That was the money drift.

Every single freakin' time, every single freakin' drift.

Fish on.

Hell, I just hooked a fish there now by simply looking at that photo......

Yeah - it's some pretty zesty water right off the end of that log.

Perfect for running a jig through.

They make pads for that.

Yeah - it's some pretty zesty water right off the end of that log.

Perfect for running a jig through.

C'mon now... It's one of those pieces of water that without question can't be fished by a boober as well as drifted. Just the variance in depth it's self restricts the boobers ability...

I remember back in the early 90's driving up and camping at the Dickey river, where the bridge was washed out. We had a few too many to drink the night before and had a 9am rise and breakfast, one of them all night parties... I was getting my waders on when this guy pulls up and asks which way we plan to fish, up or down. I responded with "what gear are you using?" and he said he was running some of his hand tied jigs and bobbers... I told him "don't sweat it, you can go first, you'll leave all to many fish behind"... He sort of puffed his chest and grumbled about a wager... After a few pecks at each other we settled on him and I fishing down river towards tidewater and him getting first water through all of it and the person who landed the most steelhead won $20 bucks. When the fishing was done the score was me and bait drifted 4 and him with his Jigs 1. Turns out it was John Koenig who I didn't know at the time... He had all the excuses in the world for every fish I hooked behind him..

Keith

C'mon now... It's one of those pieces of water that without question can't be fished by a boober as well as drifted. Just the variance in depth it's self restricts the boobers ability...


Keith

Different places, times, flows, etc, all effect the best choice. If I had one choice, it would be a small cluster of eggs drift fished with alone. Second would probably be a sand shrimp tail. Next jigs, then corky, yarn, bead, spinners, spoons. I bank fish, so plugs and side drifting don't really apply, though there are times I have tried plugs or kind of side drifted by walking my gear down a long run. On day I walked into eagle creek on the Columbia. There were 200K between Bonneville and the Dalles, and I would not have been surprised to learn 50,000 were in the immediate area of the creek. There were 4 guys in a boat hooking up a fish every other cast. I, along with the other 3 guys there, tossed everything we had without a bite. The guys hooking everything would not talk to us, but despite their glares, I walked out as close to them as I could, and watched. They were tossing out bait, and then walking it back on the bottom. I drove to town, got some sand shrimp, started walking it back, and was getting multiple bites per cast. Most were pecking like smolt, so I missed most, bit it was still amazing. The other three guys on the bank were still there, and never did hook one. I had less then 30 minutes before dark, but still hooked quite a few and walked out with the biggest steelhead of my life (I broke one off that might have been bigger).
Never used that method again successfully, but that day and location, I believe it could have produced a 100 fish day. On a side note, my brother in law went back 2 days later and it was empty. I was seeing one roll every few seconds, he never saw one. Just the right place, right time, and the right method.

Disagree.

If I had one choice, it would be a small cluster of eggs drift fished with alone.