I've got questions for all you fish experts:

The following questions are for the months of September and October. There is a fish phenomenon at Drano and other areas when the silvers get so thick they seem to almost jump in the boat yet won't bite anything. Also seem to chase steelhead out.

1. Why on the Wind, Drano, Big White Salmon and Dalles do steelhead quit biting when silvers start coming up in numbers?

2. And, at the same time when silvers will be jumping and schooling everywhere why do they all have lock jaw?

3. When the fish get lockjaw what is the preferred tactic for getting silvers to bite? Some fishermen use big spinners, some plugs, back troll eggs or sandshrimp but all seem to be with limited results.

When I've been down there this question seems to always come up with few answers. This year was especially frustrating with the large numbers of non-biting silvers.

This inquiring fisherman would like to know.

For your first question, the steelhead don't quit biting they are more or less spooked by the amount of silvers that have begun to occupy the same water and they will move from that area and you need to relocate them. Silvers can be very finicky and you have to vary what you throw at them until you get a taker, out of all those fish there is always going to a few agressive one's and that's the one you want to hook. Your last part, be veratile, big, small, noisy, quiet, various baits don't get frustrated they'll bite. Hope this helps.

Tommo...
Try wee dic nites. Not size 1 or 2 but the WEE version. Stock up in brass, half brass/half silver, and chartruese. Rig them up with a few split shot on a 3-5 foot leader and get it down to the fish and reel slow so the spoon wobles back and forth and doesnt spin. Tie the splits to a small dropper line so a fish doest part your line where the split shot was connected to the main line. Stick with the dic nites and you will catch them. They are notorious for going on the bite one hour and them not biting for another 3 or 4, so just keep casting and you'll get your fish. THis is the only setup i will use on the silvers when they are in thick, other guys will catch an occasional fish but not consistently like the d'nites. Also get a few tiny hot shots and rig them up the same way.

fish on...

I agree the little dick nites are the best.

When all else fails this will usually turn them on!!


I LOVE UEC!!!
Hope that idea helps!!
Keith

Have mercy Keith! I haven't had dinner yet and that looks good enough for me to eat.

Ron

I too fish with the small Dicknites but will take & exchange hooks with a larger siwash hook.

Stlhdr1,
That golfball coupled with straight 8, small splitshot, 18" to 24" leader, on a 10'6" spinning would be my go to!

FJ...out.

I really don't like these things, but I fish with them in terminal silver areas because they work - buzz bombs or similar types of darts or jigs. I do not fish them using the snagger technique - I lift them slowly and let them drop fast - fish always pick them up on the drop. I anchor over a school of silvers and fish right on the deck - the jumpers are not the biters, the ones that bite are the fresh ones that just showed up and are hiding in the shade of all the sour fish jumping around near the surface. This works best at O dark thirty, and in slackwater terminal areas before the fish get in the river. And as careful as I am, some get snagged, which is why I don't like this technique - I really don't enjoy playing and releasing a snagged fish very much - kind of embarassing. But it does work to catch fish in the mouth also, and is just about the only thing that does so consistantly in this situation for me.

When you've got all those fish schooled up shoulder to shoulder....their agression/dominance levels are maxing out. You see all those mouth flashes and body flashes...agression/dominance communication. They will bite eggs or egg like looking baits because they don't want someone elses progeny to survive. They also bite at each other...thats where black yarn comes into play. Two colors are dominant in this communication and agression...Black and white. Black pisses them off and they bite at it.

gooose

Well dangit gooose you beat me to the black yarn speech . I was out fishing the Dungeness with eggs this year for silvers. The fish were getting pounded by snaggers and seemed to be off the bite (mostly due to fishing pressure I think). The fish wouldn't take eggs so I switched over to black yarn. After the switch I started catching fish. Took a 13lb buck and a 10lb hen out of there on opening day. Black yarn works for some reason.

~ Dr Pepper

DP Black is Beautiful.

gooose

Man I love that picture...

James

#4Black/Gold Vibrax

It seems to vary from year to year...the go to rig for emergencies. Another good triple teaser color is the white back red head, brass combo. And let's not forget the old reliable red/white jig fished without a float. And this last year the small chart/red dot corkie small clump of roe combo. For some reason this year, the silvers bit very soft and sensing the bite was a bit tougher than normal. The bite often felt like slightly faster pea gravel during the drift. Once I figured that out it was a pretty slam dunk season. Let's all hope this year is anywhere close to this last year. Yahoo