winter steelhead season starts the 1st

[curado]

mike is spot on. Sapiplat you will eventually lol

[goodtimesfishing]

ok, I have always salmon fished and now going to try steelhead for the first time, so this question might sound dumb...but here it is...Do steelhead let their presents be known when they are in the river? Do they jump, roll, porpose, ect.? what is the best way to track them? Also will they mix with salmon runs or do they stay away from each other?

[curado]

they will make themselves known but hardly ever. tailouts, shollow slots they will mix with salmon sometimes

[Anonymous]

yup, they will jump from time to time. And the nice thing is unlike salmon jumping steelhead will bite. With steelheading you're really looking for holding water that the fish are laying in, not casting to a jumping fish. (although it's not a bad idea to work that water when you see a fish jump)

[The Quadfather]

I realize that the pink plastic nightcrawlers have been out for awhile, but Outdoor E. has a new product jar of single artificial eggs that they marry up with the pink worm. The egg is a new line of artificial eggs. Has anyone fished this pink crawler topped with the single egg. If you look at Mike Carey's recent Steelhead vid. this is what they were fishing.

[jens]

I realize that the pink plastic nightcrawlers have been out for awhile, but Outdoor E. has a new product jar of single artificial eggs that they marry up with the pink worm. The egg is a new line of artificial eggs. Has anyone fished this pink crawler topped with the single egg. If you look at Mike Carey's recent Steelhead vid. this is what they were fishing.

Yeah, that was cool. I fish my senko's wacky, I can't wait to try this hopefully this weekend!! :bounce: :bounce:

[jbball50]

Hopefully I can entice my dad to drive up to the Bogy in a few weeks to do some steelheading. It's a nice area and there's not many people that are in the area when fishing, but the rain sucks. I haven't fished up there for a few years because of college and whenever I came home for break I just wanted to drink and relax inside. Can't wait for it!

[curado]

just when i thought silvers were done on the sky i get a call and he got a 15lber. side drifting roe. it is dog and steelhead season not silvers

[flinginpooh]

Ok ? Ive seen that term before and I can look it up but Im being lazy. What is side drifting as opposed to drifting? Side drifting a boat? I have never fished a boat in a river but that would be my guess.

[curado]

yep the gear is floating along with the boat with the bow bow facing up river letting the curret move the boat besides the kicker which is keeping the boat straight

[racfish]

I'm not sure if its just getting older or what ,but I've been out twice for metal this year. Both times on the Green.This cold is hard to take anymore.Im not sure if I'm just Wussing out or I just cant handle that bitter cold anymore.I went out this last Sat and my hand locked up.3 of my fingers just wouldnt move.Hmmmm..I'm becomming one of those older guys that set up the gear,set up gear,bait up,cast to the zone and run back to my car and crank the heat on.Most of the areas where I use to have a small fire going to keep warm are no more.The sherriff came by to tell me that I couldnt burn because of all the new developements.
So far the Green seems really slow.Im gonna concentrate on the lower plunking bars till I see some better action.Anyone else hittuing the Green in King County yet this year?

[ckim85]

racfish, i hear you on the cold. i had a couple hours to kill yesterday so I went to a local beach to fly fish for some sea run cutthroats...after about 30 minutes of stripping my streamers, my fingers were frozen and I called it a day because my face and hands felt like they were going to freeze off.

then this morning, i wake up at 6 and take my dog out and WOW. 18 degrees of cold punch to my face.

[flinginpooh]

I bought some wader liners. I wear an extra pair of wool socks. I need to get some gloves I think. Then a t shirt a sweat shirt and my jacket. I was fine fishing the rivers but the wind was a lil chilly on my face.

[curado]

this is what winter steelheading is about. the cold i am loving it

[racfish]

Hahaha.!!! Curado when I was in my teen years it was the colder the better.Now that im pushing on the 56 door that same cold can kill ya.I remember fishing the Green it the past where your guides iced so bad it would fray your line something fierce.I remember seeing the top layer of the Green frozen over.I used to live off Washington Blvd in Kent right next to Smith Bros farm. Those were some very cold times.Fishing the cold or even the salt was nothing for me. I guess I've wussed up a bit in my older age. Hehehe

[Mike Carey]

Ok ? Ive seen that term before and I can look it up but Im being lazy. What is side drifting as opposed to drifting? Side drifting a boat? I have never fished a boat in a river but that would be my guess.

OK, sidedrifting in a boat, a little more detail.

To do it correctly so it works best for all anglers in the boat:

1) the boat is controlled with a kicker which the boat operator puts in and out of gear, with the goal being to keep the boat drifting back through the hole in a controlled fashion, parallel to the shoreline. The motor is NOT used to slow the boat's drift, only to control the angler of the bow.

2) for best results (i.e. no lines crossing each other) the anglers use the same line weights and pencil weights. Everyone's gear will drift basically the same. Cast at a 45 degree angler in front of the boat, so the gear is pointed up stream.

3) keep your rod tip up! You'll feel the tap tap of the pencil lead on the bottom. You can ease the lead over most snags. Also, side drifting requires the least amount of lead for making contact with the bottom, so snags are reduced quite a bit.

4) if it's a fish - you'll know! the bite is very distinct. set the hook.

5) side drifting is deadly because the presentation is a perfect drift of the gear through holding water and you can cover the holding water with deadly efficiency.

"Drift Fishing" generally applys to being stationary, either from shore or an anchored boat. In this case you cast 45 degrees up stream, close your bail, raise your rod tip and feel as the weight taps bottom, tracking to around 45 degrees at the end of the drift (guys will often let line out to extend the end of the drift). Reel in and repeat... and repeat... and repeat.

[Anonymous]

this is what winter steelheading is about. the cold i am loving it

COLD is when the ice is forming in the rod tip and forcing you to clean it every other cast! I'm with racfish, I'm getting to be more of a wus about weather and fishing.

[curado]

side drifting can be done from shore

[CRW]

what curado is saying (not to put words in his mouth) is that 16 fish have returned, not that there are 16 differnet runs that return to that hatchery.

opps, I did misunderstand what he meant.

[CRW]

the silvers were out of the skagit. they will be getting more steelhead soon

Sorry, since you didn't mention the Skagit, I "assumed" they also came from the Cascade.