Orofino!!!

[Tapajos]

Well its finalized. Will be fishing from the beautiful town of Orofino this weekend! Coming up friday and will get to fish saturday and sunday and monday morning. For my wife and I this will be our first trip for steelhead hope the fishing is good and will appreciate any advice whatsoever as long as it doesnt include "get a guide" lol cause we cant afford it! Ha!
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[fishingrocket]

Tapajos,

I wish that I had better news. You seem to be riding a bubble and I would prefer not to break it. As far as the guide business goes, I avoid them not only because of the money but my pride also gets in the way. It is not fishing when you go with a guide. A person should realize that you are merely reeling in fish. The guide is the fisherman.

I go to Orofino once or twice every year and have caught somewhere between 50 and 100 B run steelhead. I fish mostly with a slip bobber system and jig up there.

The current stream flow data and weather forecast are not what I would normally look for before heading up there. The river just "blew out" at the Peck reporting station -- hitting nearly 20,000 cfs. It is retreating now but the forecast shows lots of rain coming this next week. They are discharging about 10 K out of Dworshak, daylight hours Monday - Thursday and choke it back to 5 K otherwise. This basically means either high flows or very high flows will occur over the next week on the N.F. and main around Orofino.

I think your best bet would be to kill your Orofino Motel reservations and reserve for Kamiah or Kooskia. You could then fish the south fork of the Clearwater more readily but still have the Orofino option.

The South Fork has been producing about twice as good as the main and is more conducive to bank fishing (assuming that is what you are doing). If you are using sinkers and drift fishing roe or shrimp, I think you will have a pretty good shot up the S.F. You are at the tail end of the run but the good news is that those huge male come up last....

FR
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[MONTANA_MAN]

Good luck to you!

Beautiful area and great fishing.
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[Tapajos]

Well thats not very encouraging.....lol
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[chrome_junky]

hey tapajos i think you will still be alright if you head to orifino. you might not be landing a fish every 20 minutes but i think that you could still get in to some fish if its like he says. plus water conditions are suppose to be improving every day now. if you want pm me and ill tell you some things that might help ya out if the water is high and dirty. or i can just give you some all around general info if you would like.
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[LoveMyLavro]

Guides are expensive but if you don't fish for steelhead often I feel they are worth it. You could cut your trip length in half and pay for one so you can catch your limit. Remember the prices listed by guides are only suggestions. Economic times like these beg for negotiations. Ask for two for one. Worst thing that can happen is that you fish from the bank...

Slip bobbers and jigs are your best bet. I did see a guy use a 7' MH spinning rod throwing 1/4 oz. marabou jigs and tapping the bottom like a smallmouth angler and he caught his limit of steelhead in one hour at the log yard by the confluence of the main and northfork below the hatchery.

The fish really stack up on the Northfork below the dam. If you can figure out a way to open their mouths you could be busy all weekend. Most of them have severe lockjaw.

If you decide to drive upriver and fish the S.F. of the Clearwater you can spot-fish them from the road. I have had good results with drifting light weights, long leaders, small hooks, yarn, small corkies, and some stink of your choice.

Bobber and jig fishing is good from Orofino to Kamiah, too. About five miles up from Orofino there are a few ramps frequented by the local guides with driftboats. The pullout down from the Gift Shop ramp is a great hole. It has a consistent depth and produces some good fish using jigs.

If you have not seen how to rig up a bobber and jig you can see examples at Sportsman's Warehouse. They have them tied up and on display by the reel cases.

Good luck.
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[Tapajos]

What exactly is a bobber and jig rig? And what kind of jigs? I fish in a bass club here in utah and also do a lot of trout fishing both spin and fly. So I have a fair amount of gear for that kind of fishing and if theres any of it that I can use to fish for steelhead it would save us money obviously.

I keep hearing that bags of roe are money too. And I had someone from the site be so kind as to explain how to make them with a three way swivel the bag down one side and a pencil weight on the other. i imagine that this just suspendes the bag off the bottom right in the strike zone as it drifts down stream slowly bouncing over the rocks. are they looking to eat or do i need to watch an indicator or by feel for just pick ups to set the hook.
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[Belasko]

For the bobber and jig rig you have a larger size slip bobber set up to let the line/jig slide through to the desired depth (set by using a bobber stop on the line above the bobber) and the jig just pulls the line through ideally hanging just off the bottom. I have never caught the hang of it myself, perhaps someone can explain it better. As for the type of jigs I've heard usually 1/4 oz up to 1 oz with 1/2 oz being more commonly heard. They are usually the standard steelhead colors (black, red, pink, chartreuse, orange, purple) often with yarn or feathers attached to it. Basically find the most obnoxious jig you can find and it should be good.

