Part 1

The headline you see at the top of this column doesn’t refer to some lucky dude who just won the lottery. 

And the bank I’m talking about might be the shoreline of darn near any Pacific Northwest river that carries a run of steelhead.

I use that heading for this column because of the building interest in Mack’s Lure Smile Blades among Pacific Northwest steelhead and salmon anglers.  If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know I’ve mentioned this before.  The way these little plastic blades are catching on big time for this fishery is reminiscent of how the same thing transpired, especially among walleye anglers in the Midwest, over the past couple of decades.

This time around let’s get into some of the specifics as to just how some of the Pacific Northwest’s top guides are using Smile Blades.  I’m going to start out with how they use them for steelhead.  In my next column we’ll get into the rigging specifics for anglers who are after salmon.

“Steelheaders have been primarily using two different procedures,” says Bobby Loomis, Mack’s Lure director of sales and marketing.  “The most popular method has been to use them under floats while drift fishing.”

The size Smile Blade these steelhead anglers employ most of the time is the 0.8-inch blade, the smallest in the Smile Blade line.  They’re using a variety of colors.  Those you’ll see most often are the silver sparkle, chartreuse sparkle, pink silver tiger, hot pink sparkle, silver mirror, pink mirror and flame.

If you want to use yarn along with a Smile Blade and whatever bait you employ for steelhead fishing, here's one way to do it.

So how should you go about rigging these plastic blades for steelheading.  “The conventional method,” Loomis says, “is to slide 4mm beads down the leader to ride above your hook.  The next step is to slide your Smile Blade down to ride above the beads.”

You can if you choose, and I think it’s a good idea, take one more step.  That’s to slide a Mack’s Lure bobber stop onto your leader above the blade.  That way the Smile Blade won’t wind up sliding too far up the leader.

This is much the same set up I often use now when I’m fishing a plastic worm for bass.  I’ve seen times when largemouth just couldn’t leave the combination blade and worm alone.  You’re not, of course, restricted to any one way of rigging your Smile Blade or some of the other Mack’s Lure fish attractors that work great with it.  Some anglers use a glittering Wedding Ring on their rigs.  Others employ floats of one kind or another.

The second method, and this one takes a little more doing, is to go ahead and snell your steelhead hooks as usual, but instead of cutting the end of the leader right off at the hook, leave a few inches of leader below it.  Slide a Smile Blade up on this leader---again, it’s behind the hook---and then add 4mm beads for the blade to ride on. 

The next step is to simply tie a knot in the end of the leader so the beads and blade can’t slide off.  Tie the knot so your bead and blade ride about 2-inches behind the hook. 

Pictured here is yet another way to rig a Smile Blade for steelhead fishing,

It doesn’t take much imagination to visualize how that little blade twirling along behind your bait is going to attract attention.  As I’ve mentioned in past columns, these remarkable little fish attractors also impart a wiggle to whatever is used along with them

“They do it,” Loomis says, “whether the Smile Blade is above your hook or behind it.  Steelhead anglers are getting results using it in either fashion.”

Please note the illustrations that accompany this column.  They’ll be of help if you decide to give Smile Blades a shot---and you’re missing a darn good bet if you don’t--- in your own steelhead fishing

I catch myself wishing  Smile Blades had been available decades ago when I was spending every winter weekend up to my butt in my beloved Toutle River fishing steelhead.  The Toutle flowed out of Spirit Lake at the base of Mount St. Helens.  The river I knew so well then was destroyed when St. Helens blew its top back on May 18, 1980.

I loved that river.  I’ve never had the heart to even go back to look at it since the mountain’s eruption.  They are again catching some fish in lower portions of the river and certain of its tributaries, but the old Toutle that I felt so deeply about is now but a memory.

This column has dealt only with using Smile Blades for steelhead.  As I’ve mentioned, in my next column we’ll take a look at how the experts are also using them for salmon.  You won’t want to miss it.

-To Be Continued-