Steelhead rigging

[Johnny P.]

Hello all,

heading to the salmon river this weekend and looking for some riggigng advice. I use a weight forward floating line...my leader is set up w/ a 6-7 ft. length of 10lb. mono tied to one end of a barrel swivel and 2 foot length of 6lb flouro to the other end of the swivel (and the fly to that of course). Also, I usually put a strike indy about 6-7 feet from the fly.

what I haven't been successful w/ is the weighting. I want to make sure it's getting to the bottom, but I don't want to use big split shot. I want to be able to traditionally fly cast w/ out all of the weight.

any tips out there? thanks

[Jim Miller]

Johnny
The river is at 280 cfm +-. This opens up lots of options.
You could swing a fly off a sinktip
You could swing a weighted bugger or spey on a floater.
You could dead drift a weighted nymph (get deeper by mending)
You could fish with a indicator
indicator 2x water depth +-
8-10' 10# mono w/ 3' tippet 6-10#
shot @ 18"-2' above fly
use light shot and mend to get rig deeper.
Most fish will be in the riffles/gravel

Good Luck! :-%

[johnkelly]

Mr. Miller has given you some great ways to rig up depending on your perference. For gravel I would fish a wf floater (10ft plus rods help a bunch) and fish to aggressive males behind the females, for swinging flies, try a sink tip and cover water....at 285 the fish will be concentrated along with the fisherman....fish the darker seams of water, mend your line and give the fish a good side view profile of your fly.
Don't be afraid to fish down river, especailly swinging flies because dropbacks are around.

[Johnny P.]

excellent tips guys...I'll give 'em a shot and report back!

Thanks again

[Tie-Dye-Fly-Guy]

as jim miller said for steelie leaders. if your trad fishing swinging or indicator nymphing use rig as above stated.

my two cents are that dnr does measure leader length from weight to fly and should be within 4 ft ive seen people fined for 5 ft leaders and the tied on a fresh tippet excuse didnt work. im a big fan of sliding weights and even though i high stick with a tight line the dnr says that it is illeagal as the potential for weight to slide past four feet is illegal. whatever dnr dude.

dont listen too much to locals about needing super light tippets. i use 6 lb as my lightest in clear 285cfs flows. try holding on to a 10 lb steelie on 3-4 lb test and you will mostlikely break off and frustrate yourself; or you will be running downriver messing up alot of people as you exhaust a fish to lactic acid rigormortis. cold high flows ive fished 12 lb test without noticible difference in take rate from guys around me.

i cant say enough for slinkies with chuck and duck method. they definitely seem to hang up less on shale bottom and slide more around the mono snags below. my rigging loss rate is now bout 2-3 per day at most compared to 2-3 an hour with in line split shot from the newbie years. if not using a slider i use a 10 lb three way swivel with either slinky or separately tied tag end with split shot and bottom eight not. definitely a lighter tippet to fly so you dont keep contributing to the lead based bottom when you snag. btw i think lead now illegal for 2006 on sr.

now im off to PM, White, Muskegon for a whole week of dropback and fresh chrome. i am so psyched. got a new ebay special 10-6" 6w single/double hybrid to check out. works pretty good for indicator casting, will try the double spey snap t shortly.

aint no head like steelhead!

[lowwall]

I fished there all winter! In Pretty high water , Now there is no water. I have heard 280 is the minimum flow that the dam will discharge. They ran it for 3 weeks straight at 1800 in Mar then down to 280. I stopped keeping track of the flow rates when my last trip was blown out MAR17. Awfull way to manage the river as far as fishing goes. The guides and shops up there need all the good days they can get, running it down to 280 keeps the boats out of most of the river i am sure.

Shouldn't need much more than a Floating line and a weighted Stremer/Nymph In those flows. UFZ is open now to, Should be a great time.

Check out the website Salmoncrazy.com , has allot of great info. Although it has a large group of centerpin fans there is a fly fouroum that is real good.

Good Luck!

[Johnny P.]

thanks all!