Hey Folks,

With the chill now upon us...I'm curious to hear some of your cold water presentations. Water here is dipping below 40 now and will be mid 30's by Sunday when I'll be on the water.

I usually put out the wee warts or something similar to stir up the water a bit and wake up the fish. And as you know in most cases the strike is more like a leaf sliding down your line to the lure. Thanks for the feedback

Here's to all the "Mr. Heaters" out there...


YMR

YoungManRiver,

SPOONS,SPOONS,SPOONS that is all I can say. With the fish not being so aggro in these cold temps the spoon will get the job done, and of course this is just my personal reference.

Can't speak for Steelhead as I haven't been fishing good Steelhead water, but this 27", 6 lb. Dolly pounded a #4 orange Blue Fox spinner yesterday. When he hit it was like a Peacock bass slamming a top water bait, water going everywhere.



I was fishing some flat water about 50 yds. before a small section of whitewater, and he hit as I was retrieving slowly, drawing the spinner upriver.
Thought at first I had finally hooked my first Steelhead....ripped line off like a scalded cat...but then he settled down in the current and dogged, then took another good run before he wore himself out. No, not a Steelhead but a good fight all the same.

Don't usually keep Dolly's, but this one got cooked up for supper. Wish we hadn't...not too good on the table. Tasted bland and a bit muddy...sorta like poorly flavored tofu. Yech...we gave it to the cats and they were quite pleased though.

Mike

I'll second spinners in low clear water. I fished a small stream yesterday and hooked 5 steelhead and probably a dozen or so dolly's in a little over an hour. Blue/silver and all silver blue foxes in size 2 seemed to work well. I've also had a lot of success on meps trout spinners in the firetiger patern (bright green, orange and yellow). The stream I fished was maybe 15 feet wide so light line and soft presentations was key. It would have been interesting to try spoons and a few traditional methods but time was limmited and I was doing well on spinners.

i've been trying to figure out something that works in the winter on the deschutes down here. it's a really small, usually clear river. i slam on the trout with a #0 silver mepps in the spring and summer, spoons work great too

rcl 187........

12 + 5 = 17 fish/hour
60min/17 fish/hour = 1 fish every 3.5+ minutes

Now that's fishing! You sure?

I almost always driftfish. I use brighter colors and slow down my presentation. It gives the fish a little more time to respond. I figure if the fish are as cold as I am then there not going to move much so I need to give them a little shock.

Float fish with jigs. I went 3 for three yesterday and the water was very cold. pay atteniton to that float as the bite was very subtle, each fish I got barley made the float bob!
Buck

fun5 ~ first cast + second cast + third cast + a bunch after that = lot's of fish. Like I said I hooked this many. I only landed a little over half of them (6lb test and logs is not a good combination). I'm basically the only one who know's about these fish so they recieve almost no pressure and bite very well. The first day I found them I hooked 9 summer fish in almost back to back casts. After that I try to only fish them once every week or two so they remain active. The key to catching so many is to slowly pull them out of the hole and as to not disturb the other fish. That and also finding a stream that holds that many fish...

rcl187, What river have you been fishing?

USE BAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fished yesterday in 36 degree water. I tried jigs, not even a sniff. When we switched to drift fishing various drift bobbers with Ammermen eggs we ended up sticking 8 fish. We hooked more fish then anyone else we talked to. only one of thre fish came out of a hole that hadnt been fished prior to us fishing it.

The key was a slow presentation. The fish bit very softly, they would just stop the baits. I bet we had alot more bites then we thought.

Cold water.... Slow presentations with bait! It works everytime!!!

SPINNERZ & SPOONZ , Tossed in shallow pockets and next to undercut banks in my FAV small river .hooked into 4 silvers landed 2 today ,all on Panther martins 1/4 oz bumble bee (Yellow & Black w/ ultra brass blade size 6 ) with a 4" pink worm .the Sea run cutts also luv this when it is presented at a crawl.

Sad way for one of Washington's beautiful wild native char to end up. I encurage people to realease all the Bull Trout and Dolly Varden as they still are very ***ile population wise.

The lightest float for the water conditions and tip it with the following:

Option 1: Small bag of eggs about the size of a dime or nickel

Option 2: White, Pink Pearl Tube jig tipped with a waxie

Option 3: Size 6 or 8 black stone

Size 8 hook with two waxies

In our low, cold, clear water this is the ticket. I also try to use no more than Maxima 6 pound as a leader. If I can get by with it, I'll run 4 pound.

I like to toss spinners, blue foxes size 3 & 4, sliver and metallic blue ,chartreuse, and hot pink those alway produce. I put gamakatsu siwash hooks on them.

When water temps dip below about 37 degrees, the best technique I've discovered for catching fish is to tie leaders, watch a game on TV and wait for the weather to warm up.

Whay did that happen? Didn't think that it was a bad word. Come to think about it I can't remember what the word was.

Chum taste better than those scavanger dollies do. Everyone tries to eat one once, but seldom twice. If I were going to eat one it would be in mid summer as they have to eat bugs and live fish. In the fall and winter they eat fuzzy humpies and chums. Yuk! I try to avoid catching them. Leave them to the fly fishermen.

FJ15,

On my honor (and threats from the wife never to cook another fish)..the Dolly's will all be going right back in the water from now on.

That was only the second one I ever kept, the first one was chunked up for smoking...but I hear now that they don't smoke well either.

Whether hunting or fishing, if we are not eating it I won't kill it. If killed and not eaten, the critters life/death serves no purpose and is an insult to the honor of nature's bounty.

Mike

Mike B Thats how you learn everyone here does it. BTW Dollies smoke up great if your brine is done right.

So far on this board I have seen people post that Chrome Steelhead, Pinks,Chum,Sockeye ,Dollies, river caught Kings and Coho basically everything but salt Kings and Coho and Halibut taste like old boots.

My guess is they have little taste for fish in general or do not know how to cook or smoke.