By Rodney Hsu

Steelhead season has arrived, and it is always advantageous to have all the essential tackles in your vest during the outings. What exactly do gear steelheaders carry? Bait such as roe and ghost shrimps can be productive but messy to handle, especially on those cold rainy winter days. Alternatively, anglers can choose to toss flashy objects known as hardwares to attract steelhead's attention. Under certain conditions, hardwares can easily outfish bait. This month's feature introduces several effective hardwares that are commonly used for steelhead.

Spoons

Spoons are universal lures that are used for almost every predatory fish species in both salt and freshwater. The shape and metallic colour of a spoon often mimics an injured fish that is struggling to swim. In the open ocean, a spoon can easily be mistaken as a bait fish and chased by a dozen pelagic fish at times. To a spawning salmonid, a spoon imitates a small trout, coarse fish or juvenile salmon that preys on eggs. Due to these competitive and predatory interactions between spawning steelhead and other fish species in rivers, they often strike a swimming spoon as an aggresive behaviour.

Spoons can simply be fished by casting and retrieving with either spinning or baitcasting outfits. Spoons are advantageous when fishing deeper and slower pools where your presentation needs to get down deep and fast. The swimming depth of your spoon should be adjusted until you find the strike zone, usually a couple of feet off the river bed. When retrieving, I've always preferred to keep the rod tip pointing down at the water instead of up at the sky. When fish strikes on a spoon, it often electrifies the line, rod and your hands because it is so hard. A spoon can often provoke resting fish and bring out their full aggressiveness, making it the most favorite hardware used by anglers.

Spinners

Spinners, or inline spinners, are also commonly used for steelheading. A spinner doesn't only possess the flashiness that other lures display, it also produces a vibration that can sometimes be irristable to a fish. The anatomy of a spinner consists of a blade and a body. The body is the main bulk of the weight that is responsible for sinking the lure to the depth you desire. The blade is attached to the clevise that rotates around the wire shaft when pushed by the water current during retrieval.

Spinners can be fished in two different ways. The simple cast and retrieve technique works very effectively in calm, slow moving waters. As the spinner swims in the water, the spinning blade will almost illuminate the entire water column, attracting the attention of all nearby fish. The water current that is produced by the vibration can be sensed by fish that has not sighted it, increasing the likelihood of a strike. The other method tackles runs that consist of shallower and faster water current. In this scenario, a float is attached above the spinner. When the spinner is drifted under the float, the drag on the spinner created by the water current and the line tension will make it vibrate. Anglers often describe the strikes on a spinner as a pause in the vibration. Unlike the aggresive strikes felt on spoons, besides feeling a tug on your line, the blade will also stop spinning when a fish strikes on a spinner. One disadvantage of spinners is that the blade will only spin when enough retrieval speed or water current is applied to it.

Blades

Blades or Colorado blades are simple spinners that can be easily made with parts that are bought from your local stores. These lures are almost weightless, and additional weight is usually added several feet above it for casting purpose. The general set-up is a sliding weight onto the mainline, which is tied onto a swivel. Several feet of leader is then tied onto the other end of the swivel, and at the end of the leader a blade is tied onto. This rig can be fished with or without a float. The methods and purposes are similar to inline spinners. Don't underestimate the simplicity of a blade, it can sometimes be deadly when other offerings fail to produce. Its weightlessness allows it to drift freely so it may imitate a baitfish more naturally.

Colours, patterns, sizes and hooks?

With so many brands, models, sizes to choose from, which hardwares actually catch fish instead of fishermen? There isn't a direct answer, instead one needs to factor in environmental attributes such as lighting, time of the day, water clarity, river velocity and depth. In a steelheader's tackle box, you would find a combination of the above mentioned lures. Generally I prefer to bring a dozen of each type. There are several patterns that I will usually try out initially, these include either hammered or smooth silver/nickel/copper bodies either with or without coloured stripes. Colours chosen can be red, orange, yellow, green, chartreuse or blue. Size of the lure depends on the size of the fish that you are targetting, your casting range and the weight class of your line, rod and reel. I usually prefer to experiment spoons and spinners that weigh 1/5, 1/4 or 3/8 ounces. The size of the blades used can sometimes be dictated by water clarity. Larger blades for cloudier and muddier water, while smaller blades for gin clear water. Matching the line and lure weight is also crucial, which can not be ignored. Casting a 3/8 ounce metal with 15lb test line can be awkward. On the other hand, you risk the chance of snapping the line when fishing heavier spoons with light line. Matching the hook size to the lure size also can not be ignored. Many lures are often equipped with long shank hooks when bought. In the past I have found long shank hooks result in more fish loss, therefore most of the time I prefer to switch them to steelhead hooks. The balance between colours, patterns and sizes does not come with ease, but can only be gained by experimenting at the waters. The above information provided are simply personal preferences that I have developed after numerous fishing outings. The bottom line is what works for an angler may not be effective for another, therefore it is important to determine what work best for you by testing. After all, trials and errors before being able to produce consistent results is what makes steelheading that much more special than other fisheries.