Fishing bait below a float has EASILY been the #1 method of catching steelhead in BC for at least 50 years.Many books have been written on this subject and it is a deadly technique. One thing many top rods have come to realize is that fish will respond to bait well off bottom better than a bouncing bait, we call it "short floating" and is very similar to how many people fish their jigs. In Canada many fisherman have gone to using " spawn sacs" as opposed to "chunks" of roe, as your bait goes much farther, less hassles of changing baits and a much safer and better chance of a hooking fish in a non mortal spot.Other baits of choice to fish under a float are prawns, cooked shrimp,ghost shrimp(sand shrimp), dew worms, squid and I've even had good success with making up "prawn sacs".
This season we have started using bead style jig hooks with elastic bands tied at the head to attach our bait to, this has worked wonderfully. The weight of the bead gets the bait down quick and helps detect light bites by not allowing your bait to flutter in the current.I also tie some with small tufts of brightly colored Marabou, to give added attraction to the bait.
We also tried sliding the bead down our leader while using bait, but this resulted in a hacked up leader and cost me a fish or two.BCSteel came up with a solution for this by making a little loop that you attch the bead too ,and then slide the loop down the line, this worked very well.
Using the jig hooks to fish bait is the SHAT in my opinion, as you get the awesome hook landing ability of the jig, with the power of the bead,to get your bait down.
Many years ago I was reading STS and ZOG mentioned Canadian style dink floats and referred to them as the "Canadian crutch", my internet browsing has let me see that "crutches" have become very popular, and deservedly so. Just like "JIGS' have taken off up north, the internet has really broadened many peoples "repertoire".
If anyone is interested my website has a good story about "float fishing".
www.bentrods.ca
