high viz line and steelhead

[zefsidefishing]

im wondering, i noticed i was getting hits and hookups when it was early early in the morning, or overcast with the izor high viz line, but as soon as it hit around 8:30 or 9 and the sun came up and the water clarity was good, i had no bites at all, im wondering do fish see the high viz line? should i switch to izor normal line? thanks guys -levi

[Brat Bonker]

how long is your leader? Once the sun starts to show that normally puts off the bite but if you downsize your leader to 6-8lb flourocarbon and run about 5-6ft when drift fishing. Fish can not really see your main line unless your bait has passed first.

[fear_no_fish]

your probably fine with high viz, brat bonker seems on it though, really light flouro leaders that are long and you should be fine

[Brat Bonker]

yeah, it seems like all north sound steelhead get leader shy at a certain point in the day. Maybe next time you are out use 2 rods and use the hi viz during the morning and then use clear during the day. I have had times where fish will not hit the 2 foot 10lb leader while float fishing so I switch to 3ft 6lb leader and that really helped.
Another tip is just use stronger mainline and leaders in the morning so you can limit out faster by landing every fish.

[natetreat]

I swore off that stuff a while back. Colored water, float fishing, maybe. But these fish are line shy, no doubt about it, couple that with bright sun and clear water, count me out. I've dropped down to 8 pound mono to 8 fluoro leader to cover my bases. If you have good quality leader, I'll drop down to six. The more weight you use and the heavier line, the longer your leader should get, because even if it's a grumpy bruiser that will swipe at everything, odds are that there are a few more timid fish in the hole. And if you make a few casts without getting bit, you know there isn't an aggresive fish just waiting for your gear, because you're more likely to get on that fish in the first ten casts. The rest of the time you're trying to convince a lazy, soft spoken anti-social catholic school fish to get lunch with you while hiding the fact that you've actually stuffed her deviled eggs with razorblades. It's hard enough to get the girl to look at you, let alone have a go at curing some of her roe

In all seriousness, I wouldn't use it. The convenience of the extra visibility isn't worth the risk to me. Stick with maxima ultragreen, and get some sunglasses if you need to look at your line a lot. Or run a long flossing leader so that you're not risking anything. Because when the visibility gets to be 6 or 7 feet, there's no way that a fish looking at your bait doesn't notice that there's some weird shaped gray thingy attached to a big yellow string floating alongside it.

[ripsomelip]

well put, Nate.

[zefsidefishing]

yeah true, true, i just respooled with not high viz, but im all around izor line, i do 12 mainline 10 leader, and now no more high viz, unless its muggy colored maybe, but im not a huge fan of maxima, but they do make great strong leaders. btw nate, do you think the mouth of the wallace is a good place to hookup with kings? and can you drift fish there?

[woody_george]

Nate, that is the best fishing analogy I've read in a long time. Laughing out loud!!

Without the hi-vis, how am I going to see where all my bum casts went??

[zefsidefishing]

in the context of king salmon, is flossing really that bad? i mean its in the mouth and legal so who cares? yes i could get them to bite my eggs or whatever, or just throw a hook, some red yarn and a 7-9 foot leader and drift it till i feel one bump it and drive the hook in.

[natetreat]

Uh-oh.

[Bodofish]

Get's popcorn and a cold one......

[kzoo]

Flossing has been a sensitive subject on this site. If you want to know what people think about it, just search"flossing" on the forums.

[Gringo Pescador]

Flossing - just don't go there (as a moderator I am begging you), nothing gets a thread locked faster.

Line - I am not a drift fisherman, but for float/jig my personal opinion is line shyness is a lot of bunk. I fish year round, all conditions and the lightest leader I use is 10# floro, sometimes even 12# and my catch rate does not suffer from it at all. I do however try to have my leader run from the float to the jig and have as little high vis "in" the water as possible.

[natetreat]

Flossing - just don't go there (as a moderator I am begging you), nothing gets a thread locked faster.

Line - I am not a drift fisherman, but for float/jig my personal opinion is line shyness is a lot of bunk. I fish year round, all conditions and the lightest leader I use is 10# floro, sometimes even 12# and my catch rate does not suffer from it at all. I do however try to have my leader run from the float to the jig and have as little high vis "in" the water as possible.

I am talking about drift fishing mainly, and for float fishing my experience has been similar to yours. I usually use the green or high vis power pro when I float fish, I like the way it manages, but the line isn't in the water, it's on top. It's like nymphing for steelhead with floating fly line, mine is bright yellow, but it sits on top away from the fly/jig, so I don't think it's the same thing. I've sat on top of a hole and ran various lines through it and watched fish move out of the way, get turned off by it until I ran 8 flouro through and whapped them in the face with it. Then I put on a dick nite and first cast they took it, where when I was fishing with 12 pound they just ignored it all day long. I'm sure the more line is in the water, the odder it's going to end up looking to the fish.

[gfakkema]

...

[Gringo Pescador]

Hey nate, I agree that the high viz line makes almost no difference when float fishing as the point is to keep the line out of the water. I was curious though, I have seen a lot of people, including mike from your video on the green, use split shot on the leader to the jig. Is this technique/rig less effective in the summer when the water is more clear? More specifically, do the fish get spooked at all from seeing multiple split shot on your leader?

Use the split shot to get the jig down in the water faster (and keep it there). Keep it at least 12-16" above the jig and there shouldn't be any issues. Just looks like another piece of debris floating down the river. Sometimes with weights if they are new and/or shiny at all I will take a black sharpee and color em just to take the shine off. Can't say it helps, but it makes me more confident in it(and that is 1/2 the battle).

[natetreat]

When I use split shot I usually put it at least a foot above the hook. I've never tried the permanent marker trick, but I may have to now. I especially use it when I'm fishing bait under the hook instead of a jig, helps to keep that bait down and behind the float as it gets in their face.

[Brat Bonker]

I like using cheater bait wts to keep my bait down and I have had pretty good success with them. I forgot to mention that I use high viz line too but I blood knot a 5-10ft section of clear mono or flouro to my main line and then I add my swivel or what ever gear I am using.

[woody_george]

Thanks for sharing these hints guys. You are saving me hours of frustration.