I caught my first steelhead on a red/white bobber and an earthworm on the creek while fishing for cutthroats as a kid. My dad took me across the canal and I tried to drift with one of those three way swivels with a tube and lead hanging down and ended up going through a lot of gear.

After I was married, my father in law took me fishing down on the Oregon coast after Christmas and supplied all the gear including the spinning rig. The night before we went he showed me how to rig up to driftfish. Run a piece of black tube through your mainline, sharpen your Mustad (1,1/0,or 2/0)hook until it doesn't slide on your thumbnail, tie it with 6 or 7 wraps down the shank, clip the excess, tie on a piece of yarn tight above the hook and trim the excess, then cut a piece of lead(3/16" or 1/4" solid core), spit on it for lube, and then push it into the rubber. Make sure the lead is about an arms length above the hook and add your bait. Then you can adjust the amount of lead and the length of your leader. If you snag up point the pole towards the snag, wrap some line around your hand, break off, and retie again. We used either 10 or 12 # Trilene XT. It wasn't until I spent a week with him fishing in summer until I started to catch steelhead. This method works great in fast or semi fast water but not in the "frog water". I asked him how he caught his first steelie and it was on a silver spinner on a different river.

A couple of summers ago I tried using the drift technique method out on the OP. The water was real froggy but there were summeruns. These guys were catching them either on spoons or floats/bobbers with bait. Nothing for me and I switched to spinners. I went out and bought some of those water filled bobbers.

Last year I went drift boating with a guy who used floats. I hooked one and he caught and released a native. The spot where he caught it was real snaggy and had a alot of current. It looked like drift fishing water to me. I went out and bought some floats and egg sinkers.

I took my father in law out to the OP last summer after we caught fish in Oregon using our same old method. Showed him the fish in the frog water and then we went downriver to where the current was so we could drift fish and I hooked one.

Went back out to the OP last month and the rivers were driftable. Got skunked the first time and went 1 for 2 the second kinda of drift/plunking letting my lead sit on the bottom at the end of the drift near the shore in high dirty water.

I took my father law to a Columbia trib in WA, after Christmas. I fished the middle section one afternoon late last summer and 2 days a couple of years ago during Xmas break. Went down to this spot and a guy was float fishing. I moved down river and found some nice drifts. Saw a guy fishing behind a boulder and moved down after he left. Two other guys moved up, one with a fish, I talked with them for a few minutes and they moved up. Sure seems like you try harder when you know theres fish in the river. I felt a couple of bumps in the tail out. Next cast I hooked a nice steelhead in the middle of the drift. Good thing they helped me land it. I get real nervous when trying to land a fish hoping I wont lose it. Its in the picture gallery. Sometimes you just gotta go with what you know and fish all the water you can. Well I'm still a jig virgin and still waiting for lower slower clearer water to try it out. Any suggestions for a Bankolla I? Those 10 ft rods work great for driftfishing. Why do they call them float rods anyway?