[Ivana Fishalot]

I am very new to targeting salmon and steelhead so please enlighten me. I want to fish the Clackamas and am curious what the best bet is there. I've seen a lot of steelhead jumping up in the upper clackamas but really know nothing about targeting them. I've really only fished for them twice and haven't gotten a strike. Well at least one that I detected. I've been floating jigs and trying to set the bobber height right off of the bottom and covering the entire hole with one color, ripping that color off, tying up another, and then covering the hole again. Is this just not a good time? I tried the hole underneath the bridge at Faraday Lake. Fish everywhere and I'll be darned if I couldn't get one to take the jig. I walked a stretch in the upper clackamas by roaring river... Nada. Any tips?

I also want to try and bonk some Coho. Will they take jigs? Or, should i just try to float some eggs or herring? I really don't have a clue and most of my so called fishing buddies are zipperlipped. I am going to float the stretch between Carver and Riverside park with a friend that is a former guide. He says we'll target Coho. The guy does bring in a ton of fish.

Final note. Is it okay to hike the river? I've heard the navigable river rule but is the lower clackamas considered navigable? I want to hike up from riverside and fish a couple of holes about a half mile up and there is some sort of construction in the river.

 

[FastAction]

Jigs work great for steelhead in the Right water conditions.. Right now the water is so darn warm that the fish are in a little faster water... that water is a bit too swift for jigs... I would suggest drift fishing a small pink corky and #4 hook with a bit of pink yarn.. There is plenty of fish in the upper clack that are biters if you fish them just right. Get Some polarized shades and lood for fish in the shallow riffles of Dog Creek and the Mouth of EC... They are there trust me! For the Salmon.. yes they hit Red jigs just fine... Coho love spinners and eggs I like to cast and retreive eggs or just drift them... If you can float the river.. you can fish up to the high water mark on the bank with out trespassing.

 

[Ivana Fishalot]

Originally posted by FastAction:
Jigs work great for steelhead in the Right water conditions.. Right now the water is so darn warm that the fish are in a little faster water... that water is a bit too swift for jigs... I would suggest drift fishing a small pink corky and #4 hook with a bit of pink yarn.. There is plenty of fish in the upper clack that are biters if you fish them just right. Get Some polarized shades and lood for fish in the shallow riffles of Dog Creek and the Mouth of EC... They are there trust me! For the Salmon.. yes they hit Red jigs just fine... Coho love spinners and eggs I like to cast and retreive eggs or just drift them... If you can float the river.. you can fish up to the high water mark on the bank with out trespassing.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">That's what I've found. The jigs blow by the fish so fast that they don't even have time to blink (if they could :grin: ). I've even bonked a small steelie on the nose with a jig and he took off. My heart stopped because I thought he took my jig with him. I started reeling like mad and yanked the jig out of the water. I didn't even realize I had no fish until the sound of marabou flying be my had at mach 3 brought me to my senses.

I can see the fish. Everyone who says that there are none aren't looking. I'll try the yarn and pink corky. But, just for clarification. Isn't drift fishing where you cast out an anchor on a three way or a sliding setup and wait? Half the fun of fishing for me is hiking the river in my waders. Something about the solitude and the sound of the river does it for me. Work, bills, wife and kids go away for the much needed solace of solitude. If I fished just to fill my freezer I'd fish at Tony's fish market.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

[Chris Nordling]

Originally posted by ScottyV:
.... we'll target Coho......

In two weeks or so, that "Target" will get a whole lot bigger :grin:

May be a tad early now, I usually like it around mid- September, lots more fish around(hopefully),and hopefully a sprinkle or two to raise the river a tiny bit.

As far as switching jigs after each pass thru a hole, that may be a bit much. I'll try and make the same pass(or as close a possible) at least a couple of times, then move the location of my cast either closer in or further out, and take a few steps downstream.I also might change depth too. Sometimes you have to bump those fish on the head with those jigs when the water gets froggy and warm like it is now.

Colors for me would be black,purple,red, and red and black. Sizes would be 1/8 or 1/16, with a small clear bobber.Maybe a soft white/pink if I found some good cover, like a downed tree, or behind a boulder in the shade.

If you want to target coho, try waaaaayyyy downriver, like the mouth. Look for an a.m. high tide, and you may be rewarded with coho that bite very well. Small clusters of eggs, or some scented yarn will do the trick. 10# mainline, 6 or 8# leaders with #2 hooks.

Save a few for the rest of us :smile:

Chris

[ 08-29-2003, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: FWF1 ]

 

[Ivana Fishalot]

I looked up a drift fishing setup and that seems similar to jigging without the bobber. I was thinking of plunking. Although it may or may not be productive, it seems really boring.

I am learning how to fly fish. I've heard that it can be very productive for steelhead. I went tubing for the first time last week and landed a nice 10" brookie at Round Lake. But, that was kind of boring. We were just trolling nymphs behind the tube. I tried casting to them but need a little work on presentation. Something about a fly slapping the water like a freight train isn't conducive to producing a strike. It also sucks when you whip the line and god only knows where in carnation you send the fly after if breaks off the tippet.