Corkys Pink Worms and Steelheading?

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Corkys Pink Worms and Steelheading?

I've heard something about a corky and pink worms for steelheading, what exactly is this? -chris

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Pink worms are pink(or various shades of)plastic/rubber worms that resemble worms and you thread them on your line/hook.Corkies are these little bead type things that you put on your leader above your hook,come in various colors,various sizes,can be fluorescent.Most shops sell corkies and worms so go have a look at the selections.Corkies work best with wool but can be used with virtually any gear including real worms.Best ones i find are the green and white,peach,and pinks.

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Hi Chris; A corky is a small round bead. They come in all sizes and colors. You put the corky above the worm and make it look like a big head. Corkies are not as much as Spin-Glos or Cheaters. But for a very inexpensive way to fish for Steelhead try a piece of white wool, cut not longer the hook, small hook 1/0 and one or two Jensen eggs, jelly color. Fish for Steelhead in very shallow water. And DON"T stand in the water. Rapids are great.

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Chris, Something else I'd like to add... corkies are great, but not always neccessary. I'll expain why. AS they mentioned, they come in all colours and sizes. A lot of the time you want your corkie to match your yarn color below it, sometimes you dont. Corkies serve one good advantage. They are made of Cork and act as a presentation along with the wool on your hook or wahtever else. They also help your presentatin float so it can linger in the fishes face. This is a good idea because fish can generally see in front and above of them. This is their general view. I'm not saying they won't bite things below them, but in general you want to get it in the primary view of the fish. I used to be in love with the corky, but have found a few disadvantages of them. 1) the Price. I'm not saying 29 cents a piece or slightly cheaper if you buy bulk is a big priceload or really that expensive, but you don't neccessarily need them. 2) the fact that they float. This is a good thing, but it is also a bad thing. This can lead to a loss in tension between your hook and your weight, becuase your corkie is sometimes floating right above the weight and not to the side like it should. You have to be able to manage the right corkie for the right water, drift, etc. This can mean the difference in feeling bites. Also, if a fish bites a corkie, its a quick spit. Its probably the quickest spit you'll get from the majority of steelhead lures you throw at them. A little bit of yarn below it does the trick, but also, omitting the corky completely is a better bet. I wish I could draw you a diagram to show you why I think the corky isn't all that its shaped up to be. I'm not saying the fish won't bite it, but its just a question of if you will feel it, properly. Some may disagree, but thats your thing. I think yarn is probably your best bet. Cheap, convenient, yet effective, and you can custom cut it to the size you want per water. Corkies you gotta have different sizes, colours and other variables for each water. You know, every time I go to the tackle store, i see all these corkies, spin n glos, and others steelhead lures, but I kick myself a few times in the head and finally fall back down to old faithful, Yarn. Its all I'll ever need. Pink worms you might want to consider as a mix up/ back up plan as well as Gooey bobs. This is something Jay Dore taught me, and it makes all the sense. If you're fishing with your usual yarn presentation, and you're not getting anything, as a secondary thing to throw at the steelhead after you've covered as much water as possible is a pink worm or a gooey bob (BC Orange is a recommended colour, at least Jay says so). These can cover a lot of water fast and any steelhead there will bite them if your yarn didn't appeal at first. "Its a mistake to only throw something small at them, without throwing something big at them." Personally, when I start a drift I look at two things, water clarity, pressure and water height. In times of high clarity and high pressure, with lower water, you want to start out as small as humany possible. Then work your way up if nothing is working after covering all the water possible. If nothing comes of it, move big, and if nothing comes of that, don't even waste your time, and move to a complete new section of water. Anyways, enough said, anything else you want help with, gimme a shout. Take into consideration that my tactics are mine, I'm only trying to give you an idea, and I'm sure you'll develop your own tactics. If someone disagrees, thats fine, then show Chris what you think is the right way. Good luck Chris, and I'll see you on the river. Hopefully I'll be @ the Vedder again this coming sunday. Scott

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Sorry, I'd like to add something else, I think Corkies are actually made of a white styrofoam type material, I'm not sure exactly what its called, but its what it looks like inside the corky, on the outside its obviously a colour. Ah who cares, I dont use em anyways...gotta get rid of the ones in my tackle box, any offers? Maybe I'll save them for Wild Gold steelhead since they'll take anything. Scott

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Scotty, you forgot to mention another thing about using wool...it catches on the fishes teeth, making it harder for them to spit the hook! I've WATCHED steelhead spit out a single jensen egg, then I added some wool and the SAME steelhead took it and couldn't spit it out as fast! It was a nice steely of about 12 lbs and a great fight. I've caught many more fish using wool than anything else, and I believe it's because the wool catches in their teeth, as well as, like you said, you can tailor it to the size you like! My thoughts only, but valid I'm sure.

