Cool products. First I've heard of them.

Robolize - Salmon, trout, steelhead, beads, okie, collapsible net

Mercurial beads have versality and functionality unmatched by any other fishing bead. Easily change size, color, and even buoyancy without cutting you line. Sticky scent is retained in the groove and will stay for many casts. Free Shipping on orders over $30!

www.robolize.com

 

I came acrossed it on a Facebook post last night. I'll get at least 1-2 packs of each for now.

 

I’ve got the real ones. They aren’t for sale.🤣🇺🇸

 

Any guess what they are worth each? That is if someone was dumb enough to part with em.

 

These will never get fished as they are old new stock. Probably going on 40 years old. I’ve got some old Corkies that are actually cork in a couple of colors . Pink Pearl and Peach color. Never sell them either. I have caught a boatload of Steelhead on them. Anymore I fish strictly Yarnies and good bait or beads. Both on bobbers or conventional drift fishing depending on the water. If you got these couple of things you can catch ALL the steelhead you’ll ever need. Especially Yarnies and eggs or Sand Shrimp. Game over. 🇺🇸

 

Look around at old garage sales. You’d be surprised at what you can find. I’ve bought lot of old tackle boxes for next to nothing just to get a few very cool old lures and spinners. Just to have. I just bought two old cigar boxes full of hand tied Salmon Spinners. $10 bucks. Very old cool Tillamook bay spinners and “thumpers”. Going to make a wall display out of them. It’s not what they are worth it’s what they are and what they were.

 

I'd buy the old stuff just to resell it. There's a guy on social media who has a Ton of brand new hot shots & okies >1st gen. He's in Portland

 

Joe at Robolize is a great guy and his new version of the okie is the closest I’ve seen to the original. Since they are 3D printed they are one piece and don’t have the glued seam that often breaks on the old originals. The Robolize okie is also super UV infused.

 

IMO opinion it's better quality & has advantages over the original. I really don't know why people are against something new?

 

I forgot to add, that a pink pearl okie, a small tuft of pink or peach yarn, and a small chunk of cured eggs or prawn meat, have accounted for many of my winter steelhead over the years.

I will probably order some of the new ones once my current supply starts to dwindle.

Anyone happen to know what their sizings are? Wondering if #1 is the smallest or largest size.

 

Sized 1-5 > 3 for steelhead & 4 for High dirty water. Not sure about the other 3, I'm going by what I seen on his fb page. I ordered 7 packs
So by the sound of it #1 is indeed the smallest

 

Been fishing Steelies for several decades. I went through the early phases of trying every method and every bait made and I caught fish, but it wasn’t until I changed my approach that my catch rate went way up and became consistent. My approach now? Pick one or two methods that you have total confidence in AND that you enjoy fishing, and stick with those. Even if you’re not getting bit on a particular outing, stick with it because you have confidence in it. Can’t tell you the number of times this approach has paid off for me.

 

Are these going to be the new for 2024? I have only been in the game for 12 years and tried pretty much everything- getting sucked into the hype of pink worms, jigs, beads, and every other technique. Seems like every year there is some new fad but I am done!
My first season I caught 23 on spoons and now have a ton of confidence in them. Beads are great for "hunting", jigs are great for known water depths. Spoons for everything! I never see anyone throwing spoons- Its all about the swing.
Find what you like and have confidence in-the fish will come if they are there.

 

Are these going to be the new for 2024? I have only been in the game for 12 years and tried pretty much everything- getting sucked into the hype of pink worms, jigs, beads, and every other technique. Seems like every year there is some new fad but I am done!
My first season I caught 23 on spoons and now have a ton of confidence in them. Beads are great for "hunting", jigs are great for known water depths. Spoons for everything! I never see anyone throwing spoons- Its all about the swing.
Find what you like and have confidence in-the fish will come if they are there.

Spoons for the win. There is an art to it.

 

Yes they do and will catch fish. Why won't they....with right smell and right bait they will 100% get bit. Back in days befor so called big beads era....okie drifter with a tinge of sandshrimp scent was a steelhead counter..specially the pale orange with reddish tinge. It floated better than corkie especually in faster waster ..and had lot if its own action. I still use them.

 

Interesting thread. Maybe I need to break out my Okie Drifters and put them up for sale.

 

Did someone say OG Okies?

 

Yes. You wouldn't sell any would you?

 

MDFGA
“Make drift fishing great again”.

 

Back when I was teaching myself how to fish for steelhead if you didn’t drift fish and if you weren’t using a bait caster you were basically considered a googan. The other popular technique was throwing spoons.

 

I’m ready

 

Been Steelheading for 50 yrs now and amazed how far tackle has come. The Okie and Sammy Special were the **** back in the day and I suppose they would still catch fish. Those mercurial beads look really cool. The one old lure I still use is the small rainbow colored Birdie Drifter and bare hook. Steelhead fishing is so limited anymore, that unless guiding, it's difficult to try and master the available methods. Soft beads have been another success for me. If they come up with a soft Okie I might give em a try. Otherwise I have too much stuff already. Good Luck!

