Plunking: Kick Back for Steelhead

Is it getting more and more difficult to face the challenges of climbing up and down slick, rocky river banks? Getting concerned about the risks of wading swift, ice cold streams? Want to catch steelhead when your favorite river is too high and dirty to fish your favorite method? How about kicking back in a comfortable lawn chair, drinking coffee, and waiting for steelhead to come to you? Plunking could be the answer! Plunking is still-fishing with your bait on the bottom.

Common rigging for plunking.

Here are the: When, Where, and How To's, you will need to get started.

Plunking History

Plunking hasn't evolved much over the years, only the gear has changed. Dave Booth of Beaver, Ore., started plunking 66 years ago at age 7. He caught his first steelhead that year.

We used 5¿-foot True Temper metal rods and direct drive Pfluger reels, he explains. We used a black heavy line. Dad rigged up steel leaders. Only bait we had was salmon eggs. We used forked sticks to hold our rods. Sand spikes didn't show up until years later.

Merits of Plunking

You can spend more time on the river fishing when the water is out of shape for drift-fishermen. You don't have to wait for the water to drop. You are able to fish when the time is right, even if the water is high. Plunking is easy to do. You don't have to be skilled at casting. It is not physically demanding, and you do not need a lot of expensive gear.

Noah Wright, a skilled drift-fisherman, likes to plunk.

I can fish when the water is high and off color, he explained. It's a social event. I can visit with guys that I only see on the river each winter. You can shoot the breeze and listen for that bell to ring letting you know a fish is biting. I like to hear that bell sound off.

Waiting by the fire for a bite.

Where to Fish

Steelhead return to where they were released as smolts. It could be a hatchery, or various release locations on the river or its tributary. Biologists and hatchery staff have this data. Visit with them and gather this information.

You need to be in an area where fish pass through on their return route to a hatchery or release point. Plunkers are dependent on fish moving through. There will be hours and hours of visiting or boredom followed by flurries of action as a run passes through.

Jerry Carlson, is a skilled plunker.

I like the social part of it. It's relaxing. Put the old rod out and visit with the guys, he explains. When the water is up, and steelhead are on the move, they travel close to shore. You need to have your lure in a traveling lane.

When to Fish

When steelhead are in the river, is a simplistic answer, but there are other factors involved.

The No. 1 factor influencing steelhead travel and biting is river height. Rains bring river levels up (freshets). Fish head upriver. Bill Herzog, longtime steelhead fishing guru, in his book, Color Guide to Steelhead Drift Fishing, said, Steelhead normally will only be aggressive when the water height is stable or dropping.

Learn how to monitor your river levels. River levels are available from multiple sources; newspapers and area tackle shops update levels daily. Websites such as I-Fish and NOAA have updates daily and give river level predictions. The National Weather Service phone number gives daily updates.

Your Department of Fish and Wildlife creel count statistics indicate when the run, in a particular river, peaks. Biologists plan when adult steelhead will return to a given river. Do your research. Choose one to three rivers and learn when runs return. With some effort you can learn when steelhead will be in your rivers. Fish biologists have this information. Visit with biologists, hatchery staff and tackle shops in the area.

Paul Nutting with a heavy broodstock fish.

Scout for Access

Once you know where fish will be returning to, you need to find places to fish below the release points. There are few secret places these days. Explore your river. Access points should be easily identified by parking areas and trails to the river.

An excellent time to scout is when anglers are fishing. Years ago, Nick Amato, editor of Salmon Trout Steelheader, wrote an article on scouting that has worked well for me over the years.

Leave your fishing gear at home and bring a camera, he explains. Locate people fishing. You will be seen as less of a threat with only a camera. Ask for permission to take pictures. Most anglers love to show off that prized catch.

This is an excellent time to ask questions and learn from them. An offer to send a copy of a photo could open the door to a fishing friendship.

How to Fish

In most popular areas simply pick an open spot in a line of plunkers and do what they are doing. Basic rule of thumb: Water high and dirty, fish close to the bank.

Jim Johnson has been plunking for 30 years. He advises, Just show up and watch. When you think the water is too high go. It's easy to learn. You rarely fish more than 10 feet from shore. Do what the others do. Plunkers are usually easy to talk to. Remember, they are probably plunking because they like to visit.

Herzog said, Heavy flows will make 95 percent of the river too fast for fish to rest in. The only areas slow enough for steelhead in high water are normally right next to the bank. This slow, next-to-the bank water is a degree less roily, therefore having less gill-clogging silt than the heavy flow.

Experienced steelheaders look for: seams, current lines and other indicators of breaks in the current flow. Steelhead follow these lanes.

At the edge of the slow water, there will be a parting' or transition' line, where fast water meets slow water, Herzog explains. Here, within a foot of this parting line, is where steelhead will lay. These are the areas plunkers need to fish.

Popular assortment of Spin-N-Glos. Top (L to R:): #2, #6, #8. Bottom (L to R) #4 with Good Day Fishing backflash, #6, #8.

It is important to note, as water height drops, the parting line will follow the current further out into the river. Plunking can continue to be productive as levels drop and water clears. Continue to fish the parting line.

Plunking popularity is slowly returning. Some anglers are growing frustrated with sitting in long lines to launch drift boats, before first light, then racing downstream with an armada of boats. The stress of crowded rivers has led them to look for a more relaxing way of fishing. They are finding that in plunking.

Gearing Up

A lot of expensive gear is not necessary to begin plunking. Most begin with their trolling or drift-fishing gear. Here are some gear tips.

A) The rod should have a sensitive tip and enough backbone to handle a heavy sinker and powerful fish in strong currents.

B) The reel, a level-wind, should be capable of handling 150-200 yards of 20-lb.-plus-test line.

C) Sand spike: a wide range of possibilities, from factory produced to home-made ones consisting of a piece of PVC pipe taped to a piece of re-bar. It must be sturdy enough to be pounded into hard/rocky soil.

D) Assortment of pyramid sinkers, 4-10 oz.

E) Three-way swivel, or spreader

F) Assortment of Spin-N-Glos size 2-6

G) Hooks: top quality, sizes 2/0-4/0

H) Quality leader material 20-25 lb.

I) Misc. Snap swivels, 3-way swivels, beads (goes between hook and Spin-n-Glos)

J) Rain gear and insulated rubber boots

K) Small bell to attach to the rod

L) Lawn chair or 5 gallon plastic bucket to sit on