# New to steelies



## pinespointhunter (Sep 4, 2015)

I live in a great place for steelhead fishing but have no idea what I'm doing. Are tear drop's under a bobber with a mousie or wax worm any good? Does it matter what kind of bobber? Or is it better using artificial plastic bait or spinner bait? I don't have eggs or are the eggs at wesco good? Where is the best place in the river to find them? And time of day? All the beginner stuff. 

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## Fishontippydam (Dec 29, 2017)

All rivers or areas of the river vary. Slow water, fast water. Shallow water, deep water ect. To get a better answer, need to be more specific. Typically for slow, deep, cold water floats work well. Teardrop will work. Some make own hair jigs. Some use a fly or fly tipped with bait. Some use bait with plain hook. Some use beads and other things. Float depends on size of water. Long casts, short casts. Almost any float will work in short cast situations. Long cast situations may require certain floats. Most elite fisherman will even modify floats with weights in these long cast situations. Often times in both situations, is figuring out how, to eliminate tangles between the the float and hook. Getting the proper combination for float fishing can be very pricy too. Rod, reel, line, floats can add up well over a grand for a picky fisherman. Best place to start is a long, float rod. Longer the better in most cases. I use 13ft+ with fast/medium fast action. U get what u pay for. Here in mich you see most using spinning reels or center pin reels. I took my center pin out west when I was stationed there. Nobody except oldtimmers ever saw them before. Most out west use spinning or baitcast reels. I would personally choose waxies over wesco spawn.


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## 101thwacK (Sep 7, 2017)

I am no pro by any means but here is a little bit of what I have experienced. When I started fishing I used tear drops also but found with wax worms I have always done best with tube jigs, either from Jammin Jigs or hand painted with nail polish from Voodoo custom tackle, or Yakima maxi jigs tipped with a waxy. I will start with smaller size if the river conditions are low and clear and larger size if river is high and dirty.
Time of day I was told use the most pleasant time of day rule. The most pleasant time of day for you to be on the river is when they will be most active. So if it is cold out mid day will typically be warmest so that is best. When it gets hotter but is cool during the morning and evening those are going to be the more pleasant time and more fish active time.
A lot goes into choosing a float for an experienced steelheader. When i was starting out I told use Thill steelhead floats. Id say most important things about a float are 1. Learning how what it is doing tells you a lot about how your bait is being presented to the fish and 2. There should be enough weight under it that the fish does not feel resistance when pulling it under.
I have used spinning tackle float fishing or fly fished for 4 years but just bought a centerpin this weekend. Havent even gotten out to use it yet. Super excited.
One thing that helped me a lot when I started out is a guy by the name of Roger Hinchcliff at Steelhead Manifesto. He has a website with lots of intsructive articles and a youtube channel with lots of instruction and tips. Again take it with a grain off salt I am still learning more everday and there are a lot of guys on the river that could out fish me still.


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## dirtyfisheyes187 (Jul 12, 2017)

Buy a centerpin 
You’ll love it fighting fish
And use 10mm beads and they are not to picky on color. Pink did great for me last year


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Forget the centerpin. That’s a completely ridiculous thing to even suggest to a complete novice.

Just search these forums dude, and you’ll find all the info you need. Start simple, and learn to drift fish aka bottom bounce the holes with spawn. Try that for awhile, get a few fish under your belt, then when you’re comfortable and confident, branch out to bobber fishing with a long rod and spinning reel. Don’t get sucked into the mainstream stuff right away; all you’ll do is frustrate and overwhelm yourself. 

Fish whenever you get the chance. Early morning, and the last couple hours before dark are great times, anytime of year. During winter, the latter half of the day can be hot. Your beginning focus should be learning to read water, maintaining a smooth drift, and proper rigging. Don’t even worry about hooking fish or not. The rest will come together on its own. Good luck my man.


