If you want to get a better feel for how strong your line is, try tying it to the bumper of your car then practice setting the hook. You will be surprised how forgiving today’s rods are. Next try standing a few feet away from the bumper and slowly raise your rod tip until the line breaks. Again you will be amazed at how much pressure even six-pound-test line can take.
The dream photo of a dream fish. This chrome summer run hit a jig on the run and then preformed aerial displays that would have impressed the Blue Angles.
As you know, the majority of the water in any given river will have very few, or no, steelhead present. There is no sense wasting time flailing away at water the steelhead don’t like. If you are not thoroughly familiar with reading water and don’t understand where steelhead like to hold, this is a good time to go back and read the chapter on holding water. Assuming you know a likely spot to find steelhead, here is how to catch them on a jig.
PREPARATION
Approach the water as quietly as possible. If afoot, be stealthy, wear colors that blend in with the surroundings and walk slowly. If in a boat, do not run over the water you intend to fish and approach silently if at all possible. A steelhead that is comfortable and feels safe is not hard to catch. One that is scared is almost impossible to catch.
While river conditions, weather and many other variables make every day different, there are a few constants that are worth considering whenever possible. Steelhead will hold at the tail of a pool much more often than at the head, therefore, always try to be the first person to fish a good-looking tailout.
Before you get to the river you will have chosen your preferred rod and reel. If you are fishing smaller rivers from a boat, and most casts will be less than 50 feet, you will have a spinning rod and reel rigged. Your terminal gear will consist of a small float that sits just right when coupled with the jig you have chosen and no additional weight.
If you are on foot and are fishing a large river where many casts will be more then 50 feet, you will have a 10-to 12-foot rod designed for a bait-casting or center-pin reel, and a float large enough to carry your weight and your jig. (It is best if you have tested your float before arriving at the river to be sure exactly how much weight it will carry properly. I use my hot tub and I know of others who use a deep sink to do their testing.)
Note that your float will have two color bands near the top. If fishing rough water, use just enough weight so that your float sits with the bottom edge of the lower color band right at water level. If fishing calmer water, use just enough weight for your float to sit with the water level at the bottom of the top color band.
Now it’s time to tie on a jig. The choice of color is yours. On any given day one color will dramatically out-fish another, but day in and day out, it’s tough to beat pink, pink and white, or cerise. When in doubt, start with one of those colors. A later section on color selection will cover color choices based upon water depth and clarity.
Before walking or drifting up to the run, assemble your gear and adjust your float. Nick Amato taught me the value of being ready to fish when you get to the river. One morning on the Salmon River, he hooked two fish while I was rigging my gear. Of course, I might have been able to rig more rapidly if my hands weren’t shaking with anticipation. Now I try to be ready to fish when I get to the river.
Approach the run, but come no closer than necessary to make a good cast and control your float and lure. Your first cast should be aimed to land at least ten feet upstream of the fish. In low, clear water you may need to increase that distance to avoid spooking the fish. Aim your cast to land between yourself and the fish. Meaning that if you are on the bank and the fish is 25 feet out from the bank, you want your jig to pass by the fish between your position and the fish’s. This is especially true in low, clear water conditions. Your first goal is to avoid spooking the fish. If your float lands on the far side of where you expect the fish to be, lift your rod tip and pull the float toward you until it’s on the line of drift you desire. If it lands too close to your position, either let it drift past the suspected lie or abort immediately and recast.
THE RIGHT DEPTH
Almost all old-time steelheaders are quick to tell you that steelhead spend most of their time in the river with their bellies near the bottom. And for many years, most of us fished with our gear tapping along on the bottom. I suspect that was mostly due to the fact that there is no other way to effectively fish the old-fashioned drift gear. Even many spoon and spinner fishermen aren’t happy unless their lure occasionally taps bottom. (I should note here that my good friend and spoon-fishing guru, Bill Herzog, does not like to have his spoon ever touch bottom.)
As we began the switch to floats and jigs, many of us learned that steelhead will often come surprisingly long distances to smack a jig. Accordingly, many of us now fish our jigs well off the bottom. Summer-run fish in relatively warm water are not at all reluctant to come up three or more times to take a jig. Winter fish will usually not move so far, but they will come up for a well-presented jig.
