R
RunWithSasquatch
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I am gonna lay out my favorite low water Salmon attack. Though it works great on low water salmon, Ive caught steelhead doing this. Any water level if there is a seem, or channel you can get your self above, Ive found this to be highly productive.
This technique works better for low water because most slots and seems are accessible with out killing your self to get there.
Fall fishing can be feast or famine. Mostly dictated by rain. My general rule is after one good freshet in late September, or early October, no matter how low it gets after that, the fish are still moving. Slowly, but there is fish to be had.
Most of the coastal streams are dropping right now, and the long term forecast looks mighty dry. Earlier in the season when the rivers were up about a half, to one whole foot above what the levels are now, every morning you could find 20 to 30 vehicles staged along the stream that I fish the most. Summer time level this year was 1.2, and its now 1.4. And with that low level, the people have disappeared. This morning when I ran down stream I only seen 2 or 3 other vehicles, thats it!
Not that I am complaining, these low levels are some of the funnest fishing in my opinion. Fish are easy to find, channels are small. And with the decreased number of people because of water flow, you end up with entire slots and runs to your self. This technique hogs the entire hole.
Easy pickins.
I went 3 for 3 on a short days fishing, and all of them came on plugs backed down into slots, seams, and pockets! When I left the house, I grabbed 1 rod, and a box of steelhead plugs, and away I went.
Here is a video of today's chinook. Took me a whole minute and a half to find him. First time I attacked this specific spot of the day. Generally I have found that if there is a fish there, they will take it right away.
( Bare with the video, my camera has a hard time picking on what to focus, about half way through it gets its self settled down. Fish take at the end. )
[video=youtube;5aIJ-ldZJ9g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aIJ-ldZJ9g&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
And here is the aftermath, the fish that took my plug.
I took two more fish after this one, a coho that I released, and one other chinook that I handed off to a kid to battle with his dad. All came on plugs.
So far this fall I am 3 for 5 doing this technique, and I haven't used it as much as I'd like because Ive been stuck at home. But with these low levels I plan to plug and run until the rain shows.
I prefer Brads Wigglers, they are one of the more stable plug designs out there, handle fast currents well, and they dive surprisingly deep. I think the size of the plug is key also, as not to be overwhelming in the lower waters. We don't want the fish to back down from this, we want them to get territorial and slam it.
I usually use a solid orange Brad's, but most colors work, if not all. I prefer bright colors that draw a lot of attention.
And here is a good set of fish that came on plug, a total of 7 minutes fished on these. I didn't get to the river until it was 11 AM, sun was high, and the fish had moved to the top end of a fast riffle, that was about waste deep. Back the plug in, and the little buck hit within 30 seconds. Tag and bleed the fish, I had to change the plug because he bent the hooks. And back out, and the hen took in about a minute after that. Two runs with the plug, and two fish.
This is the plug that took the hen in the photo above. I had changed over to siwash's for winter steelhead, and the hen put a hurting on those hooks. And had since upsized the hook size. But I feel that the added weight of the heavier hooks effected the action of the plug too much. This particular plug has killed a lot of fish.
This silver with the same plug from above came in a slot that was 2 foot wide. And about 3 foot deep. Instant reaction once the plug was in the slot.
Here is a summer from earlier this year, came out of the seem just off my left leg. Hit that same orange plug, 3' off the rocks. Instant reaction.
One of the most awesome sights is watching a rod double over while back trolling a plug. One step better is to have a fish double your rod over while you're holding it.:clap:
This technique works better for low water because most slots and seems are accessible with out killing your self to get there.
Fall fishing can be feast or famine. Mostly dictated by rain. My general rule is after one good freshet in late September, or early October, no matter how low it gets after that, the fish are still moving. Slowly, but there is fish to be had.
Most of the coastal streams are dropping right now, and the long term forecast looks mighty dry. Earlier in the season when the rivers were up about a half, to one whole foot above what the levels are now, every morning you could find 20 to 30 vehicles staged along the stream that I fish the most. Summer time level this year was 1.2, and its now 1.4. And with that low level, the people have disappeared. This morning when I ran down stream I only seen 2 or 3 other vehicles, thats it!
Not that I am complaining, these low levels are some of the funnest fishing in my opinion. Fish are easy to find, channels are small. And with the decreased number of people because of water flow, you end up with entire slots and runs to your self. This technique hogs the entire hole.
Easy pickins.
I went 3 for 3 on a short days fishing, and all of them came on plugs backed down into slots, seams, and pockets! When I left the house, I grabbed 1 rod, and a box of steelhead plugs, and away I went.
Here is a video of today's chinook. Took me a whole minute and a half to find him. First time I attacked this specific spot of the day. Generally I have found that if there is a fish there, they will take it right away.
( Bare with the video, my camera has a hard time picking on what to focus, about half way through it gets its self settled down. Fish take at the end. )
[video=youtube;5aIJ-ldZJ9g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aIJ-ldZJ9g&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
And here is the aftermath, the fish that took my plug.
I took two more fish after this one, a coho that I released, and one other chinook that I handed off to a kid to battle with his dad. All came on plugs.
So far this fall I am 3 for 5 doing this technique, and I haven't used it as much as I'd like because Ive been stuck at home. But with these low levels I plan to plug and run until the rain shows.
I prefer Brads Wigglers, they are one of the more stable plug designs out there, handle fast currents well, and they dive surprisingly deep. I think the size of the plug is key also, as not to be overwhelming in the lower waters. We don't want the fish to back down from this, we want them to get territorial and slam it.
I usually use a solid orange Brad's, but most colors work, if not all. I prefer bright colors that draw a lot of attention.
And here is a good set of fish that came on plug, a total of 7 minutes fished on these. I didn't get to the river until it was 11 AM, sun was high, and the fish had moved to the top end of a fast riffle, that was about waste deep. Back the plug in, and the little buck hit within 30 seconds. Tag and bleed the fish, I had to change the plug because he bent the hooks. And back out, and the hen took in about a minute after that. Two runs with the plug, and two fish.
This is the plug that took the hen in the photo above. I had changed over to siwash's for winter steelhead, and the hen put a hurting on those hooks. And had since upsized the hook size. But I feel that the added weight of the heavier hooks effected the action of the plug too much. This particular plug has killed a lot of fish.
This silver with the same plug from above came in a slot that was 2 foot wide. And about 3 foot deep. Instant reaction once the plug was in the slot.
Here is a summer from earlier this year, came out of the seem just off my left leg. Hit that same orange plug, 3' off the rocks. Instant reaction.
One of the most awesome sights is watching a rod double over while back trolling a plug. One step better is to have a fish double your rod over while you're holding it.:clap:
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