Part 5

You’ll not put many steelhead in your boat or on the bank without a proper presentation of the right lures.

You’ll recall I mentioned planning to write about some of the newer products now available to anglers as I continue this series on steelhead fishing. 
Among them are a couple of relatively new jigs.  Some anglers who know how to use them have knocked the heck out of steelhead.

I’ve written about one of those anglers in this column before.  He’s Chris Roney, of Richland.  Last time I talked to him Chris was operating the Mid-Columbia Excursions Guide Service.  I’m assuming he still is.  He fishes mainly on the big pools formed by the Columbia River dams.  Chris had established an enviable reputation on the big river’s pools.  His favorite lures for steelhead?  They were Mack’s Lure jigs called the Rock Dancer.

As I pointed out in that column, he used these jigs almost exclusively.  These well made lures come in two different hook sizes.  They are available with either a 2/0 hook on the 3/8th, 1/0 on the 1/4th,  or a 2 on the 1/8th ounce.

Shown here are the Mack's Lure Rock Dancer (top) and Glo Getter jigs.  Both can be excellent for steelhead when properly presented.

Examine a new Mack’s Lure catalog or scan the company’s web site catalog and you’ll see Rock Dancers are available 14 different colors or color combinations.  Just two colors were the ones this popular guide told me he liked best.  They were a solid purple or a purple and black combination.

Good as these jigs are, they must be used with a proper presentation to get results.  This Columbia River guide also has firm opinions where the weight of his Rock Dancers is concerned.  “I use the 3/8th-ounce jigs,” he says, “and this is important.  “I find the jigs of 1/8th and 1/4th-ounce just don’t get down as deep as the fish are often holding in this stretch of the river.”

The right boat speed was another important factor that let Chris get the presentation he wanted.  “I’ve found,” he says, “that I usually have the best results when I’m trolling just fast enough to keep the slack out of my line.”

Chris fills his reels with 12-pound test monofilament.  He uses about 18-inches of 15-pound fluorocarbon leader between his main line and his jig.  He gets his jigs down where he wants them to be by fishing them beneath a slip bobber that’s slid onto his main line. 

Chris does something else that he considers a key element in his consistent angling success.  It’s using a shrimp that he slides on beneath the bucktail skirt of his Rock Dancer jigs.  These aren’t just any old shrimp.  Roney dyes those he uses with his own secret formula.

Pictured here is a Rock Dancer jig.  Note how this one is rigged.  It's the most popular Mack's Lure jig among steelheader anglers on the eastern side of the Cascades.

As I’ve mentioned, Chris does his fishing on the Columbia River pools on the west side of the Cascades.  “While Rock Dancers are favorites on the east side of the Cascades, our Glo Getter marabou jigs are our best sellers in western portions of Washington State,” says Bob Schmidt, general manager of Mack’s Lure.  “While the best selling size in our Rock Dancer jigs is 3/8th -ounce, the most popular size in the Glo Getter is 1/8th-ounce.  The best selling colors in both jigs has been black and red and black and purple.”

There is no one way to rig either of the Mack’s Lure jigs.  Note the illustrations that accompany this column.  They show how anglers on both sides of the Cascades are going about it.

These marabou jigs are especially popular for steelhead on the western side of the Cascades.  That little Smile Blade rigged up front adds to their attraction.

Farther down the Columbia more and anglers are using Smile Blades in rigging for both steelhead and salmon.  Bobby Loomis, director of marketing and sales for Mack’s Lure, has undoubtedly had a good bit to do with this.  Bobby lived in Southwest Washington and worked in his uncle’s rod factory there for many years.  He knows lower sections of the big river really well.

“Smile Blades are a brand new deal for some of the guides on the lower Columbia,” Loomis says, “and they’re using them to catch more fish.  They’re being used for both salmon and steelhead.”

If you’ve followed this current column series you know it has dealt only with steelhead.  Smile Blades are making such an impact in some parts of the Pacific Northwest that I’ll now be including some of the details on how these lures are also being used for salmon.

If you’re an angler who concentrates on either species you’re going to find my next column of keen interest.  Watch for it beginning June 15.

-To Be Continued-