Ahhhh, the Steelhead Trout! A prized  Northern Ontario river species that you’ll find is one of the more exciting fish to catch. There is one single way of catching a Steelhead that I find works best when your trying to catch these migratory rainbow trout, or steelhead. If your fishing Northern Ontario’s tributary rivers, creeks and streams that flow from the Great Lakes, you’ll find float fishing is the most popular way to catch these prized specimens.

What float fishing does better than any other type of fishing, is it allows you to change up the depth of your bait so that you can find the most successful zone to make them bite. Normally the prime zone to catch steelhead is between 16 to 20 inches from the bottom. So, knowing what fishing gear and terminal tackle you need and setup some basic rigs will make you a more successful fisherman.

The key is experimenting with different types of rigs and making sure they work as natural in the water as normally occurring bait for steelhead. The following is the basics you’ll need to start experimenting.

THE BAIT

The most important bait for steelhead fishing is the row, spawn or skein your using. Call is what you want, but you can get fresh eggs from any female rainbow trout, brown trout or even a salmon you or a friend recently caught. Freshness is the key!

Size: Do you use single eggs for the more finicky fish, a spawn sack of 8-10 eggs or a clump of heavy skein to tempt those lunker steelhead? Well, again it goes back to experimenting with different rigs. Best to stick with dime sized spawn bags wrapped in nylon spawn sack mess for the best success.

Color: There are different types of colors to use with spawn depending on the conditions of the water. Yellow and Orange spawn is considered by many fishermen to be the standard colors for most fishing. Consider these colors in clear water on bright days. When the water is a little more muddier and the day is overcast and low light, then wrap your spawn eggs in more brighter colors like chartreuse, hot pink and even fluorescent orange.  You can find standard nylon spawn sack mesh at any bait and tackle store or online.

Alternatives: Always consider using dew worms and even wax worms if spawn isn’t working.

TACKLE

Fishing rods: Best to find a good quality noodle rod in the 10′ to 15′ lengths. Noodle rods offer way more control over conventional rods and will help make your experience a more pleasurable one.

Reel: Standard spinning reel in the $60 to $150 range will give you the best possible performance and you’ll find that if you buy a good reel you’ll have alot more fun.

Fishing line: A good quality monofilament fishing line is very important choice. Choose a good quality 8-10 pound test line for your main line and a lighter 4-6 pound leader line normally around 3 feet in length.

Hooks and Sinkers: I normally use size 14 or 16 salmon, octopus or egg hooks with any steelhead rig.  No8 or BB split shot sinkers are best in this setup as well. The number of split shots depends on the water current and I find the best is to use 3 split shots spaced about 6-8 inches . Experiment and add more if you need to get into that zone!

Floats: Ok, I’ve left this for last but what would float fishing be without a good float? The best experience I’ve had with floats has been in using spring pencil floats. They are unique in that you push down on a small spring and feed your fishing line into a small slot and let go of the spring. This locks the float to the desired depth you want. Move the float to get your bait into the desired zone and your bound to catch a fish.

Pencil floats, clear plastic floats, slip floats and tear-drop floats can all work. Finding something that works for you under the conditions your in will allow you to make the best choice.

Now, you can find the tackle you need to get started with fishing for some steelhead. Though float fishing may be a great way to catch steelhead trout, it isn’t the only way. Artificial baits also will give you good results. Flies, bucktail jigs, spinners and even artificial rubber worms will catch these prized northern ontario fish.

Start out with float fishing, experiment alot and bring home that lunker fish for dinner.

Happy fishing…

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