E-mann,
You're right, there aren't solid answers to those questions, only opinions. If you could only pick one setup for all your steelheading needs, I guess I would say a spinning outfit would be your best choice. It casts well with both heavy, or light tackle/baits. However, If conditions are right, I prefer a baitcasting setup. I believe you can achieve better line control and better fish control with a baitcaster. Although freespooling can be done effectively with a spinning setup, it is not as smooth and more importantly makes the hookset more difficult if a fish takes during the free spool. With a level wind, you simply put extra pressure with your thumb and set the hook. With a spinning reel, the bail must first be flipped and on more than one occasion, I have not had the bail flipped all the way back and "whiffed" on my hookset. I also like to keep my drag a little loose with a levelwind and control the fish with pressure from my thumb (not a good idea for summer run fish in October/November that rip off 50 yards in 3 seconds.) The downside to the levelwind is the inability to cast bait and/or light lures effectively. In low water, many times I am not using enough weight to "load Up" my baitcaster for an effective cast. When there is enough weight, you need to be careful when using eggs or sandshrimp as they tear off your hooks when trying to "wing them across the river". Spinning outfits are fantastic for light offerings and really allow you to finesse fish. As for solid versus sliding weights, I prefer solid when drifting only because I feel it is transmits whats going on better. I've fished both ways and when I feel that the fish are skittish, I like the sliding because I feel that the fish may hang on a fraction of a second longer. In medium to high flows, I almost always use the fixed weight. Just a note, I am sure I would have lost a fish last year at the net when my weight got caught in it with no fish. I happened to have a slider on that time and it allowed me to free the weight and battle the fish to the again.
Cheers, I hope my experiences give you more to ponder.

Driftfish

RAE, I wish I could make it down that weekend, but I will not ba able too. I have never been to the Grade Rhonde, but hope to make down there one of these days. The rivers should be in great shape by then too. The 10 day forecast looks real promising for now. Thanks for the heads up, and we will ahve to do some fishing one of these weekends.

Dev88T

Sounds great Devt88. The invite is out there for everyone I think it is shaping up to be a great weekend. I wonder if I should bring some larger talkle as the water might be a little more muddy.

RAE

Go get 'em RAE!

I just got a phone call from a fishing buddy with an invite to fish the Hoh/Queets/Bogachiel out of Forks next week! He will do all the driving from Seattle and row the drift boat. Now if I can just get my sluggish a$$ off the couch, get my stuff together this weekend and drive to Seattle Monday....
JimmyD

Hmmmm what should you do? I think if I was you I would be packing because it sounds like you could just sit back and fish

If you go good luck!

I don't think I would miss out on a trip where my buddy is going to do all of the driving and the rowing. Sounds like a great friend. I wish I had the ability to get over to all these great areas over near the Seattle area. I particularly like fishing off of the beach like shore there in Kalama.

I hope it rurns out to be a great trip, takes some pics and get them posted.

RAE

Thanks Dev and Rae! I'm going! If the river reports look good, that is. The rivers over in the Forks area are still out of shape but the weather reports look good. It's Steve's call.

Yeah, Steve's a good friend. I introduced him to Steelhead when he was in his early teens, 20 to 25 years ago, and we've had some great fishing together. I damn near died on several occasions wading coastal river with him when he was about twenty. He couldn't get it through his head that I was over the hill in wading ability. I had to learn that when he tried a river crossing and came back and told me it was easy, it was not necessarily so!

If it's a go, I'll report on the trip when I get back. Sorry, but there won't be any pics. Hate to admit it but I'm not really computer literate.

One computer smart thing I'm going to do in the future is write any longer posts on Microsoft Word and copy them over to the posting window, so there's no chance of losing them!
JimmyD

I’ve got to agree with E-mann and driftfish that a lot of what anyone says about drift fishing, or Steelheading in general, is a matter of opinion. Let’s stipulate that everything I say is opinion. That way I won’t have to preface every sentence with “In my opinion”.

There are different situations, different waters, different rivers. Success in Steelheading comes from being in synch with the fish and the river at a particular time and place. Experience and willingness to try new things builds the ability to get in synch with new water. I’ve had a hard time getting in synch with the Walla Walla. It’s the other end of the world from freestone rivers over on the coast where I’ve spent most of my adult life.

