Tag Archives: steelhead

Learn to Cure Eggs Like ZZ Todd

By: Todd Hatfield There are many cures and methods to cure eggs. However, when targeting winter steelhead I like to keep mine simple. The process detailed below is designed for curing scraped eggs. Scraped eggs tend to be wet. They juice before cured because of the process to remove them from the skein. In fact, […]

Steelies & Browns On Tap in Southeast Wisconsin

By: Kyle Deavers In Southeast Wisconsin this has been one of the better ice fishing seasons we’ve had catching brown trout in many years. Recently some steelhead have started to show too. With this week’s heavy rainfall more fresh steelhead are likely to arrive. We haven’t caught as many steelhead this winter as we are […]

Learn A Quick & Easy Steelhead Cure

By: Bob Kratzer The new age of egg curing has become more complicated. There are more steps and more ingredients. Meanwhile, if you ask an old time steelheader they would tell you to “just use borax cured eggs.” When I’m short on time and need to cure quality eggs I do something similar. Rather than […]

Fire Balls West Coast Test: Big Dave Manners Chimes In

By: Dave Manners I love using new stuff. Pautzke sent me the new Fire Balls in the fall and I was blown away with how good they looked, but needed to make sure the salmon and steelhead liked them, too. I was tipping my jigs with them while salmon fishing and catching fish. I was […]

7 Tips To Catch High Water Steelhead

By: Mike Ainsworth It’s steelhead season in the Pacific Northwest and that means rain, rain and more rain. This blog will detail tips to catch more steelhead in the PNW this winter. You’ll notice a theme. Whether using jigs, shrimp, yarn or eggs these tips revolve around scent. Soak Yarn/Rags Typical for this time year […]

Learn How to Wrap Plugs For Steelhead Fishing

By: Jeff Goodwin For diehard steelhead anglers there’s nothing like the violent takedowns that occur when pulling plugs. It’s a peaceful technique that allows anglers to relax while anticipating that savage strike. It’s a technique many endure extreme conditions for just to experience the excitement and chaos that follows a rod tip surging towards the water […]

Learn to Tie Fire Balls Into Perfect Spawn Sacks

By: Kyle McClelland When it comes to winter steelhead fishing I believe color is the single largest determining factor in catching fish. It’s no coincidence that when we put on a fresh spawn bag that has vibrant color we often get bit right away. This is also why bead fishermen are successful. This is also […]

Clearwater River Steelhead Better Than Expected

By: Toby Wyatt Steelhead fishing is unexpectedly better than we expected it to be. Prior to the season the Idaho Department of Fish & Game thought we were going to have a dismal return on the Clearwater River. However, there’s far more fish showing up than we expected. It’s been a good year for us. […]

Why Color Matters: Make Vibrant Eggs

By: Kyle Buschelman I use to think that scent was the most important part of having good bait. Meanwhile, I’m starting to change my mind. Scent is important, yet not the biggest factor when developing good steelhead bait. I’ve come to this conclusion after spending time using beads and still catching steelhead. The last few years […]

Steelhead Finally Trickling In – Nor Cal’s Smith River

By: Mick Thomas Steelhead fishing on the Smith River is different every year. For some reason this year has been exceptionally slow to start. Fortunately, since getting bombarded with rain for the past two weeks things are starting to improve. While December and January was extremely slow the past week has proven that steelhead are […]