I was out west yesterday & was float fishing a tailout for about 30-45 minutes w/ no hits; water was just slower than brisk walk speed & had good color, jigs were white/pink, pink, black/pink & the pink worm, also tried a silver spoon. Another fisherman arrived & asked how the fishing was & we struck up a nice conversation. After I moved slightly upstream he settled in w/ drift gear using roe & a red corkie & within 30 minutes had one fish on the bank & long distance released a couple of others. I've been float fishing on the same river, in the same holes, on other days & caught fish right along with the drift fishermen, what do you suppose the difference was this time, could it have been the roe? I'm not buying luck.

I drift fish when I can and float fish when there is no way to drift fish or its too snaggy. Or I float fish when the water conditions are very low and clear.

In your case its all about presentation they just didnt like the way the float fished jig or worm was presented. And they liked the drift gear. I really dont think the eggs had too much to do with it but you never know.

You have to do what it takes to catch fish.

Del great question,
There will always be many of answers to your question. But here's my opinion.

Drift fishing is the #1 tactic you can use on steelhead especially when it's done to perfection. Likely the gentleman that fished that tailout was a highly advanced drift fisherman with great bait. Drift fishing, when done properly always has you in contact with the bottom and as you know that's where steelhead lay. When bobber fishing you may not see the slot change 2 feet in depth but with a bobber you are at a steady depth, and always a steady speed that is the speed of the current. You can alter driftfishing speeds by adding lead or reducing lead.

But, with excellent bait, it's hard not to catch a steelhead if presented well if one's there. Who know's those fish might have just moved up as you were talking and moved.
Keith

I can't spend ten minutes in the tailout of a pool, much less 35-40. Swing a bug through, let your buddies run a spoon, and finally some shrimp through and bail to the next run. I've never understood how anyone can stand at one hole all day long, waiting for something fresh to swim through. Guess I'm just impatient.

I fished with two buddies today on the Snoqualmie. They were drift fishing and I was float fishing with jigs. I landed 3 and lost 1 and they never had a bite using shrimp, worms, eggs, yarn, etc. You can float fish just about any water condition and it seems to be very productive.

It goes both ways....many times you'll see the jig fishermen knocking them dead while the drift fishermen catch nothing, and then vice versa. Having fished nearly every day over the last two years I would rate the success of bank-fishing techniques (equally skilled fishermen) as #1-Aerofly, #2-drifting or bobber with either bait or jigs (equal). Those Aerofly guys just knock 'em dead over here, maybe because they are great fishermen.

Hi : I hate to mention this but anybody who fishes a tailout with a float setup had his brains scrambled for breakfast.
A float keeps your lure travelling at the same depth throughout the drift;but the bottom slopes up in a tailout.If your going to fish tailouts with a float you have to set the float for the deth at the head and progressively hold back on the float so the bait or lure rises as it drifts into the bottom of the tailout.
Of course its more sensible to driftfish in a tailout or even better flyfish.
coot

Too much Molson, huh coot?

Next time I hook a fish in a tailout on a float and jig (it won't be long), I'll be wondering whose brains are scrambled.

An excellent steelhead fisherman will usually out fish an average fisherman regardless of tackle. Also, consider a pod of steelhead on the move. They may have entered the tail as you left>

About 2 years ago I was fishing a river on the peninsula. 2 guys had been drift fishing a hole for 2 hours. I was downriver and had landed a 5lb hen drift fishing. I moved up to the hole they were fishing and they went to were I had been fishing. I made one drift with sandshrimp and was not happy with the presentation. I then put a bobber and jig on. The first drift through the tailout I hooked an 18lb buck. I was still fighting the fish when they returned. They helped me land it and took a couple pictures for me. I agree that presentation could have been a factor and fresh fish may have moved in. I used to strickly drift fish but now prefer to use my 11'6" and 12' rods with jigs when possible.

Fishcatcher the same thing happened to me 3-4 years ago on the East Lewis, these 2 guys were drifting this run (my favorite one), and so I watched them for 30 minutes or so without a bite. After they moved in a friend and I went in and hooked 11 in the next 2 hours. Granted we knew the hole like the back of our hand and not sure how good the other guys were but the slot these fish were in it is nearly impossible to get a good drift without a float.

Coot-
I know someone who fishes strictly bait under a float in a tailout on a certain hole on the Sky and outfishes everyone!

Thanks for your feedback. It sounds like others have encountered similar days. It also sounds like 30-45 minutes is not excessive if you know there should be fish moving through. I guess that's the way it goes when fishing for these incredible fish. Probably the best part of that day was talking with the gentleman that joined me streamside. Fishless days are still better than... just about everything. Del

A few years ago I got to the nice drift below Black Creek on the Nooche at first light...had the thing all to myself. Tossed eggs, tossed sandshrimp, tossed spoons and tossed spinners. Dissected that water every which way...just knew there was a fish in there. Reached a state of total frustration when around 10am an old fart walks down with his ol'fiberglass stick, beater Mitchell 300 and 25 pound test. Rigged up a 2 oz. pyramid on a dropper and put a peeled prawn tail on his hook ....nothing else. 4 casts into the tailout and he was packing out a nice little 12 pounder.
Talked to him a bit...he seemed to find my fancy gear humorous...he'd been getting fish the same way for 30 years. Just goes to show you I guess that old ways haven't ceased to reliably catch
fish.

