Top 5 Baits for Winter Wild Steelhead!

Name your favorite top 5 wild winter steelhead baits and I am sure you will find some commonalities with most other steelhead fisherman. Large, noisy, bright, and most of all Intrusive! This is the time that most steelheader's wait all season for, Winter Wild Steelhead time! With the days getting longer and more sunshine to warm up the water these are conditions that make for some hard fighting wild steelhead to bite. Unlike their hatchery bred cousins these fish are aggressive and much stronger. They will hold in currents and structure that their wimpy inbred cousins wouldn't even begin to look at!

And for that reason you will need to gear up and toss some serious hardware and baits.

Number 1: My personal favorite, The Steelhead "RAG".

Created by one the best steelheaders of his time, the late Joe Butoric. This High floating one inch section of white backer rod foam crossed with pink and chartreuse glo bug yarn is straight up lethal!  Because of its buoyancy short heavy leaders are a must! Old time steelheaders on the North Fork of the Stillaguamish were known for throwing leaders of 15# to 20# test around 14 to 16" long. With a heavy rod rated for 8 to17# or 10 to 20# test and a huge chunk of ¼ oz pencil lead a person can toss this combo behind any rock, stump or cut bank and have their presentation get down in front of those tough to get to fish in an instant.

Number 2: The Heddon Tadpolly

Little did those bass fisherman know that they coming up with one of "The" top producing steelhead plugs of all time. Backtrolled slow or fast in heavy or slow moving current this little jewel kicks steelhead butt! With so many steeheaders having painted and customizing their own variations it just goes to show you that this one no matter what is a fierce producer!

Number 3: The Pink Worm

10,000 screaming Canadians can't all be wrong! Finally making its way down to the "states" this one showed up with huge reviews. When drift fished, float fished or even backtrolled behind a Diver this one produces some awesome catches of huge Wild Steelhead every year. Water conditions being gin clear or high and dirty do not seem to matter when huntin' down wild steelhead with this one.

Number 4: the Steelhead Spoon

The Little Cleo, BC-Steel or Devon Minnow all have one thing in common, they crush wild steelhead! When loaded with an arsenal of different weights and finishes one can just about be set for a season of wild steelhead fishing if they were not to carry any other baits! When fished effectively spoons can out fish them all. With that said, the only reason I give it the fourth rating is that they are hard to freedrift with =)

Number 5: The Spin N Glo

Every year some of the biggest fish we hear of are caught by Plunkers. Some of that reason I believe is that for Plunking you typically need to gear way up to handle the lead you need to anchor you offering out there. For that reason when you tie into a much larger than average steelhead the advantage is in your favor for landing them.

The biggest reason though is the Spin N Glo. This little guy has it all, a large profile, wings to make it spin like hell and dance around in the current and create lots of noise by vibration and disturbance in the water, but most of all Yakima Bait make this lure in 2 different wing types and finish as well as offering it in a least a thousand different colors. If you can't find the color you like you need to take up golf because they offer them all!