Clackamas @ Riverside/Winter Steel

[ArcticAmoeba]

No, you can't keep us outta the fish, for sure! This is my home turf! Cold Steel Some advantages to playin at home. And I have had a lot of time to hone my skills on the cast, not my first one, but yes the cast does get in the way. Mostly with leader tying, and bait rigging, and a little with accuracy in casts, but mostly bait... My orthopedic surgeon loves the smell of egg cure nectar, coon shrimp juices, and fish scales fallin off the cast at every visit.:lol:

 

[FishSchooler]

Thanks man! Riverside is one of my most prodctive, publically accessible, Winter Steel drifts. Haha, no waders huh? It is gonna be hard to fish for a while, as the water is going to be quite a bit higher than the Summer months. But craigslist has wader listings often enough, and the ones i am wearin in those pictures were 10 dollars. 5 bucks for the fuel to get out there, and 5 bones for the skins. If your neighbors are in need of any type of assistance, with literally anything, from replacing light bulbs, to doin christmas tree removal is a nice way to earn a few extra bucks. When I was your age, that is how I rolled. Cheap, cheap. Used gear, hand-me-down tackle. And nightcrawlers, because a quart of cured eggs is astonishingly brutal. But you could technically fish that upper drift, without waders. If you get run downstream it will become a little bit of a chore, but you could do it. Try it out sometime, see if it looks like someplace you could lift your rod, and clear the shrubbery when you get a wiley down stream planer.

Well in the summer months, you can wade in water proofish pants/shoes because the watah is warm. like it is hawaii righ now. Not that warm though. since I dont have waders, Im gonna have to return to my worst enemies... plunking on meldrum for the time being when I get back. Oh and i dont have access to many eggs (in a skein) besides those crapp "guides choice" eggs because to get to BC angling.... i just ccant because it is far and I dont have time. Obviously can't go on weekdays because of school. On saturday, have orchestra from 9-2 and chinese school from 2:20-5. And they are closed on sundays. Oh yeah, I started twisting spinners a short while ago. :dance:

 

[meluvtrout]

Riverside Today 12-28-2008

Riverside Today 12-28-2008

Somebody was asking how to get here:

Take exit 12 on 205 North
Right on 82nd
Left on Jennifer St
Right on Evelyn St
Right on Mangan and you'll see the entrance to the park...

The water was high and off color today. Lots of debris moving down. Saw a couple fishing around 9.30am, and 3 more later on. Also saw couple of boats drifting down the river along the bank, but didn't see anything caught...

I was using bobber and First Bite jigs, then moved to spinners, moved back to jigs and called it a day around 12.30...

Some pics:

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Well, theres your problem...Bobbers, jigs, and spinners. Water is way too cold to be throwin spinners, jigs are for summers in the Clack, and bobbers don't work well in knee deep, steelhead riffles, and flats. If you can get your hands on any baits, like small shrimp, or eggs, that is where we have been having all our luck. I pulled one from the corner above Riverside today, for like, 20 casts, and a friend got a buck above me a ways. Fish in the river, just need to switch up your approach it looks like though.

 

[meluvtrout]

Dan told me the same thing, but I didn't know where to get those coon shrimps. I'm going with you guys next time...

 

[Fishtopher]

Who said the water is high?! Pfft...thats nothin'. And that water looks crystal clear to me...man Im delerious from not fishing all week. Been couped up in this dump since last Tuesday, I think. That is a lifetime for me, especially with the in-laws here. AAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!

Nothing's gonna stop me from hitting the banks tomorrow. Providing there are any banks left.

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

B.C. Angling has the Coons. Just rig up your bait loop, preferebly in a "stinger" style, to try and stick the ones that short strike your junk. Forearm leader length, and a couple #5, or #7 split shot. Thats it. If you tap bottom more than a few times, reduce your weight. Fish the riffles, and any rock you can see that creates a seam.

 

[Fishtopher]

You can usually find them at any tackle shop that sells any bait...7-11 right up by Ceder Creek has 'em. Barton store has 'em. Dicks has 'em. Joes, Sportsmans, Fishermans, BC, Jacks, all have coonies...

