[cohopk]

Hi All.

I ventured to the Vedder on the weekend. We started our morning at our honey hole. Its a gret spot where there is only enough room for two maybe three guys. My buddy got his first one at first light, a small doe in the deep water. About 45 min. later he landed a gorgeous 10-12 pound chrome doe in the fast water. After that we made our way up to the cedars. There was a bunch of kids camping their and screwing around, so we decided to go and play with the population down at Lickman’s and above, man was it windy and cold on the bottom section. I threw out a few cast but the wind and and the chill did not make it enjoyable. Althouogh I did see a few steelies getting pulled, seems as though most of the action is around 9 am to 11am. Which was just about the time when I got in to a monster. But of course I beaked it off before I could land it.

Anyways, it was a good day just to be out. The questions I would like to know is if those pesky elusive steelies prefer one type of roe over another? I know its all about presentation and from my experiance as a guide up in Rivers Inlet I know every day is difffernet and you have to pick the right combination. But Im curious and would like to get a senses from most of you if they prefer chum roe over coho roe or another? I have been using Puss sacks with Chum roe and haven't found much success comapred to my frozen coho roe. I have been seeing more caught on just frozen roe and would like to know if anyone has had more success with the types of bait.

See you all at the fish out.

Cohopk

 

[fishortho]

Man, this question has been asked many times, and the usual consensus is guys and gals fish with their own "go to" set up. Everything will catch steelhead in the right conditions. It is just changing to the present conditions that eludes most fishres as they tend to stay with what worked last week and not what is CATCHING fish this week with completly different conditions.........Steelhead are not smart, they just get a little "gunshy" after being stung a couple of times with roe......Keep changing your gear!....If it doesn't work.CHANGE!......Ortho

 

[Rib]

I have done some reading which described the steelies olfactory system, it seemed to propose that their sense of 'smell' is quite developed, now whether they can tell the difference between different types of roe is one thing, but they can probably tell when roe has gone "bad". I have heard they prefer steelhead roe above all others, but as I have never killed a steelie, I also have never used their roe....so who knows....
Rib

P.s. I'll try to find the article on the steelheads olfactory system, & if I can, I'll post it here....

 

[newsman]

Trout and Salmon can pick up the scent of amino acids diluted up to 1 part per 10,000,000. I more understandable terms a bird dog has over 700 olfactory cells (smell cells) in it's nose, while a steelhead has over 700.

 

[kaitlyn]

hard to say how fussy they are. the doe that I caught last thursday was caught with 3 small jensen eggs, and a tuft of white wool. when i was cleaning the fish, I opened up the stomach, it had the prettiest safeway style cocktail prawn you could imagine in it. the real question is, however, how long was it there for, given the steelies digestive system is shut down when they return to spawn.

 

[Chris]

I caught a steelhead with a dime sized piece of purple wax in it's stomach last year, I still have the wax, it's my lucky charm.

 

[Fish Finder]

Chris Posted: Monday 27th of February 2006 06

I caught a steelhead with a dime sized piece of purple wax in it's stomach last year, I still have the wax, it's my lucky charm.

This past spring I fooled a nice hatch on feathers, and decided it was going to be joining me for dinner. Fry had already started emerging in the system, so I opened up the stomach to see if it had been feeding on 'em. Inside the stomach I found a 4 inch pink worm...no hook no line..just a rubber worm :shock: , which I figured it picked up off the bottom..That was a first...

Finder :wink:

 

[fishortho]

One fish that I retained on the Stamp River was cleaned by the guide and it had at least 3 dozen single eggs (cured) and a whole bunch of half digested roe and a small anchovy (just the skeleton and a bit af skin left!)......Ortho
Tell me more about the olfactory system in the steelhead. That is of interest to me. Do these fish "smell" at all? I was told never to smoke while fishing, because the fish will smell it and you won't catch any fish....Well I HAVE caught plenty of fish over the years after handling gear and bait with "smokey" hands, and have also caught just as many since I quit.....Ortho

 

[Birdman]

My buddy got a coho out of one of the lower cap pools and it had an anchovy in its mouth.

