anyone have any tricks for canyon water. I always feel that I cant really feel the bottom with slinky weights. Is the float the only solution?
What about white water for summer runs. How do you toss in those shrimpies and get them to stay in front of the fish for more than a second in that bubbly white water?
I have the gear but just dont feel confident about presentation

The reason you can't feel the bottom in canyon water could be any number of problems with your setup. 1) rod not sensitive enough 2)slinky not tight enough to transmit the bounce 3) you may not be on the bottom 4)Bottom just can't be reached

Solutions for the possible problems
1)new rod
2)use non slinky lead so you get better bottom feel transmission or tighten up your slinky cord around the lead
3)MORE LEAD
4)Break out the floats because you will be fishing below the fish. Let them see your bait and they will come up for it.

To get your bait to stay longer in a fast section you have to make your contact time with the bottom increase. I have bent my lead in a c formation so it hangs up on purpose. This allows me to pull the lead straight when I want to continue the drift. Very effective when you know fish are in a specific section of water or You can also use more lead.

Tight Lines

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Marty
Steelheader.net marty@steelheader.net

I fish deep canyon water alot. And I find that often the water its self will help you. I will fish the fast water coming in to a deep slot of slower water and let the fast water pull my gear down in to the slow slot. You can also use big rocks and boiling water to help you get your gear down. If the water is boiling up it is getting sucked down somewhere. Bending your pencil lead alos works good to slow you down. In the fast white stuff I agree.
Keep The Rivers Clean!!!!

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dank

Steelhead Addict , I fish deep fast canyon water alot , Like the upper Dechutes at Shears bridge and the Klickitat down by the mouth . In both places i drift fish using a sliding sinker set up , i`m using 2-3 ozs in 15-20 feet of water . works for me...

Howdy,
A trick I learned from STS a while back is to use a lead jig, the article was suggesting Zzingers. I have more confidence with a Buzz-Bomb. The perch finish the author liked works well for me also. Deep columns of water can be covered effectively, great care must be taken to keep off the bottom to avoid snags and chipping the lures color off. If you like watching fish chase spoons and spinners wait until you see a big summer-run tracking a buzzbombs course. Turning the eye of a 2/0 egghook up to 90 deg. so the angle is true when lure/hook pull together is rec. Go barbless and don't jig over stacked fish. Make sure to watch the action in case you excite a fish who won't grab lead, but will slam the next thing it sees.

Humpie can you clarify the "egg hook" information I didnt understand what you were talking about. (90 degrees?)