Floatfishing Success with Bait 1

Fishing sand shrimp or eggs under a float is an excellent way to target both hatchery and wild steelhead in Washington's rivers. Floatfishing is easy on the gear and using bait for steelhead is a no-brainer, but if it's rigged straight up without any weight it tends to flail away in the current and isn't always in the strike zone near the bottom. Many years ago I would drill holes in slinky balls and paint them up in bright colors to use on my bait leaders. Like the early stages of most tackle tweakings it was messy, halfway dangerous, and the paint never stayed on the weights nearly as long as I would have liked. 

Alas, a few years ago some folks in the tackle industry started producing weights specifically for floatfishing and my bloody fingers can't thank them enough. To the best of my knowledge Dead Fish Tackle in Anacortes was the first to produce these weights followed by the great people at Beau Mac in Auburn, Washington. They come in different sizes and colors and so little gear is lost floatfishing that I have yet to restock my supply of these weights. 

Here's a diagram that further explains how adding a Cheater weight or egg sinker can keep bait down in the strike zone.