 

[meluvtrout]

B.C. Angling has the Coons. Just rig up your bait loop, preferebly in a "stinger" style, to try and stick the ones that short strike your junk. Forearm leader length, and a couple #5, or #7 split shot. Thats it. If you tap bottom more than a few times, reduce your weight. Fish the riffles, and any rock you can see that creates a seam.

Thanks AA. I thought BC would be closed on Sundays? Isn't that the case?

 

[meluvtrout]

You can usually find them at any tackle shop that sells any bait...7-11 right up by Ceder Creek has 'em. Barton store has 'em. Dicks has 'em. Joes, Sportsmans, Fishermans, BC, Jacks, all have coonies...

So the coon shrimp is the same thing as the sand shrimp?

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

B.C. is 9-5, Monday-Friday. And no, coon shrimp are not at all the same as sand shrimp... Not many places sell coon shrimp. Barton store sells sand dogs, and same with the other places Fishtopher mentioned. But as far as cured coons go. I was unaware that any of those places carried them. B.C.'s cure is going to be hands down, 10 times more productive on a crappy day, than anyone elses anyways.

 

[meluvtrout]

I was so hoping to have something on my tag, but oh well, hopefully next year...

 

[Fishtopher]

I dont think I have ever even seen a cooner that was not cured. They all look the same and smell the same to me. How would a guy cure a coon shrimp? And what color is an uncured coonie? All the ones I have seen are all red or purple. And does anyone know what the difference is between the sand shrimp and coon shrimp? And is a coon shrimp the same as a coon stripe shrimp? Whew...Sorry...

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Winter Steelhead season is just beginning to boil. You still have time... Maybe not this fiscal year, but you can still get one whacked before you have to return your tags.

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Curing coons is exactcly like curing prawns, or Sand Dogs for that matter... Bait dyes, cure agents, and a little time to sprinkle chemicals onto food grade water bugs. I am not sure what exactly makes a coon dog a coon, and a sandy, a sand shrimp, but the coons out fish the Sand Doggers 1,000,000 to 1...Or somewhere in that ballpark. Sand shrimp are the giant crawdiddily looking nasties. Coons look a lot more like a mini prawn. You rig them up like a prawn too. Coon stripers are not the same, they are of much lower quality, and don't necessarily come straight-up, from the salt. As i recall, they sometimes pick them up in brackish bays.

 

[Fishtopher]

Gotcha. So, a lot of those places I mentioned have Coon Stripe Shrimp. The ones in the jars that are pickled or whatev. So I am assuming that Coon Stripes come in the jars and the Coon Shrimp come in the little Big Mac trays, as that is the wording on the packages that I noticed, and just didn't think there was a big diff. Really throwin me off! I was wondering about the hype of the cooner, cuz really always had better luck when using the sand dogs, now I see the light. I was using inferior weapons...

 

[phish-on]

Ok, now can you show a difference between a Coon Shrimp, and a Coon Stripe Shrimp?

its interesting that when i google coon shrimp that the coon stripe shrimp come up.

 

[osmosis]

thats because coon shrimp is a nickname for the coon stripe.

The coons work very well and are tough little bugs, unlike the super soft sand shrimp.

 

[phish-on]

thats because coon shrimp is a nickname for the coon stripe.

The coons work very well and are tough little bugs, unlike the super soft sand shrimp.

that was my thought. But i wasn't sure.

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

I thought the Striped shrimp were a different pecies than the run of the mill coo-nanner... I did not know they were also called "coon stripe" although it makes perfect sense. Hmm. Well if you see Striper Shrimp, don't get them. I have tried them on multiple occasions on the Kalama, and Lewis, to near no avail. Sand dogs work ok, but are the most inconsistent bait i have ever fished...Hot, or not. Cured coon bugs just seem to hold together well, and they just reek of the sea to boot. Good stuff. Anyone ever seen these weird little tiger shrimp, or something along those lines. I have heard that a lot of goofball Mid-west Steelheaders use this variety fresh, not cured, or salted. Never heard of, or even seen them before. I wonder.