Fish with JD

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Help Fight the Good Fight!

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Here in Northern California, our fisheries are under attack from all sides! You have the huge water users down south that are lobbying our Governor and Fish & Wildlife Department to eradicate striped bass to help save salmon — all while they divert record amounts of life-giving water from our estuary.

Salmon are under siege as well. The same water diversions I mentioned above are wiping out our salmon runs. Then you have this new narrative from the state and feds that calls for reduced hatchery production in lieu of a wild fish program that will pay dividends, maybe, in 100-300 years (their words, not mine).

This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks! Steelhead, salmon, largemouth bass, panfish, sturgeon and many more of our beloved species are in the crosshairs right now!

What can you do? Well, if you are like most folks, you care about these fisheries you hold so dear…but you have family and job commitments that leave you with very little extra time.

The best thing you can do is drop $20 to join the Nor-Cal Guides and Sportsmen’s Association (www.ncgasa.org). Even without doing anything else, adding your name to the membership makes a big difference. When our association goes into meetings with policy makers and department heads, we can say we represent X-number of California anglers, it makes a big impact.

We are constantly fighting for our fisheries and your help in this endeavor helps immensely.

At NCGASA, our goal is to unite anglers of all persuasions — fly, bait, sport, commercial, fresh and salt so we have a united front with which to enter these fights.

Here’s a quick glimpse at some of the projects we have been involved in recently:

• NCGASA lobbied successfully to get 1 million extra salmon raised at Feather River hatchery

• Fought to get thousands of downer steelhead released into the Sacramento River.

• Worked on sediment removal projects on the Feather River.

• Constantly fighting against programs and legislation aimed at removing largemouth, smallmouth, spotted and striped bass from the Sacramento River/Delta system.

AND SO MUCH MORE!

Please, lend a hand (and your voice) to the fight for California fisheries by joining for $20.

We of course have plenty of need for volunteer assistance as well and if you’d like to get more involved, we’d be happy to have you. For more information, visit the website www.ncgasa.org

What makes people go crazy for steelhead?

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So just what is it about steelhead trout that makes people nutty…and do crazy things?

I was once doing a phone interview with a writer from a big East Coast magazine. From his cozy office in New York City, he asked me that very question.

It was hard for me to answer. I mean, with steelhead…you either get it or you don’t.

There are so many deep-seeded feelings and emotions for me that are tied to these fish that it’s almost impossible to articulate in a way that somebody on the outside can understand.

So, I spat out the first thing to come to mind:

“I fish for steelhead so I can see them up close…”

Huh?

And then, I just got on a roll and rattled off a total unabated stream of consciousness…

I fish for steelhead because I want to get as close to them as I can. I feel that they are like fine art, each one to be viewed quietly, taken in and remembered.

I told him that I have never felt more alive and in touch with the world – and myself – as when I’m standing in a misty canyon, with a ribbon of emerald flowing in front of me.

Steelhead haunt my dreams and run through my veins.

They have taken me to the top of the mountain and they have broken my heart. I’ve bled for them; I’ve frozen for them and I’ve driven, flown, hiked and floated thousands and thousands of miles for them…and there’s not a single day of the year that I don’t think about them.

Steelhead make me straight up crazy. Even on dry land, I can close my eyes and literally feel what that moment of first contact is like, that initial tight line surge. And I can make my heart rate jump by simply imagining a float going under or a plug rod going off. Oh man…the plug takedown of a steelhead…wow…if that doesn’t get your juices flowing, you’d better check your pulse because you’re probably dead.

Steelhead make me want to follow every single anadramous river from the mouth to the source – and then float back down them again. They make me think irrational thoughts like maybe I should just sell the house and get a toy hauler that fits a drift boat and hit the open road…and never come back!

They drive me to drink; they drive me to the limits –mentally, physically, emotionally. Steelhead make me wear the numbers off my credit cards and sometimes pull the hairs off my head.

They give me this insatiable desire to fix all the damage that has been done to the rivers they call home. They drive me to pick up trash, fight for flows, plant trees and dump spawning gravel by the truckload into the water.

Steelhead are the fish I’d miss Christmas for and the reason I got married during the offseason. They give me sweaty palms and weak knees. Though I’ve probably shaved at least a year off my life expectancy due to all the junk food consumed on steelie road trips, I also believe that every day you fish for steelhead is one you get to tack onto the end.

And speaking of the end, if I had a choice, I’d go steelhead fishing on my last day on the planet. I’ve informed my family what to do when my time is about up: Take me to the top of some whitewater gorge with a drift boat and a couple rods. No need for a life jacket or a shuttle…it will be my last ride. Hopefully, there will be a couple biters along the way!

