When fishing for chum with Kwickfish behind a sled, what are the water characteristics I should be looking for? It seems like the water which is the right speed is either too deep or too shallow. Are the deep holes with adequate current good spots to fish for chum?
Any help is appreciated.

AK, I have not used Quikfish before but I use Wiggle Warts. If the water is too slow, I troll upstream if it is faster, backtroll. I am not sure how a Quikfish works but with the Warts I adjust speed to fit the action on the plug, as long as I don't get moving to fast upstream or downstream and it has worked well for me. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Doubletake

Ak_floater, you will find chum in pretty much that same water you will find a nice steelie laying in, right in the seem! This is how you choose your kwickies, for slower water you need to use like a k15 or k16 kwicky and for the faster water use like a k14. This will help out with the action of the plugs you are running. Don't forget the sardine wrap and definately don't just through your plugs out the back without checking the action along side of your boat. If you don't then you are waisting your time! You have to make sure that your plugs are running straight before sending them out behind the boat. Hope this will help, just wait till you see the action your rod gives off when you hit some current. Even better when you get a strike your dam pole just about submerges under water, hang on!!!

[This message has been edited by Brian (edited 11-09-2000).]

Ak, I fish from a drift boat, but the holding water for chums is still the same. I find chums in the same water I find coho in . Tailouts, or the bottom end of a deep hole and close to shore. In the faster, deeper water I run 15`s and 16`s. That being 14 to 8 ft. In the slower,shallower water I run 12`s, 14`s and 15`s. That being 8 to 2 ft. of water. Good map on Sky Chums in last issue of F&H news. If you try to run the smaller plugs in the faster water they will spin to the top, need that big nose to dig them down. Good Fishin` Bob H.

Thanks for all the replies. Took my son out yesterday, and had 7 take downs with 5 fish landed between Ben Howard and above the Wallace. The best fish was a large native summer run, the rest were chums. All came to a wrapped K-16 Kwickfish. The steelhead was the largest of all the fish, being in the mid-plus teens. All fish were released.

AK_Floater-

How the heck have you been able to get from Ben Howard all the way up to the wallace flats in your sled? Last I checked the flow was a little less then 1,700 ft/s. That means 3-4 inches of water at the bottom of the two-bit hole. My sled atleast wont go over that without hitting a few rocks. Is there a channel there that I'm missing? I'm sorta chicken on some of the shallow tail-outs. Help me out here if I'm missing something! By the way, how is the Ben Howard area for sleds? Is is shallow? I never get down that far because I always get into fish before I go down that far.

Thanks for any info.

If you think Friday was shallow, I went again today, from Sultan up to the flats. Friday I didn't touch a rock, today was another story. No major damage, but a few dents and dings on the pump wings. On Friday, if my memory serves me correctly, I ran the riffel below 2-bit on the far south side of the river. I would not say it was a defined channel, but rather a consistant gradiant of 5 inch water passing between the two runs. I did not attemp to find out what it looked like today due to what I saw above the Sultan.

8-foot-leader, I forgot to mention, Ben Howard is great for sleds and fish, particularily with a little more water. Depending on the water flow, its great for plugging and boondoggling somewhere in its stretch. Since its a popular drift boat area, I usually give them first water, and then work it a couple of times after they have passed through.

Yeah I thought so! hehe. Just a hair shallow I see. Looks like I might leave the sled home in the morning and just head up to the wallace. Its about the only place fish are showing in any numbers right now. 2-bit can be bad news when its this low. I gotta tell ya, your a brave person to run your sled up to the wallace with a 1,400 f/sec water flow! gets kinda dicey up past the first gravel bar above the sultan/ben howard rd bridge. I try to shoot the right side of the rip thats on the north side of the river in the narrow channel usually. BUT today, I wouldnt go there! hehe.