Pull, tweak and drop on my friends!! Everybody’s doing it…
Category Archives: Techniques
Ask JD: Can you really clean fishing tools with soda?
Tom M. from Monroe, WA writes in with an interesting question for this round of Ask JD…
“Hey JD, can you really clean rust off a set of pliers with a can of pop?”
Well, Tom, at first I read your question wrong and thought I saw and extra “o” in the word “pop.” Eeewwww!
But then I re-read it and realized my error…phew! Oh…pop (soda to us in California)…I’m with ya now! As a matter of fact, a few years back, another guide I know had told me that the chemical agents in soda would indeed eat the rust right off but I had never gotten around to trying it until you wrote in. Here’s what I found…
I started with some rusty stuff I found in the garage: The file was really rusty, the red handle pliers were very stiff and the black ones were so corroded that I couldn’t pry them open…
So then I found an old diet cola in the back of my bait fridge and poured it into a bag containing the tools…
All I had to go on was the one boat ramp conversation I’d had and I think the guy told me to let everything soak a week, so that’s what I did…
And here’s what came out of the bag of pop…
As you can see, the soda ate up a lot of the surface corrosion but It didn’t get it all. The red pliers open easier and the black ones open like they are brand new.
Conclusion
While they didn’t emerge from the test in pristine condition, all three tools are in better shape after their chemical bath. Maybe a longer soak would be better. Perhaps diet doesn’t work as well as the real stuff. If any of you out there have some insight on this, please feel free to share!
On a more disturbing note, this little exercise makes you wonder about what soda does to your stomach lining. I’m just saying…
Ol’ Garbage Gut: The Hungriest Summer Steelhead in the World!!
All I can say is WOW!!!
Fly Fishing: Off the Grid
This short film has some awesome footage of dry fly strikes at the beginning — and really nice cinematography thorough out that’s sure to make you want to fish!
A better way to spoon: Assist Hooks
One of the things that drew a lot of interest from the big crowds at my striper seminars the past couple days at the International Sportsmen’s Expo was the way I rig my jigging spoons.
We had a lot to cover in one short hour so I didn’t linger too long on this subject. If you missed it, here’s a closer look:
I simply remove the stock treble and replace it with an Owner assist (size depends on the size of the spoon).
These hooks come with a looped end so all you do is run it through the line attachment eye and loop it back over the hook…Done!
Soon, I will do a full blown post on striper spooning but for now, I’ll tell you that this rigging style is more snag resistant, never flips over and hooks the main line on the fall and is easier on the fish (fewer gill hooked fish). Give it a try!
Catch More Steelhead with “Sploosh Balls”
Everybody’s first-ever reaction to seeing a “sploosh ball” is pretty much the same. Something like…
What the $#&% is that?? Or perhaps: You’re frigging kidding me…this is a joke, right?
It’s easy to understand, too, considering these black sinker balls that have taken the side-drifting world by storm look like they’re better suited for back-bouncing at first glance. Because they’re made of plastic, the balls are much larger than other drift weights and a ½ ouncer looks like it should weigh about 4 or 6 ounces. And the big ‘ol 1-ounce jobbies wouldn’t look too out of place being loaded into a cannon. When rigged up on typical side-drifting gear, these jumbo plastic weights look downright ridiculous. And the “splooosh” sound they make when they hit the river is just plain goofy. The whole thing seems so stinkin’ silly…
That is until fish them. Pretty quickly you’ll begin to see the light. Sploosh balls have several key attributes that make them very attractive to side-drifters. Here’s a look…… Continue Reading
How to make Spawn Sacks for Steelhead
Winter steelhead season is upon us and that means it’s time to bust out the eggs!
Regardless of the watershed you’re on, drifting eggs is very hard to beat for winter-run fish. But eggs aren’t without their inherent problems: Roe is a delicate bait and the constant casting and drifting in fast current and bouncing off rocks means your offering takes a beating. Depending on your cure and the water you’re fishing, a cluster of roe may last only one to five casts.
What that means is you’re going to spend a lot of time re-baiting. And when you consider the fact that steelhead are often referred to as the “fish of a thousand casts,” time spent out of the water is time wasted. So, what’s the answer?
Spawn Sacks, of course!
Boat Plunk for High Water Steelhead
With all the crazy rain we’ve had up and down the West Coast lately, I figured it is probably time to talk plunking.
But plunking for steelhead is basically a glorified form of catfishing, right?
Big rod? Check! Forked stick? Check! Bell? Check! Truck? Check! Beer? Check!
Okay, so plunking may not be as technically demanding as casting a dry line 100 feet or deciphering the subtle differences between a rock tap and a bite while side-drifting, but make no mistake about it, this is one deadly technique – particularly in high water.
And again, with plenty of high watwr to go around at the moment, let’s take a closer look at the nuts and bolts of plunking – only this time, from a slightly different angle. While the majority of plunking takes place from shore, there are some merits to doing it from a boat (“blunking?”…Sorry!). … Continue Reading