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## wyandot (Dec 5, 2013)

ausable_steelhead said:


> Forget the centerpin. That’s a completely ridiculous thing to even suggest to a complete novice.
> 
> Just search these forums dude, and you’ll find all the info you need. Start simple, and learn to drift fish aka bottom bounce the holes with spawn. Try that for awhile, get a few fish under your belt, then when you’re comfortable and confident, branch out to bobber fishing with a long rod and spinning reel. Don’t get sucked into the mainstream stuff right away; all you’ll do is frustrate and overwhelm yourself.
> 
> Fish whenever you get the chance. Early morning, and the last couple hours before dark are great times, anytime of year. During winter, the latter half of the day can be hot. Your beginning focus should be learning to read water, maintaining a smooth drift, and proper rigging. Don’t even worry about hooking fish or not. The rest will come together on its own. Good luck my man.


I'll add to this. I really enjoy fishing my centerpins, but they are not a necessity. A decent spinning reel with 6-8lb. mono. and a 9'6" med light rod will get it done just about anywhere in this state. Jigs and waxworms have probably accounted for as many winter steelhead over the last 50 years as any other method, and that includes teardrops. Deeper, Darker, Slower water is typically most productive this time of year. As far as bobbers are concerned, when I fished spinning tackle, I really liked Raven's FX series slip bobbers in the 7 and 10 gram sizes as they were a bit more streamlined than other floats and a lot easier to work with in deeper holes.


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## pinespointhunter (Sep 4, 2015)

ausable_steelhead said:


> Forget the centerpin. That’s a completely ridiculous thing to even suggest to a complete novice.
> 
> Just search these forums dude, and you’ll find all the info you need. Start simple, and learn to drift fish aka bottom bounce the holes with spawn. Try that for awhile, get a few fish under your belt, then when you’re comfortable and confident, branch out to bobber fishing with a long rod and spinning reel. Don’t get sucked into the mainstream stuff right away; all you’ll do is frustrate and overwhelm yourself.
> 
> Fish whenever you get the chance. Early morning, and the last couple hours before dark are great times, anytime of year. During winter, the latter half of the day can be hot. Your beginning focus should be learning to read water, maintaining a smooth drift, and proper rigging. Don’t even worry about hooking fish or not. The rest will come together on its own. Good luck my man.


How can you tell if your drifting good? Pretty new to river fishing 

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## flyrodder46 (Dec 31, 2011)

pinespointhunter said:


> How can you tell if your drifting good? Pretty new to river fishing
> 
> Sent from my C6743 using Tapatalk


That is a double edge sword. Start by learning to read the water, seams, depth, etc.
As for depth of offering, if the float seems to be jumping or hanging you are too deep, shorten your leader to float distance, if it goes smoothly down stream each drift then lengthen the distance a little until it hits bottom in the run, then shorten about 6". In general if the float is leaning upstream then the offering is in front of the float (where you want it), if the float is leaning down stream then the offering is below or behind the float (not good). In certain conditions you may even need to check up or "trot" the float a little because the surface speed of the water is faster than the river bottom. It shouldn't take you long to figure this out.
Watch your float and keep the line mended to give you a smooth drift through the hole, keep the line as straight as possible between float and rod tip. No slack line.
Not much, but hopefully it helps a little.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

pinespointhunter said:


> How can you tell if your drifting good? Pretty new to river fishing
> 
> Sent from my C6743 using Tapatalk


Your drift should move steadily along, with the tick-tick of bottom every few feet. Remember, the bottom will feel different depending on what the substrate is.

Sand is soft and won’t give you much to feel. That’s fine. Clay is very grabby, and you’ll have to pop your rig off it every now and then. Gravel and rocks will have a lot of ticking.

A fish doesn’t really feel like bottom, more like a lively tap..tap..grab!. Sometimes, sluggish winter fish will just stop it, then you’ll feel the taps. During winter, it’s okay to over-weight your rig a bit, as that somewhat slowed drift can make a difference in ice water. Mostly though, your weight should match the speed of the current.


