Anyone do any jig fishing for steelhead/salmon?

[danattherock]

I am planning for my upcoming trip to SE Alaska. A mid April steelhead trip about 30 air miles north of Ketchikan. I will be using my fly rod and centerpin outfit. Thought about trying some jigs on the pinning outfit. Wondering if anyone had used jigs for steelhead. I was thinking some varying colors to include pink, cerise, etc.. in 1/8-1/16 ounce. Curious if anyone had any jigs they might suggest I take, where to buy them, etc... Any general jig talk would be appreciated. This is a new style of fishing for me.



-Dan

[Rocklizard]

Float/Jig combo for steelies was my favorite method back when I lived in Washington. Its absolutely lethal, and oooooohhhh soooo fun to watch that float go under. I've caught two steelies in my life that were in the high teens. Both were caught on a 1/8 oz nightmare pattern jig. White head, red body, black tail. http://j.b5z.net/i/u/2095781/i/8-nightmarejig.jpg

This pattern is no secret, but it works well in clear to high vis conditions. Since living here, Ive mostly chucked fly gear. But I did have had two takedowns on the Anchor a couple years ago with my favorite 1/8 oz nightmare. Sorry cant help with SE Ak info, but they catch fish to the north and south of there, soooooo...

Dont forget, drag free drift is the key.... would love to try pinning jigs, good luck

[danattherock]

Funny timing. I just got an email about the "nightmare" jig and was reading about it in "Jig Fishing for salmon and steelhead" by Dave Vedder. The book credits the combination of three colors as one of the reasons for it's effectiveness. Must be a popular jig no doubt. I will be sure to buy some. Thanks for the input man.


Email from Brian at Beelee jigs...

Hi Dan and thank you for your interest in BeeLee jigs. Some of our most popular jigs are as follows:

Nightmare
Blue River
Yaquina
Mckenzie
Hood River
Grande Ronde
Nehalem
Umpqua
Applegate

[Rocklizard]

You should stop by one of my favorite WA fishing forums. Steelheader.net There are some no doubt about it jig gurus that post there regularly and it has a wealth of information for you in the archives. If you post over there, tell em RL is still alive Mods, if it is inappropriate for me to post this, please delete and accept my appologies.

[Kardinal_84]

After spending a few years outside of Alaska steelheading with jigs, I tried it up here for salmon and it works! Caught this one on Bird Creek and it was the only silver I saw caught while I was there with a ton of people around me for whatever that is worth. Pink seems like a great color for silvers, chums seem to like the chartreuse.

Here's pics I posted a while back. Tied the jigs myself. Used gamakatsu 1/4 oz jigheads. The jig with the painted eye was tied on a prepainted northland 1/4oz jig. On the gamakatsu, I used powder coat on the head and just tied them up. I have ZERO experience in tying flies. Used like a 20 dollar vise. I used the traditional float and jig but I have had friends tell me that they work equally as well when retrieved in a hopping fashion for salmon.

[fishNphysician]

I used the traditional float and jig but I have had friends tell me that they work equally as well when retrieved in a hopping fashion for salmon.

When I was a short order cook at the Village Inn in Eagle River some 30-plus years ago, a fellow cook who moved up from Michigan told me about how jigging for river salmon with lead-head marabou was S-O-O-O-O effective.

I dismissed it as random blather from an out-of-stater who nothing about "our" salmon in Alaska.... that much preferred eggs, spinners, and plugs.

Boy was I ever wrong.

Twitchin' jigs for salmon.... particularly coho.... is deadly effective.

[Raptor_1]

I also use them all the time for silvers. Works great when nothing else is. Pinks will tear them up to. I might try jigging for kings this year....

[danattherock]

Awesome info and pics. Thanks guys. Some nice salmon jigs below on this website. Read about the "quad" color of this jig in a book the other day.


http://shop.firstbitejigs.com/Salmon-Marabou_c10.htm

[Fishkill]

Jigging for trout on works very well, I keep meaning to try it for Silvers and never get around to it.

[DRIFTER_016]

Awesome info and pics. Thanks guys. Some nice salmon jigs below on this website. Read about the "quad" color of this jig in a book the other day.


http://shop.firstbitejigs.com/Salmon-Marabou_c10.htm

Don't lie!!! Y'all cain't reed!!!!!

[danattherock]

Creepy emoticons man. Scary. Got any slippery midgets

[danattherock]

For anyone interested, found some nice looking jigs at the below websites. Spoke with Brad and a few other guys. Nice folks. Some of the common suggestions for steelhead were cerise, pink/white, cerise/fuschia and black, red/black, chartreuse/black, etc.. Much of the reading I did suggested two tone (half and half) colors were better than any one color. Most folks seem to gravitate towards 1/8 ounce jigs with #1 hooks for steelhead. Still researching most appropriate floats, but have read many times to use as little weight/shot as you can. In doing so, smaller floats seem to be the preference. All depends on the river of course. Smaller water, lighter shot patterns (if any) and smaller floats. Bigger water, more casting distance needed, bigger floats with heavier shot patterns.


http://www.bradsjigs.com/

http://www.beeleejigs.com/

http://www.firstbitejigs.com/

http://www.kramertackleandguide.com/kramer_jigs



Good article from Fish Alaska on using jigs on silvers...

http://www.fishalaskamagazine.com/ar...810_silver.htm




-Dan

[kenaibow fan]

I have to say this is some thing new and I have not even thought about it, to be honest I wasn't even going to bother reading the thread, but I am glad I did, I might just have to try this idea out some time my self. Very interesting!!!!! Good post guys!

[Mark Collett]

More Jigging Advice

No one has mentioned it yet but a consideration when jigging is to use an adjustable float.Same as drift fishing ,you want to keep your "bait" in the zone where the fish are moving through.Pay attention to your float,the direction the tip is pointing will alert you as to whether you are dragging bottom,ticking it occassionally (preferred),or not touching bottom at all.My personal preference is the 'Thill' floats.Nice and slender,very little resistance to a steelheads pull,hence more hook-ups.Bobber stops above and below your float are a good option or use one that is spring loaded.My 2 cents..........:topjob:

[Tee Jay]

Jigs with a float are wonderful. Use them on pinks and silvers. They effectively eliminate foul hooks when there are lots of pinks running. They also worked on bows many years ago.