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[salmonlover]

i use a baitcaster to short float, but my dad doesn't like those kind of reels cause of tangles...I want to take him on the vedder and someone told me that a spinning reel isnt really the best reel to drift or float fish with is there another reel you can fish with. I was just thinking a fly fishing reel with normal line on it and just pull the line out when it goes down the river could you do that or not?

[colin6101]

You could attempt something along those lines, but I would just let him stick with his spin cast rod or at least bring it as a backup. Although they definitely aren't ideal for drifting, I have caught every species of salmon with a spincast rod on the vedder, so it is not impossible by any means. Has he ever tried a centerpin setup before? They are ideal for drifting and are far different from baitcasters.

[scuntor]

It is hard to dead drift with a spinning reel. When the float dips the bail is always open! I tried last week rather than use a level wind for pinks. We switched to roe after we saw a few spring and the spinning reel made a good drift difficult.

[Froodogga]

Some baitcasters are easier for beginners than others.  To lessen the amount of tangles, try and get a baitcaster that has the release the runs horizontally across the barrel.  This allows the user to release and apply thumb pressure to the line at the same time...some other baitcasters that have the release elsewhere could be troublesome for the novice...

[troutbreath]

You can drift fish with a spinning reel by keeping one finger near the bail to flip it over the second you get a bite. If too much line is out on a cast and the rest of the line is sticking to the spool use the water to pull the line out by lifting the rod tip. Then go get a level wind when everyone bugs you about being a dork trying to drift fish with a spinning reel. I still use a small spinning outfit to drift smaller streams as it will get lightweight set-ups out there without too much hassle.

[Spoonman]

It is hard to dead drift with a spinning reel. When the float dips the bail is always open! I tried last week rather than use a level wind for pinks. We switched to roe after we saw a few spring and the spinning reel made a good drift difficult.

  When I was float fishing with a spinning reel I found It better to turn off the anti-reverse and reel backwards.This maintains direct contact to the terminal end.Once a fish is hooked the anti-reverse can be swithed back on.This is easier with a flip type switch(just takes a touch of a pinky) at the rear end as opposed to a slider.I will agree it's not ideal, but with practice it it works quite well. You have to be carefull to not backreel too fast in the slower runs.In a fast seam its amazing how fast you have to do it to keep up with the current.With practice it it works quite well.It works best to float roe in froggy water/slow seams.In faster water a colarado works well as a bit of tension and a less than perfect dead drift does not hinder results,but likely improves them.Keep your rod high(use a 9'-10' rod min.)and use shorter drifts and move more to cover water.

[Eagleye]

i use a baitcaster to short float, but my dad doesn't like those kind of reels cause of tangles...I want to take him on the vedder and someone told me that a spinning reel isnt really the best reel to drift or float fish with is there another reel you can fish with. I was just thinking a fly fishing reel with normal line on it and just pull the line out when it goes down the river could you do that or not?

Spinning reels with the baitfeeder function such as the Okuma Epixor EB series pay out line similar to a baitcaster without the issue of birdsnests.  There is some drag to the drift though but the option makes them more versatile.  Shimano makes one too but I am not familiar with it.

[fishseeker]

Not wishing to bring up an old topic, this is just to say thanks for all of the advice.

I was out on the Vedder yesterday and applied all of the ideas you gave me.  Unfortunately I could not get there at first light and the conditions were tough - nothing biting but plenty of pinks getting foul hooked mostly accidentally and sometimes deliberately (I am not even going to go into some of the appalling behaviour I witnessed).   In spite of my best efforts I could not avoid foul hooking a few myself sometimes.

Fished with wool, roe and spinners (using Mr Hooks suggestion - holding back on the float to get some spin), anything to try and entice them.   In the end I managed to find a small hole everybody seemed to be neglecting.  Figured out the depth using the techniques describe here, set the weight about 2 feet up from bottom, threw out some roe and whammo - I got what looked like a nice little Jack spring but I was not 100% sure so I released him.  Maybe somebody can confirm this one way or another.   This is a not so good photo because the fish was thrashing about quite a bit and I was trying to keep it calm with one hand while attempting a photo with the other.

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/gallery/fishseeker/Vedder_something

Later on I moved up to another hole and hooked into another two like this with roe but they both got off .

Next thing is for me to figure out how to use roe properly

(Note: Normally this would have gone to the fishing reports but I just wanted to let you all know that I am listening and doing my best to apply whats said here).

[HOOK]

yes that is definately a spring jack.


Spring = black tongue/black gums
Coho = black tongue/white gums
Chum = purple/green ish bars running down sides. never actually looked in ones mouth cause they are so filled with huge teeth 
Pink = well to be honest they are all partly rotting now LOL

this is what you will encounter now in the majority of our LML streams in the fall.

[fishseeker]

Thanks Hook, now I know for sure.  I am very familiar with chums and pinks (..caught many of those).   This is the first time I got something other than a Chum or a pink and I just wanted to be sure I made the right guess as to what it was. [To me, the jacks look a lot like pinks only a lot more spots and obviously a lot fresher than the half dead pinks right now].

Also, thanks for your comments on this thread.  I am hoping to do better with blades and spin n glows using the techniques you and some others described.

[HOOK]

thanks for the kind words Seeker 

when you fish roe you want to hold back on it slightly much like a blade when drifting it however dont hold back quite as much, you want to slow it down just enough that it leads the way down the river (roe then lead then float). If your drifting in faster or heavier water you can do this or you can actually just dead drift it so it stays in the strike zone properly.

If you enjoy fishing wool due to its cleanliness you should grab some jigs (bent rods jigs) and try dead drifting these because they can be deadly, try tipping it with a prawn also (frozen ones from store thawed out work good)

when you mention spin n glows so you bar fishing or using the tiny ones for steelies ?? because those are completely different usages.

[fishseeker]

Aha..more things to try.   I actually had my wife dead drifting pink bent rod jigs both in the Vedder and at Campbell and they were great for the pinks.   The thing I liked about them is they seemed to snag fish less with the hook pointed up -just made sure the jig was above them.  Someone else mentioned using prawns with these for Steelhead once so its just something I have to try next  - I find Roe very expensive so I would like to try alternatives (..also heard dew worms can be good too)

I used spin and glows very effectively on pinks - just put a weight 12 inches above them and retrieve them slowly the same way as a spoon.  Got the idea from my wife because she found one discarded in the rocks and suggested I try it - turned out to be one of the more effective ways to get them in the Fraser.  Since it worked so well for pinks that way I can't see why it wouldn't work well for other Salmon species fished below a float the same way as a spoon would be.   After all...it spins and vibrates like one and the small sized ones could really entice them.

[doja]

So has any body tries a pink worm for coho

[HOOK]

coho like SMALL presentations so i doubt a pink worm would work. I mean they rather take small hunks of roe over giant ones. one large thing they will strike though are blades or spinners. I like using a size 5 colorado blade for them and they agree 

[doja]

I've read that they like dew worms so...

Really small pink worm, maybe cut in half.