The Steelheading Secret Legit Fly Fishers Don’t Want You To Know
- Thread starter HauntedByWaters
- Start date
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
Here is a secret... or several.
1. You are casting too far
2 you are fishing too deep
3 your fly is too big
4. Your angles are all wrong
5. There is no point in being the 5th person down the run unless you know new fish are moving in
6. Direct sun isn't the problem you think it is
7. You aren't covering the water like you think you are
8. If you fish deep to a visible fish long enough you will snag it... move on...
9. Your single hander is a better tool than you think it is in many cases better than your two hander. Especially for skaters.
10. Steelhead will hit dead drifted dries
11. None of this matters cause there ain't no fish.. that's the real reason you aren't catching them.
1. You are casting too far
2 you are fishing too deep
3 your fly is too big
4. Your angles are all wrong
5. There is no point in being the 5th person down the run unless you know new fish are moving in
6. Direct sun isn't the problem you think it is
7. You aren't covering the water like you think you are
8. If you fish deep to a visible fish long enough you will snag it... move on...
9. Your single hander is a better tool than you think it is in many cases better than your two hander. Especially for skaters.
10. Steelhead will hit dead drifted dries
11. None of this matters cause there ain't no fish.. that's the real reason you aren't catching them.
12. A solid grab is as good as a landed fish.
No it isn't. Don't get me wrong. A solid grab is a good thing. It just isn't as good as a grab followed by a landed fish.
I fixed it for ya.
when steelhead were plentiful and i was hooking them regularly, i started cutting the hooks off at the bend. just a grab and a run was good enough for me. still lots of fun trying to make presentations that a fish would react too. tougher now a days so i probably won't be steelhead fishing any longer.
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
A grab is nothing unless the fish is hooked..
Lots of things can pull on your fly. Most of them are not steelhead but feel just like it. This is doubly true when fishing sink tips or weighted flies.
summer steelheading was a different story. floating lines, castings to fish in places i knew they would be found. i would agree that winter fishing is a totally different story with you fishing on the stones so you never knew what stopped your fly unless you hooked up.
flybill
Life of the Party
Beads for Mardi Gras! The best use for them!!
BDD
Steelhead
I can see some logic in the three types of steelhead you pose. For me, the bigger question is does the same transition to and from the three different types, depending on any number of factors they experience during their life? For example, if a fish is a non-biter type, does he/she remain in that phase their entire life? Can a Kamikaze be as such for a week, a month, or longer but then suddenly revert to a non-biter?
BDD
Steelhead
I'd love another opportunity to fish the Methow for steelhead again, even if the water was in the low 30s and I had to swing a fly and not a bead.
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
I think it depends on the circumstances.
On the Washougal what would happen is that
Fish would come in in May and June and they were decent biters but the water was high and cool. In late June to early July the water would warm and fish population would increase and the number of biters increased. In late July and August the fish would pod up deep in the big slow pools. Seeing schools of a hundred or more was common but they were in unfishable spots. That is to say unswingable spots.
Then after a fall freshet most of the fish would run for the Hatchery but those that didn't would move into shallow riffles and pockets and at that time they were nearly all biters.. lots of them you could raise to a caddis over and over again. Occasionally they'd move in behind chinook reds, presumably to eat eggs, though I never saw them do it, but they were easy to catch on a caddis.
There may be some fish that just don't bite like chambers creek winter runs , but as a general rule I think it's based more on conditions.
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BDD
Steelhead
I agree with your circumstances comment. It was more of a rhetorical question. Most unpressured, wild steelhead are great biters under prime conditions. But not always. There are rarely any absolutes in steelheading.
JACKspASS
Life of the Party
Robs answer is spot on when talking about summers and for that matter, steelhead in general. When I made the comment about there being three types of steelhead it was mostly pertaining to a river with decent flows, temp, and fish being available. Mostly condition related, however, I believe like people, fish can change their moods(aggression levels from day to day) and some fish like some people are stubborn and refuse to play the game..lol
cruik
Just Hatched
I don't doubt there's a "comfy" temperature zone for steelhead, but I believe in temperature changes over objective temperature. I'd rather fish a warm-up from from 37 to 42 than a cold snap from 50 to 45. Beads or no beads.
I think I read somewhere that air temp < water temp was bad fishing, but maybe that's just a short-hand for water temp trend.
I think I read somewhere that air temp < water temp was bad fishing, but maybe that's just a short-hand for water temp trend.
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this is not beads or no beads, the trick is to fish water that they prefer. i didn't ever pay much attention to water temp, only focused on where the fish prefer to gather. once you learn that, summer or winter, you may just hook up. harder to figure that out nowadays with so few fish in the rivers. i could show you but i probably won't do that, too hard a secret to learn to just give it away.
