Perhaps there is a hierarchy to catching a steelhead. Some methods of catching this magnificent fish could be more desirable than others. ...
Perhaps there is a hierarchy to catching a steelhead. Some methods of catching this magnificent fish could be more desirable than others. Many fishermen get hung up on it; first there is roe, spinners, corkies, nymphing, swinging flies and finally waking flies. Many anglers have told me this is so; depending on the angler the ladder could certainly have more rungs. For no other gamefish quite captures the imagination of anglers and the methods created to catch this fish does seem never-ending. Each rung up the ladder carries a little more mystique, a better story, and perhaps many more casts.
On the west coast, steelhead have been called the fish of a thousand casts, or 750 casts depending on how hard the guide talking to you wants to sell you a trip. Surely it is not that neat of mathematical equation, multi-fish days or even hours are followed by long, no end in sight, dry spells. Like a slumping batter in baseball you begin to question everything, your fly, your presentation, your ability to read water, the river itself, and maybe even your sanity. Perhaps you just reel in, stow the gear, and attack one of those long put off to do tasks on your list. Except that landing a steelhead on a surface fly is still on top of that to-do list; (or maybe that is just my list, somewhere above cutting firewood and raking leaves).
Believe it or not, fishing with waking flies was not just invented to make catching a steelhead more difficult. There are many times when a waking fly has saved the day. There have been moments when a Bomber is tied on out of sheer dejection; hours or days of endlessly swinging sub-surface to no avail; a last resort. But there are times when waking flies do increase productivity.
Summer, preferably late summer, is the most obvious time to break out the surface flies. Water is lower, fish are aggressive, and sight fishing is easier. A skated fly mimics feeding opportunities from a wild steelhead’s juvenile time spent in the river eco-system. If your river has good dry fly hatches and wild fish, then waking flies need to be in your fly box.
From late summer to mid-fall, summer steelies are most active and can be more easily coaxed into strike a surface presentation, especially, if after your reconnaissance has spotted fish actively working the water. Odds for surface activity greatly increase on cloudy days or hours when direct sunlight is not on the water. Steelhead avoid perceived vulnerability, will generally not venture to surface during bright sunlight periods, there is also research that suggests the bright sunlight keeps them from looking up.
So you have your waking fly tied on, you have your water scoped out and ready to proceed. There are two schools of thought on fishing strategy. One is to show your presentation to as many fish as possible. If after a couple of well-placed casts, your quarry or imagined quarry does not respond, you throw it out a few feet farther out and repeat. Then move downstream 2-3 steps and repeat, first close in; then farther out. Others say never leave a working steelhead; sooner or later, curiosity or aggression will entice a strike. Many anglers stay unmoved just switching patterns (usually going smaller) until a strike is enticed, or darkness falls. Most anglers fall between these two extremes. Work a particularly sweet spot of water repeatedly, especially if success has been had there before. While other stretches might just get a few casts before moving on.
In fishing heavily pressured waters, where finding new water might prove difficult, the smaller fly strategy is often your best recourse. Most large waking flies are fished in sizes 2-8, Bombers, Steelhead Skaters, make huge wakes float well, and are seen by steelhead a long ways off. In pressured areas, you may see steelhead chase these patterns with a torpedo-like fury only to not strike. This is a perfect time to switch to smaller patterns. Royal Wulffs, Steelhead Muddlers, Buck Bugs, Grease Liner or traditional steelhead patterns like Green Butt Skunk can be swung with floating like, to keep pattern in surface film. Attract them with the big bug hook them with the small. You can then cross that off your to-do list and attack those leaves.
On the west coast, steelhead have been called the fish of a thousand casts, or 750 casts depending on how hard the guide talking to you wants to sell you a trip. Surely it is not that neat of mathematical equation, multi-fish days or even hours are followed by long, no end in sight, dry spells. Like a slumping batter in baseball you begin to question everything, your fly, your presentation, your ability to read water, the river itself, and maybe even your sanity. Perhaps you just reel in, stow the gear, and attack one of those long put off to do tasks on your list. Except that landing a steelhead on a surface fly is still on top of that to-do list; (or maybe that is just my list, somewhere above cutting firewood and raking leaves).
Believe it or not, fishing with waking flies was not just invented to make catching a steelhead more difficult. There are many times when a waking fly has saved the day. There have been moments when a Bomber is tied on out of sheer dejection; hours or days of endlessly swinging sub-surface to no avail; a last resort. But there are times when waking flies do increase productivity.
Summer, preferably late summer, is the most obvious time to break out the surface flies. Water is lower, fish are aggressive, and sight fishing is easier. A skated fly mimics feeding opportunities from a wild steelhead’s juvenile time spent in the river eco-system. If your river has good dry fly hatches and wild fish, then waking flies need to be in your fly box.
From late summer to mid-fall, summer steelies are most active and can be more easily coaxed into strike a surface presentation, especially, if after your reconnaissance has spotted fish actively working the water. Odds for surface activity greatly increase on cloudy days or hours when direct sunlight is not on the water. Steelhead avoid perceived vulnerability, will generally not venture to surface during bright sunlight periods, there is also research that suggests the bright sunlight keeps them from looking up.
In fishing heavily pressured waters, where finding new water might prove difficult, the smaller fly strategy is often your best recourse. Most large waking flies are fished in sizes 2-8, Bombers, Steelhead Skaters, make huge wakes float well, and are seen by steelhead a long ways off. In pressured areas, you may see steelhead chase these patterns with a torpedo-like fury only to not strike. This is a perfect time to switch to smaller patterns. Royal Wulffs, Steelhead Muddlers, Buck Bugs, Grease Liner or traditional steelhead patterns like Green Butt Skunk can be swung with floating like, to keep pattern in surface film. Attract them with the big bug hook them with the small. You can then cross that off your to-do list and attack those leaves.
