I know, I know, this bruiser looks like a big B.C. steelhead, but it’s not…it’s actually a Chinook with a cool paint job. Nah, just kidding (though the fish is big enough to be a king). If you can believe it, the beast is a massive Kenai River rainbow! If you’ve ever wanted to try for the rainbow of a lifetime on fluff chucking gear, check out the article by Stacy Corbin in the Summer 2007 issue of Fish & Fly Magazine.
Feather River salmon “fly”
Forget the $40,000 jet boats and fancy gear.
Ditch the secret egg cures and custom-painted plugs.
All you really need to catch salmon on the Feather is one of these babies.
Simply cast out and let the rig settle on the bottom. Next, start cranking as fast as you can and punctuate your retrieve with violent yanks of the rod tip.
If you ever feel a pause or hesitation, take a swing like you’re Barry Freakin’ Bonds.
In fact, do that every so often even if you don’t feel anything…just for good measure.
The fish often take this fly with their bellies or tails. But don’t worry, they were just trying to crush their prey with their bodies before they consumed it with their mouths.
Oh yea, one more thing…this technique works best after dark. The fish just somehow seem to “bite” the Feather River Fly better when the sun’s down. And it’s especially effective in shallow waters that are closed to fishing.
Don’t forget to take as many fish home as you can fit into the trunk of your car…we’ve got too many damn salmon, anyway!
Pike, Pike, Baby!
Chillin’. The ice is a 1/2-foot thick; my gas-powered ice auger ought to do the trick…
Steelhead in the Saltwater: The Purple Unicorn
What the heck happens to steelhead in the ocean? Where do they go? While ocean anglers catch tens of thousands of salmon every season off the West Coast, steelhead are encountered about as often as purple unicorns.
Well, here’s maybe a hint: A couple buddies of mine were trolling big plugs at 8 mph for albacore 20 miles off the Northern California coast when something strange happened…they caught a steelhead.
When the 8-pound hatchery hen hit, it started going bananas, jumping all over the place behind the boat. The thought that it was steelhead never entered their minds. At first the guys figured they had a dorado on. Then they thought it might be a yellowtail. As it got closer, the steelie looked like a coho.
But when they got her boatside, the fish was obviously a steelhead — and a gorgeous one at that.
After a few quick photos, they let her go, knowing that they had just seen something that few anglers ever witness — a steelhead in saltwater.
A small sample size, to be sure, but perhaps this sheds a bit of light on the ocean migration patterns of sea-run rainbows. Could it be that they like a bit warmer water than do their salmon cousins — and thus live much furthers offshore? If steelies spent most of their salt time well off the coast, that would explain why so few are caught by salmon trollers.
I donna…just taking a guess here!
7X tippet and a No. 22 Zebra Midge?
Here I am with a big Alaskan ‘bow caught by a client of mine on the Nushagak River while we were backtrolling a “California Watermelon” K-15 Kwikfish on 60-lb. mono leader. So much for cobweb tippets and matching the hatch…
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