Here's a list of our favorite baits that we find produce the best when fishing for steelhead. Each of these baits have a time and place but often produce in almost any kind of conditions.

1. Trout Beads

In almost all conditions, we find using trout beads produce a tremendous amount of fish. When water conditions are high or clear, using the right sized bead and color can increase your chances of a hook up. Two of our favorite brands are Creek Candy Beads and Troutbeads.com. Creek Candy Beads are glass based and get your bead down in the strike zone faster than a traditional plastic bead. We find using Creek Candy Beads in faster water can outperform plastic, as glass beads will keep your bait in the strike zone for longer. Troutbeads.com beads are plastic and work best in slower/deeper pools to give your presentation or more natural look. Either brand of bead works great in all conditions, most of the time the choice comes down to personal preference and experience.

Here's the color beads we'd recommend for different conditions:

For higher/dirtier water conditions try the following:

For lower/clearer water conditions try the following:

Here are our top 6 bead colors which will allow you to be prepared for almost any conditions:

2. Roe Bags/Spawn Sacks

Roe bags or spawn sacks are arguable the best bait when fishing for steelhead. Often times angler will use chinook or rainbow trout eggs and tie them into dime size spawn sacks and drift them under a float. Regardless of the time of year, this technique can be deadly. Our favorite time to use spawn sacks is when the water has a nice stain to it, typically in a few inches of visibility all the way to a few feet of visibility. The eggs give off a scent when drifting down river which time and time again prove to be the best bait when fishing for steelhead. 

Check out some of our gear for tying spawn sacks below:

  • For carrying your roe bags while on the river, get yourself a Roe Bro
  • Spawn tying mesh in a variety of different colours can be purchased here
  • Spawn tying thread to keep your bait snug can be purchased here

3. Plastic Worms

When in doubt, throw on a pink worm and drift it out. We personally always run a pink worm at the end of our line when beads or spawn sacks aren't producing. In almost all conditions, pink worm has produced fish for us. Often times when fishing slower "frog" water we twitch our float to give the worm some movement. This can sometimes entice a fish to hit your pink worm. Nonetheless, we carry a variety of different plastic worms in a variety of different sizes.

Check out some of our different color plastic worms below:

  1. Baby Pink Worms
  2. Red Worms
  3. Hot Pink Worms
  4. Chartreuse Worms

4. Jigs/Flies

Steelhead jigs and flies are arguably my favorite bait of choice when the more popular baits like beads and roe aren't working. We've caught steelhead on jigs and flies during all times of year. We find that jigs/flies work best in clearer water conditions. Some of our favorite jigs and flies can be found below:

  • Check out our entire selection here
Written by Info RKP

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