# Fishing steelhead off the bottom



## ForeverSnagged (Oct 24, 2015)

I’ve always fished steelhead with either a float or a spoon, but this past weekend I spoke with some people who had what appeared to be a catfish setup and claimed to be hammering steelhead. Anybody else ever have luck fishing off the bottom?


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## bustedrod (May 13, 2015)

used to fish with a crappy rig and worms on the bott for trout in rivers abunch, works good , like tight lining for cats


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

Innows or troutbait on a crappie rig works at the rocky.but not good in fast water.


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## hailtothethief (Jan 18, 2017)

If you got a snagless bottom a slip sinker set up is good for trout. Shiner on a size ten hook. I catch plenty of trout perch fishing.


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

When I’m float fishing my bait is always close to the bottom and usually making contact with it. I don’t see why you would want to just fish in one spot. You can drift the entire section of river and still fish the bottom. If your not drifting your lures close to bottom, your probably missing out on a ton of fish. My last time out I caught 24 steelhead.


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## hailtothethief (Jan 18, 2017)

Fishing a flat you can cover the bottom drift fishing. Slopes you gotta fish the bottom steelhead wont care whether you are at the surface or on the bottom but if you wanna catch more than one species id stay on bottom. My slope drops from 5 feet down to 15 feet. Hard to touch bottom drifting unless i want ten feet of line on the bottom.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

A friend of mine was out Sunday and went 9 for 11 using Power Bait floating trout worms. Split shot 12/15" above a small light hook and drifted through the deeper slow moving runs.


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

On deeper runs, like some on the Hoga I'll use a modified drop shot with bait.
If I snag, half the time I just lose my split shot, the hook stays a bit off bottom.
Runs under 5-6 feet deep get a float rig.


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## PB&J (Feb 6, 2016)

There are times when bottom bouncing is the only way to fish a run. Usually, for me, this is deep slots with weird currents. If floats aren't working and I know fish are there I may switch to bouncing for a while. Rig has to be kept moving. Tie to a barrel swivel and leave a tag. Make a knot in tag and attach split shot. Then tie business end leader on. In faster water, the length of the tag is important. Distance between weight and swivel determines how far the offering will be off the bottom. Bottom bouncing is often more exciting than float fishing.


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## ForeverSnagged (Oct 24, 2015)

Thank you all for your advice!


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

Don't forget to try some Shrimp!


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Shrimp is Fake News!

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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

Eat the shrimp and catch steelhead on something else they really are not hard to catch if you don’t over think it.


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

If you want to use "catfish rigs", get some Walmart shrimp and livers, go to any of our "catfish filled" inland lakes and have a ball! IMO, steelhead fishing is for "sport" and these noble fish "deserve" a better(more sporting) presentation than bottom rigs? JMHO!


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## nooffseason (Nov 15, 2008)

Catfish rig, steelhead rig, who cares......noble.....


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

c. j. stone said:


> steelhead fishing is for "sport" and these noble fish "deserve" a better(more sporting) presentation than bottom rigs


No offense, but this stuff makes me laugh a little bit .. ..


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## fishfray (Jul 19, 2012)

c. j. stone said:


> If you want to use "catfish rigs", get some Walmart shrimp and livers, go to any of our "catfish filled" inland lakes and have a ball! IMO, steelhead fishing is for "sport" and these noble fish "deserve" a better(more sporting) presentation than bottom rigs? JMHO!


Steelhead are my favorite species by far, and Ohio is my favorite place to catch them. But there is nothing "noble" about Ohio steelhead. Why do some people have to be so pretentious?

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## hailtothethief (Jan 18, 2017)

Just fish for perch on the bottom and tell the steelhead ur better than that when releasing em.


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

Not pretentious at all, think it was very clear! Just expressing My Opinion! Fish for steelhead any way you want(even "Eastern European")! But yeah, 'noble' was probably a bad choice!


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## bustedrod (May 13, 2015)

its still just a fish lol


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## KTkiff (Jul 30, 2004)

bustedrod said:


> its still just a fish lol


Hey now some of us love these fish better than our spouses!


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

Using that rig in a bit of current try sacs. Just saying it may work it may not..... yes it works....


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## bubbster (Jun 2, 2013)

Bottom or close to it!


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