New to the Sport, rigging up for Steelhead

[thompson26]

Hi All,

Let me first state what I usually fish for and the water conditions. Steelehead is the name of the game in a river ranging in depth from 2'-16' holes, runs with a mix of eddies and obstructions. The data online for the river is
Gage height feet 11.41, Dis-charge ft3/s 2,840, Long-term median flow 3/30 1,660. I purchased a 8wt 9'0" rod and a sage 2280 reel. Here is the line setup:

RIO® Fly-Line Backing 20lb 200yd chartreuse.
Fly Line Cabelas Prestige S6 Sink Tip 8wt.
RIO® Salmon/Steelhead 12-ft. Tapered Leader

I am just curious to see if I should have went with floating line since I am a beginner? This is an expensive habit but better than drugs! The river has holes in which sometimes are long and short. Just more or less looking for line setup tips and techniques

 

[mcnerney]

Thompson: Welcome to the forum!
I don't fish for steelhead so I can't provide any real help, but it looks like you have a good setup, coming from a guy that has never done it. You will probably end up gravitating to a Spey outfit before long, seems to me most of the dedicated steelhead fishermen have all gone to two handers.
Hopefully, some of the members that fish for steelhead will chime in and give you better advice.

 

[thompson26]

Larry,

Thank you for the response and for the feedback on the situation, I will have to look into the two handed setup if I enjoy the sport!

 

[mcnerney]

Thompson: I forgot to ask, what part of the country are you chasing steelhead in? When you get a moment update your profile (use your UserCP in the blue ribbon at the top) so it shows where you are from, it doesn't have to be exact, mine says Pinedale, WY, but you could say "Wyoming" or "Western Wyoming". That way when your asking for help, people can give you better information. Good luck with your chase for steelhead.

 

[thompson26]

Ok I updated it to Northeast Michigan, Lower Peninsula. Midwest region

 

[346xp]

Drugs will cost you about the same in the end.
Fishing will keep you in shape and you will live longer, therefore it may be better, but more addicting and harder to hide than a drug habit.

FYI, just so you understand fully what you have started. Remember your wife if you have one, she has a few days a year in which you will not be allowed to fish (all day) birthday, anniversary, valentines day (this one sucks if its 55 degrees and sunny following a light warm rain), your childrens birthdays, Christmas, mothers day (again if you have kids throw this one off to them for a few hours in the morning, but make an appearance)

Just want to help you avoid he fussing we have all heard.
When you buy that new spey rod, get her some earrings.

 

[thompson26]

346xp,

This is brilliant and I will keep it under my hat, thank you kind sir! Happy Wife is a happy life.

 

[mcnerney]

Bumping.....the OP is looking for advice on his steelhead rig, I know there are a lot of guys out there that fish for steelies!

 

[caberguy]

Looks fine. As far as the full floating vs. sink tip it's mostly just a matter of personal preference. You can always add a sink tip to a floater. I currently have my 9wt rigged with a sink tip, and my 8wt with a WF8F to which I add a home made sink tip (cut up intermediate sinking line with loops added to the end).

It may have been more prudent to go with 30lb backing than 20. The 8wt is where I tend to draw the line on that. If you get a healthy 8 or 10 pound steelie, with a lot of line already out, and a decent current and end up in the backing, it could put you an a rough spot, or if you get snagged on something, the 30lb is a bit more of an insurance policy against having line and fish heading downstream without you.

That said, I know lots of people use 20lb backing fishing for steelies and are just fine.

 

[fredaevans]

Hi All,

Let me first state what I usually fish for and the water conditions. Steelehead is the name of the game in a river ranging in depth from 2'-16' holes, runs with a mix of eddies and obstructions. The data online for the river is
Gage height feet 11.41, Dis-charge ft3/s 2,840, Long-term median flow 3/30 1,660. I purchased a 8wt 9'0" rod and a sage 2280 reel. Here is the line setup:

RIO® Fly-Line Backing 20lb 200yd chartreuse.
Fly Line Cabelas Prestige S6 Sink Tip 8wt.
RIO® Salmon/Steelhead 12-ft. Tapered Leader

I am just curious to see if I should have went with floating line since I am a beginner? This is an expensive habit but better than drugs! The river has holes in which sometimes are long and short. Just more or less looking for line setup tips and techniques

Thoughts from the Pacific Northwest .....

RIO® Fly-Line Backing 20lb 200yd chartreuse. = Good call and plenty save for filling up the spool on your reel. The number of times I've really gotten into my bacing (King Salmon) you can count on the fingers of one hand. BUT typical single hander line is 90 feet, usual for store bought 2handers is 120 and can go out to 150.
Fly Line Cabelas Prestige S6 Sink Tip 8wt.
RIO® Salmon/Steelhead 12-ft. Tapered Leader

Fly Line Cabelas Prestige S6 Sink Tip 8wt. This is the 'hard one' given the wide range of water depth you mentioned. Here is where a 'head system' with a few different sink rates can pay for themselves. The line and first part of the head remain the same (over line the floater bit by two), you just change out the last few feet .... back to that in a second.

