A Serious Discussion On Clear Water Stealth

Just kidding. Ha ha haaaah . Serious discussion? - hee hee heeee. Been too much serious crap on here lately, so time for a little ribbing for the unsteatlhy. And a suggestion here and there for the stupid. OK, non-stupid guys that are still learning to fish (better?). ...

With every season having a number of days of fishing in very clear water for weary salmon and steelhead, and some having a lot of days that way, why do some guys clank their metal driftboats on shallow rocks entering right into a hole on top of the fish sitting in the upper riffles, and expect to catch them? How about parking it on the bank above and carefully approach the next hole slowly on foot; or even your dang hands and knees if you aren't hooking up and fish are present in that river section?! Why do some oarsmen just dropo the anchor with a loud clanking thud in relatively small clear coastal river holes, instead of set them down quietly? Puleeeeease do not drop the pliers or other hard objects on the deck of aluminun boats in this situation. ... And why do some guys want bright red or even yellow driftboats and sleds if they ever plan on fishing gin clear water? Why not the better gray paint or straight aluminum? In the same vain, why do some guys were bright clothes when fishing the kind of low clear river conditions common to this season? You ... silly guys! Back when I used to bankfish a lot I witnessed the big difference drab clothes and slow stealthy approaches would make for better success. No doubt about it! There's been plenty of info about this in any good fishing literature for guys to learn from; and it seems like pretty simple logic. Yet I see fishers with bright clothes plop loudly right out into gin clear holes and wonder why it's so hard to hook fish in these conditions. It's not impossible to do but, AAARRRGGGG, why cut down your already tough odds? .....

With that tirade vent said, we have had some threads that have discussed low water techs this season. Some proven good fishermen provided insight that I haven't been very keen on, but I am trying to be open minded and learn some things. I think it was both Hookset and Snagly who said that when bankfishing really clear water they would prefer driftboats coming thru to float and splash their oars right over the steelhead. Not exactly textboook stuff, but interesting that it sometimes stirs up lethargic fish into a biting mode. And I think it was Marty M. that posted to try big bright lures such as oversized Spin N Glos and spinners in gin clear water to aggravate a steelhead or silver strike. Again, not textbook stuff. But it apparently works on occassion. I will try these things, but only after trying the right low water tactics first. Could the same 'stir them up into biting mode' principle apply to brightly colored/loud d-boats and clothes? Not in my many years of experience. What have you fishers experienced as good or bad to do for clear water conditions out there? - RT

[Gone Fishin]

Not bragging...Bright Red (aluminum clanker) Boat, low-clear water, lots of fish on. Any Questions?

Ooops. Excuse please Marty. I forgot about your red boat. Hey, red is good . It's just one of my sily moods tonight.

[First Bite]

Fish small jigs under a float! Any questions?

[smilesforu]

Steve on holding fish that are stuck or resting. The clanging drift boat in the rapids below will scare the fish upstream into my waiting hooks. The big stuff is for fresh fish or territorial fish.
First step in clear water is to fish the protected areas in a stream. If there are fish hiding they will usually bite. You should give night crawlers a try if the water is low and the fish ignore eggs/shrimp.
tiny spin glows will also give just enough enticement. Fresh fish usually aren't line shy but that happens sometimes too. For a float use a casta bubble to keep the profile down to a minimum. Or even try dancing a jig across the pool with out a float.

Good luck figuring out your fishies.

------------------
Marty M
Steelheader.net

Any questions? Oh, I'd say probably. Like WHY IN THE HELL HAVE I LOST MY FORMER AWESOME BANKFISHING TOUCH DURING CLEAR WATER????? Part of it is trying to learn the upriver intracacies of floatfishing/jigs while bankfishing with Mark. It's quite a challenge for me to get in any friggin water time practice on this new stuff (new for me) though because Mark always has a dam fish on. But it's not only the new stuff. I used to just hammer 'em back years ago bankfishing clear water by first driftfishing light leaders and either a plain small egg cluster or pinched off live sandshrimp tail, and when necessary following those with a spinner or wade fished small Hot Shot. I've only had minimal success with that this season, while Mark is hammering them with jigs and funny looking rubber things. He finally gave me some actual real jig secrets after the last trip the other day, so maybe I will 'get jiggy with it' finally . - Me (oh my)

[First Bite]

Steve my friend I promise you will be nailing fish with jigs and ruberr thingies in no time. Then you'll look back and say...what's the big deal about catching Steelhead with jigs when the Wilson is sitting at 1.2 ft and its 80 degrees out. It will come my friend. If anyone has any serious questions about catching fish with jigs in really low water, drop me an e-mail. I'll gladly answer them for you.
Mark