Steelhead are responsible for all the drift and float and plug and fly and center pin rods…the jigs and stacks of Pip’s and boxes of plugs; the BC Steels and the spinner boxes; the Slinkies and pink worms; the two deflated pontoon boats; the Fish Pills all over the floor; the nets and waders and boots and pink stained fridge – that all make my garage useless to terrestrial vehicles.

They’ve also ruined many a potentially productive day in the office…all it takes is a photo or a text from somebody on the river and I’m worthless the rest of the afternoon.

Steelhead are why my favorite color is green — because it reminds me of the perfect hue of a river just coming into shape and the giant redwoods that stand on its banks. And because of the dorsal color of one of those awesome looking bucks that’s transitioning from ocean chrome to river camo – olive back and a faint pink cheek and stripe peeking out from silver flanks.

In short, steelhead are epic, nearly indescribable critters that make me tick and dream and feel alive. I’m not at all sure the interviewer ever really got the message but I bet you all do…

Backtrolling for Salmon & Steelhead: How to get more bites to stick!

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You have probably heard that the best way to convert bites to hookups when backtrolling for salmon & steelhead is to leave the rods in the holders, right? But has anyone ever explained why?

Way back in the 1980’s I was just learning to plug fish and had always been told the same thing. But it didn’t make sense!

I figured I’d ignore conventional wisdom and set the hook anytime I got so much as a sniff from a fish. After all, I reasoned, why would a fish hang onto a lure for long once it felt it was hard plastic? It just didn’t make sense!

Well, sure missed a heck of a lot of bites in those days…until I started putting the rods in the holders.

Here’s why:

Take a look at the pix above and think about this: When you are backing plugs down a river, you and your rods are facing downriver while the fish are facing upstream.

When a fish first contacts your plug, he’s typically at the worst possible angle for getting a hook into him. If you were to set the hook when you are facing each other, there’s not a lot of good jaw there to get a point into. Plus, you’re pulling the lure straight away from him — like pulling a spoon out of a baby’s mouth.

When the rod is in the holder, however, you give the fish a chance to chomp down on the plug and then turn downstream with it. As the fish is winking away from you, the hooks have a better chance to bury in the corner of the jaw (where they often stay put).

By the time you get to the rod, the fish has usually hooked itself.

Of course, not all fish bite the same way and this is anything but a fool proof method. But, give it a shot and I’m sure you’ll see that your bites to fish in the net ratios go way up.

By the way, the same principle applies when you are fishing bait behind divers…let em eat it!

Plunking for High-water Steelhead

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When a steelhead river has just crested after a big rain and is beginning to drop, it’s usually still too high to fish with traditional methods. But that doesn’t mean you can’t catch fish!

When flows are up, you just need to switch tactics and get a little “catfishy” in your approach. Plunking fits that bill nicely and will help you catch fish when the flows are up.

First, a quick look at a simple plunking rig. The idea here is to use enough weight to anchor your gear to the bottom (unlike normal steelhead fishing methods, we don’t want it to drift while plunking) and wait for the fish to come to you.

I’ll always use some sort of big and loud attractor like a Size 2-4 Spin-N-Glo or Flashing & Spinning Cheater. You can go with just this and catch steelies but it never hurts to add a little bonus bait on there — roe, sand shrimp, etc. work well.

High water steelhead will avoid the heavy flows out in the middle of the river and instead travel narrow lanes that are very close to shore.

That’s where you want to cast your rig. It depends on the size of the river, but shorter casts are always better when the water’s up. Sometimes you’ll need to toss 20 feet out and others you’ll only need to make a 5-foot lob.

Plunking is a relaxing, often social affair in which you put your rod in a holder or a forked stick and then plop down on a nice chair and shoot the breeze with your fellow anglers. Or, when it’s wet, you can hang out inside the truck.

Some anglers put a bell on their rod to signal when they get a bite. Speaking of rods, for plunking you’ll need a stouter outfit than you’d normally run for steelhead because you’ll need heavy lead to keep your gear put.

I like a 12-25 lb outfit with 40-pound braid. Spinning or casting is fine…that’s up to personal preference.

Want more info? Check out my huge 300 page eBook, The Ultimate Guide to Steelhead Bank Fishing.

How to get good at Steelhead

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Looking to up your steelhead game? Well, look no further! Here’s 300 pages of in-depth how-to info that will show you everything you need to know to get into that “10 percent of anglers who catch 90 percent of the fish” category!

The info in here will save you countless hours, days, weeks of trying to learn on your own…all for under $12!

Available on Kindle HERE or, if you’d rather have it on your computer so you can print it on your own, get the PDF version.