Headed to N. Alsea

FishSniffer · 12-09-2003, 08:24 AM

A friend and I have never been so we're headed over to the North Fork Alsea to check it out. Say howdy if you see me. I'll be in brown Hodgeman neoprenes with a black baseball cap that says, of all things, "The Fish Sniffer"

Tight lines (I hope).

PTS · 12-09-2003, 09:21 AM

Would you please post a report tonight on how the fishing was? It was my home river for many years and I still make a couple trips each year for old times sake, but it is 250 miles round trip. River level looks perfect. Thanks

Day Late · 12-09-2003, 01:34 PM

FishSniffer,

I was on the NF this morning, but didn't see you. Water color OK, but a tad higher than I like. Saw one approx 6# caught. Talked to others with no fish (like me). Did get a nice 8# hen last week, so still feel like I'm ahead of the game. Let us know how you did. :smile:

Day Late

FishSniffer · 12-09-2003, 06:34 PM

Nice Day out - if you like rain!

This was a scouting trip as neither of us had fished there before. We went down to Fall Creek and then stopped briefly at each of the parks coming back to Alsea Hatchery on the N fork. Spoke to a fisherman there who said he'd seen 9 landed in the previous 3 hours but that the bite had turned off about an hour before we arrived. We gave it hell for three hours anyway and I'll be going back soon to explore other areas.

The water is swift and a light green with good visibility.

Being new to bobbers and jigs how would one fish a jig in such shallow and fast water? Just fish the jig without the bobber?

Aufish101 · 12-09-2003, 07:22 PM

FS:

Thanks for the report, might be heading there in the am.

Aufish101

FishSniffer · 12-10-2003, 07:59 AM

Well, it looks like today would be the better day to go since it's nice outside, at least here it is. Looks like south of Salem is nice. Might have to head back over there for a few hours.

steel_beaver · 12-10-2003, 12:07 PM

thats a good question... how do you fish in such shallow water???? maybe David Johnson might have something to say...... :grin:

i was reading the thread on jig and float fishing and i was wondering how do you fish 2-3 feet of the bottom when its only 1-2 feet deep :shocked: [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]
thanks in advance to anyone that has an answer... and don't worry, i fish only durring the breaks so i won't catch all your fish

:grin:

sparkleboy · 12-10-2003, 12:18 PM

Constantly adjust your leader on your jig. I don't use any extra special tied on leaders, I just slide my float onto my main line, then tie on the jig, and adjust my float to whatever I want. If you can't see the bottom, make a few casts at a certain depth, and if your float doesn't move due to your jig hitting the ground, lengthen it until it does, then make it about 6 inches shorter, so it's right off the ground. Alsea steelhead will be hugging the ground more so than fish in a larger river.

FishSniffer · 12-10-2003, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Alsea steelhead will be hugging the ground more so than fish in a larger river.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Sparkleboy, is that the main stem or the North fork? I can understand why on the NF since where I was fishing was anywhere between a foot and two feet deep. I fish narrow deep slots on the S. Santiam and McKenzie and this doesn't seem the case.

Does anyone here have experience fishing a jig without a bobber in those very low conditions? Otherwise, it seems as though a fixed bobber would be about 6" up from the jig to stay a foot off the bottom.

Unless I get some work tomorrow I think I'll head back and try a few places on the main stem which look more jig/float friendly. Now that I have a little time I'm just dyin to hook into a Winter. Hope the weather is more like today than yesterday. If anyone else is heading over and would like to show me how float/jig fishing should be done let me know. I'm a mid-morning fisher. None of that too-dark-early stuff for me!

sparkleboy · 12-10-2003, 01:26 PM

FS,
Yeah, I was referring to the North Fork about the shallower waters.
I tried using a jig without a float this summer, and found it didn't do what I wanted it to do. I didn't give it much of a chance, but it didn't produce anything for me.
This summer, some of the water I fished was about a foot or two deep. On one occasion, just to see if it could be done, I had a length of four inches between the float and the jig. Cast out, floating through the drift...whamo! I also caught many fish with a leader between 6 inches and 12 inches. Those were summer steelhead, though.

FishSniffer · 12-10-2003, 06:30 PM

6-12 inches. And the float didn't spook em huh. I'll have to give that a shot this summer.

I think we're going to try some of the spots between Salmonberry and River's Edge tomorrow mid day. Probably out of a maroon station wagon with an older grey haired fart trying to flycast in fast water (Frank) and myself, the younger better looking of the two. Right Frank!