Fished at the falls this morning. Water level was decent and fairly clear. Handful of folks crowded into the opening of the pool at the falls. Several hooked, only one landed between 5:00A-9:00A. So my question: there are several big pools that seem to be 10+ ft. deep just prior to the pool at the falls. However, the vast number of trees that have washed into them over the years make them almost unfishable when bumping the bottom. Drifting a float doesn't get you deep enough for success. I'm still fairly new to this steelhead deal, but other than sucking it up and tying on more hooks would anyone recommend. There have to be fish in these pools and I hate going shoulder to shoulder with the other anglers. Please help a newbie. Thanks.

Hey, Rob, thanks for the report. Try fishing up there with a sliding float. I fish a lot of sliding floats with an adjustable bobber stop. The kind of bobber stops that I use are made by Thill and they consist of a hollow plastic tube with floss nail knotted on the tube. All you have to do is slide the tube up your line, slide the nail knotted floss off the tube onto your line, and then put a bead on and then your float. Be sure and ditch the little plastic tube that the bobber stop comes on when you're done with it as it is not needed. You can simply adjust the bobber stop by moving it up or down your mainline. I fished some 20 foot deep holes for springers with this setup last week and did well. The nail knotted floss bobber stop will pass through your guides and you can set it up to fish as deep as you like w/o interfering with casting. If you really need to get the lure down to the fish, then use one of the larger dink floats with about 3" of pencil lead or two 1/4 oz. sliding egg sinkers. I fished some crazy deep and fast water on the Wind river with this setup and outfished just about everybody. Weight your float so that only about an inch or so is above water once the weight and lure get down. Unfortunately, in crowded areas sometimes the whole beach will be driftfishing in which you have to join and driftfish too or you'll catch hell because your float will be in everybody's way. The floats progress downstream faster or slower than driftfishing, depending on the current and can really screw up a bank full of driftfishermen.

You can also try using a smaller float and 1/4 oz. jig, no weight ohter than the jig. The 1/4 jigs will sink fast and you can fish pockets and pools pretty well with them.

I know the area you are talking about below the falls. I'd fish it with a float and stay above the snags. You won't loose that much gear and you can fish jigs and plastic worms effectively. A good rule of thum is to keep your lure a foot or so off the bottom when fishing floats, but fish will often rise several feet to grab a jig or a worm. The Snoqualamie is selective fishery, bait prohibited in the summer so I use jigs most of the time and do ok. Good luck up there.

[ 06-01-2001: Message edited by: Kid Sauk ]

KS gives some good advice fishing the slip bobber. One thing you might also want to keep in mind in deep water is that, sometimes, not always, the fish will suspend well above the bottom. In such a situation, always start with a short leader and gradually work deeper!

Also typicaly in those holes on the crummy they use spinners and spoons alot also.Vibrex, blue fox and steelies.

Ron,
what size of blue fox's do you prefer? I've had very poor luck with the whole spinner idea in general and was hoping that you might elaborate on this subject a little?

Fishtalk:

I believe they use a #3 or #4. I don,t know I usually us a steelie. We just let them slowly flutter, not too fast and hello.

Ron,
Hello and thanks for the response to my question. When you use the steelies over the blue fox's are you using a siwash hook? I heard that the action is different between the treble and single hooks but again I can't really talk from fish catching experience when it comes to the spinners. Is this a true theory or am I stepping into the middle of a oppinion battle over good hook bad hook vs spinner weight?

As a rule, I always replace the treble hook with a single siwash and pinch off the barb. The action really isn't much different - as long as it spins, the fish don't seem to care. The treble hook can really do damage, so if catch and release is your game, then the treble hook needs switched. If you choose to do this, make sure the direction of the hook is such that it doesn't point down to catch the snage when retrieving.

I do use a 1/0 or 2/0 siwash hook. Depends on the size of the spoon, however the small steelies need only the 1/0. I usually put a split ring on then a swivel then the hook. Besure to use good gammies as the cheeper ones seem to straighten out.

Also don't let the spoon flutter too much it seems just a slow gentle wobble seems best. I don't know why.

Good luck let. me know how you do

Don't forget to give your Siwash hook a slight offset bend with a pliers. Seems to hold on to 'em quite a bit better when they're barbless.

Don't forget that on the Snoqualamie it is selective fishery requiring single barbless hooks and no bait. This regulation is in effect until Dec. 1 so don't make any mistakes as the wardens are out in force. Be sure and tell people on the river (nicely, of course) that it's selective fishery. Some people just don't bother to read the regs while others are fully aware of the regs but just don't give a sheeyat.