 

[Rib]

Well Ortho, as newsman mentioned they can "smell"/detect amino acids 1/10000000 dilution....I think these amino acids are specific, ie: there are approx. 22 different amino acids with a few additional variations, but only a few have what are called aromatic rings in their structure. These aromatic amino acids are the same things that give off aroma's in some of our foods and spices (ie: cloves), some of these I'm sure smell good to the steelie and some probably act more as a repellant... but which baits we use and how the steelies react to them is hard to say, I have noticed that some of my roe bags that I have forgotten to freeze between trips don't seem to catch as much as when they were fresh, so I believe they can at times tell that a small bit of roe is bad before they taste it and probably refuse it as a result....this is my biochem major talking though, and as you can guess we didn't study steelhead's reactions, rather chemical properties.... so they can smell, and fairly well, but as far as the smoking goes I don't think the transfer of that aroma is significant enough to be recognized by a steelie, and even if it is transfered in high enough concentration, the transfer of smoke probably does not contain those specific amino acids that might repell them, as I have not experienced a downfall in strikes due to smoking.... It would be great to find a study on which aroma's attract or repell for obvious reasons, I would imagine some of the larger synthetic bait companies have researched this, but as to how willing they're to part with some of that info...probably not very willing at all.....
rib

 

[fishortho]

Thanks for taking the time to post this interesting topic.........The next question to be asked is how much does the attractant or repellent change when the fish enter the fresh water, and does this change from stream to stream? I ask the question because I have fished many rivers throughout the province and steelhead definitely are attracted to different baits/lures in different systems....What is absolutely killer in the Kitimat River for example, under 3-4 ft. vis and similar flow to the Chilli/Vedder will not catch you a single fish in the C/V!.........Perhaps a similar scenerio are the Salmon who seem to love the quickfish with the prawn backing in Washington State, but the back trolling of similar lures with prawns does not seem so effective locally, although the salmon species are identical....Something to do with the hatchery water??...............Ortho

 

[fishortho]

Well there is no doubt in my mind how powerful the sturgeons nose is as far as smelling bait goes....Even in the dirtiest water, they will find it (especially rotting salmon)...Whereas, when the water clarity is poor, the catch ratio seems to drop considerably when fishing steel'.

 

[Mike]

I'm a pure believer that no roe outthere outfishes natural steelhead roe (no dyes). Its the best roe you can get for any species of fish in my opinion.

 

[dinsdale piranha]

Just The Facts, Ma'am

Here are the facts:

1. Steelhead are stupid. (Their brains are not only the size of a pea, they are MADE from peas).

2. Just because a steelhead can smell doesn't mean you can draw conclusions about WHY it puts stuff in its mouth.

3. Steelhead are stupid. (They have even been known to put rocks in their mouth).

4. There is NOTHING in the steelhead's natural world that is made of polished silver, latex rubber, or feathers.

5. Steelhead are stupid. (I have caught the same fish three times in the span of 30 minutes).

6. Gobs of roe (dyed or natural), shrimp, dew worms, chunks of cheese, wax, and marshmallows do NOT naturally occur in streams.

In conclusion, steelhead are stupid. AND the BEST BAIT is the bait that gives YOU the most CONFIDENCE.

Dinsdale

 

[fishortho]

Agreed! ...........

Hey Sanderson.......Poor clarity to me is about what you stated 12-18 inches. That being said, I, too, have caught fish in water of "poor clarity"....however, if you look at perfect conditions/vs. # of fishers....that usually equals less fish when the water is very coloured, 'cause a lot of fishers don't know where to fish under these conditions and are likely standing on them when they are casting!.....Ortho

 

[bigjay]

Now I have to say that there I am not a steelheader and have only fished with roe barfishing unsuccessfully a few times. However, the idea that steelhead roe works better than other roe for steelhead has some basis in biology. In the compition to get your DNA out, there is also a tread toward not letting another successfully reproduce. Therefore eating other steelhead eggs help - if only inconsiquesially - that steelhead's progeny to survive. I can't remeber the name for this it, a few too many beers... years away from university. This also happens with most other animals to some exstent like bears and lions that will kill cub falther by another so they can move in. Whether this is consiouly done who known, probably it is as conscious as men being draw to fake tits... they are just to symetical to not be drawn in.
For salmon it is probably different because there are other speicies breading on the same red so those others would be seen as compation too.
Dinsdale piranha, I think your list can be used from the 9lb of gray matter in that makes most human's feel superior because of having (not a shot at anyone on preticular, but rather to humanity in general... having a brain does not mean you think, what ever the size of it. Fishers of course are an exception.).
Have fun, Jason

 

[Chris]

I agree with dinsdale piranha, and if its orange ish in color, stinks like fish eggs, and resembles fish eggs, it is probably just as likely to be be eaten as any other roe. I've caught steelhead on coho roe, pink roe, and steelhead roe. None of them seem to work better or worse than another. Just my opinion.