by Uncle Wes, January 06, 2005

There are so many different ways to fish for steelhead its really hard to say just which method is best. I will say that about 80% of steelhead taken are with bait whether it be eggs, sand shrimp, and even worms. Tactics vary from angler to angler - you have your plunkers, drift fishing from the bank, and spoons, spinners, everyone has their own argument for which is the most effective. I will attempt to give a crash course on these various methods over the next few weeks but you to will have to do some homework such as looking up how to tie the knots that I will be mentioning. Plunking was my father’s favorite way to fish for steelhead mainly because it really is versatile as to what you can use such as spin-glo’s, eggs, spin-glo’s and yarn, flat fish, wing bobbers and eggs, and wing bobbers and yarn. Now just about anything that you can plunk with you can also drift fish from shore but you can also use a corky and yarn set up, jig and float, even worms and artificial worms. But my favorite has always been spoons and spinners when a steelhead hit these there is no mistake about.



So lets start with spoons and spinners. I generally carry three different size spoons ranging in size from 3/8 oz, ½ oz, and ¾ oz, also colors that I carry to include red, orange, pink, lime green, and yellow. I have found that this combination covers most water conditions that I encounter and with a variety of colors it doesn’t take me to long to key in on what is working best. Now there are two body styles that I use my favorite being the classic and then the tear-drop shape. If your not sure what the classic body style is check out the old red and white dare devil. The finish I prefer is a silver plate, it out flashes the nickel finish by far. Nickel absorbs most light and silver reflects most of it. As far as the colored tape I prefer to use fluorescent colors, when putting the tape on your spoon put it on (back-side) the concave side. The nickel finish hooks, sizes I put on these for the 3/8 oz I use a size one, ½ oz I use a 1/0, for the ¾ oz I use a 1/0 you can even go up to a 2/0 hook. But like I said I have my own personal preferences and 1/0 is as big as I go. Because you lose quite a few if you fish them correctly, I build my own and you can find the bodies in a few tackle shops if not ask if they will order them in for you.



I also make my own spinners I prefer the torpedo style body with a silver plated spinner blade in sizes 4 and 5. Hook size is a 1/0, again place the tape on the inside of the blade. Making these requires a pair of needle nose pliers its quite simple, you’d be very surprised. Now as far as getting silver plated bodies inquire at your local tackle shop if not go ahead and use a nickel-plated body with a silver plated blade. You will find that making your own spoons and spinners is a lot more cost effective than buying a pre-packaged lure at five dollars a piece. Now lets talk a little on how to use them, but once again let me stress that nothing will replace the time on the water to get the feel. For spoons I will face the water and look directly across to the other bank that will be your twelve o’clock cast out to the edge of the tail out and work your way across to the other side, then move up the run three to four feet and repeat the process until you have covered the whole run, you want the spoon to bounce on the bottom as it goes down stream you will be able to feel the tick, tick of the spoon bouncing along if it stops a fish has either caught it or you found a rock or snag don’t hesitate to set the hook. Now as your line swings to it’s full extension start reeling it in you want to stay as close to the bottom as possible, if you get hung up on the bottom every now and then (your fishing it correctly), just speed up your retrieve a little bit. When you’ve retrieved cast out a little further and repeat until you’ve covered the whole stretch. Now if you can’t get your spoon to hit bottom try casting it to the one o’clock position or increase the size of your spoon. Spinners are a little different but not much when you cast them you really don’t want to bounce them along the bottom if your hanging up on bottom on it’s swing down stream go a size smaller or maybe cast to the 11 o’clock position or even 10 o’clock. Now when retrieving it’s the same thing work as close to the bottom as you can, again if you hang up speed up your retrieve. And continue this action until you have covered the whole stretch. The one thing about using hardware is you get very vicious hits and there is no mistake about having a fish on. The more time you spend on the water the better your presentation will become. For you experts yes I am making this explanation as simple as possible so everyone will be able to understand the basics. So until next time may the fish at the end of your line be the one of your dreams.