Steelhead and salmon are designed to look to the side or up. They have no way to look down unless they turn their body parallel to the bottom to do so. Because a steelhead cannot look down, it makes very little sense to present your jig at a depth below that of the fish’s. I recommend adjusting your leader to allow the jig to pass above the fish by a minimum of one foot for winter fish and a maximum of five feet for summer fish. If you think the run you have chosen is eight feet deep, adjust your leader to present the jig about four feet off the bottom. Make a few casts at that depth, and then gradually lengthen your leader until your jig is passing over the lie, just above the bottom.
For less-active fish, adjust your leader to allow the jig to pass about three feet above the bottom. After a few casts at that depth, gradually lengthen your leader until your jig is fishing very near the bottom.
The most amazing proof of the importance of depth l ever saw happened on the Gold River in about 1994. My friend, Clint, and I were walking past the Campground Run on our way to another pool. An old German gentleman was the only person staying at the campground. We saw that he was working the spectacular run adjacent to the campground, so we decided to pass it by. Each day, for three days, we stopped to chat with him. He told us he had never caught a steelhead, but he knew there had to be fish in the run, and he wasn’t leaving until he got one.
I can think of nothing as important to success with jigs as the concept of a drag-free drift. Any time your float is doing anything other than drifting at the exact speed of the current, you are wasting your time. One reason the jig is so effective is that we can present it in a very natural manner.
There were a lot of fish in the river. Clint and I were hooking more than twenty fish a day. We decided that there was no need to crowd in on the old guy’s run. On our last day we once again stopped to chat with the gentleman. And again, he told us that he still had not hooked a fish. He said he had seen several steelhead rolling in the deep slot at the far side of the run, but he just couldn’t get them to bite. Finally, Clint asked if the old man minded if he made a few casts. On his first cast Clint hooked a steelhead. On his second cast, he hooked another. And to my amazement, he hooked a third on his third cast. The old man was fishing in a slot that was about 12 feet deep, with only six feet of leader between his float and his bait. Every time he saw a steelhead roll, he would shorten his leader.
These were lethargic winter-run fish holding in deep water. The only way to get a strike was to put the lure very near them. We showed the old fellow how to rig with a 10-foot leader and went on our way. When we returned, he was all smiles. He had finally hooked his first steelhead.
If your float tips downstream and jerks along, your leader is too long, and your jig is touching bottom. You should immediately abort the drift, reel in and shorten up your leader. Nothing will spook a fish quicker than hanging bottom near it, then yanking on the line until you break off. My good friend, Clint Derlago, calls jigs “rock magnets,” and he’s right. A jig dragging along the bottom will spook more fish than it will catch.
PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING
Assuming your cast landed where you wanted, or you were able to move the float to the desired line of drift, you now need to carefully follow your gear downstream. As the float approaches you, reel in excess line. Your goal is to have no unnecessary line on the water, but to reel in carefully so as not to cause the float to be tugged in any way.
The perfect drift is one where the float moves downriver at exactly the same speed as the current. Your float should not be moving across the current, nor should it be moving slower or faster than the current in which it rests. (There is one exception to this rule that I will discuss later.)
I can think of nothing as important to success with jigs as the concept of a drag-free drift. Any time your float is doing anything other than drifting at the exact speed of the current, you are wasting your time. One reason the jig is so effective is that we can present it in a very natural manner. If your float is moving in perfect harmony with the river’s currents, your jig will be doing the same.
Steelhead are quite used to seeing things drift past them. Even in seemingly gin-clear waters, small bits of debris, insects, leaves and many other things are constantly drifting past the steelhead’s lie. When a steelhead sees something coming at a strange speed or angle, it will immediately sense something is not right.
Occasionally, an unusual presentation will trigger an aggression strike, but more often than not a steelhead will not be interested in anything that seems to be acting unnaturally. If you have a drag-free drift, your float will be straight up and down in the water.
Fly-fishers know the key to success in fishing trout with a dry fly is to avoid any drag on the fly. In the case of dry flies, drag can be seen when a small V is formed in the surface film. That V is proof that the fly and the surface upon which it rests are not moving at exactly the same speed. With a float, the same visual signal is often present. If your float is making a V in the water, you do not have a drag-free drift. Likewise, if it is sitting at an unnatural angle, you do not have a drag-free drift.
