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How to pick apart a river drift for chinook (king) salmon
1K views
Feb 5, 2025
You may find a lot of videos that show you some epic moments and some techniques, but this one will break down everything that goes into picking apart a fishy looking stretch of water that you suspect holds a few chinook salmon. I talk about what parts of the drift and show you exactly where I fished before I found pay dirt. I talk about the process of finding the right cast and depth that produced this chinook. I also show 90% of the footage of the battle with this 13 lb chinook that really kicked my butt using its weight and size in the current to mercilessly pull line as it headed downriver. Drop me a question in the comments section if I can clarify anything I talked about here. Here are some links you might find helpful in replicating my success: https://pnwbestlife.com/river-fishing-for-salmon/ https://pnwbestlife.com/best-fishing-rod-for-salmon/ https://pnwbestlife.com/best-fishing-reel-for-salmon-steelhead/ https://pnwbestlife.com/river-fishing-for-salmon/float-fishing-for-salmon/ Also, as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases you make via the links below. Using the links below costs you nothing additional, but allows us to keep putting out quality content that hopefully helps you to enjoy the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest. Conservation River Net - https://amzn.to/3QceGv1 Waterproof tackle bag 30L - https://amzn.to/3MxTZZp Dalstrong fillet knife 7 inch - https://amzn.to/45ZHka6
View Video Transcript
0:05
fish in this video I want to show you
0:07
how to pick apart a classic drift when
0:10
you're fishing for shook salmon in a
0:12
river how to find the biters how to find
0:14
where in the river they're holding and
0:18
to do that with with bobber and eggs
0:20
which is you know kind of the the
0:22
classic uh method these days for for
0:24
targeting a lot of different species but
0:26
certainly for shinook now as you know
0:30
you can have drifts that come in all
0:32
kinds of shapes and sizes and flow rates
0:35
and so I'm going to try to just pick
0:37
apart the one that I was fishing on this
0:40
particular day and it kind of has three
0:42
main features where I thought fish could
0:44
have been holding one you had a deep
0:48
head of the run very fast moving water
0:52
very air rated water so so actually my
0:54
float my half oun 5/8 ooun float was
0:57
actually was actually going down in
0:58
certain parts uh just because uh the
1:01
water was so so so um so turbulent and
1:05
then uh as You Follow That
1:08
Downstream uh you know you still had
1:10
pretty strong current I I call that kind
1:13
of the main part of the drift it's not
1:15
as deep as the head but it's still
1:18
relatively deep and you know even you
1:22
know further away you know 203 ft from
1:24
the head you'll often find shnook
1:27
holding in those Waters especially if
1:29
they're shnook in the head they you know
1:31
if there's a good amount they won't all
1:33
fit there and so they'll be shrook
1:35
further down as well in the drift now
1:37
you don't want to follow a drift all the
1:39
way down to the tail out typically
1:40
you're not going to find Bal shnook in
1:42
the tail out unless they're moving up
1:44
and traveling not going to bite or
1:47
they're kind of like you know getting
1:49
ready to spawn they're hanging out in
1:51
softer flows again not not going to bite
1:54
so um kind of ignore that once once it
1:57
starts to really shallow out uh the
2:00
drift then then uh you're probably too
2:02
far down not going to find holding
2:03
holding shnook down there the other the
2:06
other feature the other main feature is
2:09
is the soft edges around that main
2:12
current a lot of times these fish uh you
2:15
know they're sitting in the current and
2:16
they see something holding uh you know
2:18
like your eggs in the soft current soft
2:21
edges and and they're going to pop out
2:22
of the current and grab it other times
2:24
they're actually in those soft edges cuz
2:25
they're looking for a break from on the
2:28
on their Journey up River often often
2:30
