First Bite
08-01-2006, 12:52 AM
It had been almost a year since the last time I fished this little pool secluded from the highway. This stretch of water is located in the canyon of a coast river that receives a small run of both hatchery and native springers along with hatchery summer steelhead. When fishing with jigs, it's quite common to hook both springers and steelhead on the same day and even in the same pool. With water temperatures around 55-59 degrees, these fish are at their peak metabolism and when hooked will go completely nuts with long sustained runs and the most amazing acrobatic jumps you'll ever see a fish do.
As I walked down the trail I could see the afternoon shade was covering the deep section on the far side of the pool. With my polarized glasses I started searching the water for resting fish. As my eyes neared the tailout I came across two, then about a half-dozen more silvery ghosts. Several fresh steelhead and a few springers were lying comfortably in the cool water completely unaware of my presence. As I stood above, watching the fish, one of them rolled underwater resulting in a brief flash of chrome. You can always tell the really fresh fish by their almost translucent fins and snow bellies. The majority of the fish were lying in the upper end of the tailout which had a nice boulder strewn bottom and was around 6-8 feet deep. Perfect water for a float and jig presentation.
I felt my chance for a hook-up on the first cast was pretty good since these fish appeared to be comfortable in their surroundings. I checked my reel drag setting to make sure it was set just right. I then adjusted the small round cork to run the jig about five feet deep. After checking the knot position on the small red jig so it will lay straight in the water, I cast the tiny cork and jig about twenty feet ahead of the resting fish. Immediately I made a quick mend of my line, reeling in the remaining slack as I lowered my rod tip to the water. I watched the half submerged little cork slowly turn upright with the orange peg sticking straight up indicating my jig was positioned below the float. The cork was barely visible just hovering above the water. Then it happened; the first quick little bump, the bump you get when it looks like a trout lightly tapped your bait. This quick little take resulted in the cork barely twitching. A few seconds elapsed, then a second bump. I could see movement in the water under the float so I knew the fish were interested. If my offering had spooked them, they would have bolted for cover. Finally I had a take that slowly submerged the 1" cork just under the water. I reeled in the slack and stung the surprised steelhead, which immediately became airborne and spit the hook with his first head shake. Sometimes the chase is just as fun as the catch. The steelhead had taken away my element of surprise and my next few casts were for the most part ignored until I added a small piece of fresh sardine. This is a great little bait that gives the fish something different to look at. I adjusted my float to run a little deeper and again cast well ahead of the fish. A light wind had picked up, making it difficult to see into the water, so I focused all my attention to every movement of the cork. As I watched the float it suddenly began to ever so slightly slip under, only to come back creating a tiny ripple from the cork. This bite was different from the quick little hits I had before. I began to cautiously reel in my remaining slack line, all the time keeping an eye on the float. It was then I saw the next take. The cork partially submerged and then slowly slipped under. This time I reeled down and felt the heavy weight of a big fish. The delicate take turned out to be a bright Springer that was rested and ready to tear up my light steelhead gear. My leader was 8-pound mono and I've landed plenty of Springers with this line but I've lost several nice fish too. You just hope the line doesn't get caught in their teeth. This fish pulled like a train and stayed deep in the pool which was what I expected. What he did next was totally unexpected. I had my rod tip low trying to get the fish to come towards the front of the hole, when he bull-dogged his way to the far side and to my complete amazement, he started to bury into the riffles and was working his way up river. Now I was scrambling to keep constant pressure on the fish but also keep the leader from being frayed on the rocks. The water was about two feet deep so I waded into the middle of the river, (forgetting all about my wallet and cell phone) trying to see the fish, but he blended right into the frothy water which camouflaged his body. The Springer cherry-picked his way through the riffles with me in pursuit. At one point the line was caught on a log but I still managed to free it. The fish had entered the next tailout when I lowered the rod tip to the water pulling on the lateral side of the Buck. Within a few seconds I reached down and tailed the fish. I laid down my rod and with my other hand I held the firm belly of the Springer. The sun shone down as I cradled the fish in the clear water. He was right around 15-pounds and a picture of beauty with his broad shoulders and flawless body. I unpinned the jig that was hanging tight on his upper jaw all the time watching him rest in the water. He was ready to go but I held him for another few seconds just so I could admire him. When I gently released my grip, he flicked his massive tail, splashing me as he swam away to the deep water and disappeared.
What could've been a missed opportunity turned out to be the catch of the day. Some of the hardest water for float and jig fishing are the slow moving sections where the fish can see your offering and have plenty of time to decide if they like it. A majority of these takes are hard to detect since the fish is simply closing his mouth on your jig. Combine that with the lack of current pulling on the float and most takes are easily missed. This makes having a perfectly balanced float set-up even more crucial to your hook-up ratio. One of my favorite floats for these conditions is the small round corks. The natural appearance of the cork won't spook wary fish and you can use them as a fixed or sliding float. I use the smallest cork possible so the weight of the jig partially submerges the cork. I like to keep it simple by running my mainline through the cork and peg it as a fixed float. If I'm using mono, then I'll run the line right to the jig thus only needing one knot. This set-up is about as simple as you can get but still be very effective. This is my go-to method for fishing the shallow riffles in the summer when you might be fishing 18" of water or less.
