# Walking spawn gets anglers in touch with steelhead bites



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Walking spawn gets anglers in touch with steelhead bites 

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/statewide/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1166560805152930.xml&coll=1

12/23/06 by Bob Gwizdz (517) 487-8888 ext. 237 [email protected]

BERRIEN SPRINGS -- The chunk of spawn I was walking downstream bumped up against something -- a fallen tree or some such -- and as soon as I noticed, I lifted it up with the rod tip and shook it until I could feel it pop free. 

But as soon as I let out a little line, it stopped moving again. 

This time, however, when I shook it, it shook back. I swung the rod up over my shoulder and immediately became one with a 10-pound buck steelhead. In due course, I worked it upside the boat and Tim Shaffer slipped the landing net under him.

"That happens a lot," said Shaffer, a 35-year-old charterboat skipper who works the Lake Michigan in the summer and the St. Joseph River the other three seasons. "You hang up and when you pull free, the fish grabs it." 

To my way of thinking, the fish was sitting in the snag, waiting for something to come its way. And although I can't say for sure that I couldn't have caught that fish with another technique, walking spawn was certainly the perfect presentation for that particular piscatorial problem. 

Walking spawn may not be the preferred presentation of most St. Joe steelheaders, but it is certainly Shaffer's favorite way to fish. 

"I like feeling the bite," he says. 

Walking spawn involves anchoring upstream from the hole, where you expect the fish to be, then gradually working bait toward them. In that way, it resembles dropping back plugs more than bobber fishing or bottom bouncing, when anglers anchor alongside the runs they want to fish. 

In addition, walking spawn is a slower, more thorough technique than the side-anchoring approaches. 

To rig up, Shaffer slides a swivel on his line, a bead and then ties on a swivel. To the first swivel he adds a short (say 8 inches) length of monofilament (same test as his main line, generally 15-pound) to which he adds a snap. That dropper becomes his sinker line and with the snap, he can change weights -- the key to walking spawn -- easily.

For leader, Shaffer likes about 5 feet of lighter mono (we were using 10-pound test Maxima; Shaffer eschews fluorocarbon). He ties on a No. 2 Gamkatsu egg hook (he'll go to a No. 4 in ultraclear water, he said) with a snelled knot so he uses the mono running through the line and against the back of the hook to secure the spawn. 

We were using chunks of spawn about the size of large marbles up to about Ping-Pong ball-size. 

Choosing the right weight for the walk, said Shaffer, who uses anywhere from 3/8th to 1 1/2-ounce sinkers, is critical.

"Too light, you're not near the bottom where it needs to be," Shaffer said. "Too heavy, and you can't walk it back. 

"But better too heavy than too light. Sometimes when you're too light, they pick that bait up and they feel that weight and drop the spawn." 

That's the purpose of the sliding sinker; when a fish picks up the spawn, it can move off with it without feeling the weight. 

As for actually walking, you simply leave the reel in free-spool with your thumb on it. Raise the rod tip until you feel the sinker lift off the bottom, let a little line slip off the reel, clamp back down on it and repeat, repeat, repeat. Shaffer will walk his bait a L-O-N-G way. 

"Sometimes, noise on the boat or something pushes the fish back," he said. "You've got to get it back to them. And you've got to cover water." 

As for bait, Shaffer starts with salmon skein in the fall, but switches over to steelhead skein when the water gets cold. He washes and freezes the skein, but doesn't treat it with anything. 

"I think they'll bite salmon eggs all winter long," he said, "but steelhead eggs are better." 

Anglers can use spawn bags if they prefer, Shaffer said, though he prefers skein. 

After I caught the first fish, we went cold; it was 1 p.m. before Shaffer hooked another. But we caught two more in rapid succession and wound up with four. That, Shaffer said, matched the slowest day he's had this year. 

"Fishing's been good this year," he said. "The last couple of years have been real good, but there's been a lot of fish caught this year." 

To contact Shaffer, call (269) 921-6997.


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## Spanky (Mar 21, 2001)

Thanks HR, I think Bobby explained it pretty well. I also have spent some time with Tim, he is a good captain, and a riot to fish with.


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## catchnrelease (Nov 1, 2002)

Great info for us new to the 'walking the spawn' technique. I do mostly cranks, but know a guy here in Buchanan that does that and catches a ton of steelhead (@ 500+ last Winter), but he won't take me, darn it !!


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