Just make sure you use the right sizes. I have checked Amazon and Bass Pro Shops and the best prices and best assortment of colors and sizes that I have found for this lure and many lures on this page are at Fish USA. I almost always tie my line directly to my crank baits with no snap swivels but you can use a snap swivel. If a faster retrieve is what you want to do keep the tip of the rod below the water and it will help keep your spinner deeper and also use a spinner that gets down deeper, see my favorites below. The best lures for steelhead are spinners, spoons, plugs, and jigs and if you use these guide tips you will catch more steelhead with them. Your email address will not be published. I’ve seen fish move over a long way to hit a Vibrax spinner and I truly believe that a Vibrax spinner makes so much noise that some fish will feel the vibrations long before they even see the lure. Silver and black, silver and blue, silver and green are always good choices but I have had great success with crankbaits in bright colors like orange and chartreuse too. Like many of my lures, I like my crankbaits in colors that match the natural forage, like minnows, small trout, and steelhead, chub, or suckers. You should feel the spoon wobbling as you retrieve it and if you hit bottom just lift your rod tip up a little to keep it from hitting bottom again and to keep the spoon 1 to 3 feet off the bottom. These best lures for steelhead will account for over 90% of the steelhead caught by lure anglers on steelhead rivers around the great lakes and the west coast. The way I fish steelhead spoons now is to cast it across and slightly upriver and then let the spoon drift freely for about 5 to 10 feet to get it down. We participate in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Best Sellers (158) Best Selling Lures, Spoons, Spinners & Jigs (46) Best Selling Knives & Fillet Boards (27) Best Selling Freshwater Gear (42) Best Selling Saltwater Gear (42) Best Selling Ice Fishing Gear (31) Rapala Americana Collection (5) Pro Picks (224) Essential Tools (35) Pro Bass (63) Pro Bass - Spring (25) Pro Bass - … There are a couple of different models of the Kwikfish and I like the Kwikfish X-Treme the most. I will often make the first retrieve a straight in retrieve and then run the exact same path a second time with a more erratic and jerking and ripping type retrieve to see if that will trigger a strike. Over the years ‘Veals’ became Bristol’s premier fishing tackle retailer. If I hit bottom again I lift the rod tip even higher. Crankbaits are used for many species and that means there are tons of great colors to choose from. I am always trying to learn something new which is why I still fish with and train with some of the best anglers, guides, and fishing coaches in the world. I prefer the 2/5 oz and the 3/4 oz. We offer a broad selection of baitcaster and spinning fishing rods for sale and proudly stock only the best quality rods available on the market today. Metal lures are superb for casting and for working through the water column. It’s as important to use the right rods, reels, and lines for steelhead as it is to use the best lures for steelhead. I think under most river conditions a steelhead will move 3 to 5 feet to hit a well-presented lure. This is why I like deep diving crankbaits, I reel them in with a low rod tip until I hit bottom and then I lift the rod tip 2 to 6 feet which should bring the crankbait up and off the bottom. Methods for inshore fishing include fly rod, top water bait and trolling. In dirty water, I will use bright colors like chartreuse and hot orange or pink. Bonefish are a bit trickier to catch as they hide around corals making for an easy snag of your hook/line. src: url(https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/roboto/v20/KFOlCnqEu92Fr1MmWUlfBBc9.ttf) format('truetype'); I prefer to use sizes 3 and 4 spinners for most river conditions and will start with a size 3 first and then work up to a size 4 or even size 5 to see what the steelhead wants. With some of the most prestigious, well-known and best fishing reel brands, including Daiwa, Shimano, Penn and Abu Garcia, just to name a few, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing that when you choose MOTackle, you’re choosing the best fishing reels in the industry. I use the 2.5 oz / 2 1/4 inch size. The slower and shallower the water the less I let it sink. 2 Float Fishing Leader Setups From A Pro River Guide, 3 Best Nymphing Leader Setups – Guide Secrets For More Trout. The steelhead rod you should be using should have enough length to manage and play a big steelhead and also enable you to lift the tip of the rod high enough to keep your lures off the bottom. A little trick I learned a long time ago was to twitch or rip the crankbait about every 10 feet to trigger a strike. Once the spoon is just a little bit downriver from me I will lower my rod tip and start a super slow retrieve. Hi John, most rivers in your area will have steelhead in them from October