The most common reason why we fail to achieve a drag-free drift is excess line on the water. In many instances the surface of the river is not flowing at a constant speed. Water behind an obstruction will be moving more slowly than water that is unimpeded and water that has just passed through a constriction will be moving more rapidly than water a few feet away. As a consequence, any excess line lying on the water between you and the float represents a chance for your float to begin drifting unnaturally. If your float is in a current seam that is moving at three knots, and there is a seam between you and the float moving at five knots, any excess line on the water will begin moving faster than the float and will ultimately drag your float both downstream and towards you. When that happens, you are no longer fishing effectively.
MENDING TO AVOID DRAG
An excess of line on the water between your rod tip and the float will almost in-variably cause drag. The best way to avoid this is to use a rod long enough to allow you to keep all excess line off the water. But, on occasion, especially when you are making long casts, you will not be able to avoid having some line on the water. The solution is to mend your line. This is very easy. Imagine you are on the riverbank with the current running from your left to your right. You make a relatively long cast, hold your rod high to keep the line off the water, but even so, 20 feet of line is lying on the water. As your float and line move downstream, you can see that the current is pulling the excess line downstream faster than the float is moving. As a result, your float is being pulled downstream and toward the bank. To stop the drag, point the rod tip toward the water, reel in all excess line possible without putting any additional pressure on the float, then sweep the rod tip upward and upstream to flip the excess line back upstream. If you are not familiar with mending, you should go to a local river and practice before you head out after steelhead. With just a bit of practice you will be able to effortlessly flip excess line upstream. The perfect mend will cause the excess line to land upstream from your float and will not cause your float to jerk around as you mend. Like any technique, practice makes perfect.
Mending can be done easily with almost any line that floats. The new super braids mend very easily, as do most monofilaments. If you are using a monofilament, you may find that dressing the line with mucillen, fly floatant or anything that makes it float better will be an advantage. There are a few monofilaments on the market that tend to sink. Avoid these when fishing with a float and jig.
OTHER CAUSES OF DRAG
Another cause of drag is resistance to the line coming off the reel. As your float moves downstream of your position, you will need to let line come of the reel as smoothly as possible, to avoid placing any drag on the float. With a bait-casting reel, that’s as simple as hitting the free-spool button, but a reel that is not in top operating condition may have a jerky spool which will cause an unnatural drag on your jig every time your spool hangs up. A similar problem occurs when you have a small bird’s nest buried deeply beneath the line that is spooling out. I have had poor luck getting a drag-free drift with the new super braid line. I find that they tend to dig in on the spool and come off in a herky-jerky manner. Others swear by them. They do float well and are a breeze to mend.
With spinning reels, there should be no drag from line coming off the reel if the bail is open. But you do need some sort of control to keep the line from coming off the spool too fast. Most folks use a finger or their palm to very gently keep a bit of friction between the line and the spool. Until you master this feathering technique, you may have problems with occasional drag when you press a bit too hard on the spool.
With spinning reels, there should be no drag from line coming off the reel if the bail is open. But you do need some sort of control to keep the line from coming off the spool too fast. Most folks use a finger or their palm to very gently keep a bit of friction between the line and the spool. Until you master this feathering technique, you may have problems with occasional drag when you press a bit too hard on the spool.
Center-pin reels are the smoothest of all reels, which is one reason why many advanced float-fishers prefer them. A good-quality center-pin reel will feed line so smoothly that drag is seldom an issue.
Too much line between the float and the jig, allowing the jig to constantly bounce along on the bottom, causes the worst possible form of drag. Not only is this a very poor way to present a jig, it is a sure-fire recipe for a hang-up. You will lose far more opportunities to hook a steelhead with too long a leader than you will with one that is a bit too short.
NOW WE ARE FISHING
Once you have made that all-important first east, you need to keep three things in mind. You need to be sure your float is moving downriver on the proper course. If you have cast a bit too far, it’s an easy thing to simply lift the rod tip enough to drag the float into the correct position. If your cast was quite a bit too short, you need to bring it back and cast again. Next you need to watch the float to assure that you are getting that all-important drag-free drift. If your float jerks and tilts downstream, you are dragging bottom. Immediately reel in and shorten the distance between your float and the jig. If your float is being pulled to the side, or is making any type of V in the water, you have drag caused by failure to allow line to freely come off the reel, or too much line on the water. Either mend the line or move with the current to get that all-important drag-free drift. Lastly, you need to be very alert for a strike. More about that later, for now let’s continue upriver, working various types of water. A
TYPICAL POOL
Most pools have three distinct parts: the head at the upstream end where the pool begins, the gut or middle section which is usually deep and relatively slower moving than the head, and the tailout where the pool shallows up and picks up speed before spilling into the next run.
