Well, Ive heard of a few being caught in the tavern hole, went last weekend for a little while and didnt have any luck. But we've had some rain, and if the water is clear monday, i'll be out there wetting my line!

Anyway, I just ordered 5 or 6 jigs from the guys here, so unfortunately I wont have those to try out, but what about a little cleo, or a yarn ball, I could even pick up some roe, since I dont have any at the moment, or pink worms, or real worms for that matter!

Not sure I will have a ton of time to fish the Tavern hole and that area, but if its nice enough, I'll defenitely be out there, but what do you guys think I should try the most?

Thanks!

Bailey

Oh, has anyone fished a pink worm under a float? Results? thanks!

I'd be very surprised if its fishable Monday. It will be on the high side. Roe, jigs, spoons, try everything! Make sure we get a report!

Good luck!

If the water is high, I would try yarn balls and pink worms. Roe is good if you have quality eggs. Good luck.

Can you fish pink worms under a float? Or would the presentation just not look natural?

Yes, you can fish pink worms under a float. You can either hook them wacky, or use a plain white or pink jig head and thread the worm on the jig.

im fishing it monday, but a lot higher in the system. waters in primo shape. might not be alot of fish, but im working on a house thats right on the river, it has two beautiful holes on it. id be foolish not to take at least six rods with me. heres a funny story i thought id share. i have a good friend that was raised on the applegate. when they were kids all they ever used was a small piece of red rope licorice. he said they caught the heck out of steelhead dont think im going to try that though.

Cool! what are you going to use?

Let us know how u do!

Well the water was up quite a bit, so I tried a little float fishing but since ive never done it before, I figured with these conditions it probably wasnt the best option, and went to drift fishing a pink worm for a while, and then spent the rest of the day throwin cleos. No luck, thought I had one hit, but wasnt a hundred percent sure. Havent heard of too many fish being caught yet up here, but Im hopin once this high water starts dropping that some fish will be up in here!

Im having a hard time figuring out how deep I should get my jigs...any tips?

Well personally I only like to use jigs with a float. I find that you waste a lot less of them fishing them this way. Drifting them most always drags them across the bottom and messes up the coloring on the jig heads and almost always end up in snagging/ losing them. I use them just like I use everything else in a normal scenario. I like to have my baits/ lures etc. about six inches or around there off the bottom because that's where fish lay try. I always try to make whatever presentations looks as natural as possible like they are not attached to any line as if floating freely down the river along with the current. I have been told by a few seminars that steelhead have been known to strike up to 5 feet away or even more sometimes from where they were laying so you do have some room to work around that to see what works for yourself personally

Ok, It just seems hard for me to get everything to float right. And what if the water is around 9 feet deep? How do I jig and float fish that? Sorry I know I have a lot of questions! I am also fishing an 8 1/2 pole with mono line, so this might not be the easiest way to fish floats?

Braid will help your line float on the water and give you a better drift. You will want to use a sliding float setup so you can set your depth as deep as you need it. We have a video in the link below showing you how to rig it up. Its a basic setup.

http://www.steelheadstalkers.com/tutori ... ishing.htm

Yes listen to chad. Also, I would recommend p- line hydrofloat as your float fishing line. It's a line designed specifically for float fishing and its pretty moderately priced. I believe its around $11 for a spool. I would also suggest getting a separate longer rod just for floating. Preferred lengths are 9 1/2 to 10th feet or maybe even longer than that. 8 1/2 will work if that's going to be your only option but longer is better when it comes to floating. It's better to have two rods setup for floating and drifting that way when you want to switch to a different technique you won't have to spend a bunch of time rigging up and you'll have the proper equipment already ready to go.

Who makes a goo 10 foot rod for under or near a hundred bucks that I should look into?

Also, will braided line work well if I wish to also drift fish and throw spoons and spinners?

We have used it drift fishing and spinner fishing and like it. Just remember to run a leader with it.

Patrick, go to bimart here in town and grab a 9ft6 medium berkley im8 for 80 or 90

Is 9'6" a good all around length for a multi purpose rod?

Yes, 9'6" is a good all around length for a fishing rod.

Thank you!

Bi-mart also has Okuma celilo rods for 50 bucks. i got a 9'6 one recently.

Do you like the rod?

from what i can tell its a great rod. but im new to steelheading. iv bent the hell out of it on the snags on the bottom though. cant wait to get a fish on it

When float fishin, start higher up in the water column. And each pass thru a slot, give yourself another 6-10" of depth. It is a heck of a lot easir for a fish to come up off the bottom to grab somethin, rather than have to dive to eat it.. I fish a section on the Sandy, where for spring kings, we run 4 feet... the hole is over 12, but we found that fish don't always hug the bottom, they find the easiest place in the laminar, or benthic flows to hold steadily. So that's why I always start shallow when fishing new water. Just another thing to try I 'spose.

Thanks guys! Other than that, do you just guess the depth, and depending on how the bobber reacts if it is touching bottom (leaning forwad) do you change it?