Boondogin

What is goin on!!! For 3 trips now I have been fishn with 100 other boats boonin for steelhead. The fish are there because everyone keeps catching them. Except for me. I used to always catch fish except for this year. I fish the same holes as everyone else. I just dont understand it. My eggs look and smell good. I keep thinking that maybe I used to much salt maybe not enough sugar? I just dont know anymore! I have lost my touch.Could it be that I dont have my sled positioned exactly rite? Anyone?

Slime,

I think it's like this at times to remind us how humbling this sport really is. It's good to lose the pride but not the confidence.
Kinda reminds me of golf. Just when you think you've got it figured out.............. .

You'll be back!

Ya just got to shake it off, and keep hittin them. You know how bad at golf you get, the harder you try. Just enjoy the fishing experience and it will come to you. If you think its your bait, which i doubt, try something else. If you have the confidence in what you are doing, the results will be there. I go fishing to catch fish. Sure, there are times that I don't catch any, but I still go with the expectation that I will catch one or two. I don't get skunked very often, and it may not be the species that I have targeted, but at least I caught a fish!

Just bait the hook and they will bite. Remember steelhead are the fish of a 1000 casts, you might still be in the 900's!

thanks for the kind words guys, but I still wonder if its the cure. It requires a GOOD coat of salt. Does that mean to put enough salt on the skein to the point that it white with salt. I know that lots of sugar is ok, but what about salt? If I ad scents to the cure, doesnt that weaken the skein for boondaggin?

Whoa, easy there fella.
Everybodys got a different way but I salt (sprinkle or lightly dust) my skeins pretty lightly and let them cure a little longer if necessary to toughen 'em up. Too much salt and they set up too quick and it's hard to get them just right or get the salt off enough to halt the cure. I believe that the sugar is inert and just helps to distribute and control the drying agent which in this case is the salt. I use more sugar if I want it to juice more in the curing process. Eggs are tricky and sometimes how they come out depends more on the type of fish and the condition you first get them.
Come to think of it, why not bag the eggs and strap on a areofly or a pink worm?

Slimebucket, From what I understand it is best to scent your eggs just prior to the cast. Now this is contrary to what I originally was taught but, according to this book(I'll post name&author later) I read the author says that scenting during the curing process does more harm than good. If you have caught fish in the past using eggs cured the way you previously described then, I would tend to believe it may be boat position,casting to far back or to far forward, leader length, something other than just bad luck. You did say everybody else is catching fish. Which leads me to believe that not only are you not catching fish but, you're not even hooking them. Let me tell you why I think it's not the eggs that are the problem... A good friend of mine has been going through a similar spell for about eight months. So after fishing with him and casting where he wanted me to, I felt as though we were dragging the bait. So we saw a mutual friend on the river(Guide Rich Bogle) and I asked him if he thought we were casting to far behind the boat. His reply"most definately, you're dragging the bait and the boat is scaring the fish before you're offering even reaches them" So being pig headed as he is "My Friend" continues to cast the way he has through this bad spell and I start casting more across from us , not behind us. The result three hookups for me after lunch with two in the boat. My buddy continues to struggle from his sled but, he just does'nt seem to envision what the fish are seeing. Like Rich says " I can hookem on a dog turd if,I could get someone to bait my hook for me" it's all about the presentation!!! Hope this helps,Sid out.

Seriously.

I'd worry more about the presentation and less about the cure. I've never been all that anal about curing bait, but I catch my share dragging bait. Present a fantastic bait poorly, and you can expect poor results. Present a decent bait well, and you'll hook fish.

Either that, or you're just going through a drought. It happens............

OK, hows 'bout some of youse guys offering "Bait Presentation 101" here? Other than the tips already offered, how should a guy present his bait when boondoggin'?

While one of you jet-jocks is at it, why not explain the differences between boondoggin' and side-driftin' while your at it?
Thanks in advance.

Presentation is an interesting thing.

I was taught, and always try, to keep my bait at about a 45 degree angle upriver of the boat with bait drifting naturally and maintaining boat speed and attitude for drag-free drift.

So one day I take my son out, explain to him over and over where to keep the bait. But he gets lazy and just lets it drag behind boat. Guess what; he sticks three fish while I get skunked.

From this I learned that the fish were not as tight to the bank as I had thought and I was actually drifting the boat right over the fish. The boat obviously wasn't spooking the fish when it passed over them, and this was during summer-level flows.

That's the thing about fishing: as soon as someone comes along and says, "This is how ya gotta do it, son" someone else will come along and make a lier out of you.

Possibilities:

You aren't holding your lips right.
Try small prawn pieces instead of eggs. A more natural presentation.
Maybe you are bouncing too much bottom? The most common error I see is too much weight.
Are you fishing with a buddy? Blaming him is an option. Maybe he isn't holding his lips right or just smells bad?

on board

Sid, Are you saying that I should try to keep my bait more across from my sled while floating down river, or up river more closer to a 45 degree angle. By the way, my eggs are not jerky. They have good color and feel sticky when cut to nickle size pieces.

slime,

Keep them upstream of the boat, at about a 45 degree angle. If your baits pass the boat going downstream, you're slowing the boat too much. If you wind up with the baits dragging behind the boat, you're not slowing the boat enough.

If you get more than a tic, tic.............tic, tic.............tic, tic out of your lead, you might want to lighten it up a bit.

Boondogging is basically just dragging your bait downstream behind the boat..........sidedrifting is getting your offering out to the side of the boat and keeping it there. Guys use the term interchangably, but they are two different methods.

Its hard to explain how Ill just have to show ya load the your boat and lets go.

Ditto what Dan S said about the difference in true side-drifting which is drag-free when properly executed, versus boondogging which is literally dragging your offering straight downriver at the same speed as the surface current (considerably faster than the current on the bottom). Proper boat control is analagous to float fishing where a guy holds the float back just a little bit... just letting the float go merrily downriver will unnaturally drag your goods along the bottom.

But as so many folks have said on this board, these critters only have a pea-brain. While I consider side-drifting a higher finesse artform, dragging bait right on top of the fish is one of the most popular techniques for California steelheaders as well as Alaska king fishers. Which method is correct? Well, as they say, "When in Rome..."

Hey Slimebucket, I'm feeling your pain!! I bought my first sled about 5 or 6 years ago and started catching plenty of steelies boondoggin. Now I'm in a dry spell that is driving me nuts. I think I am running my boat the same as the other guys, you don't really have a choice when fishing Blue Creek. i assume my eggs are good, I still catch fish when bank fishing or anchored, just having trouble getting them with the boat moving! Hopefully my dry spell is coming to an end, we put 2 in the boat on the Skagit yesterday.
I will be watching this thread with interest looking for my "silver bullet " though!