If you are the first person to get to a pool, always begin at the tailout. Steelhead can be unpredictable, but the odds are the tailout will hold more fish, and more active fish, than any other part of the run. Often steelhead will stop and hold in tailouts to rest after moving through a section of rapids.
THE TAILOUT
In some ways, fishing tailouts can be challenging and in other ways quite easy. To fish a tailout effectively, you will need to begin by casting to positions near your feet and letting the float drift toward the tailout. As the float approaches the tailout you will need to hold back to force the float to pull your jig up in the water column. (Yes, this is an exception to the rule of a drag-free drift.) This is to avoid snagging bottom as the tailout shallows up. Repeat this sequence by making a series of casts, each one a bit farther away from you than the last. At some point, you will find that you cannot manage any significant drag. free drift before the fast current begins forcing the float back toward your position. This is not a problem. As the float begins pulling toward you, hold back on the line to cause the float and the jig under it to sweep across the tailout. Make the first sweep well above the bottom lip of the tailout and make each successive cast a bit longer, so that the jig sweeps ever closer to the lip of the tailout. Often steelhead will be holding at the very bottom edge of the tallout.
If you get a strike when your jig is rapidly sweeping across a tailout, it will be a violent one. The fish will have to dash out and snatch the jig while the jig is moving rapidly. As always, watch your float for any sign of a strike, but also be aware that you may actually feel a strike before you see it. Because your line will be taut as it sweeps across a tailout, the float will be tilted back toward your position and there will be very little slack in your line. These strikes arc the most exciting ones you will have. Often the rod tip will yank down suddenly and before you know it a chrome bullet is dancing downriver in the froth of the tailout. It you are not careful to let the fish take line as necessary, you will find yourself with a broken line and maybe a broken heart.
THE CENTER OF THE POOL
To fish the deeper and relatively slower water in the center, or “gut,” of the run, you need to move to a position where you can easily cover all, or a portion of, the run. Begin making short casts to the positions nearest your feet. Keep a drag-free drift and watch your float like a hawk. If you see obvious fish-holding areas, like big boulders, slots, undercut banks or current seams, work those areas hard. Make as many as ten casts to the best-looking areas and thoroughly work your way across stream by making longer and longer casts.
In relatively slow water, such as we often find in the center of pools, strikes can be very subtle. Often the float will yank under hard. These are what my friend Brad Knowles, calls “ass cracking hits” and we all love them, but more often, the float will simply sink, almost as if you have too much weight on. Other times it will move across the current and sometimes it will actually pop up as it the weight has been removed. (This happens when the fish has the jig in his mouth and swims toward the surface with it. The result is that weight is taken off the float, allowing it to rise up.) After you have watched your floats dance merrily down the river surface for a few hours, you will understand what types of movements are natural and which are unnatural. Any time your float does anything unnatural, strike, and strike hard. It it’s a fish, your prompt hook-set may make the difference between a hit and a miss. If it’s a snag, a quick hook-set may save you some tackle. As one of my old steelhead buddies likes to say, jerk or be one.”
On occasion, you will need to hold back the float just a bit to keep your jig moving at the same speed as the current at the bottom of the pool.
THE HEAD OF THE POOL
Often, steelhead will be tucked right up into the fast, shallow water at the head of a pool. Fish that are moving upriver in a hurry will often stop for a bit at the head of the pool before moving into the next run. Summer fish that need additional oxygen and the cover provided by choppy water will often hold at the head of a pool. To work the top end of a pool you need to estimate the depth of the water just below where the pool begins. Usually, the water just above the head of the pool will be relatively shallow, often only one to four feet deep. However, the depth just below the lip of the pool may be as deep as 5 to 10 feet. You need to adjust your jig so that it is fishing at the depth below the lip of the pool, not the depth of the riffle above the pool. This can be a bit tricky, as you will be casting into the shallow water above the pool with a leader that is designed to fish the deeper water in the pool.
