I'm new to the board and new to salmon/steelhead fishing, although not new to fishing in general. I'm originally from Iowa but have lived in Portland, OR for the past 4 years. I've been fishing mainly warmwater fish for the past 17 or so years with the occasional trout excursion in there. In the past few weeks I've caught a decent chinook and three good steelhead, and as so many people before me, I can say now that I've got the bug...bad. I've been making the 45 minute drive to the Clackamas River every few days or so, forsaking family and friends for the lure of the fish. I, now, have come to realize that these beasts are much more elusive than what my initial catch led me to believe. Since I'm self employed and have a wife in school and a toddler running around, I'd like to streamline my time and fish more productively.

I thought I had found the 'spot', but I feel I may have just happened upon it at exactly the right time. I haven't caught anything other than some small rainbows in the last three visits. I'm not impatient and am not greedy; I know that I have a lot to learn and am working on it, which is why I'm here. I caught all of the fish by drifting #3-4 gold Vibrax spinners and retrieving slowly, but have lost literally $30 in these in the four visits I've made to this river. Since I don't wish to lose anymore, I've decided to try other less expensive techniques. I've experimented with drift fishing corkies w/yarn, which I've heard is a preferred technique (the day I caught the salmon I watched two guys pull out 16 steelhead in 3 hours doing this), but I'm not sure I'm doing it right. I think I've got them bopping along with the right amount of weight, but how far off the bottom should the corkies be floating? I know that steelhead hang close to the bottom so I've been running them 12"-24" from the weight. I've also read that it's very hard to detect bites when fishing in this way, so I'm keeping my hooks sharp, but I'd also appreciate any other tips I can get. Oh, I'm using a spinning reel and a relatively stiff rod for this.

I'm also wondering what the best times of day to fish for steelhead are. I assume, as with most other fish, you're going to have the best luck around dawn/dusk (which is when I've caught ALL of these fish). Do I want to fish with darker lures the brighter it is? Is it still too warm to be hooking many of these fish in the midday hours? What colors do they prefer from your experience?

Any other tips and techniques will, of course, also be welcome and appreciated

Thanks, and I look forward to contributing to the board!