I just read an ancient Fishin' Holes article detailing the steelhead plunking show that once was at the Ballard Locks. One of the hot lures was a Sammy Special off a 3-way dropper. Unfortunately, I was too young to appreciate this odd drift bobber in its heyday...

Anybody still fish these? Any past success stories?

Steelheading was in its prime when Fishing Holes magazine, Sammy Special lures, and plunking at the Locks were in their hey-day. Since I caught my first steelhead on a genuine "Cherry Bobber", you can guess it wasn't my youthful age that kept me from appreciating the Sammy Special. Rather, it was the fact that so many other lures came out about the same time that were really effective. Okies and SpinNGlos are a couple of examples. I liked the Sammies well enough to buy a half dozen of them; just didn't like them enough to use them. Most of them are still in a tacklebox, somewhere. They were an odd-looking lure in that they came pre-tied with a double hook, and had a fairly large balsa body which didn't look "eggy" like an Okie Drifter, nor did it have the action of a SpinNGlo. It's hard to imagine anyone plunking this lure and having success with it. It will be interesting to see if others have used Sammies and done well with them-- might have to get 'em out of retirement. The lure I was having the most luck with during the mid/late sixties was the amber Okie, fished alone or with a wisp of chartreuse yarn. Lots of nostalgia in those old Fishing Holes magazines.

I caught my first steelhead on a sammy special at Lewis street in Monroe. Since then I have seen several absolutely greenhorn rookies catch fish on them. The rookie with a Sammy Special used to be a running joke with me and my freinds.

I have one client who uses only sammies. He has good luck on the black and blue ones.

Hohwaiian:

Great memeories......thanks...

1968-till about 1975, the "Sammy Special" was 90% of the lures that I used for fishing. Still have a few, use to buy them by the "full card" when they got to be 3 for $1.00. Fishing pardners at the time used them also. Worked great on the Hoh, Queets, Humptulips, Wynchooee, and Satsop. Loved the Red Body ones with either green, red or pink yarn. The double hook was a great idea, don't believe many lures have used that since.

Punking...?????? would question how effective they would be but for drift fish..awesome.......

"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

Boy that brings back old memeries. I grew up fishing down at the locks. We use to ride our bikes down there and get chased off by the old fart that use to own the fishing dock. Which is now a park. When he died and the city bought the property I started fishing there for Steelhead, I think I was about 12. It was pretty tough to break in there. All the old guy's that fished there were pretty though. But when your there all the time the regulars got use to me and my buddy's and then became freinds with all, who are mostly all gone now. All the pranks we use to pull on them like wizin on the fire barrel when they were all sleeping in the plunking shacks or throwing an arasol can in the fire and when it exploded, they would wake up and run out of the shacks. They would get us back, Like wraping our line around the reel handel so when we got a fish on it would break off. Those were the best times of my life and will never forget.

On to the fishing.
The locks were broken into two areas. The lower area was fished with a flat fish that was slid down the line. You would use a primid sinker 6 or 8 oz. with a 12 inch leader with a swivel and a bead. You would then cast out at a slightly down stream angle and slide the flat fish down on a leader and the current would take it down to the bead.

The upper end of the park where the current was more swirly. We would use a sammy speical off a spreader bar. Both systems were deadly. There were as many fish caught at night as there were durring the day.

The sammy speical was great in it's day like the cherry drifter, which if the guy's seen you use thease day's you would get some pretty strange looks. Think of it like this( 56 ford pickup or 00 ford pickup. which would you rather be seen in, They both do the same thing).

Tight lines and long live the sammy speical.

Strange. We just ran a special on all our Sammy's (3 for $1). Someone came in and bought our whole lot. Mr. Gray?

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Sorry it was not I, I do the fly thing thease day's.