often you're going to find shnook you
2:33
know by by fishing the soft edges
2:35
whether they're there or in the current
2:37
and and they see it and they want to and
2:39
they want to grab your offering if
2:41
there's one place that you will find
2:43
shnook of those three it is often that
2:46
very very head of the Run deepest part
2:50
fast moving current a lot of times
2:52
they're not in the very fastest part but
2:54
they're just just outside that super
2:57
fast moving water and so uh yeah that
3:00
that could be a great place to to Target
3:02
you as well and again again I'm going to
3:04
show kind of picking it apart a little
3:06
bit by little bit all right so so here
3:09
I'm letting I I'm using probably I don't
3:10
know four to 5 foot uh total length of
3:14
my leader from bobber stop to my to my
3:17
eggs and the terminal offering and I'm
3:19
just kind of letting it drift on down in
3:21
the main current sometimes a little bit
3:24
on my side of the main current sometimes
3:25
a little bit on the other side of the
3:26
main current but still kind of in that
3:28
main current let it drift 20 30 ft until
3:31
it kind of starts to shallow out uh and
3:34
and what I was Finding here is is I was
3:36
getting bit it was the wrong species you
3:38
to take
3:39
down it was a lot of cutthroat trout
3:42
that were hammering it which going to be
3:43
super frustrating right your float goes
3:45
down aggressive like a fish taking that
3:47
comes right back up and uh only if you
3:50
you know kind of get lucky enough you
3:51
can sometimes hook that fish and get it
3:53
in and like oh it's a little cutthroat
3:56
trout or a sculpin or something like
3:57
that you can got to tell you know if you
3:59
fish a lot of floating eggs you know
4:01
it's just when it's bottom versus when
4:03
it's a fish it just looks
4:06
different and you also got the soft
4:08
edges right which is again great great
4:12
place to start you know it's it's it's
4:14
you're not having to rebate a lot cuz
4:16
your you know your your float's not in
4:18
the current your eggs aren't getting
4:20
ripped apart by the current so you know
4:23
you can kind of usually if if
4:25
something's in there uh you know you can
4:28
bit pretty quickly and so it's a great
4:29
place to rule out right away and go okay
4:32
there's some easy to pick off schnook
4:34
sitting here uh some of the easiest
4:36
places to get bit and so you know it's
4:38
easy to figure out exactly what depth
4:40
we're at and all of that and just you
4:42
know make it happen so you know I fish
4:45
that pretty good and I okay there's
4:47
there's nothing in here if there's
4:48
something in here I would go bit by now
4:50
pretty confident rule that out uh which
4:53
which really leaves one place one more
4:56
place for them to hide and of course
4:58
it's probably the most these place and I
5:00
fished it a little bit at the beginning
5:02
but I don't think I don't didn't really
5:04
understand how deep it was and that's a
5:07
common mistake that uh I can make or a
5:10
trap I can fall into and a lot of other
5:13
Anglers I noticed as well you know which
5:15
is don't assume you know how deep a
5:19
particular spot is keep lengthening your
5:23
bobber stop keep sliding it up your
5:25
Mainline keep going until you either
5:28
find bottom
5:30
snag on something find a fish that bites
5:33
keep going don't assume you know how
5:36
deep it is
6:01
so I finally get the right depth and I
6:05
get bit pretty pretty quickly and of
6:08
course I miss it right so I'm like oh
6:10
man I was yeah I'm pretty sure I've been
6:13
running over this spot a bunch that look
6:15
fishy come back the eggs aren't in great
6:18
shape I go back and rebate I'm like okay
6:50
I don't know
6:55
man next cast after I rebate I make the
6:59
same cast where I got bit again in the
7:01
same
7:10
spot that fish bites and I'm like oh
7:12
yeah it's fish on you know give give a
7:15
nice hook set you know I've got my drag
7:17
set pretty tight uh right you know
7:20
initially cuz I want that hook to to
7:23
have maximum penetration into the tough
7:25
jaws of a big shnook and then usually I
7:28
just back it off just just a couple
7:30
