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Float’n spinners for Salmon &
Steelhead
When you mention using spinners, the first thing that comes
to mind is standing on the edge of your favorite lake, pond or river casting
and retrieving spinners. There are serveral alternative methods that work
well too. Traditional float fishing rigs consist of a float, pencil lead
or splitshot and your choice of lure. Most common choice of lure would
be cured roe,wool combinations , or corkies and small spin n glo’s.
Over the last few years, the rivers edge is getting more & more
crowded, as fishing pressure increases so does the amount of lures the
fish will see in a day. Trying new methods of fishing can sometimes prove
to be rewarding.
There are three presentation that I like to use, that
have all proven to be fruitful.
Free floating for fishing slow or transition water, down & across
for tailouts or riffles, and last of all dead foating for slow deeper pools.
Before I describe these three methods, we need to establish
several important facts. Salmon and Steelhead will attack lures at almost
any speed . I have found that the slower the blade is turning the more
hookups I have. That is not to say you won’t be successful with a faster
presentation. Light is another important contributor to success. I ‘ve
had alot of hookups on bright cloudy days or just when the sun hits the
water. In order to have a blade flash you must have some degree of light
penatration. The last factor might be the most important to consider before
choosing your lure. The greater the speed of water the faster your blade
will turn, therefore for slow water use smaller blades, # 2 & 3 for
medium flow # 3 & 4’s and for fast water use # 5 to 7 .
There are many variations of spinner’s on the market today.
The most popular in the Fraser Valley is the colorado blade. The 3 most
popular finishes are chrome, brass and copper. They come in several styles;
hammered , plain and teardrop. Hammered Chrome in a # 3 is the most common
used for salmon and I prefer the brass or black for Steelhead in the larger
sizes.
Free floating is used in slow to medium slow water.
Set up your rod the same as if you were fishing yarn or bait; float, weight,
leader and spinner . Cast slightly up stream and allow your lure to reach
bottom. Reel in any slack line, then when your float is directly
across from you, free spool and allow your float to freely float down river
. Your weight should be fished so you feel the river bottom every 3 feet
or so, and presentation should be Dead Drift. It is important that your
float is drifting at the same speed as the current.
The bite is often soft , if you feel your spinner stop turning, set
the hook , that’s a fish.
Down & across presentation is used for tailouts or riffle water.
Often the water is less than 3 feet deep and to Free Float would result
in snagging the bottom . Cast your lure upsteam and across then reel in
any slack line. When your float is across from you, Free spool. Unlike
the Free Floating put your thumb on the drum of the reel and allow slight
drag. This will slow your float and allow it to come across the river.
There are several important factors to consider while fishing
this method. Anytime you allow drag on your reel, the lure will lift off
the rivers bottom. To compansate, try setting your float 3 to 6 inches
deeper than the water yo’ur fishing. The second factor to consider is what
size of blade to use. When allowing drag on your reel your blade
will speed up, the greater the drag the faster the blade will turn, so
you may have to increase the size of blade to slow your presentation
Dead Floating is one method that I discovered by
accident. It was mid January and I was fishing one of my favorite early
Steelhead runs. This fellow angler was fishing above me and had been there
for a short time. I had noticed that he was snagging bottom freqently,
his float was almost laying down flat in the water, not Free Floating through
the slot like most anglers would. 10 minutes past and I was ready to move
on , when a sudden burst of water broke the silence. Fish on !! he yelled.
This was the first of six fish this gentleman had on. The lucky angler
who’s name I don’t recall had never hooked a Steelhead and was experiencing
the day of his life. I managed to hook 1 12lb Steely on wool , by the time
he had his 4th fish on. I sat down and watched him for a while trying
to figure out what was taking place in front of me. He was using a large
#5 brass colorado under a float rig. His float was set 12inch deeper than
the water he was fishing , therefor he was consistantly snagging bottom.
He would lift his rod tip to unhook the snag, then drop it and the float
would stop, then lift and stop again . Every third time he lifted
to unsnag- Fish on!!.
I soon relized what was happening, by getting snagged
the blade would stop turning. When he lifted his rod tip to unsnag the
blade, it would turn 4 or 5 times then stop. The action he was creating
was a slow blade action. I’m convinced he had no idea why he was doing
so well and probably didn’t care.
I quickly changed over to a #5 brass blade, set my float 6 inches deeper
than the water and proceeded to fish this method. After landing 4 more
Steelhead I soon relized he was on to something. During that season I managed
to hook a total of 15 Steelies using this Dead Floating method. There are
many methods of hooking Salmon and Steelhead that are untried in
this area , many are discovered by accident . Adding a few more will only
help increase your success.
Goodluck and we’ll see you on the water.
Vic Carrao
Latest Britsh Columbia Fraser
Valley Fishing Report
For more Information contact Vic Carrao e-mail sts@guidebc.com
604-671-FISH
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