Fished today, Wednesday 12/18 from 6am to 11am. I saw about a dozen fish caught, 2/3rds bright winter runs. At 8:30 I caught a 5 lb hatchery hen (winter run) on a corky/eggs. As far as I could tell, every other fish was caught by bobber heads. What's up with that?? Seems like hardly anyone is drift fishing Reiter. Next thing you know I'm going to hear someone say to me "hey, don't you know this is bobber water? Stop drifting gear in this hole!"
Seriously, the bobber fishermen did great, lots of fish caught within 10-15 feet of shore which is harder to get a drift through, so they killed them in close and I had the mid to middle of the river to drift myself. Which is OK by me, the fish can't all be in close to shore! But I may just be inclined to pull out some jigs myself next time, especially if I get outfished like that again.
BTW, the river was in sweet condition, a wee bit high but clear and running at more normal levels (I think around 4500 in Sultan, still higher than normal).

Good to hear that the fish are on the way! I've always seen quite a few "bobber heads" up there but I think whatever works for you go for it, unless its' snaggin

Skeets

It just seems so easy to float fish up there, ever time I drift fish I only get a couple casts before breaking off. It's pretty snaggy at Reiter.

True enough, I guess because I learned to steelhead via drifting that something about floats doesn't seem right. Maybe it's losing the tactile feel of your slinky bouncing along the bottom and then the head shake of a steelhead grabbing the gear. You lose that with float fishing. Don't get me wrong - I think it's great that guys did so well with the floats today. It's just I love that charge of energy as you feel the take and yell "fish on!". But I agree, drift fishing can drive one nuts with lost gear, re-tying, etc. It's no wonder the floats do better, less down fishing time, easy to see a take-down than feel a subtle take.

Were these folks hittting fish on floats with jigs?

I believe most were jigs, one for sure eggs, one for sure shrimp. If I take out amatuer steelheaders/fishermen you can be sure I'm rigging them up with floats!

The morning people must have swept Reiter clean. I got up there about 12:30 on Wed. Stayed until dark and only saw one hooked and don't think he landed it.

Must be a morning show for now.

It seems that the last few yrs, most fishing below the creek were drifting, above the creek pretty much demands a float and that's what you saw. Now it seems the either the float fishers are moving down or the drift fishers are converting.
I now take two rods to match whatever the rest are doing.
I prefer drifting and two rods are kind of a pain but Reiter isn't the place to dictate a preference.

goforchrome

Good point, you do pretty much have to go with the flow.

Well, OK, this sets up an interesting question. I can understand if I go to Blue Creek and try to float fish the point that it would not work, but Reiter is, at least in my eyes, mixed use. The fishing isn't shoulder to shoulder. If I get there first thing in the morning and am drifting, I don't think I should have to change just because 2/3rds of the anglers are using floats. Seems like if you are watching and casting in proper sequence the two techniques can exist side by side. I think I only had about 4 line tangles the whole morning, due each time to a float being cast into my line. Of course, this may be different during weekends when there are twice as many people. We were 15-20 total and had good seperation. No frayed tempers, everyone was in good spirits. I think the most important thing is to just watch the casting order and not cast until the upstream angler's lne has drifted sufficently downstream. Its all about good rhythm.

I agree if you are there first you set the tone. Also even if you get there after everyone else and can do your own thing without tangling up with everyone it is all good. It is pretty easy for drift fisherman and float fisherman to fish side by side. The hard thing is when someone wants to come in to the middle of the mix with a spoon, or plunk. You would probably have no problem mixing drift fishing with float fishing because you are a courteous fisherman and would pay attention to what you are doing. It is the guy next to you that I would worry about. If you are not doing the same thing as him, he may not be so courteous or lack the knowledge of casting sequence. This may cause you much frustration, forcing you to change to his technique to calm your nerves.