The Steelhead, The Slinky And The Woolly Bugger

[Will Wetline]

Made a one day trip back to New York's Salmon River, November 16. Very fortunate to have exceptional late fall weather with sunshine, high 50ºs and light breeze.

 

This trip I wanted to see if I could fine tune a presentation that worked a few weeks ago, throwing a Woolly Bugger variation weighted with a slinky to get it bouncing the bottom in the 500 CFS flow. If you have an interest in my five day trip October 21 - 25, you'll find it here:

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/126928-salmon-river-ny-steelhead-trip-october-21-25-2013/

 

The morning of the last day of  my annual trip on the river was very slow. Figuring I couldn't do worse, I switched from throwing egg pattern flies (which are commonly and effectively used this time of the steelhead season) to streamer flies. Below is a pic of one of the most popular,  Woolly Buggers.

 

 

This pattern in white caught the interest of two fish, neither of which were landed due to terminal tackle failure. The second, a steelhead easily over ten lbs. but under "braggin' rights" size (15 and up!) was a real thrasher and cut the leader when it wrapped in the snap of the swivel of the slinky. I've been using this type of weight for many years and don't recall this happening before. It occurred to me that a permanent fix for this rare failure would be as simple as a dab of epoxy.

 

 

Okay. Now we're back to the early morning of November 16. I sized up the water in front of me and tied on a four ball slinky to get the size 6 Wooly-Wife drifting in the path of a moving steelhead.