As for when to set the hook on the bottom bouncing method, you are feeling for the bite. However, it's different. This is largely why you want as little weight as possible to get it on bottom. The faster the lead goes past the fish that holds your bait the sooner you feel the fish and can set the hook before they let it go. On the other hand it usually doesn't quite feel like your usual fish bite. Basically, any time I think something may have hit it or it stops, SET THE HOOK! Sometimes it's fish, sometimes it's a rock. Either way I either hook a fish or hopefully free the weight before it gets really wedged in the rocks.
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[kentd71]

I float fish for steelhead most of the time around Shoup up to almost Stanley. Sportsmans Warehouse had a small book and DVD on float fishing. Make sure the tail of the jig the first thing the fish sees. The bobber should be up stream of the jig. If the bobber is down stream the jig will be pulled down stream faster than the bottom current. I use 1/8 or 1/4 oz jigs and golf ball size floats with a long tube through them because the fish are smaller. I even add fly line floatant the the mono to make stay on the surface and easier to mend. Florocarbon seemed to sink more as a main line. I second the pole yard and North Fork information.
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[jigs]

the way i have bobber fished is
put your bobber stop on first dont put it on to tight incase you need to move it, then thread your bobber, you want one thats highly visable that you can thread your line threw, then I like to use a small peace of surgical tubing below that, but cut a small hole in the side of the tubing so it doesnt slide (this will prevent your bobber from slamming down on top of your swivel and weakening it or breaking your line. then below that i like to do a lead that has a swivel on each end. I imagine you could use a swivel and put some surgical tubing and lead. Just one less step if you use the swiveled weight. On the other end of the swivel tie 18- 24 inches of leader then your jig.
Then you need to find the right depth, the way i do this is estimate the depth and try it out, if you hit the bottom your bobber will either go under or will wobbel funny. just keep lowering your bobber stop until you are 8-12 inches off the bottom.
Once you start fishing a normal bite will take your bobber down just like fishing with a bobber on a lake. Sometimes your bobber will just stop driffing.
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[jigs]

i normaly use a 1/8 or a 1.4 oz jig just enough to get you to the bottom, it seems to act more natural with less weight.
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[kentd71]

I also use a small corkey between the stop and the float instead of a bead. It makes it easy to see if you are too deep and if the top of the bobber is pointing up stream. I like the rubber stops. They seem to slip less and are easy to adjust. I used the same one for ten days of fishing. You can tie your own with fly line backing on to a coffee stirrer/straw then cut them apart.
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[SteelieNut]

The first time I went to the Clearwater, I had never fished with a bobber and jig either. I stopped at the tackle shop and they showed me everything I needed to know, and sold me everything they could talk me into buying[:/]. They also have a map of the most popular holes there too. I would recommend stopping by there, it put me into fish that I doubt I would have got without the info. Have a great time up there, hope you get into a bunch of fish.
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[Tapajos]

Thanks for all the help. The weather report has changed from earlier this week. Its now showing pretty cold and good chances of rain and snow throughout the weekend. Hope that it doesnt blow out. But if it does hell it will be some scenery we havent seen before
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[chrome_junky]

if it blows out head down through riggins you could prob fish there as well.
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[poky-mon]

If you go through kooski turn right past the church before the bridge and you go down about 2-3 blocks and see a shop called tomcats. They will give you good info and have all the stuff you 'll need. They were great help. Their jigs worked killer. good colors and assortment. google stealhead fishing Idaho and youl get some guide sites that will tell the conditions and reports and all that fun stuff .

Heres a video on bobber stop

[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR1Yxlp-1Qs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR1Yxlp-1Qs[/url]


drift setups
[url "http://www.steelheadangler.savings-direct.com/wordpress/2008/09/29/how-to-for-steelhead-drift-fishing-and-salmon-drift-fishing-in-freshwater/"]http://www.steelheadangler.savings-direct.com/wordpress/2008/09/29/how-to-for-steelhead-drift-fishing-and-salmon-drift-fishing-in-freshwater/[/url]
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[Perry3]

Last weekly report as of 3-2 on the IDFG website reported checking 409 anglers on the South Fork last week averaging 4 hours per fish caught. Sounds like the place to be, although the majority of them had adipose fins. 113 fish kept and 414 released. Still fun to catch!
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[Tapajos]

awesome replies guys thanks a lot. Yah i saw that 4hrs per fish seemed good. We arent interested in keeping fish just catching a few big ones Excited ill make sure and get you guys a report! Realized we will be fishing our 6'6" rods with size 30 reels and 12-16pnd test short rods!
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[jigs]

if your going to go you might as well keep a few. I talked to a f&g officer a couple weeks ago he said they want you to keep the hatchery fish. he said that it costs them to much money to handle them.
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