When you cast a six-foot leader into three-foot water, it is inevitable that the jig will touch bottom. You need to be prepared for this. Be ready to lift your rod tip to keep the jig up off the bottom. Then drop the rod tip the moment the float enters the deeper water. This way your jig will be fishing at the correct depth almost the instant it reaches the fish-holding water.
As with the tailouts, and the gut of the run, you will want to fish the water closest to you first and gradually extend your casts until you have covered all good holding water. Many times the head of a pool will have a narrow chute feeding the pool. If that is the case, work the chute carefully then see if you can cast right to the edge of the pool at either side of the chute.
POCKET WATER
Many anglers mistakenly believe that jigs are not good pocket-water lures. That is just wrong. Because jigs sink into the strike zone so rapidly, they are ideal for those small slots and buckets behind boulders that we call pocket water. To fish these small pockets, you need to be hyper-alert, as well as ready and willing to lose tackle.
Often, the water just above, below and on either side of the fish-holding pockets is shallow and fast. A perfect combination for eating tackle. You need to make accurate casts that land just upstream from the pocket.
As we began the switch to floats and jigs, many of us learned that steelhead will often come surprisingly long distances to smack a jig. Accordingly, many of us now fish our jigs well off the bottom.
If you miss the target by more than a few feet, you will need to abort the cast and try again. Many times, you will need to cast into water at the head of the pocket that is shallower than the pocket itself. To do this, you want to make your cast and immediately lift the rod tip to keep your jig off the bottom until the float sweeps into position. Then quickly drop the rod tip to let your jig swim through the pocket at the proper depth.
Most pockets are small enough that an undisturbed fish will take on the first or second cast. Nevertheless, if it’s a prime-looking pocket, give it at least ten passes before moving on. If you just know there is a fish there, change colors and make another few passes before moving on.
Once, while fishing British Columbia’s Chehalis River, I made about five casts to a fine-looking pocket, then moved on. After fruitlessly fishing downriver for a few hundred yards, I came back up and found another steelheader battling a 14-pound chrome buck in the pocket that I thought I had fished carefully. Steelheading requires hundreds of small decisions every day. You will often hook more fish by working lots of water with only a few casts to each pocket. Other times, you will need to carefully work fish holding waters with a variety of sizes and colors to finally draw a strike.
STILLWATER FLOAT FISHING
Many steelheaders never have the chance to fish steelhead in still, or very nearly still, water, but the opportunity does arise. Perhaps the most heavily fished steelhead water in the world, the confluence of Washington’s Blue Creek and the Cowlitz River, is one such place. The mouth of the Methow River, where it empties into the Columbia, is another. In these locales and many others, the float-and-jig combination offers such an obvious advantage that even die hard drift fishers have abandoned traditional bottom-bouncing gear in favor of the float and jig.
One of my favorite stillwater experiences came on the Olympic Peninsula’s Salmon River. It was one of those banner days when everything came together just right. The river was high and dropping, the fish were in and we had been hooking a ton of steelhead. Near the end of the day, we came to a long, deep pool that seemed to be more like a lake than a river. At that time, I had not fished jigs in still water and wasn’t sure what to do. I adjusted my float to put the jig about eight feet deep and let it drift ever so slowly toward the tailout. As I was watching my float, frankly, with little hope of any action, another angler came up to the pool. Float-and-jig-fishing was still quite new then and he had never seen a dink float. He asked me how they worked and I told him. I had hooked nine steelhead so far that day. He then said he could see how they might be effective in fast water, but didn’t see much use for them in deep pools like the one we were fishing. At that moment my float yanked under and I set the hook on my tenth steelhead of the day. Now we both knew that a float and jig could be a great choice for fishing still water.
Many stillwater steelheading areas feature deep water and heavy concentrations of steelhead that may be holding well above the bottom. This is an ideal situation for the jig-fishing steelheader. Still water that is less than eight-feet deep may be fished well with traditional fixed floats, however, these quiet waters often run from 10 to 40 feet deep. These conditions call for a slip float.
Still waters are best fished with light lines, small floats and lures that provide a strong, visual stimuli without the benefit of movement provided by strong current flows. Light lines are necessary, because clear water and slow moving lures give steelhead lots of opportunities to examine our offering.
Small floats are used because there is no need for the buoyancy required to keep the float visible in choppy water. Another reason for small floats is their increased sensitivity. Stillwater steelhead often nibble delicately, so delicately that the bite is barely discernible. Tiny floats telegraph these tiny bites.
