Spinning a yarn for steelhead

Although I’m too young to remember the early days of Great Lakes steelheading when yarn dominated tackle trays, I’d heard enough fish stories from seasoned steelheaders to give it a try and it works — really well. Does yarn work better than trout beads, roe, flies, or worms? Let’s just say that yarn, like other baits, can give you an advantage in some situations. Yarn is cheap and you can really customize it to make unique colours in changing water conditions. A strand of one colour here, a wad of another there, and soon enough you have your own custom colour that no one else on the river has. By using a simple snell or egg-loop knot, yarn can be easily trimmed to your preferred size and profile, or swapped out completely within seconds. In ultra-clear water, yarn can be superior to other baits because it can be trimmed down to just a speck in size, effectively imitating a single egg. Yarn is also soft, so when a fish bites down it is more likely to hold onto the bait or get stuck in the trout’s teeth, unlike a hard bead. Yarn is also a great option in snaggy situations, because it’s more buoyant than other baits. And its texture makes it a great vessel for carrying added scent attractants in muddy water. The next time you’re running out of options while trout fishing, tie on some yarn and experiment with colour and size. You won’t be disappointed. Egg-loop knot The key to rigging yarn is a knot that’s tied on the shank of the hook, not the eye, like the egg-loop knot. It leaves a loop with which to secure the yarn and is easily loosened for replacing strands. Long end of leader Wrap the long end around hook shank and tag end. 8-10 wraps Make a loop in leftover leader and feed the long end through hook eye. Twist this loop around the end of the hook 3 or 4 times and pull leader end to tighten. Loosen the bit of line between the 2 wrapped sections to insert yarn. Originally published in the April 2018 issue of Ontario Out Of Doors For more trout, click here Click here for more outdoors news Watch on-demand videos anytime on OFAH Stream