# just a few from today



## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

was a decent day today landed 23, lost 5 and had numerous other take downs that i didnt get a hook into...
heres a few pics, LOVE the pic of the one buck all colored up, wish i would have got a better pic of him, think he was the prettiest steelhead ive ever caught


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

all on jig and maggot.... love my jigs...didnt even try anything else today wasnt a need too
did land one big female that was double digits easy, biggest one i had landed so far this season


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## PJF (Mar 25, 2009)

Very cool.


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## steelhead sniper 860 (Nov 6, 2013)

Great day on the river, thank you for the report and pictures!


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## rpalusak15 (Apr 17, 2013)

what color jig, if you don't mind to say?


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## rpalusak15 (Apr 17, 2013)

oops, I see now , Black body with red head!


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

yes black jig with a red head took most, did get a couple on a black with a green head also...but the red head took the majority of the fish...
all jigs tipped with 3-4 maggots


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## hailtothethief (Jan 18, 2017)

I read people use flash on their jigs to mimic blood, so the jig looks like an injured baitfish, but steelhead have teeth and the flash always gets chewed off first


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## HappySnag (Dec 20, 2007)

hailtothethief said:


> I read people use flash on their jigs to mimic blood, so the jig looks like an injured baitfish, but steelhead have teeth and the flash always gets chewed off first


use red acrylic yarn from hobby store for head or any color.


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

sorry late post just a few from this sunday ...jig and maggots at work again...black with red head and chartreuse head did the damage this week... started slow but as the sun came up things got going pretty steady...deeper holes were the ticket sunday...had a couple nice females mixed in there... lost a few sunday too... most fish were barely hooked in the lip...very light pull down, a few didnt even take the bobber under...total landed was 15 lost 5 others ...all in all a good day


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Some great fishing, just wondering on a light bite day, how do you know if you had a strike if the bobber doesn't go under? Curious, I could be missing some fish.


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## hailtothethief (Jan 18, 2017)

There’s strike indicators to let you know.


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

c. j. stone said:


> Some great fishing, just wondering on a light bite day, how do you know if you had a strike if the bobber doesn't go under? Curious, I could be missing some fish.


i almost always use a stick style bobber that way even if they just nibble it or barely pull it you can see the difference... most have lines or different colors on them you watch how it is riding on top of the water you see anything different set the hook....sometimes the float just stops, or just wiggles a lil bit...i had a fish yesterday i hooked and was fighting, and the guy next to me crossed my line and as he tried to pull it over my line it just got ALLLLLLLLLLLL twisted on my line...
i normally dont keep any fish so i just dropped my rod tip pulled the line towards me by hand and sat there untangling it for a bit then finally had to cut his line in a few places to free mine probably took almost a minute to get it free...the whole time my bobber is just sitting there so i figured the fish got off as soon as i dropped my rod tip and put slack in the line...started reeling my line in and was amazed the fish was still on yet my bobber was sitting on the surface the whole time i worked on my line....


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## kingfisher72 (May 14, 2016)

c. j. stone said:


> Some great fishing, just wondering on a light bite day, how do you know if you had a strike if the bobber doesn't go under? Curious, I could be missing some fish.


In floatfishing, the lowest piece of shot or weight in a shot pattern is called the “tell tale” shot. If the fish moves that shot, the float will go under if the float is cocked correctly. This is also the point a fish will feel the resistance of the float. Long tippets give more leeway to the fish to mouth the bait. Or take, then reject the bait without registering the float. When you are float fishing with a jig, the jig is your tell tale shot. The float will move up as much as the jig sinks the float when a fish takes the jig into its mouth. Pay attention to the difference in how you float sits with just you shotline weight and how it sits slightly deeper when supporting the combined weight of the shotline and jig. If the float wobbles or twitches and then floats a little higher (as it would without the weight of the jig holding it down) that’s a bite...set the hook. 

Rainbows that are getting heavy fishing pressure will rise to a floated bait, mouth it as they drift at the same speed of the drift and then spit it out without registering a strike on a float that isn’t weighted critically. This is why some floats have two colors painted on them. I know that if I see a flash of chartreuse, that’s a bite bc the fish has eaten the jig thereby removing enough weight from the float to allow it to float higher....showing the chartreuse color which sits below the orange on my floats.


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

thats a great explanation awesome response....


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## drsteelhead (Jan 22, 2016)

Went 9 for 15 today. Water was stained but fishable. Tried bead and egg sac briefly, but changed to spoon because the drift was too slow. Hooked up on 2nd cast but lost it after fighting it for 10 mins. Felt like a decent steelhead or brown, never jumped once which is why I suspect it may have been a brown. Then after not getting any action for an hour I switched to jig n mag. Caught 2 medium sized ones. Up and moved about a mile downstream. switched back to spoons. Had a lot of action for about 2 hours in the deepest section of the system. They were hammering the spoons! Biggest fish was a fresh hen, 29 inches. All released to fight another day. Weather was garbage, cold and rain.


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

awesome job gotta love the spoon bite, my absolute favorite way to fish for steelhead...
went with a guy out yesterday, I went 7 for 8 yesterday...buddy kept a nice female to smoke when he cut her open she was already spawned out.. i was gonna try some spoons yesterday but decided against it.... lol thinkin now I should have


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## CLE Kev (Apr 23, 2019)

I'm a newbie when it comes to Steelhead, are you guys using swivels when you fish with spoons or do you feel like it affects the action?


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## drsteelhead (Jan 22, 2016)

Snap swivel is a must in my opinion. I think it ADDS to the action and of course it reduces twist.


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## slashbait (Jun 26, 2008)

Cleos? Thanxs


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

yes use a swivel of some kind.
I use a plain crane swivel without the snap.. and just slide it around the split ring, that way there isn't as much hardware in front of the spoon
after you do it a few times you get used to it and sliding them on isn't that big of a deal, I never liked the added weight and size that a snap swivel adds to the front of the spoon
I do this for trolling too
the ONLY time I use a snap is with stickbaits never with a spoon
just don't tie directly to the spoon without a snap ring or swivel or something a lot of the spoon stampings have an edge on them at the hole and will cut your knot eventually


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## drsteelhead (Jan 22, 2016)

Cleos, kastmasters, Arcadias. I might throw a blue fox spinner next time just to say I've caught one on a spinner.


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

mostly cleo and k/o styles here


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