Do Sleds Spook the Steelhead?

Whopper Stopper · 05-06-2002, 04:35 PM

I've been slinging spinner daily for a couple of weeks in a local body of water known to have summers right now. Every ten minutes a sled comes blastinf up or down the drift... does it put the fish off? I'd like to blame it for my lack of success. Do you change tactics or which type of holding water to fish?

Fishen Fool · 05-06-2002, 05:12 PM

I don't know about sleds, but a drift boat going throught your hole will actually help. I have seen the fishing improve many many times after a drift boat goes by!!

Grant Scheele · 05-06-2002, 05:16 PM

I hate to break this to you but sleds can improve the bite as long as the run you are fishing isn't so shallow the fish are only there overnight. I have had great success literallly seconds after a sled blasts over Steelhead water. If anything it improves the bite.

DAB · 05-06-2002, 06:03 PM

Whopper Stopper
Years ago when we ran sleds as far up the Sandy that you could get with one (used to get above Indian Joe Island) there was a spot that the only way that you could fish it was by boat (sled or DB)... One time we wondered the same thing that you are asking, so we ran the sled up and down the drift , parked the boat ,got out and just hammered the steelhead, This was winter fish.
My .02 it dosen't hurt it a bit.
DAB

Dan Christopher · 05-06-2002, 06:18 PM

My sled spooks steelhead, When i am in it.They just dont bite, So it must be the sled. :grin: :grin: :grin:

but to answer your question i think in real low water 3 feet or less ,yes a little .in deeper water i think it helps the bite.

have you ever been on the big river with no action, then a tug goes by and there is fish on everywhere.

so i would say if it doesnt squish them its good.

[ 05-06-2002, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: MADWIZERD ]

Salmonator · 05-06-2002, 06:30 PM

Wow! I thought I was the only one that noticed the tug bite. But now we just call it the "low frequency rumble bite" since we noticed it up in bonneville pool also when a train would go by.

M W Sheller · 05-06-2002, 06:39 PM

Puy yourself in the steelheads "shoes", you've spent the last few years of your life in the OCEAN, when you do run into predators, you've got the whole ******** ocean to run or hide. Now things have changed, you're in fresh water. It's got a top, a bottom, and two sides to limit your flight. The predators are extremly concentrated. Now you are in a war zone, running for your life, with one mission in mind, to reproduce. When you were in the salt, and a boat went overhead, it was no big deal. Now that your options are severly limited, it is a big deal when a boat, shadow, or predator scent comes your way. Thats how animals survive to reproduce. [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]
So, yes a drift boat going over a fish might move it, and make it more agresive. A fighter plane blasting over your head is going to hunker down for a while, don't ya think.
Thank God steelhead have short memory-flight response.
But yes, in my , and my partners expeience, jet boats do put down steelhead for quite a few minutes :shocked: :shocked:

PittsburghD · 05-06-2002, 08:40 PM

Well, with the theories above, perhaps throwing a large rock in the water every five or ten minutes when you aren't catching anything will work too. Talk to the cub scouts at the trailer park down river.

:tongue:

---D

Salmonator · 05-06-2002, 09:30 PM

That reminds me. When we used to fish off the bridge at Green Peter for kokanee in the summer, everytime the fishing slowed down some body would jump off (a good 25 foot drop) and the bite would immediately pick up. Almost never failed!

David Johnson · 05-06-2002, 09:34 PM

Some of it depends on the water temp. When it's cold (under say 50) their metobolizm (sp?) is low enough they are not going to be spooked at all.

It also depends on how deep the water is, if it's five or six feet no problem. If it's two feet there might be.

Also, if there are sleds running by every few minutes your probibly fishing in their channel and maybe there is someplace else to fish that's a little more quite.

Maybe if you're not catching it's because the fish aren't there. Or if you've been at it a couple of weeks without fish you need to change your technique.

Kwiky · 05-06-2002, 09:42 PM

Hey PittD, that is a tried and true technique! I prefer to use it when Salmonator is in my fishin' hole, though. Nah, I really have seen it work, more than once.

Jooky · 05-06-2002, 10:55 PM

about the tub boat bite...if you were running for your life and a little lure was wiggling in your face and was in the way, wouldnt you smack it out of your way?