TECHNIQUES
The Mad is a small river and therefore, mostly the domain of bank anglers. On quiet days with very little angler traffic, a courteous drift-boater pulling plugs (like silver-orange Wiggle Warts and Hot Shots) can do OK.

But since you can cast across the river just about anywhere, there's really no need for a boat.

Plus, from the hatchery on down, you'll find a stretch with wide, smooth gravel bars that make for easy wading and fishing.

HARDWARE
Most shore-casters fishing with conventional gear will toss hardware or drift bait. In the lure department, No. 3 and 4 Mepps, Blue Fox and Pen Tac spinners or 2/5-ounce Little Cleo spoons in silver, gold or copper take plenty of fish.

Your object here is to cast across and slightly downstream and allow the lure to sink near the bottom. Once it's near the rocks, engage the reel with just enough pressure on the line to keep the spinner's blade rotating at low revolutions per minute, or the spoon wobbling at a slow rate.

Use your rod tip to follow the lure's progress as it drifts through the run and let it swing in an arc downstream until it's directly downstream of your position.

Most strikes will come as the lure hits the apex of its swing. But there are also times when you'll get slammed at the very end of the drift.

Hardware grabs are usually about as subtle as a slap across the face. When you get bit, you'll know it!

Once you've covered the water in front of you, take a step or two downstream and cast again. Keep going until you either hit a fish or cover all the holding water.

BAIT-FISHING
Hardware often accounts for the largest fish of the season, but for sheer numbers, drifting bait is the way to go. Cured salmon roe is the No. 1 offering, though some anglers also catch fish on uncooked prawns.

In either case, use just enough lead to get the bait down -- but not anchored -- to the bottom.

The idea here is to cast perpendicular to shore and then allow the bait to drift just off the bottom with the sinker tap-tap-tapping along the rocks the whole time. Just as you'd do when fishing a lure, make several casts to the water in front of you, then move downstream a bit and resume casting until you find some biters.

Speaking of bites, the key to this technique is learning to distinguish the subtle grab of a fish from the sinker ticking the bottom. It's a tough thing to explain, and you need to feel a bite before you'll really understand.

Basically, when a steelie grabs the bait, you get a spongy feeling in your rod tip. If the fish hangs on, you'll also notice that your sinker will stop tapping. At that point, it's time to set the hook as fast as you can -- steelhead can inhale a bait and spit it back out in a nanosecond.

To tie up a basic rig for drift-fishing, start by running the end of your 10-pound-test mainline through the line-attachment eye of a snap swivel. Then run the line through a small plastic bead and tie the end off to one eye of a barrel or crane swivel.