Try Something New: Go Blue For Steelhead

By: Brock Kangas

I’ve been fishing spawn sacs for trout and steelhead for as long as everyone else has. We know that chartreuse and pink are two of the top producing spawn sac colors. Meanwhile, sometimes you don’t want to be like everyone else. Oftentimes, showing the fish something different is what it takes to get bit.

With that said, I use white, peach, red and orange spawn netting, too, but I’ve been playing with blue lately and it’s paying off. I’m not the first angler to use blue egg sacs. In fact, I’m told everyone uses them in NY on the Salmon River. However, where I fish they aren’t popular, and I’m using that to my advantage. The lack of pressure with blue sacs has given me an opportunity to give the steelhead and trout something that don’t normally see. Blue spawn sacs catch fish, just like all the other colors do.

Making blue spawn sacs is no different than the process for the other colors. On the other hand, I’ve taken it a step further and even brined my eggs blue. The combination has caught fish on days when the bite has been though. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to stop using the most popular colors, but will have blue in the container now as well.

Going Blue

Step 1: Brine your eggs

This season I’ve been using Premium Trout Eggs so I don’t have to harvest steelhead or browns for only their eggs. I fill roughly half of a mason jar with Trout Eggs and then pour Blue Fire Brine into the jar. You only need enough brine to cover the eggs. One bottle actually lasts a long time. I’m not adding any dye, simply letting the brine color and brine the loose eggs. As long can see they sure do look good when they are done!

I’ve found success letting the eggs sit in the brine for a mere three to four hours. You can let them sit overnight, but if I need to fish them right away, the short soak gets the job done. I lot of people have asked me if the color washes out of the eggs in the water. In my experience they don’t. Even after several drifts they remain blue.

Step: Tie Sacs

Once the eggs have brined, and color has absorbed, I’ll tie them into sacs. In my experience using 4×4 Blue Atlas Mike’s spawn netting is ideal for the large sacs I prefer, but you can use the 3×3 if you’re making smaller sacs. I’m using larger sacs because I want them to stand out. Normally, I tie them between dime and quarter size, which may seem large to some of you, but this works for me. You whatever size you are most confident in.

 

Step 3: Experiment

I don’t only tie blue eggs with blue netting. I’ve found that using blue eggs with pink spawn netting gives you a purple color, and the fish sure have liked that. I’ve also used blue eggs with chartreuse netting because I wanted something different that would stand out. I’m also mixing and matching the chartreuse, pink and white Magic Thread. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference.

There’s still lots of winter and spring steelhead fishing ahead of us and I’m going to continue to experiment and see what the fish prefer. I encourage you to do the same and come with a combination that works for you.

Editor’s Note: Brock Kangas operates Brockin’ And Reelin’ Guide Service. To learn about his guided trips please visit https://www.brockinandreelinguideservice.com/