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Steelhead & Salmon Fishing Tips and Techniques
 
 

This area of our website is dedicated to tips and techniques for catching steelhead and salmon. We believe there is nothing better for the sport than seeing that certain smile from someone who has just caught his/her biggest/best/first/whatever fish and knowing that another person has joined the ranks of the hopelessly addicted lifetime steelhead/salmon fishermen. We hope that a few of these tips may help you catch a fish or two!

Your suggestions for additional topics are much appreciated and most of all, we would be pleased to publish your own tips and stories. None of us knows everything about our sport, and certainly each of us has his/her own ideas and techniques that work best for them. Please email your suggestions and tips to us Click here.


Steelhead & Salmon 1-Oh!-1
by Fish Sponge and Contributing Authors

Table of Contents
Please Note: This section is a work in progress so only the topics highlighted in blue have actual links at this time. Please be patient and come back from time to time for updates.

1. Basic Gear

........Rods
........Reels -coming soon
........Line and Leaders
........Knots
........Tackle holders - vests, tackle boxes, fanny packs, etc - coming soon
........Checklists - Make sure you take everything your need!

2. Terminal Tackle Favorites
........Hooks
........Weights
........Leaders
........Floats, corkies, spin-n-glos, etc
........Pink worms!
........Jigs
........Plugs, spoons, spinners - coming soon

3. Bait - Using natural baits to catch steelhead and salmon
........Eggs/roe, shrimp, worms, tuna balls, and more
........How to carry your bait on the river
........Tips on curing your roe
........Scents

4. Basic Fishing Techniques
General
........ Learn all you can
........ Timing - When to go fishing
........ Reading holding water - how to locate the fish
........ Weather & water considerations - Temperature, clarity, sunny/cloudy, raining, etc
........ Playing a fish
........ Fishing etiquette
........ Try something new each time you go fishing!
........ Maximize your fishing time while on the water!

Drift fishing from the bank
.........Rigging for the drift
.........Bait
.........The drift
.........Detecting a bite
.........Playing and releasing your fish

Float fishing
.........Rigging for the float
.........Bait/jigs/lures
.........The drift
.........Other tips

Fishing with spoons, plugs, spinners - coming soon
.........Types of lures
.........How to fish them
.........Other hardware tips

Plunking - Fishing in high flow and off color water conditions
.........Locating the fish
....…..Rigging for plunking
...……Terminal tackle set up
...……Bait & scent
...……Fishing from shore
...……Other plunking tips

Fishing from a boat - coming soon
........ Back bouncing
........ Pulling plugs and spinners
........ Side drifting
........ Float fishing

Fly fishing for steelhead and salmon - coming soon

5. Other Gear - coming soon
........Cameras
........Waders
........Personal Floatation Devices
........Rain Gear
........Electronics
........Clothes
........Polarized glasses
........Food & drink for you

6. General information about salmon & steelhead and NW rivers
........Salmon and steelhead basic info - coming soon
........Fishing regulations by state
........Fish Records by State/Province
........Ethics - Do the Right Thing!
........Where to go fishing? - Get river conditions, fishing reports, etc
........Encounters with Wildlife
..... ........Ticks - Beware of them, especially in the spring!
..............Mountain Lions - They are out there
..............Bears!
..............Rattlesnakes - Coming soon
........Conservation - Get involved, hatchery vs wild fish, catch & release
- coming soon

7. Recipes for Cooking and Smoking your Fresh Salmon & Steelhead


8. Reading List - We believe that learning how to fish is a lifelong experience. Along the way we can also learn quite a bit from others. Here is a list of "good reads".


9. Dictionary of Terms – Some actual, some slang

10. Fishing Stories - some fact, some fancy, and the rest mostly fiction
.....Introduction
.....What Motivates You to go Fishing?
.....A Step too Far - Misadventures of falling while wading in a trout stream
.....Evolution of Fishing Equipment - Remember that old Shakespeare rod and Zebco reel?
.....Magical Fishing Days! - Sometimes you actually were there yesterday
.....The Take! - The essence of fishing distilled into a single moment
.....The Internet has Changed Fishing Forever!
.....Rocks
.....Lip-Grip Fish Landing Devices - Dont use them!
.....Dogs, Dogs, Dogs!!
.....Fishermen are an Endangered Species!
.... Fiction - A Full Length Action/Adventure Novel
- The setting is the beautiful Pacific Northwest and the coastal streams that host the most sought after game fish in the world. A horrible murder has taken place and the body is found floating in the river by an innocent steelhead fishermen. What wasn’t known at the time was that he had stumbled upon the most sinister terrorist plan ever to happen on this planet.

11. Fishing Jokes, One-liners, and Cartoons

 

"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."
- Henry David Thoreau

 
 

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