clicks on the on the drag I know some
7:32
people like to they don't believe in
7:33
touching your drag but that's how I
7:35
fight fish just back it off just a
7:37
little bit it's a nice
7:40
one I want that fish to be able to run
7:42
and that he was more than happy to
7:44
comply as uh he just screamed
7:54
Downstream you want to uh get the net
7:57
for this ash
8:03
Ash it's got to be nicer than that no 10
8:07
lb fish is pulling this much
8:12
wine unless he's foul hooked or
8:14
something but this thing is
8:17
like all in line and actually I was
8:21
convinced at first that either I had
8:23
hooked a really big fish or uh that I
8:26
hooked it somewhere else other than the
8:28
had because this fish was really hard to
8:30
control I'm testing the the gear I had
8:34
to hold him I had to hold him with my
8:36
thumb yeah and either that he fell
8:40
hooked or something or wrapped in it
8:43
but you mean
8:46
Chrome and it turned out uh it was kind
8:49
of a fatter fish uh and he was he was
8:52
using that fast current really really
8:56
well to his Advantage cuz he was
8:58
screaming line out at one point he was
9:00
headed for uh some logs on the other
9:02
side and I had to I had to put thumb
9:04
pressure on and just and just stop him
9:06
was like all right something that's
9:07
going to break uh or uh or I'm going to
9:10
stop this fish because I can't I can't
9:11
let this fish keep uh keep going uh keep
9:15
pull me around the river uh like this so
9:18
super super challenging but super fun
9:21
battle and honestly that's why I love
9:23
River fishing for schnook you get these
9:25
shnook in that are full of energy and
9:28
fresh from the salt this fish cut like a
9:30
saltwater fish certainly better than
9:33
some of the fish that you pull from like
9:34
Marine are 11 and P town right before
9:37
they're about to head up River I mean
9:38
this fish was Prem grade awesome
9:45
energy don't don't try them
9:51
yet me get closer to him so I can
9:53
control them a little bit more
10:02
you see how he's hooked why is he it's a
10:04
10lb fish why is he putting so much
10:06
pressure on
10:17
me this fish feels heavy for some
10:25
reason oh yeah no this this is a
10:29
yeah it's might be mid
10:33
teens he's Chrome completely Chrome I
10:37
can't really control him he is hooked in
10:39
the
10:39
mouth but just wait till I can get a
10:43
little
10:44
bit better uh pressure on
10:48
him I think he's getting tired now yeah
10:52
oh he's a he's a powerful
10:55
fish and that you know you're just
10:57
you're fishing them on lighter tackle
10:59
you would you trolling around for them
11:01
in the salt and and you're in a smaller
11:04
space you know they're just going around
11:06
the river pulling you up and down the
11:08
river and just it is so much fun uh but
11:11
I know a lot of folks you know they uh
11:14
they they they struggle to get them in
11:16
the river they struggle to get them on
11:18
eggs and uh under a float a lot of times
11:21
they resort to you know flossing
11:23
snagging and and you know that is what
11:26
it is people catch a lot of fish that
11:28
way but man it is so much more fun when
11:30
you get them to bite get them to go and
11:33
you have that fish on and and you get
11:35
them in and you know you know you did it
11:37
the right way and did it uh with with a
11:40
lot of skill makes it worthwhile to to
11:43
to go after and pursue and drive a few
11:45
hours uh to have that experience so
11:47
hopefully you learn something hopefully
11:49
you learn something that will help you
11:51
uh in the future don't forget to hit
11:53
like subscribe to the channel and uh
11:55
we've only got gonna have more and more
11:57
of this content available for you drop a
11:59
question comment in uh if there's
12:02
something about FAL shinook fishing
12:03
floating eggs that you'd like me to
12:07
cover I don't know how many fish are in
12:10
there all right I'll my egg yeah so I
12:14
what I think was uh I just think we
12:17
weren't deep enough that hole was really
12:19
deep I was probably 10 ft really of uh
12:22
total leader hope to see you on the
12:25
water take care
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