any line out yet. Just lifting and dropping. By about your third lift and drop, you will know if you have enough lead or not.

4) If you start to loose contact with the bottom, it will feel like an empty lift and drop. This means it’s time to release line from the reel. Simply release the tension with your thumb until you feel contact with the bottom again, quickly stopping the spool again with your thumb. If you release the tension from your thumb and it takes an inordinate amount of time to reconnect with the bottom, it means you’ll need to reel in, and put on more lead….and run this process over again. Do you see why so many people just put a lead on and cast it out of the side or the back of the boat? It’s a lot easier. And a lot less effective.

5) Once you’ve found a lead that is lifting and dropping at a clip you like for the current you are in….you’ll continue your lift and drop…giving the river the line every time your lead calls for it. You’re effectively creating a ‘zig zag’ line with your rigging. While you are bouncing out, it’s important to think about what conditions that bait/lure are running into. Be smooth with your lifts and drops. Use the bottom of the rod handle to create a nice BOW in the middle of the rod when you lifting. This gives you an ability to really hoist that lead off the bottom while not disturbing terribly the presentation of your bait/lure. When you’re all done backing down…place your rod in the holder and watch to make sure your lead isn’t lifting off the bottom once settled.


Place the rod in the holder and wait to make sure it doesn’t lift off the bottom with the current of the big river (Columbia)…

You’ll know you have gotten good at backbouncing once you can successfully bounce out in low current flow. You’ll create your own style through experience from trial and error. But the benefits of bouncing out versus casting…especially when using a bait presentation for, say, sturgeon, are plentiful. The most important thing with all of this is two fold: First, make sure once you are all done bouncing out, that you are not lifting up off the bottom once the current settles into your line belly. You can test for this by picking your rod up out of the rod holder and lifting and dropping. If you loose bottom contact, then you need more lead.

Keep in mind that while you are doing all of this positioning with your bait/lure, you are either IN or IN and OUT of the strike zone….just due to the fact you are lifting and dropping over what is most likely a contoured bottom of varies rock, sand, clay types. The obvious benefit of this method is control. Controlling your bait/lure by ensuring it’s not getting twisted up or tangled. You accomplish this by lifting and dropping….listening to the river and giving it lead when it asks for it….and understanding what the dynamics of your rod are…and how to best exploit them to back your lead out.


The harvest of a quick morning of backbouncing on the right kind of tide can be deadly in the fall….

If this has been interesting to you, we can discuss different types of backbouncing and when to try them. Happy Fourth of July!

H3llcat



‘How To’ fish from a driftboat, By Chris Heller


It seems anymore, in my home state of Oregon, there are less and less salmon in the rivers, and far less bank access to the rivers. An easy way to combat this problem? Fish from a driftboat!



Whether you purchase your own, go with a friend, or hire a guide; drifting rivers can really widen your options. I am a newer driftboat owner, but a captain none the less.

Using a driftboat to fish you favorite salmon or steelhead river will not only allow easy access of hard to reach stretches of river, but it will also enable you to use different methods that would otherwise be foreign from the bank. I couldn’t believe it the other day when Magicsoul aka Brent the SH drift master….(my words, not his) told me he had never fished from a driftboat. That’s what got me thinking about elaborating and just clearing out my mental archive on the subject.

One of the methods I eluded to above would be backbouncing. This method can be applied when fishing several types of bait and/or lures. As a brief description, backbouncing is a way to walk your bait or lure downstream towards the fish. Whether it be anchoring your boat, or stationary rowing…this technique allows you to present the bait or lure first. Also, when you’re backbouncing you can really beef up your terminal gear (swivels, snap rings etc) and leader size as visibility is not a factor at this point.

There are basically two types of backbouncing rods. A short stiff rod for heavier water conditions, and more of a magnum tapered rod for light to moderate conditions. If you ask most fishermen what type of rod they prefer, they will almost always tell you a magnum taper is preferred. A true magnum taper….or extra fast action rod is a one piece rod, usually right around 8 feet long. By nature, you have a very sensitive tip section with this rod…….and then it tapers down fast into a stout rigid backbone when bent. This allows you to feel the bite, yet have the power to hammer back on it and set that hook home! A rod with these specs can also double as an anchor rod in the big river (CR) for wobblers, spinners or plugs.

Along with the mag taper in the arsenal of driftboat rods would need to be one that had a stout nature all the way through. For the heavier water conditions I mentioned earlier. Those deeper, faster slots might require a stiff tip so be ready with a couple sticks. This way, you can be as prepared as possible without littering your boat with rods.