[SteelieSteve]

I've used lighter leaders, smaller hooks, tinier baits and when that fails I tried a spoon(steelie) on the Nehalem one frosty morning after hours of bait/corkies et al, and first cast was a hookup. When the tried and true drift techs fail try something else. Everyone else in the boat sure changed over fast and hooked fish too.
SS

[Snagly]

Most of my steelheading is done in clear rivers (6-8' viz normally) as part of a two-man drift boating team. In daylight hours about 75% (min)of the time I'm wearing the best sunglasses I can find (Smith Action Optics in my case) with side shields and a hood on to cut glare even further. (Think "Darth Siddious"). My job is to spot fish in sweepers and holes before we spook them. Then buddy Slick leans on the sticks and gets us to the side where we either anchor up (quietly) and bank fish the section, or if it's a deep hole simply pull hard back up stream and anchor nearby.

We wear dark clothes but given the high profiles we make (both of us stand up in an anchored boat)I think the fish know we're there. It doesn't seem to matter very much though as long as we stay far enough (20'++?) so our arm movements (casting) doesn't cause the fish to act skittish. Based on this limited experiment (a couple of rivers every year), I'm not overly worried if fish see me. (Guide Ralph Cutter has an article called "The Catch in Seafood" on another website that I strongly recommend for its strongly argued contrarian opinions,among them (a) it doesn't matter if the fish see you, (b) fish can see ANY size of leader and it doesn't matter and (c) loud noises don't spook fish.)

If we're bank fishing a hole and a drift boat comes down, I'll usually ask one of the occupants to stand up and tell me where the fish are. Usually by that time we've hooked a couple and the school will have moved at least a little bit. In addition to finding out where the fish are (!), the guys in the boat know that we are fishing to these critters (and do NOT expect to see someone sidedrifting or tossing a jig 'n float off the side as they go downstream).

Perhaps the most contrarian approach we take is when a hole has gone stale and a jet boat comes into view. Usually the drivers will go to 'no wake' in a deep enough stretch as they pass. Not every time, but quite often we'll ask the driver to run around the hole (tilt the outboard to maximize froth) and really stir it up. Then it's time for a candy bar break or pee. As long as the hole's big enough so the jet doesn't spook the fish out entirely, those stirred up fish are now biters (at least the ones we haven't already hooked). The problem is that you have to figure out where they settled and regrouped after the washing machine routine.

We don't run the driftboat over riffles or pocket water we are going to fish. Ditto for shallow tailouts that we know hold fish (after having spooked them in previous days). For these sections we pull over upstream and walk down to fish them reasonably silently.

Everything I've written applies to winter steelhead in water between 38-43F. (I suspect that summer steelhead may well be far more skittish.)

[rhansme]

I have fished low water all season as has most everyone else. I have always found that neutral colors of clothing, some amount of stealth, and smaller sized baits will always produce if the fish are there. I have had a pretty productive season even with the low water, so I think my tactics work. Walking down the middle of the creek, and other boating fopas that were already mentioned by RT will probably turn your day into something skunky. Oh yea...I have caught fish this year after a drift boat banged through the rocks and in general made one hell of a racket. I just fished above them in the riffles where the fish went to hide while these fellows passed through...

[OneLastCast]

Okay, I'm speaking from a bank maggots perspective.
I agree...drab, natural colors...no white Tee shirts or neon(friends don't let friends wear neon).
Walk softly, I've spooked many fish by just thumping along.
Low profile...Peek over the bank .
Minimal arm movements...just like hunting, the less movement the better..if your swinging your arms playing windmill you've probably spooked every fish within 30 yards.
Polaroid glasses are a must. Start from the bottom of the hole and work your way up looking for fish. You may have to work your way above the fish to get a bait or jig to it but if you know it's there that's half the fun. If you have a buddy (or wife)(edited by Mrs OneLastCast) with you, have one person watch the fish and the other cast. That is a kick no matter what job your doing.
In low water look for fish near cover or where there are ripples on the surface...they don't necessarily keg up in the deep holes, fish the fast ripples past the slick on the tailout.
Use light line..and a limber rod. Better to have hooked and lost than to have never hooked at all.
AND I agree with Snagly, don't get mad at the boaters. They stir up the fish and move them from the areas where they were comfortable, many times stimulating a bite.
Don't wade if you don't have to.
Of course there are some fish that you could almost swim up to a put the hook in their mouth put it always pays to be careful.

Pretty much what Snagly has written holds true.

OneLastCast