to early May. to 3/4 oz. Panther Martins were the best sellers in my store and my store customers swore by them. I make sure I always have an assortments of colors in the 2 3/4 and 3 3/8 sizes. Each time I step down another 2 to 3 feet my lure should also move downriver 2 to 3 feet which allows me to cover the water 2 to 3 feet at a time which gets my lure in front of all the steelhead. There are times when the steelhead will be more aggressive and attack a larger sized lure, or there are times when I need to get a bit deeper so I will start to increase the size to 3 3/8, and even up to 4 1/4 inches. The other mistake I see all the time is when anglers cast up the river and then reel downriver. I tend to rotate through all my colors and sizes until I find out what they want. Even though it’s a super slow retrieve the current will spin those blades for you and will swing it across and in front of the fish at a slow and enticing speed. I am a professional river fishing guide with over 20 years of experience in guiding and instruction and I am considered the top river guide in my area. If you hit bottom too much you should switch your crankbait to a shallower diving bait. It really gets down. A large single hook seems to hook as many fish as a treble hook due to the larger gape, but the single hook doesn’t do as much damage to a fish that you plan on releasing. Required fields are marked *. This means if I started with a shiny color like silver, my second color I might go straight to a black or very dark color and if that doesn’t work maybe then switch to something very bright and weird like chartreuse or orange. The kids will have a ball catching sprats, piper and mackerel, while trevally, kahawai and snapper regularly cruise the channel in front of the wharf. Check out the About Us page in the menu for more about me and our contributors. Some spoons are also very heavy so if the river you fish or the area you want to fish is smaller, shallower, and slower you may want to consider a spoon that is still in that 2 to 3-inch length but isn’t so heavy. I like rods around 9 feet for lure fishing for steelhead. This involves letting it sink longer and then retrieving very slow and once I hit bottom I will lift the tip of my rod a few feet and slowly reel until it hits the bottom again and then I lift the tip of the rod and repeat. For many years the standard length of a beachcaster was 12ft but recent years have seen most manufacturers offer 13 – 14ft rods and Continental style 15-16ft rods are becoming increasingly … For nighttime lure fishing, I also prefer very loud spinners and my best color is usually black. Brands include Shimano, Daiwa, Penn, Orvis, Wychwood, Snowbee, Abu and Tronix to name a few. You want a reel that has a nice smooth drag, holds plenty of line for those long runs and casts well, and can also be used for float fishing. Get deeper with this Rapala that runs 9 to 15 feet. These five tobis like lures give you a good base for popular species like garfish, seatrout, coalfish, mackerel and sea bass. Another option is to remove the front treble hook and add a singe hook there. If one color doesn’t work, start rotating through colors until you find a color that works for you. Treble hooks can also be a nightmare when they get tangled in the net but the single hooks are not so bad because the hook is usually in the fishes’ mouth. If you have a lure that you think is one of the best lures for steelhead, or you have a great color or size that works for you in your area please share in the comments below. Heavy Spoon- Good for faster and deeper water. Crankbaits in the 3.5-inch size is what I would consider a perfect bite-size for most average-sized steelhead and in most rivers between 20 and 100 feet. I like long profile crank baits with a shallower diving lip for faster shallower water. Seems to be my favorite colour in the rivers. I prefer a slow steady retrieve that allows the crankbait to wobble a lot. Be careful not to reel this lure too fast as it tends to run sideways and will come up to the surface if you do. With a wide range of fishing rod brands available, we’re confident that you’ll find what you’re looking for at MOTackle & Outdoors. If you start hitting the bottom, maintain the same speed but lift the rod tip higher to try to keep the lure 2 to 3 feet off the bottom. Many anglers do not fish lures as effectively as they could which is why I will share with you my top 4 best lures for steelhead and provide some guide tips that I give to my clients on how to use these steelhead lures more effectively for more steelhead. As a top river guide, I know what the best lures for steelhead are for different types of water and in different river conditions. font-style: normal; Thanks for the tip Larry, I will give that color a try and see how it goes. font-style: normal; Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. After the silver color, I will try a gold blade spinner next, and if that doesn’t seem to work I will go to