Your presentation from a driftboat is just as important as the presentation of a bank angler. It’s okay to call us bank maggots Todd. Don’t worry. Anyway, the presentation….it needs to be pretty accurate in the case of flat or kwikfish along a slot by a rock wall, for example. Natural presos are also important with a shrimp or a bait of eggs. It’s much easier to achieve this from a driftboat for a longer period of time. Hell, most guys are side drifting now for steelhead and leaving these methods for the salmon season only. They work for everything though. Keep in mind when you are backbouncing to target water that you can reach…..your success will depend on being able to reach that crucial part of the run or hole where the fish will be sitting. All of this also depends on your ability to read the water. When you’re reading water, using a pair of polarized glasses helps to eliminate the glare on the water and allows you to identify slots and pockets much easier than without. Also understand that salmon are typically lazy and make sure when you select your bouncing water that it doesn’t look like water that a fish would have to exert a lot of energy to sit in.

If backbouncing doesn’t sound like your cup of coffee….and it may not be, maybe we’ll throw the bait and diver technique out there. This method doesn’t require as much attention (nice way of saying skill). The diver will constantly work behind the boat regardless of the person holding the rod, so go ahead and rig your uncoordinated visiting uncle up with that method. You can apply this technique to a lot of the same water you look to backbounce in. There are divers that run as shallow as a few feet and as deep as 40 feet. The preferred situation for a B & D might be slower moving water with some of the same depths that you are already targeting. This water would most likely be passed up by someone exclusively bouncing. You’ll want to work the current seams, positioning the boat above the target area. Like backbouncing, the bait is being presented to the fish first. So again, a heavier leader than normal can be used just to be safe, as visibility of the terminal gear and leader is not a factor to the fish at this point.

The rod to use for a B & D rigging is that of a limber, more forgiving action than described above. This allows the diver to work more freely behind the boat. You’ll want to make sure however that the rod you choose still has enough backbone to set the hook with ample power. Of course you can also pull plugs with those lighter, wobbly and parabolic (rainbow bend) rods, which is just another method at your discretion when you are fishing from a driftboat. With the plug pulling method you also row just slightly slower than the current…..working your plugs downriver. You will be rowing through current seams, slots and deep glides. Very little terminal gear is needed when plug pulling…..a duo lock snap with a barrel to eliminate twist is all that sits between the plug and your main line….unless you’re running some kind of bumper section. Believe it or not, I know a guy who runs tuff line directly to his plugs with no bumper section. He even runs the white stuff and says it doesn’t deter biters. I don’t know if I’d go that far…….

I really hope you guys enjoyed a little peak into a couple of things I could think of tonite about fishing from a driftboat. Thanks Brent.

Captain

‘How To’ Choose Your Rod and Reel

By Chris Heller
January 14th, 2009



Whether you are already an Allaroundangler or learning how to become one, it’s important you open your mind to several verticals of fishing. By this I mean quite simply the following: Spin fishing, bait casting & fly fishing. Those are ‘the big three’ and I’m not talking about the Boston Celtics. By pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, you will undoubtedly discover that by extending your area of expertise into one or more of those methods you don’t currently practice, your success rate will most certainly increase.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Even if you are nailing fish on a regular basis, chances are you are fishing some of the same water over and over because it is producing for you, and with the method that you are most comfortable with. Remember though, those fish have to go through a lot of water to get to where you are fishing for them. So, why not expand your arsenal and begin to look for fish in water you wouldn’t have otherwise been able to fish due to your primary method not fitting in well with all water.



This is true of most fishermen. We go back to those familiar methods and water because they’re comfortable and most of all: They give us confidence. It’s a lot like a basketball player who is big enough to play down low, but prefers to shoot jumpers. If he would only learn how to post up, he could get a lot more points than he is already scoring. Your perfect Allaroundangler analogy to an athlete is up to you, but I guarantee you’ll find some.

Now, to get to the title of this ‘how to’ tutorial, let’s look at how to choose when to use a bait casting outfit over a spinning outfit. If your a beginner to fishing and I’ve lost any of you with these monikers, please take a moment to Google the differences of these two types of outfits. A quick image search should do it. Anyway, I decided on this content for the week because I recently began fishing with a spinning outfit again and this topic is near and dear to my own efforts out there for Winters.


Here, Meskel shows how a fly angling technique can work in shallow riffles….

For years now, I’ve watched a partner of mine, H2O, carry around three or four different rods when romping the bank for Winters. Despite the obvious pain in the rump of hauling those sticks around without getting them all twisted up as you crash through the brush that is so common for us bankies to run into…..I began to watch the different types of water that H could fish simply by switching from his casting outfit to his spinning outfit, etc. I guess I began to mentally document the different things he could do by switching methods. H2O’s ability to work a piece of water is always significantly more expansive than my own…..and he catches a lot of fish, just like a lot of us. So, since I seem to get fish at an okay clip as well most years, I would notice these things spin fishermen could accomplish, but never got compelled to change up my bait caster.

