Steelhead Fishing With Corn: Guide Tested Results
I have tested out dozens of baits for steelhead throughout my guide career and over 37 years of steelhead fishing. If you have read my other articles, you know I classify baits into two categories: High-percentage baits, and Low-percentage baits.
I have done steelhead fishing with corn under real fishing conditions for both wild and stocked steelhead.
I intend to discuss my unbiased thoughts on using corn as bait for steelhead and explain my answers to some common questions:
- Is corn as good of a bait for steelhead as some anglers claim?
- Can corn help you catch steelhead?
- Should you use corn for steelhead?
- Do guides use corn for steelhead?
The answer to all of these questions is NO.
Despite what some anglers, and maybe guides will tell you, corn is what I would consider a low-percentage bait. Corn should be used as bait ONLY after you have tried all other high-percentage baits and have determined that they are not working.
Corn as a Steelhead Bait?
The corn in your pantry can be used as bait for stocked and wild steelhead. Some anglers are using corn when angling for steelhead with debatable success.
What Type Of Corn Is Best For Steelhead?
Some anglers favor fresh corn, others opt for frozen or canned corn, and a few believe in the effectiveness of creamed corn.
From my experience, all corn types are treated the same by steelhead.
Is Corn Effective For Steelhead?
Corn’s vivid yellow color can draw the attention of curious steelhead who will put it in their mouths to sample and try to determine if it is edible. But this does not make it a good bait!
Steelheads are regarded as smart creatures by some anglers due to the difficulty of catching them.
However, steelhead tend to feed on many items that drift past them in a river including twigs, leaves, weeds, and bark.
I’ve caught steelhead on bubble gum, candy, marshmallows, sponge, bark, leaves, string, tin-foil, paper, rubber bands, and even corn. Yes, I’ve experimented with plenty of crazy things to see what I can get those so called “smart steelhead” to eat. And even though I’ve caught steelhead on all of these, it doesn’t make any of these good baits.
So just because some angler catches a steelhead on corn, doesn’t mean that steelhead would not have eaten a better bait.
How To Catch Steelhead On Corn?
I’ve used corn under a float, and I’ve used corn when bottom bouncing, drift fishing, and nymph with a fly rod.
But I can’t bring myself to waste my time explaining how to fish with corn when it’s such a poor bait choice for steelhead.
Despite what other articles may claim, or what other anglers say, my experience with testing corn as a steelhead bait proves that corn is a low percentage bait and should not be used for steelhead.
Why would anyone want to use a very low-percentage bait like corn when there are so many better baits? Even salmon fishing with corn or trout fishing with corn is a waste of time in my opinion; see this underwater video to see how trout ignore or spit the corn out.
Do Steelhead Guides Use Corn To Catch Steelhead?
If you are not convinced, ask yourself, do steelhead guides use corn as bait? Good steelhead guides DO NOT use corn as bait, NEVER EVER! Steelhead fishing with corn would limit their client’s ability to catch the maximum amount of steelhead possible, which goes against what top steelhead guides want for their customers.
If a steelhead guide pulls out corn on your steelhead trip, he doesn’t like you!! I’m serious… Or he’s simply a bad guide!! In which case you need to find a better guide.
Like it or not, that’s my honest, no-BS opinion.
Tight Lines,
Graham