The sammie is the primary drift lure still over here in Idaho. Its sort of like a corkie but it has two hooks on it and about a 40 inch leader on it ( usually two in a package for about 1.39) Most people fish it with the tail of a bait shrimp attached. Its a big deal on the salmon river. The problem I have seen with them is that the leader that comes on them is some type of cheap-o kinky mono thats got to be at least 30 lb test. Most old timers will tell you the first thing you do is cut the leader in half. I have seen them packaged as "Macs"... but most are generic with no name on the package.. its sort of like a corkie with two hooks stuck in the back, and yarn comming out the back above the hooks, with the leader comming out the front.

Lewiston is the only place I have ever seen a sammy in the store. Blacksheep Sporting Goods in Lewiston is currently selling 8 sammy heads for $1.00.

What a trip reading about fishing for steelhead at the ballard locks. I grew up on magnolia and the first steelhead i caught was there. I caught mine on the flatfish. The locks bring back alot of memories of fishing when i was young. I went to my moms on christmas and went to the locks. The indians and the sealions really ruined a great fishery. Those fish were the most beautiful
steelhead around. I don't know why they don't introduce a steelhead fishery on the cedar river. The cedar river is a beautiful river.
If the dept. of fish and game can do hatchery
runs on other rivers why can't they do this on the cedar? Ohhh i forgot they don't have the money. The price of fishing licences keep
going up and the fishing keeps going down. What the department needs to do is instead of eating lobster and having cocktails at their
meetings on deciding what rivers to close they need to have a public forum to discuss
these topics. What we need to do is get the net's out of the rivers. I've been a commercial fishermen for 20 years and i've personally seen the damage gillnets can do.
One thing the nets do is that they don't discriminate between hatchery fish and wild fish. The mesh size doesn't matter either. I've seen small fish get tangled in large mesh. Alot of small do get through though. Vice versa on big fish in small mesh. I commercial fish in bristol bay alaska and we don't fish if the rivers don't get their escapement. That's what they need to do here.
Just like in elliot bay on the king fishing. If they want to do a test fishery in the bay let the sportmen go out first. We will kill less salmon than the indians with their gillnets. They need to ban all nets in washington waters tribal and non-tribal until the fisheries rebound. The one fishery they really need to ban is purse seigning i've done this also and alot of smolt and shaker salmon.anyways enough said. I would apreciate
your comment on this issue. Good fishing to everyone. FISH ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great topic! Seeing how I use to live 7 houses up from the bridge on the Magnolia side, I spent my entire childhood fishing at the Locks. I have many fond memories of that fishery and of the regulars. How could I forget the likes of Mack, Plumber, Painter, Alex, Casey, and many others. If anyone knows Alex Kupcis (he's my age), have him send some email to me! I haven't seen him in years.

Seeing how I was around 10-11 at the time, I managed to land 2 steelhead in the 3-4 years I spent fishing there. Not good odds, but as a kid, it was great!

I do remember the 30+ fish days with the largest fish I saw caught there was around 30lbs. (by Mack).

Since I lived so close to the locks, I would spend my late evenings "hunting" the low tides at the locks for the sinkers, flatfish, and sammy's. Lot's of fun and very addicting as a kid!

Too bad all those fish are gone now

Parker

I should know most of you guys. my name is Bob Gray. Rember when plumber drove his truck in the water under the train bridge?. Hey remember when mac would get us to pull on a line connected to somone's rod and he would yell fish on. God what great times!!!!
Mac lives in Spokane now. Is Alex still alive? not crazy alex?. I don't know if you guy's rember me. I hung out with brian holms and those guys.I am old now (40) I drove an old gray chev truck when I got my lic. I also grew up in magnolia and went into commerical fishing in Alaska starting in 78#.
I got out of that a few years ago and now own a sportfishing lodge in Alaska. All I can tell you is that if my parrents new the kind of sh#* that went on down there, when we were kids , They would never let me hang out there. If any of you guys rember me give me a e-mail or reply here. It would be great to here from you all. The names don'T regester, but maybe some old storys will.

"The best memories a kid could ever have".