Some people fish exactly the same way all the time. A friend of mine fishes at Ringold the same way all the time, at the same spot. He has fished in the same spot the same way for years. He has never fished for Steelhead any place but Ringold. Fishing that way would drive me nuts! I’ve spent my whole life looking for new water and need to keep moving. But my friend is in synch with his spot at Ringold and he catches fish. If you turned him loose on the upper Klickitat by himself he would be a lost soul.

The approach to drift fishing I’m advising new drift fishermen to pursue is intended to lead to control of the drift. The more control of the drift you have, the more you will be able to make an effective presentation in all sorts of rivers, waters, and situations.

If I had to choose one type of gear, I would choose baitcasting gear without a moments hesitation. And not entirely because of effectiveness. A fine baitcasting outfit is a precision instrument. It’s a joy to use.

There is a big advantage to spinning gear on little brushy rivers. It’s easier to cast with very light weights and in cramped quarters. I particularly like spinning gear for fishing upstream, which I prefer to do to avoid spooking the fish on small streams, reeling to keep the bait off the bottom as it comes back down.

Baitcasting gear comes into it’s own on bigger water. It does take time to master the gear and exploit it’s potential. Time well spent.

E-mann mentioned that it’s easier to cast long distances with spinning gear. That’s true for most people. Fortunately it’s not usually advantageous to cast long distances for Steelhead. Steelhead tend to stay within easy casting distance of the shore..

But there are times when one will want to make a long cast. An example is fishing from the bank for Fall Chinook at Ringold. They hold a lot farther from the bank than Steelhead. Boaters can be knocking them dead in September and the fish are all too far out to reach from shore. I only got three this year and they were all “super jacks”, 8 to 11 lbs. The smaller fish are more likely to come in within reach of bankies, but it still takes a long cast. And there are times, though it’s not usually the case, when one will need to make long casts for Steelhead.

With long casts it’s harder to control the drift in the way I’ve been describing. It’s easy to see why if you consider the physics of the drift. The weight has two significant forces acting on it, gravity and the pull of the line. Lets resolve the pull of the line into three perpendicular vectors, X,Y, and Z. Say X is the direction of the current, Y is back toward the shore, and Z is vertically upward. The value of each of the vectors will be a function of the tension in the line and the angle between the line and the X,Y, and Z coordinates.

The Z vector, the upward pull of the line, is what counteracts the force of gravity on the weight. It’s the force you are trying to control with your rod tip, controlling line tension to control depth. But the more line you have in the water, either by distance cast or the amount of the belly in the line, the smaller the angle of your line at the weight will be from the horizontal. So the longer the cast, the smaller the change in the value of the Z vector which will be achieved by a given amount of change in your rod tip position.

So you lose ability to control depth with just your rod tip as the cast becomes longer. Being able to free spool with a baitcasting outfit helps in decreasing line tension, but every time you freespool you are increasing the belly in the line.

If I were in a situation where long casts were necessary, particularly using spinning gear, I would rig with a slinkey of a weight such that, as RAE described in an earlier post, the slinky ticked along the bottom. Then, particularly if I were fishing for salmon, which are more likely to be suspended than Steelhead, I would vary the amount I cast upstream so some of the drifts were off the bottom , though I wouldn't have control of just how much.

One way to make good slinkies quickly and cheaply is to use 3/16 lead of measured length (I cut lead at 1/2 inch intervals.... 2 inch, 2 1/2, 3, 31/2, etc.), sealing it in the parachute cord and then crimping it with dikes (through the parachute cord) and breaking it up to get that slinky quality.

When using slinkies, I rig with a snap swivel on the main line, cliping into the end of the slinky. (Don't forget the bead between the snap swivel and the barrel swivel connecting the leader to the mainline!) Makes for quick changes in slinky size.

JimmyD,

Thanks for the excellent advice. Having thrown hardware all my life, I've looked upon drift fishing reluctantly as an option when my usual tactics are failing--and that's a bad way to learn a new technique. Your thoughtful descriptions have me curious and even excited to look for water and rivers where drift fishing is the logical choice, and where I can leave my "go-to" methods back at home and give the drift game a deserving effort. As you said, getting in-sync with the fish and water is the key, and at any given time, place, and weather; a good fisherman will take up which ever methods that best serves to get in-sync with the fish. I think it's time for me to expand my arsenal.

Thanks again,