chartreuse, pink, black and orange blades to try to determine what it is that they want. I consider spinners to be one of the best lures for steelhead for river steelhead. These best lures for steelhead will account for over 90% of the steelhead caught by lure anglers on steelhead rivers around the great lakes and the west coast. The 1/4 oz Krocodile spoon is 2 1/8 inches and is a good choice for this type of water. A good crank bait that runs 4 to 7 feet and is in that perfect 4 inch length. If a steelhead hits the spoon it will be hard and fast so you won’t have problems detecting a strike. Kinetic Belone Flash Tobis Sea Spinners 5... Classic, well-proven pelagic lure that imitates one of the fishes favorite; the sandeel. When you do this in faster water it often means you have to reel extra fast just to get those blades spinning and just to keep the lure off the bottom. What Is The Best Spinner Colors For Steelhead, Single Hook Or Treble Hook Spinners For Steelhead, The KwikFish Is One Of The Best Steelhead Lures, Spoons Are One Of The Best Lures For Steelhead, Hardbaits For More Steelhead – The Steelheaders Secret Weapon, The Right Gear For Using Lures For Steelhead. Best Sellers (158) Best Selling Lures, Spoons, Spinners & Jigs (46) Best Selling Knives & Fillet Boards (27) Best Selling Freshwater Gear (42) Best Selling Saltwater Gear (42) Best Selling Ice Fishing Gear (31) Rapala Americana Collection (5) Pro Picks (224) Essential Tools (35) Pro Bass (63) Pro Bass - Spring (25) Pro Bass - … Read our full disclosure – HERE. It has the same basic shape, size, and action, and some anglers may have used or will prefer this one over the Kwikfish. A beachcaster is a generic term for a general-purpose sea fishing rod and is by far the most popular rod for sea fishing with bait in the UK. Spinners resemble mayflies. It’s best to look up these pages for more tips and best baits for your area. Both aggressive and less aggressive fish may strike out at a slow-moving spinner whereas a fast spinner may only get the most aggressive fish to feed, and that may mean less fish for you at the end of the day. I tend to use a medium to deep diving crankbait most often because I can control my depth by lifting or lowering my rod tip. In the medium to larger-sized rivers or when the water is really clear I will still catch a lot of fish on the 2 3/4 size and that is the size that I will often start with, in fact, it’s usually my go-to size most of the time but there are times when a larger size is better. It’s best to try and catch them then or try as soon as the river clears and goes green in color. Ward. MOTackle & Outdoors: for cheap fishing reels and … I tend to use a single hook on my spinners most of the time for a few good reasons. Keep in mind that a retrieve on a downriver angle that is reeled in too fast will stay high in the water and might be way over their heads, and a retrieve that is too slow will hit too much bottom. Once night falls, the cephalopods come out to play – this is one of Auckland’s most popular and productive squid fishing spots. The best size crankbait for steelhead is between 2.5 inches and 4 inches with most of my crankbaits being around 3.5 inches. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. On many guide trips, the first lure I will try is the simple but time tested spinner. If the hot size 3 or 4 right off the bat I will just leave it on and fish it hard. If you start bumping the bottom, just lift your rod up higher to try to keep the crankbait 1 to 3 feet off the bottom. I also know how to use them in the most effective way which is what I cover in this article. I tend to cast, retrieve, and then step down 2 to 3 feet and cast again in the same direction and then repeat. That extra fast lure coming straight at the fish means that it may be too fast and the fish will miss it or not hit it at all. font-display: swap; I also like that Vibrax spinners come in a fast deep water model and a normal or slower water model and that they have a tone of great colors to choose from. When using spoons like the Krocodile spoon below I will sometimes jig or jump the spoon across the bottom. Somedays steelhead and trout are not very aggressive but some lures will trigger more bites than others. There is one other thing that I do to entice more strikes. If the water is dirty I will go straight to chartreuse or a black spinner in a size 5. Read MoreContinue@font-face { This lure has a crazy back and forth wide wobble that drives fish crazy. It can be retrieved fast or slow and shallow or semi-deep. I prefer spoons in the 2 inch to 3-inch size for most river sizes and flows. I fish this lure similar to the way I fish spinners with an across and slightly downriver angle and with a super slow retrieve as it swings across the pool. I use 8-pound test for most rivers that are between 20 and 80 feet and on larger rivers over 100 feet and larger steelhead like you would find on the west coast 12 to 16-pound test is best. Both aggressive and neutral fish will