:

Except bonkers.

stam[/quote]

Can't wait to bonk....oops...SPRINGERS !!!!!

Man what a TANK!!



Can't wait to bonk....oops...SPRINGERS !!!!!


I want one no make it 2........

c/22

Mmmm, springer....

Rognsue, Have you ever had the people that live in the house below that picture come out and join you while fishing? They usually come out half hammered and then proceed to finish the job while out in their boat. See you there in April.

Oh Yes...

Now U R just showing off.

I thought it was a good read.

It all boils down to different strokes for different folks. Guides have to dumb it down to the least common denominator for their daily clientele. For folks that can't cast that means pulling plugs. For those who can cast, side-drifting may be a better choice. For those who can cast, but can't maintain contact/communication with the bottom or can't recognize a bonafide strike, floats help them around that handicap. Hey, it's all good... but only to a point.

Like Bill said, the biggest problem we as a community have is the shrinking opportunity as more areas are closed off and more folks are compressed into the areas still open. Different strokes in the more crowded/pressured conditions all too often results in gear conflicts.

With regard to the smolt-killers, it might be a bit unfair to imply that side-drifters are the only culprit. Anybody fishing bait over smolts is gonna get bit... drift guys on the bank, side-drifting, boober/bait, diver/bait.

For all you side-drifters who like the double hook setups, I challenge you to try something a little different when fishing over nates and/or smolts this year.

AMPUTATE that top hook point and pinch the barb on the trailer.

I guarantee mortal hooking wounds will fall to nearly ZERO for any fish you intend to release.

Stever...last year was just a single guy in a 1 seater...and almost everyday the kids (teenagers) from the north side...
Parker ...Those are Sue's 2...Shes showing off...

Maybe people who want to avoid Crackers and Poachers should just read up on Goonfishin' and find out where those people aren't going to be. Doing so would probably lower the odds of having your truck broken into or having the catalytic converter stolen as well.

As far as the article went I thought it was a good read, but sad and indicative of most W. WA fisheries these days.

Even I've fallen victim to the boober/bait combo more than I'd like to admit. Farking boobers!

I love bobbers and boobers.

Actually I like them small - in both cases.

I got big hands and a big mouth so you go figure.

On a different subject, I'm all for all types of fishing. I like flyfishing, swinging metal, drift fishing, and I do enjoy being in a boat with a good captain side drifting bait but that only happens about once every 5 years.

I think we must do a better job defending sportfishing rights/privledges and therefore, we must be tolerant of all methods by working together, not bickering amongst ourselves.

However, I believe we must be the example to other groups as well. We like to cite our low catch and release mortality but if we, as sportfishers are indeed causing high mortality rates on juveniles with small hooks and bait, then I'd be the first one to support a statewide bait ban for conservation measures in order to set the example. And then I'd make damn sure the WDFW Commission understood the "sacrifice" being made and stress that other groups follow likewise.

There are some good points in the article. One for instance is the use of # 4 hooks. Is it absolutley necessray to use hooks this small to catch 8-10 lb fish? The only time I remember using hooks that small were with my Dad trout fishing when we wanted every fish we caught to inhale our bait.

A friend once wrote that all fishermen can agree on is how to ban each others gear.too true.I was on this bb years ago,as ltlcleo.I had hoped to see the sportfishermen use this forum to band together.Unfortunately All I see is a further splintering of the ranks.
I have not picked up sts for A long time.I will grab it tonight.Bill probably doesn't even mention the lonely littlecleos anymore.B.C steels and all.
Can't we all just get along?

Ltlcleo:

Actually Bill still fishes and mostly talks about almost nothing but spoons. He will swing a fly on occasion; and last year on the Situk, when the spoons didn't' do as well as we thought they should, we switched to his all time favorite drift rig - the pink pearl Okie Drifter.

I hope you don't stay away just because there is some dissent here. I don't see how we can ever avoid dissent, but if you ignore the threads that are obviously just pissing contests you will avoid most of it. I find some in intrusting stuff here, and a lot of crap. It's kind of like steelheading, fish the good looking stuff and pass by the rest. As I recall your posts we damn fine.

I think almost all of us value wild steelhead, want to do them as little harm as possible. If Bill is right that some side drifters, especially those using a double set of tiny hooks are killing a ton of smolts, we should take a look at the issue. While that may be a a bit decisive it's better than ignoring something that may be a problem.

It sounds good, but I guarantee that they will hook considerably less steelhead too. I also wonder whether any less smolts would be hooked, or if many would just get "butt-on-hooked" like trout in alaska when a bead is pegged too far up the line. Either way, in my experience, 3/4 of steelhead taken using this method are hooked with the top hook. Very few fish are ever hooked with the trailer only. The exception being when you are swinging a tailout and your bait takes a downstream angle to your weight and boat. The reasons are obvious.

First, the top hook is where the bait is. Second it is being presented in a way that usually results in a sideways-mouth or corner of the mouth hookup because the fish are usually facing perpendicular relative to the leader angle in both "pick up" and chase situations. One advantage of the double rig is the corky stays in one place. Free sliding, corkies will often hover around the lower middle half of your leader in slow to moderate currents, causing leader snags. However, perhaps the biggest advantage is that the top hook is completely unimpeded by a drift bobber. Thus if you "amputate" you will lose this advantage and your bottom hook will be impeded by the drift bobber, resulting in less fish hooked. In fact, your bottom hook is much more impeded than the usual drift fishing situation because most guys trail with either a size 2,3, or 4 hook behind a size 10 or 12 corky. whereas most guys using a size 10 corky free sliding would never use anything smaller than a 1 or a 1/0.

That said, I use doubles far less than I used to. It's not because I think they hook smolts anymore than other methods (I've caught plenty on spoons and spinners), but because in many flow and bottom-structure conditions I find they hang up more than yarn ball/puff ball combos (thank you, Kevin Lund). In other words, doubles are often more hassle than they are worth to me, both in tying them and lost time in the water re-rigging.

Dom

Ltlcleo comes out of the deep dark woods for groceries and sex once every 5 years!! Good to hear from you.

If you feel the bitty trailer is being "shielded" by the Cheater/Corkie, just use a bigger hook witht the appropriate amount of "bite."

The only thing I am promoting here is a system that enables you to use bait without the risk of a mortal hooking wound.

Works so well on big AK rainbows that it's difficult to imagine it wouldn't work equally well on similarly sized PNW steelies.

Funny you should mention the term gomerfishing

That is the exact term that got me banned and then the dick lied about why he banned me after he edited my post. Bruce is a Nazi and that board has nothing to offer anyone with any intelligence.

Then he emails the IT department at my work, what he emailed them I have no idea. What a TOOL!!!