Steelhead Fishing Remedy

[tie one on]

Good Day to All,

I was out this past Saturday with my future son-in-law Matt in one of our favorite rivers here in West Michigan after steelhead. We were able to see several of them from shore close to a boulder just about half way across the river. I crept in & was able to put the fly right into them, but no takers for me. :-( However, they hit his fly about 10 minutes later. (same basic egg fly pattern)

I was using my 7wt 10' Thomas/Thomas with a floating line & the water was about 2 1/2' deep. I had put 4 small lead weights on the line to get the fly down to the bottom & could feel it hitting the bottom. Could the fly have not reached the bottom ? Does the color of the hook matter ? (mine was brass colored)

Any other thoughts ? Other than it just was not my day :-(

Tie One On

 

[BigCliff]

Often fish will get lockjaw once they know you are there. Fortunately, they often have short memory as well. If you approach a fish towards its head, then you'll be best off to move back behind it and wait a while before you begin casting to it. Your best option is to not get close enough to the fish to alert it to your presence, but "resting the fish" can work just about as well.

4 weights sounds like more than is ideal for the situation as well, unless the water was very fast there. You'll likely have better luck with less weight on your leader (producing less commotion when it hits the water) and by casting a little further up and allowing the flies time to sink down to the fish's level.

 

[ffffg]

the first time your neighbor kid breaks your window with his baseball its all well and fine and you keep your kool.. the second time it starts to get a little on your nerves... the third time you loose it and give him what for... steel head can have the same reaction.. this probably isnt what happend, just another scenario... ive fished the same hole from dawn to dusk and cought one right at dark.. was it the light? hitting it on the nose?, a new fish moving in? who knows,, they arent easy to catch..... the important thing is your back out there and after it again.. again.. and again.. dave..

 

[dougm]

... And so the Ancient Fish Gods laughed once again at the feeble efforts of mortal man ...

Doug

 

[Joni]

I guess that's why they call it "FISHING" instead of "CATCHING"!:frogdance

 

[steelheadrob]

Steelhead are goofy thats for sure. It does seem odd, you fish the same hole for an hour, leave and a new guy walks in and smokes one. Is it the fly? presentation? a new fish? My dad and I developed a theory for those eastern steelhead, the fish see a huge number of roe bags on these rivers and perhaps get used to the natural bounce / flow that these bait fishermen have. Whereas even the best nymph fishermen will always have some sort of drag. So we started tying our egg patterns with an underbody of foam. This gave the eggs a little better floatation and movement in the current.

Think about it, your partner walked in and got one fairly quickly, you were fishing with a fly that you had been fishing with for a while so it was water logged, but a new fly would give you slightly better floatation, bounce etc.

Anyways theres my 2 cents

 

[tie one on]

Thank you SteelheadRob for your thoughts.

The only thing is I was using a very realistic looking glue egg cluster
which does not absorb water. My future son-in-law thru in a egg of a
different style & color. Mine was a salmon egg color & his was actually
a yellowish yarn type with a orange/red dot.

Oh well. Just being out in God's creation is a joy for me even though
I go home empty handed. I'll break my Thomas/Thomas in one of these
days with a substantial steelie.

Tie One On