Almost every size and color of jig has taken steelhead in still water, but the best success usually comes with small jigs in pale colors or black. The best stillwater jig can provide an alluring wiggle even when at rest. Marabou, rabbit fur and schlappen all work well in quiet waters.
Many stillwater float-fishers use an outfit something like this: an 8- to 9-foot rod designed for 6- to 8-pound-test line, a spinning reel filled with 6-pound line, a small, slip float and a 1/16- to 1/8-ounce marabou jig. Favorite colors are pale pink, pink and white, and black and purple. Many experts use a small piece of shrimp meat on the hook of their jig to add flavor and scent.
Still waters have little in the way of seams, riffles or other surface markers to provide a hint as to what is beneath, but you can still do a bit of detective work to find the lay of the pool. As with moving water, use your float as a depth indicator. Simply keep lengthening the distance from float to lure until you know how deep the area is.
Steelhead in deep, still water are not always oriented with the bottom as is common in flowing water. One day you may find the fish quite near the bottom of a twenty-foot-deep pool, the next day they may be near the bottom at the six-foot depth, and yet another day they may be suspended ten feet deep in twenty feet of water. Trial and error, keen observation of others, and sharing of information with other anglers will help you learn at what depth fish are holding.
Even in relatively still water, subtle currents and wind move your float. It’s a good idea to keep your reel in free-spool while applying slight tension on the spool with your thumb, then let your float slowly slip downstream, or as the wind or current dictates. If circumstances require an up-stream cast, slowly retrieve line as the wind and current push the float back towards you. It is imperative that you keep all slack out of the line and watch your float like a hawk.
Stillwater steelhead will often take the lure very gently. Many times the pick-up is signaled by a slight lift of the float as the fish releases the tension on the line by mouthing the jig, other times the only indication is a slight jiggling of your float. You must learn to strike very quickly when these tentative strikes occur. If you wait too long, the fish will drop the bait. If the float is lifting up, jiggling or, best of all, is fully under water strike!
If you miss the chance to strike, don’t despair. Stillwater steelhead often return to your jig as long as a bit of bait remains. This time be ready and strike the instant the float does anything that says “fish.” Stillwater steelhead are affected by changes in barometric pressure, much like bass. When a cold-front passes through, with a dropping barometer, they go off the bite or become very tentative biters. Fishing is usually best in stable weather.
WHEN YOU KNOW WHERE THE FISH ARE
As you approach the pool or run you have chosen, stop a few feet short of the pool and watch. Look carefully for areas where steelhead will want to hold, behind boulders, against banks and in boulder gardens. Carefully scan the entire run with polarized glasses. With practice, you will learn to spot steelhead. One trick is to forget about seeing what looks like an entire fish. Instead, look for a shape that seems fishy, a shadow that doesn’t look like others, a fin or a tail. Occasionally, you will see a steelhead roll on the surface. Don’t be fooled by the top-water action. Sure, there is a steelhead there, but it will be holding with its belly near the gravel by the time you can begin fishing over it.
The strike may vary from a tiny nibble to a slam-dunk. Naturally, the aggressive takes will yank your float right under. There will be no mistaking that type of take, but often the float will telegraph a strike in subtle ways. Top jig anglers know that any strange or unnatural movement of the float may signal a strike. Jake Gregg with an Oregon hatchery winter steelhead.
If you see a steelhead that is undisturbed, naturally you will want to go after that fish. Begin by making a cast that lands your float at least ten feet upstream from the fish’s lie and a bit toward your position. Remember that if you can see the fish, it’s likely it can see you. Stay low, move slowly and try to make a delicate cast that lands with little splash. If your first cast does not get a strike, try casts that progressively work closer to the fish. (Closer in terms of your position on the bank and the fish’s position in mid river.) Never make a cast that lands less than ten feet from the lie. If you have presented your jig in a natural drift, and you are sure the steelhead saw it without spooking, it’s time to try a different color and perhaps a different size.
Keep working the fish until you have shown it several colors and sizes of jigs. Many times I have seen a fish ignore cast after cast, only to turn and slam a different-colored jig. Don’t be quick to leave. After all, many days you spend most of the day trying to find a fish. Never leave fish to find fish!
