Tag: chetco river steelhead fishing

How to make Steelhead Candy

Catching steelhead with a soft bead below a float is all the rage these days on Northwest rivers during the winter. Bobber-dogging beads is effective, and easy. But long before drifting beads was the go-to method for most guides, tossing a cluster of roe combined with a Puff Ball or Corky was the top method for catching steelhead.

While I occasionally fish beads in my drift boat, I still prefer to rig up my side-drifting rods with a tiny combination of natural roe, yarn and a Corky or Fish Pill. There is something special about seeing that rod tip twitch as a steelhead snacks on the roe cluster, versus the hung-on-the-bottom pull down of a steelhead hooked with a bead. There are also many days when a steelhead will hit a gob of roe after it has passed up an a dozen beads speeding by in a popular spot.

Steelhead candy, ready to fish.

Years ago, I filmed a series of videos for Pautzke Bait Company on making steelhead candy, a sugar-infused roe cure that steelhead can’t resist. The natural roe cure remains my go-to bait for steelhead. This video is a decade old, but still full of useful information for beginning and experienced steelhead anglers.

How to make steelhead candy, roe curing tips

For a hands-on lesson in side-drifting with roe for winter steelhead, check out www.wildriversfishing.com to book a guided drift boat trip with one of our local, year-round professional fishing guides.

Nice steelhead caught during the 2021-22 season on the Chetco with Capt. Andy using steelhead candy.
Cured eggs, ready to be bagged and put away until it’s time to fish.
A cluster of roe, yarn and Fish Pull, ready to catch steelhead.

Big steelhead showing up on Chetco, Smith

The peak of the winter steelhead season has arrived on the Chetco and Smith Rivers, and although fishing is only fair at best, some of the fish being caught are in the mid-teens or bigger. The Smith already has produced a handful of 20-plus-pound steelhead, and the Chetco has yielded several fish in the upper teens.

High water in early January has brought in decent numbers of steelhead. Catch rates, however, are still somewhat low, with one to two fish a day on average. There is a nice mix of hatchery and wild steelhead on the Chetco, while the Smith has a few hatchery steelhead, and plenty of bigger wild fish.

A large hatchery steelhead caught on a 3.5 MagLip in January 2021 on the Chetco River.

As the rivers dropped back into shape after the New Year’s rain storm, the Wild Rivers Fishing crew spent the first few days the Chetco was fishable by running plugs close to shore. A 19-pound and an 18-pound steelhead were caught on 3.5 MagLips. After the river continued to drop, side-drifting was effective.

A 19-pound steelhead caught on the Chetco River in January 2021.

The Wild Rivers Fishing guides have donated a handful of wild steelhead to the ODFW hatchery broodstock program on the Chetco. The steelhead are caught with hook and line, and after being held in live wells on the drift boats, are dropped off in holding pens on the lower river. ODFW then takes the steelhead to the hatchery on the Elk River (there isn’t a hatchery on the Chetco), where they are live spawned. The adult steelhead are released back into the Chetco, and several months later, the juvenile steelhead are brought back to the Chetco.

A beautiful Chetco River wild steelhead that was donated in January to the ODFW broodstock hatchery program.

The last few years, February has been the peak season on the Chetco and Smith rivers. Steelhead season runs through March 31 on the Chetco and the end of April on the Smith.

A hefty Chetco River hatchery steelhead from January 2021.
One of the wild steelhead donated to the broodstock program.
A chrome-bright Chetco steelhead.

Ocean bottom fishing charters also will begin soon out of the Port of Brookings. The Wild Rivers Fishing crew also captains charter boats in Brookings, targeting lingcod, halibut, salmon, rockfish and albacore tuna.

To book a guided drift boat river trip, or an ocean charter, call (541) 813-1082 or visit www.brookingsfishing.com.