Sadly, we can’t always have perfect “steelie green” water conditions on the river. There are times when the water is still way up high and a few days away from ideal…but you just have to fish anyway. What to do?
Go Plunking, that’s what!
Plunking is a lot like glorified catfishing: You toss your gear out and put your rod in a holder or against a forked stick and wait for a bite. Not exactly what you imagine when you think about steelhead fishing, but it can actually be pretty fun…and productive!
Timing
Each river has its own schedule for dropping and clearing, but the best time to plunk is usually 1 to 5 days after the high water has peaked. You definitely want to fish when the water is on the drop (steelies don’t usually bite very well on a rising river) and you need the river to have more green than brown color to it. It will still probably be up in the trees and you’ll often be dealing with only a foot of visibility or so, but that’s ok.
Location
Most plunking is done on the lower sections of rivers, where the chance at fresh migrating steelhead is best. In high water, steelhead will avoid the main channel and instead migrate up the soft edges on the shallow side of the river. Inside bends are best and you usually don’t have to cast more than about 20 feet out. In some cases, the fish will be right at your feet, so avoid the urge to cast long distances. High water looks intimidating, but in reality, you can eliminate 99 percent of the river and just concentrate your efforts on the near-shore areas that feature less current.
Tackle & Technique
The idea here is to find a nice travel lane and anchor your gear right in the middle of it so migrating fish have no choice but to see your offering. Unlike traditional steelhead fishing, in which we normally want our gear drifting along the bottom, plunking calls for keeping your bait in one spot. In high water, that means using big sinkers — sometimes up to 10 ounces, depending on the spot. You’ll need much heavier gear than you are used to for this technique, so using a standard 8- to 17-pound rated outfit for plunking is like taking a butter knife to a sword fight.
Straight Spin-N-Glos or Spinning/Flashing Cheaters are good offerings for this technique, but I love to put some bait on the hook to sweeten the deal — either roe or sand shrimp work well. Once you are rigged and have found a nice soft water edge, toss the rig out and make sure it stays anchored to the bottom. If not, add more weight or cast closer to shore. Then, use a stick or sand spike style holder for the rod. Some people like to put a bell on the rod to alert them when a fish bites. Plunking is a pretty social scene in a lot of places, so folks often get busy shooting the bull, listening to ball games and barbecuing — and forget to watch their rod tips!
Since by design, you will be fishing shortly after a high water event, be sure to check your rig frequently. There will still be a lot of junk coming down the river that can foul your gear.
By the way, if you’d like to see how all this is done in detail, along with everything you could ever want to know about catching steelies from shore, check out my 6+ hour long video course, The Ultimate Guide to Steelhead Bank Fishing!
(NOTE: This is an excerpt from my eBook 
When the sinker touches down on the bottom, smoothly lift the tip and then gently drop it back down, feeling for the tap of the lead on the rocks. If you don’t feel the sinker hit, let a short blast of line line slip out from under your thumb and then try to find the bottom again. Normally, you’ll have to repeat this process a few times to get enough scope out to feel the bottom on every drop of the tip.
The term “back-bouncing” is a bit misleading. What we’re really trying to do here is slowly “walk” the sinker downriver 6 inches to a foot at a time as the boat slips downstream at about one-half of the river’s speed. The word “boucing” implies herky jerky rod movement but instead you’re looking for a nice, easy pace. Lift, let the current walk the lure back, drop and pause for a second or two. Repeat. Remember, you’re not trying to impart a jigging action to the lure with the lift and drop routine. The objective is to simply keep the lure and lead following the contours of the bottom so you stay “in the zone” and out ahead (downstream) of the boat.
Feeling the bottom is one of the trickiest parts to pick up — especially on the initial drop. If, after a few bounces, you have not made contact with the riverbed, simply reel up and start over. When you are first learning, you may not feel the sinker hit bottom and then continue letting line out as you search for it. What’s often going on here is your lead is lying on the bottom and you’ve got an ever-growing bow in your line between the tip and the sinker. As the boat moves through the run, you pass your lead and it usually ends up getting snagged.
Some folks like to sit, as if anchored, right over the fish and wait until one loses its cool and attacks. I prefer a more proactive approach and will let the boat slip ever-so-slowly down through the hole. Periodically check for the bottom and reel up or freespool more line as necessary.
The good ol’ classic 
I already covered the jumbo plugs I like in those extremely slow, froggy pools but for most situations, I go a bit smaller. A great all-around back-bouncing plug is the silver/chartreuse bill 
To catch a big trout the next time you go stream fishing, ditch all the usual stuff — salmon eggs, small spinners and worms — and give the fish something meatier: Jerk Baits!
The old balsa and plastic baits I used as a kid were basically cast out and crank-in types of lures. The modern ripbait’s function is to be tossed out and retrieved with an aggressive popping (ripping) of the rod trip and cranking of the reel, punctuated with frequent pauses.
They’re a bit pricey (typically around $14 to $16 a pop), but the little Pointer 65’s will get straight up medieval on rainbows, browns, cutties, dollies and brookies. They’ve got an erratic side-to-side darting action that I just don’t think any other lure can touch. I actually started fishing the larger versions for stripers and eventually added Pointers to my trout kit. Now, I hardly throw anything else – spinners, spoons and crawlers included.
I generally start out with a rip-rip-pause-rip-rip-rip-pause type of retrieve and then experiment from there. The fish will tell you how they want it on a given day – just keep varying your cadence until a pattern develops. And try to keep the speed up – remember, we’re looking for a reaction strike here.
Pair the rod up with a quick-retrieve spinning reel. The