Another option is to run braided line as your mainline. Tie your braided line to one end of a small swivel and 6 or 8-pound mono as your leader. I think it's a good idea to have some stretch in your line and any quality mono leader is a great choice. An advantage of having braided line is if you hang up on the bottom, you always break off the leader retrieving your float and swivel. When using braided line it's a good idea to keep your drag set on the loose side. Not much effort is needed to set the hook.
Have fun fishing!
Mark
As I walked down the trail I could see the afternoon shade was covering the deep section on the far side of the pool. With my polarized glasses I started searching the water for resting fish. As my eyes neared the tailout I came across two, then about a half-dozen more silvery ghosts. Several fresh steelhead and a few springers were lying comfortably in the cool water completely unaware of my presence. As I stood above, watching the fish, one of them rolled underwater resulting in a brief flash of chrome. You can always tell the really fresh fish by their almost translucent fins and snow bellies. The majority of the fish were lying in the upper end of the tailout which had a nice boulder strewn bottom and was around 6-8 feet deep. Perfect water for a float and jig presentation.
I felt my chance for a hook-up on the first cast was pretty good since these fish appeared to be comfortable in their surroundings. I checked my reel drag setting to make sure it was set just right. I then adjusted the small round cork to run the jig about five feet deep. After checking the knot position on the small red jig so it will lay straight in the water, I cast the tiny cork and jig about twenty feet ahead of the resting fish. Immediately I made a quick mend of my line, reeling in the remaining slack as I lowered my rod tip to the water. I watched the half submerged little cork slowly turn upright with the orange peg sticking straight up indicating my jig was positioned below the float. The cork was barely visible just hovering above the water. Then it happened; the first quick little bump, the bump you get when it looks like a trout lightly tapped your bait. This quick little take resulted in the cork barely twitching. A few seconds elapsed, then a second bump. I could see movement in the water under the float so I knew the fish were interested. If my offering had spooked them, they would have bolted for cover. Finally I had a take that slowly submerged the 1" cork just under the water. I reeled in the slack and stung the surprised steelhead, which immediately became airborne and spit the hook with his first head shake. Sometimes the chase is just as fun as the catch. The steelhead had taken away my element of surprise and my next few casts were for the most part ignored until I added a small piece of fresh sardine. This is a great little bait that gives the fish something different to look at. I adjusted my float to run a little deeper and again cast well ahead of the fish. A light wind had picked up, making it difficult to see into the water, so I focused all my attention to every movement of the cork. As I watched the float it suddenly began to ever so slightly slip under, only to come back creating a tiny ripple from the cork. This bite was different from the quick little hits I had before. I began to cautiously reel in my remaining slack line, all the time keeping an eye on the float. It was then I saw the next take. The cork partially submerged and then slowly slipped under. This time I reeled down and felt the heavy weight of a big fish. The delicate take turned out to be a bright Springer that was rested and ready to tear up my light steelhead gear. My leader was 8-pound mono and I've landed plenty of Springers with this line but I've lost several nice fish too. You just hope the line doesn't get caught in their teeth. This fish pulled like a train and stayed deep in the pool which was what I expected. What he did next was totally unexpected. I had my rod tip low trying to get the fish to come towards the front of the hole, when he bull-dogged his way to the far side and to my complete amazement, he started to bury into the riffles and was working his way up river. Now I was scrambling to keep constant pressure on the fish but also keep the leader from being frayed on the rocks. The water was about two feet deep so I waded into the middle of the river, (forgetting all about my wallet and cell phone) trying to see the fish, but he blended right into the frothy water which camouflaged his body. The Springer cherry-picked his way through the riffles with me in pursuit. At one point the line was caught on a log but I still managed to free it. The fish had entered the next tailout when I lowered the rod tip to the water pulling on the lateral side of the Buck. Within a few seconds I reached down and tailed the fish. I laid down my rod and with my other hand I held the firm belly of the Springer. The sun shone down as I cradled the fish in the clear water. He was right around 15-pounds and a picture of beauty with his broad shoulders and flawless body. I unpinned the jig that was hanging tight on his upper jaw all the time watching him rest in the water. He was ready to go but I held him for another few seconds just so I could admire him. When I gently released my grip, he flicked his massive tail, splashing me as he swam away to the deep water and disappeared.
What could've been a missed opportunity turned out to be the catch of the day. Some of the hardest water for float and jig fishing are the slow moving sections where the fish can see your offering and have plenty of time to decide if they like it. A majority of these takes are hard to detect since the fish is simply closing his mouth on your jig. Combine that with the lack of current pulling on the float and most takes are easily missed. This makes having a perfectly balanced float set-up even more crucial to your hook-up ratio. One of my favorite floats for these conditions is the small round corks. The natural appearance of the cork won't spook wary fish and you can use them as a fixed or sliding float. I use the smallest cork possible so the weight of the jig partially submerges the cork. I like to keep it simple by running my mainline through the cork and peg it as a fixed float. If I'm using mono, then I'll run the line right to the jig thus only needing one knot. This set-up is about as simple as you can get but still be very effective. This is my go-to method for fishing the shallow riffles in the summer when you might be fishing 18" of water or less.
Another option is to run braided line as your mainline. Tie your braided line to one end of a small swivel and 6 or 8-pound mono as your leader. I think it's a good idea to have some stretch in your line and any quality mono leader is a great choice. An advantage of having braided line is if you hang up on the bottom, you always break off the leader retrieving your float and swivel. When using braided line it's a good idea to keep your drag set on the loose side. Not much effort is needed to set the hook.
Have fun fishing!
Mark