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Thanks guys, I know how to use the wool (so that'll be my first line of offense). And I guess if that doesnt work I'll resort to pink worms. Are there any Steelhead in the Stave or Alouette, worth going for? -chris

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Cody, thats a valid point, and I think I kinda mentioned in my post, somewhere about sayng that the corky will be spat out, but by putting wool underneath it or getting rid of it can make the situation better. Anyways, another thing to try Chris, you might want to consider is spinner fishing. There are two general ways (I know there are varying sub divisions under these ways) to fish spinners. YOu can float fish/bottom bounce them (drift fish) or you can cast and retrieve. Putting a spinner underneath a float can be lethal at certain times. I'd say optimal conditions for a spinner would be in darker water/slower water. I'm not saying you can't use them in faster water, but you'll soon figure out what happens when you try fishing a spinner in clear water. Personally, if I could pick any method to fish for steelhead, it would be a spinning rod with light pund test and spinners. Its just really fun, and you can cover a lot of water. The takes are so much more violent, and also, spinners are "almost" a guaranteed hook set, because the fish attack them so violently. When they are trying to stop your spinner, they set the sucker right on themselves. I've seen very few if any steelhead that have shaken a spinner set cast and retrieve hook set. If you're fishing a small river such as say the alouette, or maybe the seymour where you got some descent depth, and ok clarity, and a slower flow, break out the spinning rod and some spinners. You can cover so much water this way. The only problem with spinner fishing, (cast and retrieve I'm talking more about) is that a lot of the rivers we fish aren't too slow, thus drift fishing is probably the best method (float fishing/bottom bouncing). Spinner fishing is more suited to summer runs, or so believed, but I'm sure you can coax a winter out of its hiding spot. Theres an excellent article on spinner fishing out there for those of you who regularly try fishng with spinners. Its in the Dec/Jan 2000 edition of Salmon, Trout, Steelheader. Yes I know, its an american magazine, but regardless, you're fishing for steelhead. It can probably help you adapt your spinner fishing so that you have the right spinner for the right conditions and right water. Good luck y'all, talk to you all later, Scott

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Chris, the Allouette has some nice sized steelies in it! When I used to live in Maple Ridge, that was the main river I fished. I caught many steelies in there, my biggest being somewhere close to 20 lbs.! I didn't land it, but sure had fun with it for about 30 secs, till it flew into the air and sent the hook back to me!! I was fishing Hot Rocks, using the good 'ol jensen egg and white wool, 1/0 hook and 10# leader. About 5 other guys saw the fish spit out my hook as well. There are lots of small runs and some excellent pocket water on the Allouette, you have to hunt for the steelies because it's a small river and they always seek shelter. The Stave is mediocre for steelhead, I've seen a few nice ones pulled out of there though! I was fishing coho with a buddy of mine a few years ago in the spawning channel. No, we weren't fishing for spawners, but caught quite a few nice coho. On one of his casts, he hooked into something bigger than a coho but couldn't really think of what it could be (it was in November), until it surfaced. A VERY large steelie! After about 10-15 mins, I tailed about a 14-16 lb. wild steehead for him! Another time, when I was fishing for cutties at the Stave, i watched another flyfisher c&r 6 steelies, all were hooked in current seams. There ya have it! You have to hunt for them, but they're there in both rivers. Good luck and happy huntin!!

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Chris,I know the allouette has some good steelhead fishing at times. I generally fish the 216 bridge and above. have hit and have seen many nice fish taken in this area.Try abig dew worm with or without an orange jensen egg depending on the water clarity.I've also hooked fish using sand shrimp .Also very much worth a cast or two is Kanaka creek.Have hooked some descent steelys in this stream also, although it has slowed down in the last couple of years. Nice cuttys in both systems.Good luck!

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Float fishing with spinners has produced a couple nice fish this past week, you may want to try it in those heavily fished area's. On Thursday I tubed a 36 1/2 x 18 (16lb) wild doe on the Vedder which was caught on a #5 hammered silver spinner. A new product that has caught my attention is the Siberian single eggs, I don't think it has that much to do with the product because single eggs has always produced lots of fish but it seems to be working very well. Time will tell if it has some scent or color qualities that out produce Jensen eggs but for now I'm impressed. We have caught 6 steelies on the Vedder this past week using them, 1 yesterday when fishing was very slow, and a friend has been getting his one a day with a few very good days all on Siberian eggs with peach and chartruse wool. You just never know when a new product arrives on the market, I think this one is worth a try. I would be interested if anyone else has been using them or heard of any success with them. Tight lines Vic

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