In a recent article, I mentioned fishing high water at your feet. You can see how well it worked for Magicsoul recently on his limit this week…….Well, part of fishing high water is getting down in the currents and to the fishable depth without losing too much real estate under your drift in the process. Fly fishermen are some of the best at guesstimating how far UPRIVER they need to cast in order to get to that ‘fishable’ water for the majority of their drift or swing. These things being pointed out all the same, for years I have fished at my feet with bigger floats to keep my heavy leads from pulling those floats under water. I haven’t had any complaints and in fact, was absolutely convinced that getting into that ‘fishable’ zone quickly, is the key to a Steelhead strike.


Nookslayer fishes all methods, though primarily fly…see his arsenal above….

Here is the problem with my school of thought…..although the more buoyant float and heavier leads gets down into the ‘fishable’ zone very quickly, it limits you in water that is shallow due to a gravel bar or uneven bottom. In some cases, that’s okay. If you have an uneven bottom with a pretty good consistent depth (5 to 12 feet) you are golden with my heavier rig (which by the way lends itself perfectly to a bait casting outfit ) but, as I noticed for so many years watching H2O, I just couldn’t run a little tiny jig, plastic, bait of eggs, etc, in all the water I wanted to. So, like most of us, I would reel in my gear and move on to some water that looks like it would accommodate the rig on my rod.

This isn’t the best way to Steelhead fish, or any other kind of fishing for that matter. We need to adjust our methods to the water at hand, not the other way around. One way is lazy fishing, the other is not. I am very guilty of this crime. Mostly because I hate to re rig all the time. I loathe it….although not as much as Sal. What can I say, we heller’s like to fish more than re rig. Guess what: So do all of us. No one likes to re rig. So, the solution is to carry multiple rods that represent multiple methods of angling. This way you can fish light gear in shallow water (spinning outfit), heavier gear in faster water ( very buoyant float with terminal lead and shot crimped on your leader ) or a swinging method in a tailout, which a fly rod and line lend itself to, perfectly.


Multiple rods to fish one hole….

By preparing yourself for a variety of water, and planning on putting in the work necessary to change out all the time, a person can really open up some new water for themselves they may not have fished before. Remember, Steelhead are not like Salmon. They are like Trout. They will sit in two feet of water or (quite literally in some cases ) 20 plus foot of water. Because Steelhead are NOT predictable ( I don’t care what anyone says ) you must be prepared with multiple methods and types of outfits. If you need a hand, just ask. We have fly fishermen on this site ( some who need to expand their own arsenal as pointed out in this article ) who can help you with some very easy tutorials and tips, and I am one of them.

I am really excited to continue to fish new water for Winter Steelhead by coming prepared with multiple rod and reel outfits. I can’t tell you how nice it is to fish a very small float with no lead and a tiny jig in high water RIGHT next to the bank in one hand, and in the next cast quite literally drop a heavy jig with terminal lead in a current seam. Once you’ve worked the top end and middle with your spinning and casting outfits, you may swing a milking egg pattern or something more mobile across the tailout below you. Now you are a player who can play multiple positions. You’ll score more points for sure. Please let me know how I may expound on this content for some of you individually. For those of you learning to fish and using Allaroundangler as one of your instructors…..I sincerely appreciate the time you spend here and don’t hesitate to ask me something directly at ‘info@allaroundangler.com’.

Tight lines with multiple rods,

Captain

“HOW TO READ HIGH WATER WITH SUCCESS”
By Chris Heller, January 11th, 2009


By Chris Heller

One of my favorite things about Steelhead, particularly winters, is fishing them during wet seasons or high water conditions….how much easier they are to catch in these situations is hard to argue. For the purpose of this training, I’ll focus on ‘where’ to fish, as opposed to ‘what’ to use.

As I linked up to the river levels through the website this morning, I tried to imagine what might help those of you out there wondering ‘when’ is the right time to fish on a dropping river system. This question was brought up to me recently by a friend I worked with that is really trying to make it out on the river more often….but he lacks a network of information….and so I figure although sometimes I think most of you know exactly what I think I know…..it seems there may be some benefit to making sure basics continue to be covered.

Most of you reading this have probably caught Steelhead in high water…….this is more likely due to the number of times you have fished high water versus the pattern you’ve recognized while fishing the aforementioned. This being said, let’s look at some of the reasons that fish are so much more vulnerable in high water and how you, as an avid Metal Head chaser, can capitalize:



Everyone know that Salmon are lazy. Well, although Steelhead are about as different from Salmon as men are from women….they are still lazy by nature….this allows them to conserve calories for their freshwater ventures. So, every time you walk up to a piece of water you plan on fishing…..don’t walk right up and start casting. Take a moment to observe where the heaviest flows of water are. Imagine where the least path of resistance is…..and then begin to take into account the necessary things such as depth, clarity and turbidity. Once you’ve observed where the water is swelling (this would not be a good cast) versus where the water is fanning (classic SH water) begin a couple very short casts……with either a float and a plastic or jig…..or a traditional drift rig.