The rag is an excellent choice when drift fishing in medium to high flows because of its extreme buoyancy and its larger silhouette in the water column. Throw in its soft texture and the movement of the yarn as it drifts thru the water and you've got something that is very hard for aggressive steelhead to resist. While the rag can be fished solo, it's best fished with a shrimp tail or a bait of eggs and the foam and yarn used to build the rag holds scent very well.

Perhaps the best attribute to the rag is that the person making them can include just about any color combination they like, with limits only on the number of yarn colors on the market. The addition of yarn to the backer rod gives the rag color, movement, and best of all it sticks in a fishes teeth, giving the angler on the operating end of the rod a little extra time to detect a bite. Glo Bug yarn works excellent for this and is usually my choice when making rags.

Though the rag is most effective in medium to high flows, it can also catch fish in lower water. Areas where fish have a split-second to decide whether they want to pick up a passing object or not is where the rag can still be used with some effectiveness in low, clear water on larger rivers. These areas include the turbulent water at the head of a pool or run, holding water near structure, or in fast, choppy water.  Because of it's size, however, the rag is best suited for medium to high flows and works especially well on wild steelhead.

Fishing the Rag:
Considering how buoyant the rag is a short leader is a must and 18 to 24 inches of leader is standard. The rag floats like a cork and anything longer than that will float too high in the water column and out of the strike zone. Otherwise, the rag is fished just like any other drift fishing rig.  With the larger size of the rag a 1/0 or 2/0 hook is preferable. 

Making the Rag:
Supplies you'll need to make your own rags:

-Scissors

-Glo Bug Yarn

-3/8" or 1/2" Backer Rod-  Backer rod is used for window insulation and comes in grey, blue, red, and white.  White is preferable.  If the local window company doesn't have backer rod it can also be ordered from Oregon Tackle at 503-777-4021.

-Needle-  A #5 Tapestry needle works excellent, as the larger eye makes stringing the Glo Bug yarn much easier.  Any needle that has an eye with a large opening will work, however.

-Beads- 

-Pre-tied 1/0 or 2/0 leaders

1.  Cut the backer rod into 3/4 inch long pieces, or whatever length you desire.

2.  Thread a length of yarn thru the #5 Tapestry needle. 

3.  Using the needle, thread the yarn thru the pieces of backer rod that you've cut, making sure to leave enough length in between to allow for cutting later.

4.  Cut the yarn between the backer rod.  Make sure the yarn doesn't hang over the end of the backer rod, as it will end up tangling in the hook and bait.

5.  Once the pieces are all cut apart repeat the process with a second color of yarn.  Here we've used peach and orange, but some other great colors are chartreuse, cerise, black, purple, hot pink, etc.  A third color of yarn can also be used.

6.  Add a bead to the pre-tied leader and using the needle pull the leader thru the center of the backer rod.  The bead will keep the rag from sliding down over the hook.  In low visibility or low light conditions the Radical Glow bead works great in lieu of a regular bead.  They can be found online at www.radicalglow.com. 

7.  Slide the rag down to the bead and it's ready to fish.  Like I mentioned earlier, these fish really well with either a sand shrimp tail or a bait of eggs.  They also work great with no bait at all.

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