Bill maybe alot closer then you think.

Wow! Dave, you are one of the reasons I got into steelhead float fishing! You must do one heck of a lot of winter steelheading, and this must take up much of your time, but are you going to be putting out any more books like the float fishing one? Just wondering. Since I'm just startinbg drift fishing, I find that floats are definitely the way to go.

GZ: My good friend Bill, the sack, Herzog always says that float fishing is like training wheels for drift fishing. You may want to try float fishing until catching steelhead is no longer a challenge, then move on to something that requires a bit more skill like drift fishing. Also by moving to drift fishing you will get more opportunity to tie leaders and buy tackle. Maybe you can visit Bill at Sportco. He is there on the rare days he isn't guiding, fun fishing, or simply malingering. If you find float fishing too difficult you might want to try plunking.

Bill's just a float hater, and since Nick is so good with a float, Bill must figure anyone can do it with a float and jig.

But believe me, Nick's just that good with a float and jig. Parasite fish next to him a few days and you'll learn some things.

Sure, anybody CAN float fish and catch fish. But not just anybody hooks fish like the floatmasters do. You see the same learning curve in float fishing than with any other method.

Bill thinks hardware fishing is the most technical, or difficult method to master. I think that's precisely BECAUSE he's mastered the art of fishing hardware. He's tried it, adjusted this or that, experimented with different spinners/spoons/rods/reels/lines until he anchored himself at the top of Spoon Mountain.

Hardware fishing may BE the most technical steelheading method........but it's the technical aspects of any method that separate the fishers from the catchers. Any grapefruit can hold a Loomis noodle rod in their hand, drag bait, and hook fish...........BUT only if the guy running the boat has mastered the technical aspects of side drifting (i.e. bait size/color, boat speed and location, fish-holding areas). Grapefruits with a grapefruit running the boat DO NOT catch many fish sidedrifting.

Same story with floats. The dude with his dink float laying on its side going downstream at 10 mph because his line is in the water isn't going to catch fish. The guy that realizes the float needs to be standing vertical, maintains a drag-free drift, and fishes the jig at an appropriate depth is likely to hook some fish on any given day. The guy that knows where the fish are going to be, what color jig they prefer, and what gear will get it where the fish are........because he's spent the time on the river to figure it out...........is going to hook good numbers.

Rating the methods made a cool article, and Bill was mighty comical as usual, but it doesn't really mean anything. Just goes to show you, Bill is quite a wordsmith. Here we are still talking about that article. You know you're a good writer when you write an article people talk about years later...........and they're not plotting ways to kill you for writing it.

To Funny L.J. But damm, I ain't letting you row again, I remember going no where fast.
Anyways you me and Billy will have to hit one of my favs when the water comes back in a day or two. Give me a call anytime, as a matter of fact I just got off the phone with your Bro.
Also what about them leader rollers???
Peace
Superfly

If you find float fishing too dificult you might want to try plunking! That was the morning giggle.

If floats are training wheels for a drift fisherman then floats are for me!I have never been any good at drift fishing!I have always held a confident drift fishermen above us spoon chuckers.

Then again I have taken people with little fishing experiance,set them up with something shiny and put them smack dab into a herd of steelhead and watched them have fun.Sometimes I wonder how hard any of it realy is.I think the biggest part of my learning curve was not method but run timing and where differant fish like to live in the river.

New member FOGGEDIN in could tell you a story of the twelve -nuthing wooping he put on me drift fishing years ago.Casting same set up same slot.... twelve-nuthing.I think that was the begining of my love afair with spoons

Mr. Vedder-

Is float fishing really that easy? The few times I've tried it seemed like I had a tough time figuring out depth, either fishing too high or dragging bottom. I don't see where Bill H. would find it so simple. As far as effectiveness, my neighbor recently showed me how to boondog small roe clusters on the Cowlitz, and wow! Great way to catch winter runs! Must practice more with the float thing. And Dave, have you ever wrote an article on pink worms, and which publication coulld I find it in? Thanks for being on board!

Greg.

GZ: If you were "fishing too high" I can see why you might have had a problem with floats, but I would guess that might hinder you in other fishing styles as well.

You may be onto something with the idea of dragging a bag of guts down river below Blue Creek. I hear that steelhead sometimes gather there. Does that technique have a name? Perhaps you could call it "drifting a gob of guts alongside the boat."

You sound like an intelligent fellow and I think that you may one day catch a steelhead if you keep at it. Remember it takes patience and a bit of luck. Being able to read water doesn't hurt either. Read all you can especially anything written by Bill, the sack, Herzog. He's my hero.

And yes I did write a few articles about fishing the pink worm. In fact, I believe I was the first to write about that technique in the Northwest. But remember I'm older than dirt.

I agree with your comment about none of us being as smart as all of us. Bill H. says that a lot too.

GZ we seem to have the same name.

Well I am off to spend the day practicing my drift fishing With a sack of guts somewhere around the steelhead campground and constance creek.

Tomarrow we are going to practice at the end of the hundred road and up above the oxbow.

That is if my old yellow subaru gets me there.

Is that even possible?

I have seen fisherman that couldn't get out of the car, or stand and stare trying to remember why they are standing on the bank of the river with waders on----- looking at a container of sand shimp wondering if they would cure the munchies.

The answer is "No".

GZ,
I use to fish High all the time but I had a hard time feeling the bites LOL
No float fishing is a great way to fish, just ask the experts Like Nick Amato and Dave Vedder,
They will tell you all you need to know.
And yeah Bill H told me to loose the training wheels once before too.
Peace
Superfly

Jerry,that hit too close too home.I am still laughing