My Winter Steelheading Journey

[bigkais89]

I ve seen these type of threads on other sites ...sort of a live from the stream type thread. As I go out after steelhead this winter ill post up the conditions, successes, failures etc so i can hopefully get some useful feedback and learn what i need to do to up my game. Ive only been after steelhead with a fly rod for a few years now so im an amateur for sure. I d like to use this thread as a way of tracking my progression and as a way of learning from the great fishermen on this site. Let me know what ya ll think. Ill be headed out tomorrow am for a few hours. So ill make my first post below. Thanks all, wish me luck

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[il_wi_fishing]

I'll be following along, can't wait :thumbup:

 

[wt bash]

Interesting idea.

 

[bigkais89]

Getting ready to head out to one if my fav western lake Ontario tribs this morning.

Weather:

Cloudy and drizzly
Pressure 29.87
38-42 degrees
Sunrise 7:30(ish)

Stream:

Good flow! Clear with that perfect amount of color.

Flies :

I spent the week tying size 12 and 14 egg flies and nuke eggs in natural colors on the advice of an experienced steelheader i recently met. Best flies today were chartreuse and white globugs, white with orange, white with oregon cheese and chartreuse with red blood dot. I caught all my fish on size twelves using these colors.

The Fish:

Went 5-9 in three hours, four steelies and a brown! Not bad at all. Several nice males in the 6-8lb range, a beastly 12ish lber and a big lakerun brown. Unfortunately, i only have pics of one of the smaller males and the larger male. I was stuck with nothin but the phone and touchscreens are finicky in the rain. Next fishing adventure ill remember my camera lol.

Technique:

The key today was plenty of shot to get the fly down the bottom and slowly ticking the gravel. I was using several dinsmores split shots about 18 inches up from the fly on the leader. Im not a huge indicator fan, so i was high sticking without an indicator feeling for takes. Worked out pretty good too!

Where?:

I found some great pocket water followed by a steep dropoff into a 6-9 foot hole that was 20 yds long. They were STACKED in there!

Ill prob be out again monday so another entry will be comin soon. Thanks for readin everybody!



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[lthrnk03]

Looking forward to hearing your fishing report! Keep us posted and TIGHT LINES!

 

[bigkais89]

See edit above ^^^

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[bigkais89]

Headed out midday tomorrow. Hopefully seeing as its a Monday there wont be many people. Im hopin recent rain brings up some fresh fish, but we shall see. Forecast is calling for mid 40's and drizzly much like Sunday. Ill have to tye up some more globugs in 12 tonight seeing as they we annihilated sat by hungry steelies.

On another note. I forgot to mention in my update from Saturday that the big male i caught was one that broke me off earlier. When i brought him in he had one of my white and oregon cheese eggs in his lip. Thought that was neat. He must've been feeding pretty aggressively to come back and take another egg.

Stream n fish updates comin tmrw!
( hopefully some decent fish pics not from my phone too lol)

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[gatortransplant]

Good to see your success! That backdrop is probably one of the most recognizable around Buffalo, you're lucky to have it all to yourself! And good luck tomorrow!

 

[bigkais89]

Good to see your success! That backdrop is probably one of the most recognizable around Buffalo, you're lucky to have it all to yourself! And good luck tomorrow!

Haha i know it is a dead give away...but its no secret spot. Thanks!

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[bradyb]

That backdrop is probably one of the most recognizable around Buffalo

Indeed. About the ugliest scenery of any creek in the region. And it doesn't get any better as you walk up to Dirt Dam.

 

[jpbfly]

That's a "pro" report:thumbsup:thanks for sharing your journey with us

 

[bigkais89]

Well today wasnt very successful. 0-2 over a period of three hours.

Weather:

Overcast
40-45 degrees
Rained all night and morning

The stream:

Definitely higher but not blown out at all or stained.

Fish:

None to speak of unfortunately. I had two hook ups but both threw the hook. I vet the feeling the fish had been pestered all day by the other fishermen around but idk.

Flies:

Hooked up on chartreuse and flame size 12. I tried white with chartreuse, white with orange, chartreuse with white, orange with a veil, and oregon cheese in 12s and 14 s with no success. I saw some fish movin upstream through a shallow section and even tried swinging a purple zonker...but nothin.

Technique :

The two fish i had on came from the same high stick technique i used Saturday. I used a large amount of shot to slowly tick the bottom of the run.

Overall:

Great afternoon nonetheless. After a while the other fishermen cleared out and i had it to myself. Didnt work out but i think if i had had more time i couldve managed one at least. Man it gets dark early this time of year! Ill be out again this weekend with a friend of mine who has never fished for steelhead. Hopin to have a good day to get him hooked. Update comin this weekend!


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[bigkais89]

Sorry for the gap in reports. Ive found myself extremely busy lately. Ive recently been hired to a new job in a new city so fishing has been back burnered for now. I ve gotten out twice recently and hooked up with a handful of 10 lb fish. Last outting a citrus clown egg, size 10, slowly drifted through pocket water did the trick. I also had success with a size 12 white egg with a chartreuse dot. Unfortunately no pics to show, but this has been my most successful winter yet! Ill post up when i do get a chance to fish but it may not be as often as i d like. Thanks all.

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