Just wondering if anybody ever used blue for winter steelies and done any good. Tied up some Royal blue mariboo jigs for kicks the other day and thought id give em a shot. Tried em today and second cast I nailed a chromer. Tried em a while longer and nothin so I swithched back to old faithfull.

Just a fluke or did I stumble onto somthin?

Hey, Rich G, howz it goin' man? To answer your question, yes, blue rocks!!! In Dave Vedder and Drew Hawthorne's book Jig Fishing for Steelhead Dave mentions that he likes blue jigs because blue is a neutral color, not too dark and not too bright. Don't forget that blues and greens are the last colors to disappear under low light conditions found in our glacial river systems and saltwater. I fish a lot of metallic blue plugs and do well with them. Summertime steelie fishin' seems to always bring out the blue metallic corkies as they don't seem to spook fish in ultra-clear conditions as well as water that has a hint of color. Sometimes blue is the only color that retains contrast and doesn't fade into oblivion in heavy glacial melts. A true flourescent blue will show up at greater depths than any other color in the ocean. The reason for this is because the ocean retains a blue color because only blue light can penetrate the water's surface. My favorite summer run spey fly has blue on it and my favorite Kwikfish does too. You're definately on the right track, Rich G, keep trying blue stuff especially in clearer water. Justin

Justin,
when you comin out this way? Im ready to fish anytime. Looking forward to hittin the river with ya.

Right on, Rich, sent ya an e-mail to keep you posted

See ya soon
Justin

Blue herring bone pattern on the plugs has been good for steelhead. Saw quite a few caught this year on that color. The blue herring bone kwikfish in K-9, has worked well on the summer runs, for me in the past. I read the book Sauk mentioned, and it has made me tie up a few blue jigs, though I haven't used them yet. I did catch a steelhead on a blue maribou fly once, though.
Oh yea, Blue Bodied Vibrax size four, silver blade is a good winter, and summer spinner.

Mike

[ 04-10-2001: Message edited by: KORE ]

I have been using blue drift bobbers for years with great success. They seem to work very well in crowded conditions when the fish have turned off of the usual pinks and oranges. I also like the metallic blue for clear water conditions.

Years ago I walked into tulley's gulley on the S.F. of the nooksack. While hiking in I ran into a bug flicker hiking out. We talked about the hole I was going to fish and I asked how'd ya do and what did you use and he opened his bug box to show me. It was packed with blue maribou. Next day tried a blue gammyboo on the N.F. and a football slamed it, wow, I was sold. Up at corkindale,slam, same thing and then gov;t bridge same thing, but always in gin clear water. Blue maribou rules.

I've had good success on the metalic blue hot
shot's and the double blue eagle hot shot also for steelie's.Blue is a great change up
color when the conditions are right.Good luck
STRIKE ZONE

IT seems that my vests secret weapons are less and less these days - time to find a few more . I have had success with blues for the summer runs. I have a nice little stash of metallic blue corkies in my vest. I always figured that it was real similar to dark purple in the color spectrum.

I always thought it was weird that more people don't use it as the blue pirate hotshot seems to be on of the all time favorites for steelies and silvers.

[ 04-11-2001: Message edited by: Stadle ]

Rich:
I dont want to talk about all of my ancient family trade secrets here, but you're on the right track.
I suppose if you'd email me I could share some of the formula with you, for exchanged info about holes / drifts up there...
The good Doctor Kageyama has some good theories in his book "What fish see" regarding fish's physiology as the migrate up river from salt to fresh. There's a good reason why you'll catch ocean-fresh fish on blues & greens, and older fish on reds & oranges, according to him. Then there's the water color light shift issue.
It's pretty complicated and all this thinking is making my head hurt. Later.