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Plunking for Winter Steelhead

33K views 29 replies 16 participants last post by  Trick 
#1 ·
Most guys drift fish for winter steelhead. I know there are some dedicated plunkers down south of the boarder. What kind of success do these guys encounter? I know we get a lot of spring steelhead when plunking (bar fishing) for chinook. We target migrating fish. I imagine the same could be said for the smaller systems. Does anyone have any tips they would like to share?
 
#27 ·
Scooby hit it right on the button regarding sandshrimp, imo, so I'm just reiterating what he said. Pump them fresh if you can, keep them cold, keep them dry, and give them lots of space to spread out. Shredded newspaper (changed frequently) works good, and fresh moss has also worked very well for me. If you buy them, whatever you do don't leave them in the container they came in. I have success storing them in a large plastic storage bin kept in my bait fridge, and I only take fishing what I am prepared to use that day.
 
#28 ·
OK Tshickam,

Are you going to share a little more info on the lower mainstam?

I asked a question about exactly this subject several months back and got veryy little input.

Just point me in the general direction, give me a depth to work with, and I can run with it from there.

Thanks
 
#29 ·
We fish several different beaches off several different islands. We fish off of Oregon river beaches below Puget island in Washington. We run out to the beaches in small boats in the 12'-14' range and we run them onto the beaches and fish the out-going tides. We hit it when the river opens up in May and fish it through most of summer months.

Look for any beaches that have sand and don't drop off extremly fast. It has been a general feeling of mine that people cast to far off the shoreline when plunking. The river runs hard on the out-going tide and I believe the fish run closer to shore to avoid the heavier current. I'm fishing in about 5' to 15' of water or so depending on tide height and sometimes less than that.


If your looking for places to fish run along the main channel and look for boats and people and you'll find the spots. Don't forget your bell, chair, cooler of beverages and spf-30 or better. It's the most relaxing fishing I know and very productive.

The best colors for us last spring and summer were size 4 ghost and clown spin-n-glos and for the springers we caught and had to release, #2 green or red/chartruese in #2. We even released a 20 lb'r that was fin-clipped but according to the regs at the time we couldn't keep it. Maybe this year we will be able to retain fin-clip springers in that zone??? I like to keep it simple when rigging up and I use lots of shrimp scent.

I've caught winter runs out there before but like I said the weather sucks and you don't want to be running in a puddle jumper when the gails are blowing. Makes for a pretty miserable day.


Maybe I'll see you out there in a few months?

[ 06-22-2001: Message edited by: tshickam ]
 
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