 

Been Steelheading for 48 yrs now and amazed how far tackle has come. The Okie and Sammy Special were the **** back in the day and I suppose they would still catch fish. Those mercurial beads look really cool. The one old lure I still use is the small rainbow colored Birdie Drifter and bare hook. Steelhead fishing is so limited anymore, that unless guiding, it's difficult to try and master the available methods. Soft beads have been another success for me. If they come up with a soft Okie I might give em a try. Otherwise I have to much stuff already. Good Luck!

Luhr Jensen used to have a soft Okie called the Gooey Bob I think. Gibbs tackle has it now

 

Thanks Whethole. Those my friend are the “real deal”.Grizzly and Luhr Jensen ruled the day. You can still go out today all these years later with those and catch plenty of Steelhead .🇺🇸

 

I spent a lot of years drift fishing, and still have some mics small tackle boxes full of Okie drifters. I was never keen on them myself, but my grand dad swore by em. I preferred the corkies in some areas for the extra flotation. In clear water the pear pink with a bit of yarn, and a touch of roe for flavor got some action.

I think the best fish getting combo I used was beads and yarn with roe. I rarely ran double hook rigs when drifting either. We typically ran 12-14# mono main line with spinning gear, and 8-10# leaders around 18” in length using hollow core pencil lead to bounce the bottom. 2 /0 hook size was typical. The thing I liked about using orange beads with a bit of yarn and eggs , was that the eggs lasted longer. The skeen of the roe wrapped around 3 small to medium sized beads was a killer rig, and beads were cheap.

Consistently hooking steelhead had more to do with being the first guy in the hole, and getting your presentation in front of them, than what type of rig you were using. Once you hooked a couple fish in a hole, it was better to move down stream, than stay there waiting for more fish to come into the hole. Once they got stirred up, the bite was off…. Of course times have changed now, and you have to bring your own rock to stand on fishing side by side with others. I’m glad I got to fish the 70’s & 80’s as a young man. I can’t hike those canyons and river banks any more….. go get em guys!

 

Consistently hooking steelhead had more to do with being the first guy in the hole, and getting your presentation in front of them, than what type of rig you were using. Once you hooked a couple fish in a hole, it was better to move down stream, than stay there waiting for more fish to come into the hole. Once they got stirred up, the bite was off…. Of course times have changed now, and you have to bring your own rock to stand on fishing side by side with others. I’m glad I got to fish the 70’s & 80’s as a young man. I can’t hike those canyons and river banks any more….. go get em guys!

Yes! This is the trick. Unfortunately the different DFWs have started eliminating hatchery runs and forcing us into more and more confined spaces, so the bring your own rock idea is more and more true. Folks show up now 3-4 hours before daylight and sit around drinking beer by a fire while they guard their hole until it is light enough to cast. I won't participate in that so I will bat clean up and move around more throughout the day.

Hatchery fish used to be spread out across most rivers systems and were plentiful enough it wasn't a big deal. You would also go straight from smashing lots of hatchery coho to hatchery steelhead in Nov and early Dec. Then if you were interested you could fish the wild runs later into winter and early spring while waiting for summers and spring chinook. I miss those days.

 

Okie Drifters or any version of them belong in a antique store... Sure, they are great and nostalgic as hell, but not the best steelhead producer these days. My favorite steelhead lure of all time is a Birdy Drifter, Way more effective than a Okie, but they see very little use. Hatchery fish are different than the Native stock we used to fish on and tend to not be as aggressive... (that may be debatable) Smaller, more subtle presentations will get more bites under normal water conditions. On the contrary, Remember, Steelhead will bite on what you are using at the time, Anything will work under the right conditions. Or you can just get on you tube and see what all the pros do and you will take your learning curve down a few hundred notches.
Good luck.

 

Got some Miracle Beads today, a few packs of Okie’s and they through in some variety packs for free.

Side by side comparison of Okies is pretty spot on.

Bead set up is certainly different. Tied up in my office, will see how it translates on the water as far as staying on the line and quick to change. I do tend to switch colors and sizes less than I should so we’ll shall see if it breaks that bad habit.

 

I bought 7 packs of okies got 2 Free, then got 2 bags full of some different color okies for free. I also got the beads, which are indeed different. But takes a lot of the pegging beads hassle away.

 

I tend to use EZ eggs now instead. You can kinda tie them up into the same shape and weave in white yarn. It works great and provides better floatation.

 

I was introduced to the Okie Drifter in the 8th grade fishing for Ninilchik River kings in 1976. Back then, the cookie cutter hen was 22-24 pounds... and the cookie cutter buck was 25-27 pounds. Every weekend opener, someone in our posse would land one over 30 pounds. The good ol'days. Nowadays the cookie cutter adult king on the Ninilchik River is probably less than 12 pounds.

Many of those fish succumbed to the venerable Okie... the lion's share of them taken on the magnum version in fluorescent flame and a piece of chartreuse GloBug yarn.

 

I just thought I was about to read my my 1st eye doc post about Steelhead, but nope ,

 

"The Okie Drifter is the most productive steelhead lure EVER devised.

Okies were first used to float salmon eggs, however fishermen soon learned that the Okie was just as effective WITHOUT eggs.

Soon fishermen were buying Okies and catching steelhead in RECORD numbers"

Maxwell Manufacturing

Dec 4, 2016