I have had some success pulling plugs over the years for steelies but I would like to do better so here's some questions for the plug monkey's...

When approaching a run that you're gonna plug through, at what point do you deploy the plugs?

Do you get them out there up above and let them beat the rocks for a bit?
Do you wait until you're in the head of the run and possibly miss some of the good water? Or maybe the upper stretch isn't good plugging water anyway so it isn't an issue.

I have usuually gotten the plugs out early but I seem to fight it for a while until I get into the slower/deeper run where I can even out the rowing and get a rhythm and this is where I hook fish.

But is the upper stretch of a run worth having to dig hard on the oars and fight the current?

I plan on fishing with a couple guides this year to learn more about it but I have my db ready to go and would like to maximize my time on the water.

A solid and well thought out question CP. I will be curious to hear from answer on this one as well.

Personally, I try to not miss any of the likely water, which means some shenanigans at the head of a typically fast steelhead run. Setting up high enough to back them into the good water from the top, to me, seems ideal, even if that means digging bottom a bit. In water than is too fast to hold and/or deploy in, i will often try to anchor and then lower the plugs into the slot from the top and then start backing down. More than once I have had plugs hammered in the fast water well above where I would expect them to be given water conditions.

It also seems the slower you can work them down the better. Ideally you would be moving down the river inches at a time, with intermittent pauses where you are holding the boat completely still.

Or you could play it like Kaiser D, drink a beer, wrap the tips, foul the plugs and float through the good water sideways with oars thrashing

Hey easy on Kaiser, that's all just a part of his "new" freestyle rowing technique

I believe Coley is forgetting one key component.

You need to try to hang the the plug on a rock, continue moving downstream, hook the now slack line on a limb downstream that pulls the plug off the rock, have the plug then pulled into the limb while accelerating downstream, bend the rod awkwardly backwards, break your line at the reel and have the top half of your rod stick with the 20 yards of line now hanging off the limb. Now, row your ass back upsteam and see if you get your rod tip back.

For advanced users, the anchor should be deployed only part way at a random point while performing the above move.



Pulling plugs can be relaxing or be one of the most frustrating things ever. I used to be highly anti-plug but based on my recent Tadpolly shopping extravaganja, I have slid off of the moral high road.

The fish are where you find them. I believe it all depends on the water you are fishing, and the distance upstream. If you are after fresh fish after a rain fish the top of the holes as they tend to be more agressive. Often I'll just sit and wait in the tidewater at certain flow levels.

Most fish are lazy. For the most part, if you are working too hard rowing you aren't in the right spot.

That said: fish will hold in fast water that is difficult to plug, esp in certain conditions (like low and clear). Getting gear out too early risks the above scenario, getting it out too late risks missing fish.

You can always pull over after plugging the "good run", then walk back up and fish the fastwater with a different technique...


Often, the real "bucket" of the hole is further upstream than you might think it is...

I like to set up as early as feasibly possible. A lot of times a you may drive a fish holding at the top of a run down into the tailout before they strike the plug... or you'll get hammered as soon as they drop over the lip. Sometimes if there's wood blocking the top of a slot, we'll deploy in the middle of the river above it and fade into it. If there are boulders sticking up or just under the surface, we always try to run a plug right into them, then down one of the side seams. If you've got structure and depth right next to the shore, don't be afraid to get your inside plug almost right on the bank.

NEVER give up on a slot 'til the last possible moment. I can't count how many times we've had grabs just as we're ready to reel up... most likely from fish that we've pushed down the slot. Plugging is hours of monotony puncuated by moments of pure pandemonium! When that rod tip gets pulled into the water and line is peeling off of the reel... that's good stuff!

I agree with 4 salt. I used to guide in very clear water up north. You could often see several kings scattered around a in a hole. Dropping the plugs in at the top and working them down through the hole, the fish would get pushed back until they were in the tail out and then either hit the plug or make a run around it back up into the hole. So driving the fish back by fishing the entire hole was part of the plan, although most of the hook-ups came near the tailout. We used 3 rods with the plugs all out the same distance, which seemed to work best at forcing the fish back.

I can never decide where to put the plugs out..........so I don't.

Me either Dan, I'd rather hook fish on a float way down in the slot when I'm almost out of line.

Slot
Tail out
Run

Can someone describe these a little so I can match them to a situation in a little river around here. I thought the tail out was at the end of a rapid. From the description from milt roe sounds like the tail out is further down stream?

No such thing as "bad" plug water....only "very" low percentage water...

Generally, it goes riffle, run, pool.

The tailout is at the very end of the pool before the next riffle starts.

Rapid... fast white water.
Riffle... choppy broken water where the rapid starts to slow down
Run/Pool.... the smoother deeper water where most of the stream volume flows thru
Head.... top end of the pool/run
Slot... a known travel lane that migrating fish would be expected to swim along
Gut/Bucket.... typically the deepest part (but not always) of the pool/run where migrating fish will hold
Tail.... further downriver where the pool shallows out
Lip.... where the tail-out breaks into the next rapid/riffle

How about some nervous water there Doc?

SHHHHH..... can't divulge the mysteries of "nervous water" to the entire free world.

Gotcha

You definately want to have your plugs deployed before the enter the slush part of the run. Fish tuck up there, especially newer fish, and hit right as the plugs enter.

I always do better fishing the slush water for summer runs, they seem to like the cover, winter runs always seem to hold further back.

Good point and True, except in lower clear water towards the end of the brat season when sometimes we get those cool dry stretches, but something sends a few of those late brats upstream.