[bigjay]

So I was watching some TV earlier this evening and I saw a piece about steel heading in Hell's Canyon on King 5... North West something. It was about steel heading on this canyon on (my belief the Snake or Columbia) that looked like the Thompson.
It was not drifting. It was power steel heading, using a 20'+ boat with a bottom bouncing rig on a spinning rid to catch these head. It was Party Boating Steel. Only back east where steel have been introduced have I seen such disregard for the fish. I don't know... does this happen in the Thompson. The river really looked good, like the Thomspson (cept for being in the state unlike the Thompson).
I love Steel Heading even if I have not done it often. It is the pinical of BC fishing. An area that should not be fouled as most of fishing has by the best way - easiest. Please, give it some rules like the Tyee Pools.
Have fun, Jason

 

[sage2106lb]

You can not fish from a boat in the Thompson or any classified water in BC.

 

[Pat AV]

I am pretty sure Hells canyon is on the snake.....

As for the fishing techniques they do things a little different down there. from their management (hatchery fish everywhere) all the way through to how they fish.

I agree that I do not want to see that crap up here. A few folks from the US have been up on the skeena the last few years pulling plugs and just pounding the big springs. All the locals can do while sitting on the shore bar fishing is watch, shake their heads and wait for the bell to ring.

 

[abbyfireguy]

Its definately on the Snake River,,they have a very good steelhead population..

 

[Mike D.]

A few folks from the US have been up on the skeena the last few years pulling plugs and just pounding the big springs. All the locals can do while sitting on the shore bar fishing is watch, shake their heads and wait for the bell to ring.

Pulling plugs is a very productive way to catch Chinook, and just as ethical as barfishing....and I know for a fact that lots of "guides" and those with access to boats pull plugs up on the Skeena/Kitimat rivers......seen it on TV myself, aswell as pictures! I think that some "west coastern" american, ways of fishing will be influencing us up here, and soon everyone will be pulling plugs, and side drifting etc....could you imagine if our management systems here in the "Fraser Valley" or else where in BC that could use some extra help, were like those down south? we'd have crazy steelhead rivers...just like the stamp/dean/sproat rivers etc......Now that I think of it...don't most rivers in Region 2 look pathedic compared to others throughout bc? come winter steelhead time?

Mike <")))))))><

 

[jetboater]

pulling plugs has definatly taken off in the valley!!,look at the harrison in the last few years alone, its an all catch and release fishery but we have been pulling plugs for six years now, everybody thought we were crazy, now every store stocks them.

last year we anchored prawn rigs and plugs at the mouth of the vedder and boated 17 springs in 11 trips. we also backed plugs down the fraser in august and did fairly well.

you really have to go down to the snake river to appreciate the fisheries that they have, you can go out and hook 20 steelhead a day fishing a wedding band behind the boat. the area has a whack of steelhead.

if anyone ever has the chance to go see jet boat alley in clarkston and lewiston idaho on the snake it is really amazing.

 

[skagit3]

The type of fishing you are referring to is called Boondogging. We use 9'6" G Loomis Ultra Light Spinning rods with 6lb test and 12 lb mainline. Very light weight, usually a size 4 hook and a glob of eggs. The river in Hells Canyon is the Snake but you have a few good rivers in that area. The most popular are the Snake and the Clearwater rivers. In the Snake it is not uncommon the catch and release 20-30 fish a day usually smaller fish, 6lbs or less. The Clearwater is where the pigs are. It is common to catch several fish in the high teens to low twenties daily.

Fishing down here is very different then fishing up there. The guys we make fun of are the plunkers or barfishers. You can fish a lot more out of the way places up here with a boat. We don't really have the gravel bars down her to fish the banks. Hells Canyon is sheer rock walls so unless you have a very long rod and about 3000' of line cap (the cliffs can reach thousands of feet high) you can't fish from the bank. In the Hells Canyon area there are also no roads so much of the access is by boat only.

 

[thefishnfool]

No need to go peeing in someone else's pool just because there techniques are different. Funny thing is that the guys down here were really laughing when float fishing was introduced here back in the day. Now it is one of the most popular techniques that there is. I don't doubt that many of our techniques given time will start to take off and become very popular up there.

TNT-I am going to have to come up there this summer and try some of the king fishing and see if they will bite a quiky!

Tim

 

[Pat AV]

I agree that pulling plugs etc is not unethical, I just think some methods may be too effective (why do you think they banned fishing from boats on the T?). No different than a bait ban or fly only restrictions. I think method restrictions are a good way to still allow a fishery but controll the impacts.

That was all I meant by the above coments which I could have worded better.