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## stickbow shooter (Dec 19, 2010)

I remember when I first moved back to the Wellston area after being away for awhile. I got the itch to hit the big river, so when I started to gather up a few things to go my brother said , man what are you doing. Guys don't fish like that anymore. We use centerpins, jigs or beads. I replied, there isn't anything wrong with me using my old Cardinal reel and my 9`6 8 wt. sage that I have used over the past 30 plus years. Never has let me down. I can roll the bottom and can float with it. Why change lol.


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## jr28schalm (Mar 16, 2006)

stickbow shooter said:


> I remember when I first moved back to the Wellston area after being away for awhile. I got the itch to hit the big river, so when I started to gather up a few things to go my brother said , man what are you doing. Guys don't fish like that anymore. We use centerpins, jigs or beads. I replied, there isn't anything wrong with me using my old Cardinal reel and my 9`6 8 wt. sage that I have used over the past 30 plus years. Never has let me down. I can roll the bottom and can float with it. Why change lol.


Im curious what kind of rod and tackle did you pull out during salmon season thou?..lol...


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## stickbow shooter (Dec 19, 2010)

Believe it or not I used the same rig, even in the little river. Just jumped up to 10 pound maxima line. Ran it straight no leader. Now I will tell ya I got my butt handed to me alot. But then again I could care less if I ever eat another salmon once the hit the rivers. I do use an old eagle claw on salmon when chucking thundersticks.


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## Clum (May 11, 2015)

Heres a couple quick reads that might help you out:

https://www.fix.com/blog/locating-trout-in-a-stream/

http://neophyteflyfishingbasics.com/?page_id=670


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## backalley (Feb 20, 2018)

The most important part of steelhead fishing is to always refer to them as 'steelies' so people know you can talk-the-talk which immediately and obviously conveys you can additionally walk-the-walk in the sport of fishing. 

Backalley


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## jr28schalm (Mar 16, 2006)

stickbow shooter said:


> Believe it or not I used the same rig, even in the little river. Just jumped up to 10 pound maxima line. Ran it straight no leader. Now I will tell ya I got my butt handed to me alot. But then again I could care less if I ever eat another salmon once the hit the rivers. I do use an old eagle claw on salmon when chucking thundersticks.


I figured short micky mouse pole and wellston ticklers..Cause flossing wasn't popular back then..lol


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## stickbow shooter (Dec 19, 2010)

jr28schalm said:


> I figured short micky mouse pole and wellston ticklers..Cause flossing wasn't popular back then..lol


Kinda figured that's what you were getting at. Nope no snagging here.


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## BMARKS (Nov 6, 2017)

stickbow shooter said:


> Kinda figured that's what you were getting at. Nope no snagging here.


If you dont fish with bobbers on this site your are a snagger. its been displayed many many times.


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## BMARKS (Nov 6, 2017)

but honestly ausable steelhead had some very good advice. i would learn to feel bottom and structure and identify bites before i stared in the bobber game.


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## brian0013 (Feb 11, 2011)

ausable_steelhead said:


> Forget the centerpin. That’s a completely ridiculous thing to even suggest to a complete novice.
> 
> Just search these forums dude, and you’ll find all the info you need. Start simple, and learn to drift fish aka bottom bounce the holes with spawn. Try that for awhile, get a few fish under your belt, then when you’re comfortable and confident, branch out to bobber fishing with a long rod and spinning reel. Don’t get sucked into the mainstream stuff right away; all you’ll do is frustrate and overwhelm yourself.
> 
> Fish whenever you get the chance. Early morning, and the last couple hours before dark are great times, anytime of year. During winter, the latter half of the day can be hot. Your beginning focus should be learning to read water, maintaining a smooth drift, and proper rigging. Don’t even worry about hooking fish or not. The rest will come together on its own. Good luck my man.


But he’d look real cool with a Center pin lol


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## wyandot (Dec 5, 2013)

BMARKS said:


> If you dont fish with bobbers on this site your are a snagger. its been displayed many many times.


What gives you this idea? I've always felt this is a pretty good bunch of guys.


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