FISHING
GO OLD SCHOOL FOR WINTER-RUNS By Buzz Ramsey
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t was while drift fishing an Okie Drifter that I caught my first steelhead from Oregon’s Sandy River back in December of 1966. In case you don’t know, the Okie Drifter was a buoyant imitation egg cluster first introduced by Maxwell Manufacturing (though I’m not sure in what year) and purchased by Luhr Jensen just after I went to work there in 1974. I guess I’m dating myself to write about a long discontinued lure and a fishing method that isn’t used all that much anymore, at least by those fishing from boats. However, I do still see bank anglers employing the oldschool tactic, especially when river levels are up and fast-moving. After all, it’s when the water levels are high and perhaps just dropping into shape after a freshet that drift fishing can produce as good or better than other river fishing techniques, at least for those who know how.
THE CONCEPT OF drifting an egg cluster, egg imitation, single egg, bead, soft bead or other bait along the river bottom is one that fish readily respond to. It’s just natural (imprinted in their DNA, I guess) for them to eat bait, especially single salmon eggs, as their upstream migration follows that of when salmon dig their spawning nests and deposit their eggs into the gravel. In fairness, drift fishing hasn’t gone away; it has just morphed into techniques like bobber doggin’ and side drifting. And although side drifting lends itself mostly to boat fishing, I see more than a few bank anglers who employ the bobber doggin’ method during their outdoor excur-
Today’s steelheaders have a lot of options, but old-school techniques like drift fishing are still practiced by some who know it’s a great technique as high waters begin to recede. Aaron Henderson shows off a hatchery fish caught on an Oregon river. (BUZZ RAMSEY) calsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022 California Sportsman
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