Winter Steelhead

[Wolfdog2314]

Anyone out fishing for em?

I haven’t fished for anything in general in years. A buddy took me out the other day and taught me a float and jig set up. No bites.

Super new to steelhead fishing, if any one has some tips, tricks, pictures, or reports post em up!

[huntnphool]

Anyone out fishing for em?

I haven’t fished for anything in general in years. A buddy took me out the other day and taught me a float and jig set up. No bites.

Super new to steelhead fishing, if any one has some tips, tricks, pictures, or reports post em up!

 Where did you go?

 I pity you if you ever catch one.

[SkookumHntr]

If your new to steelheading don't overlook casting spinners, They always work! winters, summers it don't matter, if you find a biter he will crush a spinner, and cover a lot of water! #4 Blue body silver blade bluefox is a winner! Good luck!

[Wolfdog2314]

Anyone out fishing for em?

I haven’t fished for anything in general in years. A buddy took me out the other day and taught me a float and jig set up. No bites.

Super new to steelhead fishing, if any one has some tips, tricks, pictures, or reports post em up!

 Where did you go?

 I pity you if you ever catch one.

SW wa,  A buddy of mine has riverfront property on a local river. . I live 10 mins from the N fork of the Lewis that I’ll start on too. Along with the E fork

I hear a guy can get pretty “hooked” on it when they start catching. I’m gonna go just about every day I’m not duck hunting.

[Wolfdog2314]

If your new to steelheading don't overlook casting spinners, They always work! winters, summers it don't matter, if you find a biter he will crush a spinner, and cover a lot of water! #4 Blue body silver blade bluefox is a winner! Good luck!

I found a great spot I’d like to throw spinners in. My pole is set up with braid line. So what I think a lot of guys do is lug two setups around to be able to switch it up without having to re rig everything or use the wrong line??

[BLR 243]

what are steelhead ?

[Boss .300 winmag]

what are steelhead ?

These.

[huntnphool]

what are steelhead ?

 Along the same lines as bigfoot, chupacabra, talking M&M's and Santa to Wolfdog right now.

[Wolfdog2314]

Yah I’m not even so sure these things even exist yet 

[tlbradford]

Anyone out fishing for em?

I haven’t fished for anything in general in years. A buddy took me out the other day and taught me a float and jig set up. No bites.

Super new to steelhead fishing, if any one has some tips, tricks, pictures, or reports post em up!

The trick is to get something down near the bottom, but don't get hung up.  Personally I never used spinners for winter steelhead.  In an effort to get down near the bottom I used weight and spin-n-glows.  All time best bait is fresh egg clusters.  If I am fishing small enough water I will run plugs into every small hole I can reach and move through the system quickly.

[castie2504]

Gotta be willing to put in the time and cover a lot of water. Best of luck, I’ve given up steelhead fishing in recent years and started looking for big foot. Better chance at finding him than a metal head I hear!

 

[Wolfdog2314]

Haha  well thanks for all the encouraging words 

No, but thank you. I understand this will take a bunch of patience and time on the water. What intrigues me is the idea of working a lot of water and hiking back in to spots that are (hopefully) untouched by the majority of people. Navigating private property will be a pain I can see.

All advice taken, thanks!

[Rimrock hunter]

Not to jack the thread, but has anybody fished  the Humptulips recently for steelhead?

[fishnfur]

I've never fished the Coweeman, but there are better rivers around for sure (IMO).  WDFW quit stocking hatchery fish on the Coweeman about 5 or so years ago, so it is essentially a run of wild stock and probably a few leftover hatchery fish, plus strays from the Cowlitz.  That riverbed was destroyed by splash dams back in the logging heydays - there's not a lot of gravels or structure for spawning habitat and fish production.

If you want to catch hatchery steelhead, I'd focus on the Cowlitz with eggs under a spin-n-glo or similar.  Spoons and spinners are nice if you get tired of loosing gear. Check out http://www.steelheadstalkers.com/video_rigs.htm for videos on other rigs. If you want a nice day on a gorgeous river, the Kalama fits the bill nicely - all of 'em can get crowded, as does the Lewis, but it beats sitting on the couch or working in the yard.  Check the creel reports on WDFW website for up to date numbers that may point you to better fishing on other waters. 

Good luck.

[castie2504]

Haha  well thanks for all the encouraging words 

No, but thank you. I understand this will take a bunch of patience and time on the water. What intrigues me is the idea of working a lot of water and hiking back in to spots that are (hopefully) untouched by the majority of people. Navigating private property will be a pain I can see.

All advice taken, thanks!

All kidding aside, it took me years to hook my first steelie as I started at about 12 with minimal guidance. As a young’n I started out by fishing with a 1/2 ounce in line weight to swivel and the. An 18-24” leader with a small corky and a 1/0 hook tipped with a worm. I struggled mightily with this setup because I knew not that the steelhead bite is ever so light. I probably had so many bites that I never set the hook on because of the lack of experience. As I gained experience I learned what a bite on that setup looked, but more importantly felt like so I became a much better steelie angler. This setup worked best for me when the water was slow and deep. I would fish the top of the run or towards the tail out where the current would give the worm some action. Next, I learned to use the bobber and jig tipped with coon shrimp. This was my favorite method for a long time. The float setup was a small weighted slip bobber on main line with a movable bobber stop to the swivel and then 36” leader to a 1/4 or 3/8 ounce marabou jig (pink, black, red or chartreuse) tipped with shrimp. This technique allows you to cover more water quickly and adjust to depth easily. Also I used small spinners when the water was low and warm and targeted the deep, slow moving water or shallow areas with cover. My favorite colors were brass and silver. I have also caught them on eggs an float setup. In my experience steelie stems to be leader shy so I went with lighter gear. Usually 12 or 15 pound braid with 8 pound leader. So finally after a few years of watching me struggle an uncle of mine gave me some basic pointers. A little afterward I finally hooked up! It was an awesome feeling I will never forget.

Every river system is different and has its own method that produces fish so get on the water as much as possible and talk to the locals to see what the prefered tactic is in your area. Also, don’t be afraid to throw something different than everyone else is on the water. I once was at a popular hole in a southeast WA river where there were 5?other fishermen were float and jig fishing. No one had any luck all day. Then I saw an ol’ wise fishermen show up, take a few minutes to see what everyone was doing then tie on a small black wiggle wart in the current anchored by a 3 ounce ball weight. 10 minutes later I was netting his fish.

Best of luck!