Steelhead Fishing With Corn: A Guides Perspective
I would like to start by sharing that I have gained considerable expertise as an angler and a guide specializing in steelhead fishing for over 22 years, and I have tested out steelhead fishing with corn under real fishing conditions and for both wild and stocked steelhead.
In this article, I intend to discuss my unbiased thoughts on using corn as bait for steelhead and draw real-world comparisons of angling with corn versus other types of bait.
Is corn as good of a bait as some anglers claim? Can corn help you catch steelhead? Should you use corn for steelhead? Lastly, do guides use corn for steelhead?
These are all valid questions to consider and ones I will address in this article.
Please make sure to read through the entirety of this article before deciding to go fishing for steelhead with corn.
Corn as a Steelhead Bait?
The corn you have in your pantry can be used as bait for both stocked and wild steelhead. Some anglers are using corn when angling for steelhead with debatable success.
What Type Of Corns Is Best For Steelhead?
Optimal Corn for River Steelhead When aiming for rainbow steelhead in ponds or rivers, corn is a chosen bait for numerous anglers. Its vivid yellow color draws steelhead in, leading to some catches.
Anglers have preferences, some 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?
Steelheads, though regarded as smart creatures by many anglers due to the difficulty of catching them, tend to feed on many available options that drift past them in a river and they are known to strike at multiple baits, including inedible ones, especially if they are brightly colored like corn.
Though some agnler and other articles may acclaim corn’s effectiveness as steelhead bait, it’s crucial to remember that steelhead can try to consume almost anything, and this opportunistic feeding behavior is the actual reason why corn works for steelhead.
That does not mean corn is actually a good bait for steelhead. The term “good” can be a matter of opinion.
If an angler goes to the river and catches a nice steelhead on corn when other days he didn’t catch any steelhead, he may claim corn is a good bait. However, a little way up the river, another angler using another bait might catch 20 steelhead.
So would corn still be considered a good bait or a poor bait that only caught 1 steelhead when another bait would have been over ten times more effective?
How To Catch Steelhead On Corn?
To be honest, I have caught steelhead using corn. I’ve used corn under a float, and I’ve used corn when bottom bouncing and drift fishing.
But, I can’t bring myself to explain 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 to me that corn is a low percentage bait.
I’ve also caught steelhead on candy, marshmallows, bubble gum, plastic, and even a chuck of bark. That doesn’t make any of those a good options for bait. Steelhead will put all kinds of crap in their mouths, especially if it’s colorful and presented well. But they tend to spit it out very quickly, and corn is no exception.
Therefore, I highly advise that you do not use corn unless it’s your only option. Instead, use effective and proven baits that steelhead are more likely to eat and hold onto.
Why would anyone want to use a very low-percentage bait like corn when there are so many better baits? Even when 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.
Steelhead fishing with beads is a new and very effective method I could easily recommend instead of corn.
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.
Steelhead Fishing With Corn Q&A
As a guide, my priority is to use baits that have proven to be highly effective in catching fish and providing my clients with the best chance of catching fish, and unfortunately, corn is not a bait that works. This is why steelhead fishing with corn is a poor strategy.
If you have a question, comment or some advice about steelhead fishing with corn, let me know in the comments section below.
Tight Lines,
Graham