THE STRIKE
As I discussed earlier, steelhead take a jig for a variety of reasons ranging from anger to curiosity. As a result, the strike may vary from a tiny nibble to a slam-dunk. Naturally, the aggressive takes will yank your float right under. There will be no mistaking that type of take, but often the float will telegraph a strike in subtle ways. Top jig anglers know that any strange or unnatural movement of the float may signal a strike.
Watch your float very carefully, especially on the first cast into a suspected lie. There are two reasons why the first cast is most important. For one, many times an aggressive steelhead will take a jig the first time it sees it.
The second reason is you want to know exactly how your float behaves in the run you are fishing. For example, you may note that your float dips under in a particularly heavy current seam and then bounces right back up. If so, it’s obvious that you do not want to set the hook every time your float dips down in that spot. Conversely, if you note that your float is doing anything that it didn’t do in the run on previous casts, you need to strike and strike fast.
In addition to the more obvious strike indications such as a quick yank under the surface, your float may signal strikes in many less obvious ways. For instance, on occasion the float may suddenly begin floating higher than it has previously. Strike! The sudden raising of a float is a sure sign a steelhead has picked up the jig and has lifted it a bit higher than it was originally drifting. That will cause your float to rise up and should cause your arm to come back hard. Another sign of a strike, that some anglers miss, is when the float begins moving across the current. This happens when a fish picks up the jig and moves at roughly the same depth as the jig, but moves across the river. If you see your float move in any direction other than the current flow, strike.
When you do strike, be sure to do so with enthusiasm. My old friend, Bill Davis, said the best way to strike is to try to hit yourself in the pants with your rod tip. My friend, Clint, sets the hook so hard I can hear his rod whistle through the air. Far more fish are missed by wussy hook-sets than by overly aggressive hooksets.
Steelhead will seldom hold an unscented jig for more than a few seconds. Once you suspect a fish has your jig in his mouth, it’s time to hit hard and fast. Even when fishing with light line, if your rod is appropriately matched to the line in use, you will seldom break your line on a hook-set.
If you want to get a better feel for how strong your line is, try tying it to the bumper of your car then practice setting the hook. You will be surprised how forgiving today’s rods are. Next try standing a few feet away from the bumper and slowly raise your rod tip until the line breaks. Again you will be amazed at how much pressure even six-pound-test line can take.
FISH WITH CONFIDENCE, FISH HARD
Nothing about steelheading is easy. I suspect we wouldn’t love it so much if it were. One key to success is to keep on casting. Some days the fish seem almost too easy to hook, but on others, one fish may be all you can hope for. Too many times to recount, I have hooked a fish after many others had given up. In British Columbia a group of my friends have formed the last cast club. The rules are simple. All you need to do to gain admittance is announce your last cast then hook a fish on that cast. To date there are only a few members, but they all know that the last cast may be the one that makes their day a success. In the 1800s an English angler offered this advice to his fellow fishing fanatics:
“Should you be of delicate temperament and be wading in the month of February when it may chance to freeze very hard, pull down your stockings and examine your legs. Should they be black or even purple it might perhaps be as well to get on dry land; but if they are only rubicund you may continue to enjoy the water.”
If those Old English anglers could put up with such conditions, surely we, in our fancy waders, can put in the time it takes to make that one last cast.
My father took up steelhead fishing after he turned 65. By the time he was 85 he was a top rod. Several times I saw him walk into a run, where several other anglers were unsuccessfully working the water, and promptly hook a steelhead. Many old-timers who fished the Humptulips in the 60s held him in awe. It almost seemed is if he had some sort of fish magic. I asked him one day what his secret was and he told me, “Every cast I make, I know I am about to hook a fish.” That was some of the best advice I ever got, and it will stand you in good stead too. If you believe you are about to hook-up, you will fish with confidence and you will be ready for the strike when it comes. Nothing is more important than fishing with confidence.
SUMMARY
- Approach a suspected lie slowly and carefully.
- Cast only where you expect to find a fish.
- Fish the tailouts first.
- Avoid drag at all costs.
- Set the hook hard any time the float does anything unusual.
- Stay Optimistic—Fish with Confidence—Fish Hard.
An excerpt from the book Jig Fishing for Steelhead and Salmon by Dave Vedder. The book is available at amatobooks.com.
SLOW IT DOWN FOR SALMON & STEELHEAD - NICK AMATO
