Fall is upon us and steelhead are coming into the rivers along the Pacific Coast and in the Great Lakes. These seasonal migrating fish are ...
Fall is upon us and steelhead are coming into the rivers along the Pacific Coast and in the Great Lakes. These seasonal migrating fish are the stuff of legends. I know more than one angler that has moved across states to chase them, living in vans like ski bums chasing storms. What about these fish could make a grown adult person give up on careers, families and general life goals to pursue maybe a hookup for every 20 40 hours of fishing or so?
While the "magical" properties of steelhead may never be uncovered scientifically, we do know all about that thing that leads people to buy a van and camp next to a river for months of the year. It is part of being a fly angler in the Pacific Northwest. The tales of mystical 25# steelhead are more rare than sasquatch encounters. But like sasquatch, if just one tale is true, then they must exist and we will find them.
Here are three popular and effective methods for catching steelhead on a fly.
Swinging a fly
For many anglers that hook a steelhead on a swung fly, that first grab is like smack. The tug is the drug or so they say. Your fly goes from swinging rather freely and lightly across a run or a pool and then it stops. Maybe nothing solid, but it just stops. A slight bit of pressure from the angler and then all hell breaks loose. Reel screaming, fish splashing, fish running, fish jumping 50 feet from where your line is pointed, then it jumps again 50 feet away from that, only to break off and leaving you dumbfounded on how it ran that far in so little time.
Typically, summer steelhead, which enter the river from June until December, are more than happy to eat a small, traditional steelhead fly on a floating line with a long leader. When the water or air temps drop enough, many anglers move towards sink tips and bigger flies with a little weight. Most rivers that have steelhead will give them up on a dry line through October unless water temps drop quicker than usual. Some anglers prefer the sink tip setups when it is really bright and sunny as well.
Swinging a fly is a really beautiful way to fish. The lack of weight on the line makes the grab a little extra awesome. Its all by feel. Very similar to tight-line nymphing (without all of those bites to worry about). It is a very effective way to cover water. A 200 yard long run can be fished in an hour or so and an angler can feel confident that if an aggressive fish was in there, it had a chance to see and eat your fly if it was into it.
The problem is that not every steelhead is into chasing swung flies.... Hookups can be few and far between. It is far more than possible for a couple of anglers to fish hard for a couple of days during prime time and never have a grab. But what's the saying? If it was easy, they'd call it trout fishing...
Popular Swinging Flies - Floating Line
Popular Swinging Flies - Sink Tips
Nymphing
Now this is easily the most effective way to catch a steelhead on a fly rod. The amount of time per hookup is far less than with swinging a fly. I think most anglers that have been steelheading a few years or more will agree. Nymphing will produce more fish that swinging, most of the time. Where the swinging anglers have an advantage is line management and ease of use. Productivity is not one of the top attributes of swinging flies for steelhead.
Nymphing requires somewhat awkward casting, split shot, bobbers/indicators, heavy flies and changing it all up every time you move. The rolls casts can get tangled up, the cast is anything but graceful, and the take is all done by sight (watching the bobber). It is wicked effective though. Wicked effective.
Beads are arguably the best "fly" for the job. While beads are often trailed behind a leech or stonefly pattern, the egg imitation is hard to beat. When swinging a fly, you are looking for an aggressive fish; a player. With nymphing, you just have to get that egg pattern in front of a fish and they have a natural instinct to eat it, especially if they don't have to move far to get it.
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| Nymphing does the trick! |
Here is a blog article on setting up a nymph rig for steelhead.
Popular Nymphing Flies
Skating, Ska-opping or other Dry Fly Methods
Skating a dry fly on the surface is such a cool way to fish! Summer steelhead will occasionally comply with requests to crush topwater presentations. Usually, low light conditions when the water has started to cool off from the summer highs, but anytime is a good time to try skating.
Flies like a bomber or Steelhead Skater do the trick, but any fly that can push water (make a wake) and stay on the surface under tension will work just fine. Fat Alberts and Chubby Chernobyls have worked in the past.
Another method involves skating flies, but to pop them along the surface like a bass popper. Some folks call this ska-opping. Skating/Popping... It really works, not necessarily any better than skating (arguable), but the takes can be ferocious. The first time I saw it, the steelhead came from the depths of a pool, jumped and cleared the waters' surface by 4 feet or more with that fly in his mouth.
Dry Flies - Skating Flies
Dry Flies - Ska-oppers
The number one key to catching steelhead is to find the steelhead. They are not terribly difficult to catch if you can locate them. One thing I have learned is that I cannot catch them unless I am out there looking for them, so I am going fishing now!
We hope that you can get to the water this fall and try to catch one of those mythical, monster steelhead, just watch out for sasquatch....