Ron Bob, no need to use the Gammy siwash anymore. The new Vision siwash hooks are better and they're a lot more affordable. Shoot me an e-mail if you'd like to try some as I'm up in your neck of the woods quite a bit.

Justin

hi justin, you didn't by chance pick up a ford f150, saw someone coming back on highway 522 that looked like you?

Hey, Doug. Funny that you mention Ford F150 because I haven't got one yet but I have been test driving a few. Mostly up in my area so I don't think that it was me that you saw. Need to get you out for summers pretty quick Doug. Just shoot me an e-mail and we can set something up. It's shaping up to be a really good year

Justin

Kid Sauk, if you're looking at 2000-2001 F150s, check out the radiator. Ford slipped standard 1" radiators in virtually every rig that was supposed to have a Super Engine Cooling Option(part of the class III tow group). 2000s are supposed to have a 2.20" double core radiator according to specs. 2001s are supposed to have a single core 1.42" radiator. Some buyers are refusing delivery on new rigs until the upgraded radiator is installed. Those who already own trucks with the wrong radiators are having varying degrees of success getting dealers to install the upgraded radiator they already paid for. Sorry for a truck post in a fish thread, but you and a lot of other board visitors could be adversely affected by Ford's mistake. I was.

CedarR, thanks for the info I appreciate it. I've been looking at new vehicles for a while now and I'm finding out that there is something wrong with every last one of them! I'll keep the radiator upgrade in mind when I battle it out with the salesmen. Thanks again. Justin

I fished the Snoqualmie after work tonight. Never had a hit. Only saw 2 other people fishing. Is it still a bit early in the spring?

hey kid, when fishing a slip bobber do you have to retie often due to the sliding weight tearing your knot up? i know you pry use a bead to protect the knot but that doesnt allways work, but anyways what im getting at is a buddy of mine makes these sinkers 1/2 to 1 oz. and they are fixed with swivels and im wondering if you would want to try them out, and maybe hopefully want to purchase some? if so, drop me a line narnia75@juno.com or jus reply to this one..**berkley boy**

Berkley Boy, I don't use a sliding weight with my floats, at least not that often. Most of the time I just use a dink float with a bead between the float and the bobber stop and a bead below the float which rides above a snap swivel. I just use pencil lead or a slinky and attach it directly to the snap. Sometimes I will use a sliding weight and put a bead on each side of it to protect the knot and keep the swivel from damaging the float. Never had a problem with line damage because I use the River's Inlet knot and it's one tough ass knot!!! The tag end that runs along the mainline usually keeps the bead well above the knot which doesn't allow for line damage. I don't really get too fancy with my float setups anymore. I used to be, but I've learned that it's all about proper weighting of the float so that it doesn't ride too high or too low in the water and you need enough weight to feed line out downstream. Of course, presentation is important also. What exactly do these sinkers that you mentioned look like? How do they attach to the line? Might be interested in giving them a try if it's something new. Let me know how I can get a hold of some and thanks.

Superfly, who posts on this board is the best float fisherman I've ever met and I've fished with what most will refer to as "the best there is". He should be able to shed some insight on float fishing for us. Joe? He has shown me how to fish floats in fast water, slow water, medium current, pockets, and the list goes on. My catch rates with floats have increased so much since fishing with him that I rarely even driftfish anymore which used to be my preferred method when I'm not pulling plugs or divers in my boat.

With the vast pool of knowledge on float fishing out there, I'm willing to buy beers (heck, throw in food if you want) for some similar pointers to anyone interested. I can toss a flyrod for trout just fine, but this steelhead deal is slow in coming. Others have a steep learning curve on this stuff, or did I leave too many braincells at the bar in college? By the way, I saw a really big one landed at the falls this morning. 10 pounds perhaps. However, I'm giving up on that place. 4 guys on 'the rock' when I arrived there AT 4:30A! Looked like penguins stacked on an iceburg, elbow to elbow like that. Kind of kills the notion of getting away from things. Will try elsewhere next time.

Ok, to those catching fish on the Snoqualmie, any tips would be appreciated. Are there just not many fish in yet or what? I've fished Monday evening and Wednesday evening from 7:00pm until dark and haven't even had a take down. I use a float and have tried various colors of jigs. I've concentrated mainly at the mouth of the Tolt and the cable hole. Any other tips would be great.

Thanks.

From what I've heard is that there aren't many fish in yet and that its a little early

Tight lines


Kevin