5/16/2008

Probing for Salmon and Steelies

How to find hiding fish fast

Timothy Kusherets

Fishing for steelhead and salmon in high turbid water can be rough when you don't know where the fish are especially when you're new to the craft of drift-fishing, which is why fishermen need to use "probing" techniques. When probing for fish you can be sure of a couple of things; you're going to find the fish, and you're going to get exercise. The processes involved are extremely easy to learn and the various techniques that work for probing rivers and streams, how to essentially read a hydrograph, when to head out to the rivers, and how to approach water. Just about any kind of fishing discipline can be applied to probing, because the kind of water is only relative to the kind of fishing technique you want to use; just be sure to match the technique with the movement of water. Bobber-jig fishermen, spoon fishermen, drift-fishermen, boaters and bank fishermen can all use this simple, yet effective, application; To begin using this fishing technique you must be sure how to read hydrographs well enough to ascertain when high water begins to fall, that's when you'll find fish on the bite.

Probing for steelies and salmon with Jig Fishing technique. This fisherman runs a bobber-jig setup, in slow moving currents, just a few feet out from the outcropping of a huge boulder. Since this river was running three feet of visibility, every cast he made was three feet the entire width of the river before moving on. He covered 100 yards in less than an hour using this method of drift-fishing.

The first step to probing is to monitor the height of rivers and streams. The best way to fish a blown-out river is to wait as the levels recede. As rivers crest and begin to fall they tend to take the pressure off steelhead, and salmon, and put them on the bite as visibility increases and oxygen levels rise. Throughout the Midwest anglers can access monitored rivers through the USGS website, if you have trouble getting to their site you can access mine at TopFishingScrets.com; there you can actually see rivers crest and begin to fall, the sharper the descending graph is the quicker fish go on the bite, but it's at the beginning of the descent you want to be ready to fish and to do that your gear must be prepared in advance. With probing you don't actually dissect the river for holds the way you might when you're sure fish are in the area, rather, it involves fishing the length and breadth of the river to find fish. Anglers shouldn't let the size of the task intimidate them out of fishing this way. The ease of probing is done on the basis of river width and visibility, but the fishing is fast, active, and productive. Probing for fish during limited visibility is done of the basis of side-stepping and casting. Water clarity is the key to probing. Casting is done of the basis of how clear the river is. If the visibility of the river has one foot of clarity then each subsequent cast after the first will be one foot further. If the river has three feet of clarity then each cast will be three feet further. After completely covering the width of the river move down river one foot for one foot of clarity and so on. The best way to start the probing process is to start from the farthest fishable water upstream your able to; but stay within reason. If you think fish are further downstream don't go two miles upstream above them. You might find out you were right and hook into fish somewhere in proximity of where you thought steelhead were holding and would have wasted time getting to them; but back to the point. When casting, fish as close to the bank as you can and then work your way out covering the width of the river. "In the morning steelhead and salmon will often hold right next to the bank and brother I mean they can be close. I've seen them holding just inches from shore." The best way to make casting work close to shore is to stay back from the river's edge about 10 feet and drift with a short leader. In many cases the water will be slower and shallower than the main current, but fish can be found there so it makes it worth fishing the bank first. Often times, anglers that walk right up to the river, even in dark, will scare fish out from the bank and downstream putting them off the bite for hours on end. Probing covers most of the river, but the amount of time spent in any one area is actually shorter than that of conventional fishing freeing up anglers to cover more water. Any fisherman that has had a number of years under his belt will tell you that the more time you spend covering water the more likely you're going to hit into fish. The great peripheral thing about probing water is the fitness factor. This active form of fishing keeps you fit as well as finding fish on the bite. The incessant walking, casting, and fighting fish make probing for springtime steelhead and salmon a great outdoors experience.

Steelhead landed with Probing technique. It was quite a treat to see an angler land this steelhead by using drift-fishing Probing techniques. Every so often he would sidestep downstream after he completely fished the width of the river. After probing for 20 minutes and covering about a hundred yards of territory he hooked into his steelhead when there was no obvious holds to find fish.