[HuronRiverDan]

Rob, another homie from MI, I'm using a 10' 7wt very successfully for my steelheading. I don't care for the C&D method since I switched over to Indicator fishing. I use the indies the majority of my time now, and swing streamers when the water is warmer.

Dan

[RobDutk]

Originally Posted by HuronRiverDan

Rob, another homie from MI, I'm using a 10' 7wt very successfully for my steelheading. I don't care for the C&D method since I switched over to Indicator fishing. I use the indies the majority of my time now, and swing streamers when the water is warmer.

Dan

Thanks Dan, really appreciate the help.

I'm really quite a newbie to fly fishing and trying to figure out what will work for the Steelhead and the up comming summer Skamania here in Southwest MI/ Northern IN, I know I can catch them on a spinner reel with spawn bags but man I really want to catch them waiting waist deep with a fly rod.

Would you or anyone else mind sharing with me about how you rig up with an indicator for Steelhead so that I can avoid this chuck and duck abomination?

• Are you using floating line, sink tip, full sink, shooting?
• How long of a leader?
• 1 fly or 2 (the guy I was with was using 2 flies, and for some reason that seemed weird)?
• How far from the fly do you place the indicator, I asusme it goes on the tippet somewhere (does this depend on water depth)?
• Do you use any weights?
• if so how far from the fly do you put the weight?
• Are you using egg patterns mainly or do you use others like Wooley?

Thanks again guys you are a huge help to a newbie.

[HuronRiverDan]

Rob, I'm not an expert but I'll tell you what has been working for me. I start with a long leader I tie up. My formula: app 3ft of 25 Amnesia, about 18 inches of 15 pound Maxima 3ft of 12 pound Maxima, then approx 4 foot of flouro 2x, then a flouro tippet 3, 4, or 5X as water clarity dictates. Length of my tippet is dependent on clarity also. When I tie on my tippet I leave a long tag; that's what I tie my first fly on, usually an egg pattern. My second fly will usually be a small brown or black stone, or a rock worm, depends where I'm fishing. On the eggs color is again dependent on water clarity, clear waters I like to use subtle colors, stained I go for bright. I started out using Pop Tops and they work great teaching you the way to get the perfect dead drift. I will run a couple of small splitshot just above the knot I tied my tippet on with, and set the indicator to a point where the shot is just above bottom, once you have the depth set for the spot your fishing you wil lose very few flies, but they will be at eye level on the steelies. One thing with this is you are fishing a very short line; if possible you have no fly line on the water. If you have more questions feel free to ask.

Dan