drift fishing

[leif-liden]

I am really interested in drift fishing this year but have no idea where to start. any tips or how to pointers would be awesome!

[steeljunkie]

I would get a fast action pole for starters, i prefer a 9'6" bait casting setup, a roll of pencil lead, and the rest depends on what your fishing for, cast at your 11 o'clock position and let your setup drift down to you 2 o'clock or so, keep your line tight so you can feel your weight bouncing on the bottom, the rest takes practice, i usualy use 18" to 30" of leader depending where i am fishing, your leader is always a less lb test than your main line, because snags are more than common, go to youtube.com and do a search for how to drift fish for steelhead or salmon, i would start there

[curado]

for drift fishing:
* med-light to med-heavy rod
* 10 to 12 lbs line. i prefer maxima or sufix seige or elite
* good length rod should be 8'6" to 9'6" a 9' is perfect
* reel capible of holding at least 200yrds of 10lbs and hold over 150yrds 12lbs of line
* fast action rod

drift fishing is best done with pencil lead or slinkys. cast to the 2 or 10 position depending on which way the river flows. DO NOT high stick the rod. meaning pointing the tip straight up

[flinginpooh]

Not everyone knows how to play a fish curado. And Im guessing if hes asking how to drift he dont have the expirience to play a king with 12lb line on. Start out with 20lb main and a 15# leader. Get used to your rod fighting different size fish so youll know where to set your drag at. Too much and it will snap, not enough the fish will spool ya. Learning when to bow to the fish, when to reel down on em, when to turn them up or down river, all those things will help ya and allow you to fish lighter line. Curado has been fishing rivers a day or two so he can get away with lighter lines. The leader lengths mentioned are good if your fishing cloudy water like the puyallup. If your fishing clear water like the skok or cowlitz leader lengths need to be longer. Dont worry bout what people will say to you on some of the sites. The people that catch fish agree with that. Use scent if allowed on the river your fishing, it gives you not just a visual but a smell attraction also. On rivers like the puyallup you need scent for sure. There is no visibilty there. Live baits will add scent and visual appeal. Eggs, shrimp, herring, worms, etc..... Learn where your fishing to tell ya what scents to use. If water is brakish or still close to the mouth, herring, anchovy, shrimp, or squid scents will work best. Thats what they are chasing in the salt. Anise, and shrimp is what I use up river usually. I personally like smelly jelly. I also will use a corky and yarn if Im using shorter leaders. If I need to use a longer leader I prefer to use just yarn. This allows the hook to get into the strike zone faster. If its clear water color will matter. Try different colors of yarn until you end up finding out what they are biting on. There is soo much to tell a newbie but hopefully you can find someone with expirience and watch them for a lil while then step up and practice. Unless youve casted a bait cast rod dont try it at the river for the first time. Take it to the park if your back yard isnt big enough to cast it. Try just a cheap rod to start just to make sure you like what your trying to do. Fishing rivers is not for everyone. Sucks when you have to take a loss on your investment when you figure that out.

[steeljunkie]

Also, i would not just go jump in the middle of all the combat fishing going on untill you get the hang of it, find a nice spot on the river where noone is at and practice.

[Matt]

Drift fishing is a really difficult technique to master. I fished for my first season (possibly even 2) when I was 14 or so just trying and trying to master it before I finally caught my first fish (a coho) in the stilly drift fishing. Now I would consider it one of my most well honed river techniques and it is an all time goto if I know how to easily locate and target the slot holding fish. Use just enough lead so that you feel the bottom ticking on the tip of your rod every few seconds, but not the entire time you are down there or you will get hung up and get a bad headache retying gear.

One of the great things about drifting is the inexpensive nature of the setup. Lead, swivel, hook, yarn, corky. All darn cheap, especially when you buy in bulk. I try to get 100 packs of each item and never buy less than that at once. My goto hook size is the 1/0, I use this hook size for virtually everything although I switch it up and go a bit smaller (sometimes, but rarely) fishing for steelhead. DEFINITELY carry a leader roll and pre-rigged weights (either slinky style, hollow which can be pinched onto a dropper line, or surgical tubing rigs already made up) in your vest pocket. I make my own leader rolls out of pipe insulation you can purchase at LOWES or Home Depot, 1.09$ for 6 feet which makes plenty of rolls to last you the season, lol. Try to carry at least 20 pre-tied leaders in your vest with hook, corky, yarn, and an extra long leader so that you can adjust it accordingly. That way when you break a rig off (when, not if) you can just grab out a weight throw it on the line and tie on a leader and be back in the water in less than 2 minutes tops.

The strike is often VERY subtle and difficult to detect. Learning to detect a true strike takes years of practice and you may find yourself swinging at anything for the first season or two. Over time you will be able to detect strikes using secret telepathic fish sense with your eyes closed and hands behind your back. :compress:

Now that I have probably confused the crap out of you and got a lot of ideas running through your head give it a try and have fun, drift fishing is AWESOME.

[leif-liden]

well i have been fishing the rivers for a while now. i was just wanting to try something new besides spoons and jigs for once. thanks for all the info it will br a great help!

[Hank]

Great info guys. I love it when people are willing to help out the newbies.

[jens]

well i have been fishing the rivers for a while now. i was just wanting to try something new besides spoons and jigs for once. thanks for all the info it will br a great help!

My 2 favorite techniques, jigs and spoons, but getting dialed in with spinners is my new love.

[Jhuynh2]

Yes all good advice, as someone who just started 2 years ago, practice and practice, be prepared to lose all your gear and make every mistake in the book, I did and learning, still don't know what a bite feels like after 2 years, and in combat fishing, just be nice and let people know you are a newbie so they are cool with it, b/c everyone was a newbie at some point