Bobber-doggin’ is one of the hottest and most effective ways to catch steelhead these days. It’s a slick hybrid technique that pairs the best attributes of two of the most popular river fishing styles: drift fishing and float fishing.
This video is part of my online Steelhead fishing masterclass, available here:
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Traditional drift fishing for steelhead involves bouncing your offering along the bottom with the help of a piece of pencil lead or a slinky. It’s a great searching tool and, because you are constantly dragging the bottom, you know your bait is always down where the fish are. However, you tend to get snagged quite a bit fishing this way. Also, it can be difficult for beginners to distinguish the tap-tap-tap of the bottom from the usually fairly subtle bites of a steelhead.
Now, you can keep your gear up off the bottom a bit by suspending it under a float. You'll obviously get snagged much less frequently - and it’s a great way to cover ground and find fish. Unless you have a uniform bottom, however, your gear can end up way out of the strike zone unless you are constantly adjusting your bobber stop’s depth setting.
While not difficult, bobber fishing also requires you to mend your line frequently to keep everything drifting at the proper speed.
These little hassles associated with drifting and float fishing are not insurmountable, but bobber-doggin’ gives you the best of both worlds - with almost no downside.
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