RIO® Salmon/Steelhead 12-ft. Tapered Leader

My .02 cents here so go get a teaspoon and the salt shaker .... Leader is too long even using a full float line. You loose contact with your fly (real quick) once you get over 9 feet. With a sink tip a leader at 2 to a max of 4 foot is enough. Leader longer than the 2-4 foot allows your fly to 'float up' due to water pressure. Counter productive to say the least ~!:yikes:

I'm a tackle tart so far too many rods/reels but if going light one reel and an extra spool. One is a full floater (again up two line weights from rod rateing**) and the 'head system' for the spool.

Full sinking lines? Save for lake fishing (trolling) don't waste your money.

** Would love to meet the 'guy(s)' who assign the line weights to rods ... and take them out into the woods and beat heck out of them. But that's why this Web Board is so valuable. A dozen folks proably have the same rod and have one through the 'what works,' and more importantly .. what didn't work.:thmbup:

 

[thompson26]

Wow!

Thank you guys for the input and I will certainly change my leader situation, I was looking online for a picture to represent what length backing, fly line, leader, tippet I would need for the type of fishing I was doing. I was looking to go the route of float fishing but I am not sure if that is possible with a fly rod setup.

Again thank you for your time and helping out a new member

 

[Unknownflyman]

I don't understand what the sink tip line is for other than for swinging wets and streamers I would just go with 12-15 pound test mono and keep the leader to 4 to 5 feet.


For single hand drifting flies, nymphs, x-legs, yarn, or glo egg I always used floating line 8 pound test mono. Indicators can be helpful and I always had to use bead heads and or shot to get the fly down in deeper and fast current.

That is the only fly fishing methods I've used for steelhead outside of catching some on dry flies when the stars aligned and conditions were perfect.

I just Spey cast and swing now, I might drift a few up someday to re live the past but I don't even have a rod for that anymore.

 

[thompson26]

Steve,

Thank you for your post. Let me get this straight. 20 lb backing is fine, Weight Forward Floating line 8 wt is recommended with a 4-6' leader of 8 lb test mono(maxima) to a tippet of and what length? Also tapered shot pattern? I appreciate your input and all input on this topic. Just trying to get started cause again the river I fish has multiple depths and speeds in different areas

 

[Unknownflyman]

Welcome to steelheading, very challenging rewarding fly fishing.


Do you want to drift for steelhead? What is your plan?

 

[thompson26]

Generally yes I would drift with slip bobbers or bottom boucning with spinning reels, but thought id like fly fishing better

---------- Post added at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 PM ----------

But I would more or less like to try new tactics like float fishing or fly rigging suggestions, any help I can get really.

 

[Unknownflyman]

Ok cool so yeah if you want to drift, get a Weight forward floating line and a leader either mono or tapered 8 pound test, I would start out with an indicator like a thingamabobber and enough weight to get the fly down.

Get good at your roll cast and drag free drifts.

If you want to swing smaller streamers and wet flies you can buy sink tips that loop directly to the floating line and add a leader from there.

That's where I'd start. Keep it simple and fish hard. It's all in reading water and the drift.

The 20 lb backing is fine, and for drifting I used a 7 foot leader or mono, I liked mono better because it holds up to big fish better and abrasion.

Swinging with a sink tip I go shorter for a leader especially in fast heavy current. 3' to 6' depending on conditions.


I don't know what reel you have but a good disk drag would be good for a beginner. Hooking a big steelhead on a single hand rod or any is not something you will soon forget.

 

[thompson26]

Man can't thank you enough for the pointers I'll look into some weight forward floating line! I have a few clear 11 gram Carlisle floats, I'll just have to taper shot pattern . Do you add tippet like 6 or 8lb test to the end of your leader? If so, what length? Sorry for bugging you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[thinking redneck]

Spey rod weights are very different from single hand weights. In other words an 8 wt Spey is similar to a 10 lb single. Deciding what you need depends a lot on whether you are swinging flies, nymphing or using top waters like bombers. It seems the trend is to big, articulated monstrosities on a spey rod. I only Steelhead fished for about 6 years, so I am no expert.

 

[Unknownflyman]

It's no problem, if you read above 7 feet of mono.

I am talking single hand fly rod here, I started out on a 8 Wt single hand rod in 1988 and picked up Spey casting last year.

You can cast a small float as a indicator and as long as you keep the shot to a minimum it should roll cast ok.



I am no expert but I have landed some nice fish over the years on a single hand fly rod.

Drifting flies is very productive as the water temps pick up a bit, if I was going to drift for steelhead today in 35 degree water I would tie and use glo yarn. In 14 days large prince nymphs and the like.


Certain runs and freestone sections are better for fly fishing, I'm targeting fresh steelhead and while it's hard on Great Lakes tribs because fish spawn everywhere on short rivers, I try to stay off the redds. Let those wild fish do their thing.

Good luck on your journeys.

 

[flyfishmich]

here's some visual help. copy this link and check it out. this site is a great resource for other types of fishing as well.
Fly Fishing Rigging for Steelhead & Salmon - Current Works
see floating line/indicator option.

Here I like using the barrel swivels to separate your leader and tippet and an attachment for your weights. this is so the flies can dangle unobstructed with some more natural flow while still getting to the fish.

Northern Michigan right now are gobbling up bright colored eggs chartreuse and clown on the bottom and then a hex or stone fly nymph up in the water column. If the East side is like the west side the rivers are swelled up and stained pretty dark-as of today anyway thanks to the foot of snow that melted off quickly. This also lowered water temps. Fish are starting to turn colors and spawn so please don't rip them off the beds but that is up to you.