Recommended Fishing Rods & Gear

Good quality equipment is essential for big west coast steelhead and pacific salmon. Todays fishing manufacturers are more in tune with regional areas and develop product specific gear. Here we offer some examples of todays most popular fishing equipment we use in our area.

Freshwater Fishing Rods

Steelhead | Salmon Rods

• Length: 8 - 12 ft

• Line Class: 10 - 25 lbs test

• Fish Size | Weight: avg. 8-15 pounds / trophy size 15-30 pounds plus

An enormous variety of fishing rods are on the market today and can be confusing trying to choose the right one for your preference of style and species. Choose a salmon and steelhead rod that has reasonable length to it. Casting will be much smoother and you'll be able to cover greater distance in your casts.

Chinook Salmon Rods

• Length: 8 - 12 ft

• Line Class: 25 - 40 # test

• Fish Size | Weight: avg. 15-30 pounds / trophy size 30-70 pounds plus

To battle trophy size chinooks, it requires much heavier rods and lines. We recommend rods with line class ratings of at least 20 - 40 lbs. Not all large salmon require beefy rods but when you do hook into these brutes you will be glad you have a stronger rod to handle these fish better. Fenwick HMX, Shimano, GLoomis, Berkley, Abu Garcia and Normark Rapala all manufacture great west coast fishing rods designed for strong pacific salmon.

Trout & Char Rods

• Length: 6 - 10 ft

• Line Class: 6 - 10 # test

• Fish Size: avg. 12-20 inches | 30-50cm

Lighter rods and lines are the norm for smaller fish. By using lighter gear you add the excitment back into playing smaller fish as the rod action has a greater appeal.

Reels

Steelhead | Salmon Reels

• Line Capacity: 150 plus yards

• Line: 15 - 25 # test

• Bait Casting Reels: Abu Garcia, Shimano, Plueger, Penn, Quantum, Diawa, Okuma

• Spinning Reels: Shimano, Quantum, Diawa, Okuma, Penn

• Center Pin Reels: Okuma, Rushton, Raven, Islander, Hardy, Ross

Personal preferences to which method and style you may want to use.

Chinook Salmon

• Line Capacity: 150 plus yards

• Line: 30 - 40 # test

• Bait Casting Reels: Abu Garcia, Shimano, Plueger, Penn, Quantum, Diawa, Okuma

• Center Pin Reels: Okuma, Rushton, Raven, Islander, Hardy, Ross

Larger capicity reels are recommended for chinook salmon. Most anglers use a bait-casting style reels such as the Penn Internationals, Abu Garcia, and Shimano.

Trout & Char Reels

• Line Capacity: 80 plus yards

• Line: 6 - 10 # test

• Spinning Reels: Shimano, Quantum, Diawa, Okuma, Penn

• Bait Casting Reels: Abu Garcia, Shimano, Plueger, Penn, Quantum, Diawa, Okuma

Smaller trout of the westcoast generally do not make long runs and average between 1 - 5 pounds so line breaking strength does not require larger lines. Small Spin casting reels are fantastic for these species and offer greater ease for small children as well.

Fishing Line & Leaders

Monofilament Fishing Line

We recommend Maxima and Berkley Big Game lines when fishing for west coast salmon and steelhead.

Multifilament (Super Braid) Fishing Line

We recommend Power Pro Super Lines and Berkley Fire Line when fishing for west coast salmon and steelhead. These lines offer great castability, strength and no stretch.

Hooks & Terminal Tackle

Hooks

We use top quality hooks like: Diachi for our stinger style flies, Gamakatsu for steelhead and smaller salmon and VMC for the larger salmon. The two styles we mostly use here are the siwash and octopus types of hooks in various sizes from 2/0-7/0.

Terminal Tackle

We use a variety of basic terminal tackle when fishing for steelhead, salmon and trout.

• Barrel Swivels: small | medium | large

• Weights: split shot in medium to large sizes | pencil lead coils (cut to various weights) | slinky weights (various weights) | bouncing betty's (1/4 ounce to 2 ounce)

• Snaps: duo-lock style snaps in various sizes - 25's , 35's, 55's

Lures

Baits

Eggs or Roe | Shrimp

We use a small variety of baits with salmon eggs or roe being the most commonly used. The eggs are brined and cut into small chunks for float fishing for steelhead and or salmon and trout. Sand shrimp and regular baby shrimp is used as well and works very well for Chinook salmon and Steelhead.