Gooose

Hi Ryan Goose et all: I agree that a really good fisherman can catch steelhead with any kind of equiment ,bait or whatever. I suspect however that most of us arnt in that class.I know i`m not.
I hate to waste good tailout water on bait. Its one of the best places for flyfishing winter steelhead especially if its a nice warm sunny day.
I`ll admit I dont bother to do a full switch to fly gear,often I wont even remove my float; just put on a good tubefly and strip cast it from a centerpin . Its more fun that way.
coot

I caught my first steelhead on a red/white bobber and an earthworm on the creek while fishing for cutthroats as a kid. My dad took me across the canal and I tried to drift with one of those three way swivels with a tube and lead hanging down and ended up going through a lot of gear.

After I was married, my father in law took me fishing down on the Oregon coast after Christmas and supplied all the gear including the spinning rig. The night before we went he showed me how to rig up to driftfish. Run a piece of black tube through your mainline, sharpen your Mustad (1,1/0,or 2/0)hook until it doesn't slide on your thumbnail, tie it with 6 or 7 wraps down the shank, clip the excess, tie on a piece of yarn tight above the hook and trim the excess, then cut a piece of lead(3/16" or 1/4" solid core), spit on it for lube, and then push it into the rubber. Make sure the lead is about an arms length above the hook and add your bait. Then you can adjust the amount of lead and the length of your leader. If you snag up point the pole towards the snag, wrap some line around your hand, break off, and retie again. We used either 10 or 12 # Trilene XT. It wasn't until I spent a week with him fishing in summer until I started to catch steelhead. This method works great in fast or semi fast water but not in the "frog water". I asked him how he caught his first steelie and it was on a silver spinner on a different river.

A couple of summers ago I tried using the drift technique method out on the OP. The water was real froggy but there were summeruns. These guys were catching them either on spoons or floats/bobbers with bait. Nothing for me and I switched to spinners. I went out and bought some of those water filled bobbers.

Last year I went drift boating with a guy who used floats. I hooked one and he caught and released a native. The spot where he caught it was real snaggy and had a alot of current. It looked like drift fishing water to me. I went out and bought some floats and egg sinkers.

I took my father in law out to the OP last summer after we caught fish in Oregon using our same old method. Showed him the fish in the frog water and then we went downriver to where the current was so we could drift fish and I hooked one.

Went back out to the OP last month and the rivers were driftable. Got skunked the first time and went 1 for 2 the second kinda of drift/plunking letting my lead sit on the bottom at the end of the drift near the shore in high dirty water.

I took my father law to a Columbia trib in WA, after Christmas. I fished the middle section one afternoon late last summer and 2 days a couple of years ago during Xmas break. Went down to this spot and a guy was float fishing. I moved down river and found some nice drifts. Saw a guy fishing behind a boulder and moved down after he left. Two other guys moved up, one with a fish, I talked with them for a few minutes and they moved up. Sure seems like you try harder when you know theres fish in the river. I felt a couple of bumps in the tail out. Next cast I hooked a nice steelhead in the middle of the drift. Good thing they helped me land it. I get real nervous when trying to land a fish hoping I wont lose it. Its in the picture gallery. Sometimes you just gotta go with what you know and fish all the water you can. Well I'm still a jig virgin and still waiting for lower slower clearer water to try it out. Any suggestions for a Bankolla I? Those 10 ft rods work great for driftfishing. Why do they call them float rods anyway?

I was out on a SW Wa stream yesterday in my DB. My passengers managed to get 3 on driftgear and I didn't get a thing on jigs. (And I provided the sandshrimp bait!) As the rower, the jig rig allowed me to fish more when we dropped an anchor or went ashore. I refused to change even with the pressure of the others success. One challenge is to determine the best depth during a 5 minute stop, that might be hindering me

Hi Steelheadman: You asked "why do they call them float rods" The short reply is that they are designed for float fishing,primarily with a centerpin reel.
Usually a true float rod is 12 to 14 feet in length so you can easily hold all line free of the water out to about 75 feet. Casting with a centerpin is different from casting with either spinning reels or baitcasters. The cast is a more sweeping action without any tip snap. The float rod is therefore firmer in the tip and softer in the butt. Somewhat surprisingly a 12 or 14 ft traditional speycaster rod in 9wt makes a very good centerpin rod.
The centerpin rod also has a different placement of the reel seat midway between the placement of a fly reel with a fighting butt and a baitcaster butt.
There are very few factory built centerpin float rods.I believe that Talon makes them in a 13ft 2 piece configuration and Loomis used to make a 12 ft model.
coot

Firstly, you cannot underestimate the value of great bait. Great eggs can make all the difference many days. I am sure all of you know what I mean there. My gut instinct says he may have been a very competent angler armed with very good bait.
If your eggs were on par, then perhaps your depth was wrong, your drift may not have been optimal, or something about the rig spooked the fish.
I took two years and forced myself to fish floats all but exclusively. Years before I did the same with spinners, and I did it pulling plugs. I have learned that once you master a technique you can catch fish with it. I caught many fish in fast rapid water with roe under a float something I hadn't ever seen done. In those conditions I still believe a good drift fisherman has an edge, but not nearly what you'd think. And running a float into a tailout requires feathering the float a bit which brings the bait up and brings it across on the swing. You can catch tons of fish on a float this way, and by throwing line back into the drift and then feathering it back you can walk a float set deeper than the water depth down a slot and still catch fish. It is just practice, practice and great bait and you will catch fish with floats or driftfishing.

Good luck and happy fishing.

Hi Thumper: I was intrigued by your comment on Aeroflies so I followed up and found to my surprise that they are just a spey hackled tube fly with a small float at the head. I have been tying a similar fly for ten years ,long before the so called Aerofly was invented. I have posted a jpg of my fly And yes they do work.
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