smash this lure when it’s wobbling in their face. and the 3/4oz. You may also find some different colors to try in the Flatfish but both lures are great. How To Keep Fishing Rod Guides From Freezing – 3 Guide Tips, Best River Fishing Rods Of 2021: Trout And Steelhead Rods, Fishing With Worms For Trout and Steelhead: 10 Guide Tips, Fly Fishing Gear: Everything You Need To Fly Fish, Float Fishing: Tips From A Pro River Guide For More Trout, What Are The Best Indicators For Fly Fishing? Good luck. font-family: 'Roboto'; Point the rod tip straight at the spinner but don’t pull it, let the current swing it across the pool for you. You can get this model at Bass Pro Shops – HERE. What makes this lure so good is the action it has and the ability to move it slowly through the water. Move down and repeat those steps. This is one of the best spinners that I use for deep and faster water. At the beginning of the retrieve, I will give the spinner a fast but short pull to ensure the blades start spinning, and then I slowly work the spinner in. I use the fat style baits with a deep diving lip in medium to deep water with slow to medium speeds. } For most normal medium to large size rivers with clear to greenish water I do really well with the colors MJ-Black-Holo Glitter, Slammer, Silver Pink Mamba, and Black Chrome Red Streak but there are a lot of other colors that work. A 9-foot rod is also good for float fishing or bottom bouncing in case the steelhead are not in the mood to chase steelhead. The exception to this is that if you feel like the fish are very aggressive and will hit the faster retrieve, it may be better to use a faster retrieve because you can make more casts, cover more water, and therefore you should catch more fish. font-weight: 700; I will also use a lighter spoon in shallower slower water and a heavier spoon in deeper faster water. Hi Ward, Yes, the lure should still work as long as the missing hook doesn’t throw off the balance of the lure, which it usually won’t but every lure is different so give it a try and see how it goes. I like the 2 3/4 and the 3.5 inch sizes. I have been a big fan of Vibrax spinners for many species including steelhead, salmon, trout, bass, pike, and musky and it’s because of the amount of vibration that these sinners produce below the water. When it comes to color my go-to color for spoon fishing is silver in most river conditions because the silver flash and wobble of a spoon can resemble the baitfish that the steelhead sees out in the lake or ocean. Casting up the river is not a good angle. src: url(https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/roboto/v20/KFOmCnqEu92Fr1Mu4mxP.ttf) format('truetype'); This is the spinner I use the most and under most river conditions. One thing I do sometimes to entice more strikes is to rip or jerk the spinners every 6 to 10 feet. hi…i have trouble with the front hooks tangling with my line when fishing crankbaits. I mostly use the 1/2 oz. For dirty water, I like to go with chartreuse, and silver, or a combination of silver and bright fluorescent colors. My go-to spinner color on clear or slightly greenish colored water is to start with a silver blade spinner that has a silver body or colored body first. In order to use a spinner well and get the best results, I cast the spinner across the river, and on a slightly down river angle and then retrieve it at less than half the speed that I think I should. Boat anglers can also make full use of metal lures both … Home / Lure Fishing / Lures /  Metal Lures, It was way back in 1846 when Veals was first established as a retail business in Bristol. Also what bait would you recommend for a beginner who knows a good hole and has seen people catch fish out of it but can’t catch one themself? Some spoons even come in a glow in the dark finish and they can be really good for day and night fishing. For low and clear water conditions I will use more natural colors like the Rainbow Trout, or the MJ-Black-Holo Glitter pattern which is my best color even in bigger water. The black silhouette seems to stand out and is easy for them to find. I also really like the Luhr Jensen Kwikfish K Series with the Rattle in dirty water because I believe the fish will pick up on the sound before they see the lure and this will get you more bites. A GOOD BAIT + BAD PRESENTATION = NO FISH. Today, I still think that the crankbait is one of the best lures for steelhead that you can use and is a must-have in any anglers tackle box. What time of year do I have the best chance at hooking into a steelhead? Silvers and golds can sometimes be good in lower clear water too since these colors can resemble bait fish or small trout and salmon. I have a couple of favorites like the Sufix Elite From Bass Pro Shops. Most of the spoons I use for medium to larger rivers are in the 1/2 oz. Since crankbaits don’t require time to sink I simply cast them straight across the river or slightly down the river and then slowly retrieve them and let them swing across the river.