I use a size 1 or 2 Octopus hook and use eggs w the yarnie. I fish yarnies when the river is high. Dime size egg cluster or bead when water is average depth/clarity or lower. If you can tie a descent egg loop, a yarnie is one extra process. I like pink/red, white and blue/black combo.

 

I love fishing yarn balls, one of my go to’s in most water conditions with some color. I make them separately and put them through the hook and use the bait loop to pin it down. I almost always use some kind of bait with them. I prefer dime or nickel size in all kinds of colors. Although, I mainly stick to orange, pink, white, red, and chartreuse. Look up a YouTube video on how to make them. All you need is some sharp scissors, some yarn, and stretchy string.

 

I am interested in trying out yarnies drift fishing, does anyone know a good place to buy some?

I found this place on esty that sells yarnies. what size and type of hooks do you use with yarnies?

1. do the yarnies come on the hook or do you put them on then hook each time?

2. do you fish the yarnie by itself or do you add bait? Do they work for spring steelhead ?

Adam, let’s back way up. Who are you????

Just kidding sort of. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you entered this crazy world and site?

 

I am interested in trying out yarnies drift fishing, does anyone know a good place to buy some?

I found this place on esty that sells yarnies. what size and type of hooks do you use with yarnies?

1. do the yarnies come on the hook or do you put them on then hook each time?

2. do you fish the yarnie by itself or do you add bait? Do they work for spring steelhead ?

For where you are at in your journey, you need to focus on bait under a bobber. Live in that space and you give yourself the over all best chance at a hook up. The veterans on here will clown me but they forget how hard the beginning of the journey is, I don’t. It’s my least favorite way to catch a steelhead and my go to at the same time.

Don’t get too discouraged this year, it’s a tough one for sure

 

Keep at it.

 

As mentioned above, YouTube is your friend. There are a lot of different ways to make them. If you do want to buy them, the yarnies Steelhead Stalkers sell on their website look pretty good. Good luck!

 

Don't buy yarnies. They are so CHEAP and EASY to make. Just look up a video on how to make them and do it yourself. I see your also the guy asking about hook sizes on the drift fishing thread...look it doesnt matter if your using corkies, beads, yarnies, bait...there is no set hook size for any of those. You just want to match the hook to the size of whatever rig you pick. If fishing corkies you want that corkie to be able to fit between the hook point and shank.

 

Don’t over think it. One of the best steelhead fishermen I ever knew used a strand of red and a strand of white yarn tied in a granny knot above the hook. He caught more fish using that than any other rig....

 

What RichH said....

 

I'm a 70 year old 'old school' type of fisherman. Back around 1977 I was fishing below Marmot dam using corkies when I noticed a really old guy (probably 50 or something) who just caught a steelhead on a piece of yarn. He and I spoke for a while, he said he could mimic any color corkie I had with just 2 or 3 pieces of yarn. Yarn is a whole lot cheaper than corkies, so I started experimenting with just yarn. It is still my favorite way to fish for steelhead, probably caught 2K - 3K steelhead this way. All I do is use two alternate color pieces of yarn, each about 1 inch long attached to the hook through an egg loop. No where near as pretty as those 'yarnies' I see, but Steelhead aren't looking for a pretty round ball of fuzz, just colored fuzz. I never use any scent or bait whatsoever. Maybe it may help, but I'm looking for simplicity and I don't want to be checking my bait every second or third cast. Believe me this method works.

favorite colors are
red and white
red and pink
pink and white
red and chartruse <===== all time favorite

 

I've done this too and when I do I make my egg loop very small, maybe 2-3 wraps long, then finish my tie with a few extra wraps below the egg loop to give me maybe 10 total wraps. The nice thing about the very small egg loop is that after tying it, you can just slip in 2-3 short strands of yarn and just pull it tight. Trim and fuzz the yarn up with your finger tips and you have any easy yarn ball. The small egg loop does a remarkable job of keeping the yarn in place, and there's no need to tie any overhand knots in the yarn to do so. If you don't want to add a corkie or a cheater above the yarn, take an EZ Egg and pierce it with the hook point and slide it up the shank and right over and above the yarn. That way you get a little flotation and scent as the EZ Eggs are infused with shrimp scent. Works great and you don't need to mess with bait. Give it a try. Good luck!

 

I used to tie piles of yarnies in the off season while watching TV. Use the straw method (McDonalds are the best) I also used an egg loop, but I took the leader and pulled it out of the eye of the hook, ran it through the yarnie with a bait needle, then ran it back through the eye of the hook. I liked the way the hook is more exposed, without sticking too far out to the side like if you just put the yarnie in the egg loop. I also wasn't a big fan of scent on yarnies since it seemed to mat the fibers down and ruins that nice little pulsing flutter action the yarn has under water. Now that's not to say I wouldn't use them with eggs, normally when I was on the last of a really effective egg cure, stretch them out longer

 

Radke... Agree, two colors is what gets it done. Favorite colors are dark and light pink. Agree with the pretty round ball thing too. Pretty round balls catches fishermen.

 

LargeEdward reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in years. One day on a whim, I threaded a 'Jensen Egg' on my hook, up past the eye and onto my line. In my egg loop I added a single piece of chartreuse yarn, about an inch long. Snugged the Jensen egg down to the eye of my hook and started fishing. Over the years I caught so many winter steelhead on that combo. I called it the 'Radke Nymph'. Stole the name from Jim Teeny and his famous creation the 'Teeny Nymph'.

 

I do this exact same thing with chartreuse and white yarn. I even have a bunch of Jensen eggs left from when I bought about 100 jars.

 

Jagosh. Call me a slow learner. One spot on NFN I made 5 casts and lost 5 rigs. The last two were answering the challenge, can I get a drift past that rock if I keep trying.... I side with Nor Cal. Some water is better fished with a bobber but not a lot of it. We just need to accept the fact that drifting has fewer limitations than other methods, which simply means it works in more places than it doesn't.

 

I tie my drift fishing leaders using an egg loop. When starting your knot, instead of laying the tag end of the line along the shank of the hook, run it back through the eye. This will start your knot with a loop along the shank. Then proceed with tying your egg loop. When finished, there will be a small loop on the backside of the egg loop and the tag end is showing out the eye of the hook. Place your cut strips of yarn in the back loop and with a pair of pliers pull on the tag end. This will pull tight the yard and make them “puff” into a yarn ball. Trim the yarn to your liking and cut off the tag end. This way your egg loop is still free to secure bait if you choose.