I'll only reply to a couple of your questions now. As far as which direction to work a river, it all depends on what technique you are using. For drift fishing, spoon fishing,etc. I will always work my way downstream. This is just a natural way to fish this type of gear, by casting across the drift and letting the current swing your gear through the drift. When float and jig fishing I will always work my way upstream, casting straight up into the drift and letting it float back towards me while taking in the slack line. I do this for several reasons, mainly because I pick up a lot of fish right next to shore in the soft edges and aroud logs boulders etc. I feel I have less of a chance spooking these fish while working them from below. My favorite summer steelhead stream is just a trickle in late August and September and the fish are ultra spooky in the gin clear water. By working upstream the fish never see me and usually hit my jig on the first cast. If I was working downstream I would damn near have to crawl to avoid spooking the fish. Another reason is to present the jig with a totally drag free drift. This is essential to consistently hook steelhead on jigs. As far as spoons go they work very well, especially on big natives. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I fish both techniques. I will usually fish upstream with jigs and then turn back and work my way downstream with spoons. This really gives me a chance to cover all the water and I don't believe I miss many fish if they are in the section of river I am fishing. Enough rambling for now, maybe someone else can take the other questions. Fish On!!!!!

[This message has been edited by B Mac (edited 02-19-2000).]