Drift fishing poll

[Jennie@ifish]

Hey, when drift fishing with corkie and bait, when do you most often hook your fish? (Or more honestly... when do you realize you have a fish hooked? :smile: )
The beginning of a cast, the middle, or at the end?
How long do you let your cast go once it has traveled the distance? Do you hold your rod so it swings back to the shallows? Do you pick many up swinging around like that?
I think I pick up most of mine mid to the end of the drift, but I am going to keep track this year.
I have picked up very few on the end swing.
Jen

[ 12-29-2001: Message edited by: Jennie@ifish ]</p>

[RichH]

I think it depends on where I'm fishing alot of the time. At the hatchery at Three Rivers I've hooked alot of fish as soon as it hits the water and I haven't even felt bottom yet. I do like to let it swing all the way as I've hooked alot on the swing as well. The easiest for me to detect are the ones that bite mid drift and in certain holes that is where I seem to get them.

[Pete]

I've actually caught more steelies on a fly than on hardware. Typically, with an unweighted fly on a floating line the strike comes near the end of a drift as the fly rises towards the surface. Often fish will follow the fly to the bank and strike as the fly stops moving. It seems different with hardware. Drifting a corkie and bait I think most of my strikes have come after the halfway point of the drift.

[hustlerrjim]

being an expert at this I say the bite happens any time during the drift, depending on the water conditions, in low clear water I find the bite at the tail out of your drift with the lure laying on the bottom for a few sec.the take is very severe as the line has no slack
in high water get ready anytime the gear hits the bottom this takes some doing,but with a little practice youll get it.

[FM2]

Great advice hustlerrjim, The bite is different throughout the drift. I have hooked fish right after a cast, in the middle of a drift and at the end of a drift. Each one has a different feel and until you get that "feel" a lot of bites get missed.

Many folks today want to plug and use bait divers which is ok but I prefer to drift fish when I can as I think this produces the best results.

:grin: :grin: :grin:

[Thumper]

I am darned lucky if I see them leaping in the air 30 or 40 feet above me.

[Bob Barthlow]

All the drift fishing I do is from a control drifted boat ,with some of my friends it's an out of control drifted boat,boondogging or side drifting.Anyway it seem like most of the fish I hook are in the first 10 to 20 feet of where I throw in,and some times it seems as soon as I loose sight of my gear under water,bang their he is.This water , up aginst the bank is 2 to 10 feet deep.Fishing this way one can make long drifts and yes you can hook steelhead anywhere through the drift but most of mine,seem to come at the start.

[rags]

After buying a jig set-up last year and fishing this winter with bobber and jig I think I will leave all my drift gear at home. Wow, do those jigs ever work!!!

[Snapshot]

I don't seem to have a preference, and know a strike can come at any part of the drift. Just be ready and don't give up. I caught one about three weeks ago and have been striking out every since. I just cannot seem to get to the river on time, during a bite. I guess I spend to much time in the back yard casting with my new power pro line and should heed my own advise:

*fish only bite wet hooks* :grin:

[smilesforu]

Depends on the water I am fishing, but have had them yank it the second it hits the water. Other times I tail it on purpose to fish some water that shows promise. Get some quite often fishing that way, but it geared around the holding water.

Keep the hooks sharp with a tight line and you can fall asleep sometimes.

[Fishalot]

I have been asked by alot of people that don't fish for winter steelhead or have not caught one what the bit feels like ? I can't explain it is what I tell them. The best I can tell is it feels like a slight pull, kinda like when your lead goes behind a rock and you just start to feel the pull. I did this on the Sandy 2 time the other day, it realy surprises me every time.
As for when I get the bite most offten, I would say upper middle to end of drift.

Fishalot

Member of Team "Sneakin Out"

[Snapset]

The bite always and I mean ALWAYS comes at the end of the drift.
First couple of years I was steelhead fishing the adrenalin of a hooked fish completely erased my memory of what the bite felt like, or whence it came. Kinda like when you are hunting and shoot an elk. You don't even feel the gun kick.

Now that I have been catching them for a few years, I would have to say that I usually anticipate the bite, because most of the rivers I fish, I know where to expect the bite. Since each hole is different, and where I stand as I cast into each drift is different.

On unfamiliar water, I find most of the fish at the end of the drift, just before the swing. I don't ever use enough lead to keep my drift gear down through the swing.

I prefer the solid hooksets of upper-drift bites, as ther leader tends to pull the hook back into the corner of the fish's mouth. :grin: