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[CoastRider]

boulder causes friction on water molecules which in turn push on more water molecules. Its all kinetic friction on a molecular level. So yes. Its Friction.

Hydrology is the study of water. You dont say "hydrology caused that to happen" because the study of something cannot be the cause of it.

btw, Im a geography student at SFU. This is kinda my thing.

Well said.

Comments are all good. Looks like I have been walking past good water. This season I will be sure to include skinny water on my trips.
What (if anything) do you guys do differently with your float set ups for fishing water that may be only 2' deep. Seems to me the float would be right on top of the weight. I generally use a hollow pencil lead on my main line.

Definitely dont need a long leader when fishing fast/shallow water. It becomes a disadvantage. In coloured or fast water, might as well fish a 16~ inch leader to avoid having your bait swirling out of the seam! But as long as your bait is out there, they can usually find it

[naka21]

boulder causes friction on water molecules which in turn push on more water molecules. Its all kinetic friction on a molecular level. So yes. Its Friction.

Hydrology is the study of water. You dont say "hydrology caused that to happen" because the study of something cannot be the cause of it.

btw, Im a geography student at SFU. This is kinda my thing.

You can know all you want want about water and terminology but doesn't mean it's going to help you catch fish. I basically look at the river and think if I was a fish where would i sit or rest. Pretty easy once you cancel out where they won't sit

[naka21]

A lot of fisherman tend too over think things

[Ian Forbes]

Suther pretty much covered it.

When I used to live in Squamish in the 1970s I fished the river almost daily during steelhead season. The Squamish has many wide riffles where steelhead would hold in water less than 2 feet deep. It was classic fly water, but we most often fished with ghost shrimp when we could get them, and if not I would buy prawns and wire them to a 4/0 hook. Although we used floats, we held back on them and let the shrimp swing in the current downstream. Many times while standing in knee deep water I would have steelhead swim upstream between me and the shore. A couple of times I actually had them hold in the current 6 feet from my legs while using me as a break in the current.

Broken riffle water hides steelhead quite well, but they show up easily on smooth sandy sections. It's been my experience that on small rivers the steelhead will chose overhead cover, but on big rivers with broken water they will hold in the shallows until disturbed. Steelhead have a natural affinity for water they might eventually choose to spawn in. That is normally large gravel with some degree of current and lots of oxygen.

[Ahh...Why Not]

boulder causes friction on water molecules which in turn push on more water molecules. Its all kinetic friction on a molecular level. So yes. Its Friction.

Hydrology is the study of water. You dont say "hydrology caused that to happen" because the study of something cannot be the cause of it.

btw, Im a geography student at SFU. This is kinda my thing.

You just inspired me more to make sure my children stays in school and not depend on Googling stuff.

[The kid]

Best post I've read this month.
Heed the above advise and the fish you seek will be found.

beauty islander whats the setup for steelheading you use with it

[Johnny Canuck]

You just inspired me more to make sure my children stays in school and not depend on Googling stuff.

Maybe I should have used it rather than trying to recall from school many many years ago 

[Ahh...Why Not]

Maybe I should have used it rather than trying to recall from school many many years ago 

shh... It's ok. It's just the internet. Let it go... Shhh...

[Tenz85]

I'm just starting steelheading and have been studying but had some food for thought regarding techniques for float fishing in skinny water or just close to the bottom in general:
1. Isn't it advantageous to fish close to the bottom this time of year because winter steelies try to conserve energy and want targets mouth/eye level?
2. I've saw some you tube clips from Pacific Northwest steelheaders who use slinkies on the weight to avoid startling the fish by damping the sound of the weight bouncing on the bottom. Basically the lead is covered with heat shrinking pcv or I guess surgical tube would work as well.

[Suther]

shh... It's ok. It's just the internet. Let it go... Shhh...

Its not just the internet. We were talking about real-world phenomena and their causes. If you are a fisherman, general hydrology is good thing to know because if you know how the water interacts with the banks, bottom, structure, ect, it is easier to identify where good fish water is... And identifying good fish water is the whole point isn't it?

[Suther]

I'm just starting steelheading and have been studying but had some food for thought regarding techniques for float fishing in skinny water or just close to the bottom in general:
1. Isn't it advantageous to fish close to the bottom this time of year because winter steelies try to conserve energy and want targets mouth/eye level?
2. I've saw some you tube clips from Pacific Northwest steelheaders who use slinkies on the weight to avoid startling the fish by damping the sound of the weight bouncing on the bottom. Basically the lead is covered with heat shrinking pcv or I guess surgical tube would work as well.

Around here, If your weight is bouncing on the bottom, you are snagging, not fishing.

If you want to actually CATCH fish, you need a leader short enough the weight doesn't hit the bottom, ever.

[liketofish]

I agree with Ian that riffle water, even in shallow area, is a spot preferred by steelhead. They feel more secured by the riffle. If it is a sunny day, they will seek out these riffles more as the riffle shield them from direct sun ray. Here is an interesting story of my steelheading. I once went with 3 other younger guys and we started at the Borden Creek area. We parked by the road and the young lads rushed out to the river as it was quite a walk. By the time I got to the river, the young lads have finished a nice piece of water and were going down river. I surveyed the spot and realized they might have just concentrated on the deeper 4-6 ft water which made up the main run. But the top part of the run was some shallow riffle water that most people would ignore. Being a sunny day as well as gin clear water, I figured if there was no fish in the main run, I may as well focus on the riffle which gave the fish some cover. I set up a single jenson egg on 8 lb leader and covered the riffle water carefully. Sure enough. A 10lb hatch was hiding there, and before the young lads made it to the next run, I had my fish and they were so shocked that I could dig up a fish after they thought they covered the run, LOL.

[sugartooth]

Around here, If your weight is bouncing on the bottom, you are snagging, not fishing.

If you want to actually CATCH fish, you need a leader short enough the weight doesn't hit the bottom, ever.

the blind leading the blind  

[milo]

Around here, If your weight is bouncing on the bottom, you are snagging, not fishing.
If you want to actually CATCH fish, you need a leader short enough the weight doesn't hit the bottom, ever.

Not true. You should think first before making blanket statements that don't take into consideration techniques other than float-fishing. There are instances where the great depth of a pool/run or the uneveness of the river bottom makes it impractical/impossible to float fish. In such stretches of water you can dispose of the float and bottom bounce with a very short leader and get legitimate takes. Your weight must be light enough to just bounce off the bottom with the little current available, and your leader must be really short to feel the (often) subtle takes. Anything that helps keep the weight from snagging and making noise is good. Surgical tube helps, but parachute cord is even better.
Bottom-bouncing is a beautiful technique, much more difficult to master than short-floating, as it involves many variables. But once mastered, it will yield more steelhead and trout than short-floating ever will.

[Animal Chin]

2. I've saw some you tube clips from Pacific Northwest steelheaders who use slinkies on the weight to avoid startling the fish by damping the sound of the weight bouncing on the bottom. Basically the lead is covered with heat shrinking pcv or I guess surgical tube would work as well.

I think I saw the same video, it's by a "steelhead stalkers" or something and they're out of Washington. I think it's called "drift fishing".

His favorite way to rig up was to use a slinky (you can buy them at Sea Run), or make them using paracord (3Vets etc) and buckshot. Cut paracord into desired length, fill with buckshot or split shot, use lighter to seal paracord end (s).

He would poke a snap swivel through the slinky and put the eye through the mainline so it was free floating, then tie on a swivel, to a 2 ft leader.

I believe Milo is correct on the technique and all he says about it (I've never done it). If you go to their website (guys who made video), you'll see he writes about short floating like he recently discovered it and it's better than sliced bread ..."I wish we would have done this when we started".. because the learning curve is way steeper. He seems pretty legit to me.

Snagging bottom all the time would be a bitch. Logic would have it that drift fishing would be a lot harder, but give it a shot, I've lost enough pencil lead in the river so I'm not going to throw stones. I also love the sight of the float diving. I think that's the best part.