05-05-2013, 01:03 PM
I know I tend to be a bit (okay, a lot) cryptic sometimes. I'm very difficult to get info out of. 
But...I thought I'd share some of my reasons to steelhead success with you.
By NO MEANS do I know EVERYTHING. It's very far from it. Every trip I'm learning something. There's nothing that needs to be said about attention to details...observe, analyze and realize.
But saying so...here's what I've observed...at least for post-spawned fish after opener. I'm still trying to figure out those fall time fish and winter/early spring fish...
"Steelhead don't like sunny days"
Yeah, it is true to some extent. Steelhead are much more wary when it is sunny. The reason is that they have much better visual of you and of your presentation. Stealth is of the essence. Stay low, stay hidden, try not to have too flashy gear that bounce off too much reflection (I chuckle at those with the bling bling reels). Same goes for your presentation. Go as light as necessary. Small split shots, light leader, smallest hook size reasonable for the bait you are using.
The best thing I like about sunny days is that it pushes fish into predictable areas. They want to get out of the sun so they look for cover. Undercut banks, log jams, deep dark pools...those are often the places concentrating fish on sunny days (or midday). You'll see fish are moving and spread out in the morning...but then they duck for cover when the sun is too high. Really, that just sets them up to be hammered hard.
Plus, I have lost count of the days when for no particular reason the fish simply turned on when the sun came out. It could be that the shadow receeded in the midday sun and hit the pool just right...or it could be that the sun peeked over the tree tops and start hitting the pool. But sometimes, the reverse is true. You may just start to get a shadow onto the pool and the fish turns on...or the sun is now low enough and it turns the fish on. I'm still trying to figure it out...sometimes it seems like there is no reason why fish turns on (well...maybe there is and I'm just keeping it secret 
...nah, I don't have a clue...if I do, I would be hitting them consistently).
"Go small and light when the water is clear"
Again, it is true to some extent. Again, light lines, small split shots, small clear float...it's a given. I often see people use floats that are too big and wide. I get a good laugh at those fishing for steelhead with red and white bobber. Seriously...that red sticks out like a sore thumb against the blue (even grey) sky. You think a fish won't see it? Again...gotta be ninja...stealth! I also see people use a long fluorocarbon leader thinking that the fish are line shy, then they put on these pebble size split shots. Well, that's counter productive, don't you think? Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating...but even a BB size split shot 18" from the hook on your fluorocarbon leader is way too big...and people often put 3 or 4 of those on their line to "balance" their large float. Lose the large floats...and use small split shots. You don't need something that big that close to the leader. Use bigger ones all you like closer to the float, but small ones near your leader please. How small you say? Think a grain of sand at the smallest, closest to your hook...and no bigger than a BB size shot at the base of your float. I've seen it too many times when fish sees that large BB size split shot on the "invisible" fluorocarbon leader and move away from the drifting rig. Just observe the fish as you drift...and realize what is going on. Please don't use 15lb mono mainline as well...that's way too heavy...even for double digit steelhead. I fish 8lb mono main line. I actually don't fell the need for fluorocarbon mainline. I think that stuff is a gimmick anyways.
But what people often don't realize is that post-spawn steelhead are HUNGRY! If they are not wary already, and if you can approach them without spooking them, they are often looking to feed and recuperate before heading back to the lake. These fish grew up in their natal stream. They are imprinted on certain foods...so give them those certain foods...give them some meat! I see guys fishing roe bags and single eggs all the time whether it is low water or high water. Sure, if the fish are spawning and there are eggs still drifting in the current, go fish a roe bag. But if it is later in the season and all the fish a spent, go with meat. What is meat? You know...the natural food stuff that is always in the water. Look in a fly box...hint hint. But don't go too small...think big. They are hungry and they want meat!
Don't feed a mouse to a lion.
"Steelhead are shy and wary"
Again, it's true to some extent (I sound like a broken record). They are very smart, and they are extremely in tuned with their surroundings...like a spider on its web. But because post-spawn fish are hungry, they do (and sometimes readily) make mistakes. It all comes down with presentation. Again, stealth is your best friend. Don't go casting your float and landing them with a splash. Don't go popping your float at the end of every drift (my greatest pet peeve of the float reel clans). Remember...enter and exit quietly...don't make splashes, don't make noise...act like a ninja.
It is important to approach your intended fishing spot quietly. This means when you are wading, don't rampage in like a herd of stampeding hippos. I know...it's exciting and unnerving to see a pool full of steelhead...but they are no good to you if you crash in and spook them before you can even get a drift in there. Simply, spooked fish will not bite (well, there are exceptions...but try not to spook them). Move slowly and make sure you land your foot softly on the river bed. Better yet, get out of the water if you can and only enter the water if you must. If I'm familiar with the location I'm fishing, I go to the extreme of staying away from the river bank way in advance, and slowly creep my way to the bank. Yes, sometimes I even do it on hands and knees (and yes, in waders...that's what knee guards are made for). Even when you are fishing, stay low. Crutch down if you need, go on your knees if you need, sit as low to the water as you need.
If you can approach them with stealth and not spook them, you'll see the complete opposite behaviour from steelhead. They will shoot out of a log jam to hit a drifting bait. Suspended fish will hit a bait drifting just under the surface like a bass hit a popper. Fish will even move across the creek to chase a drifting bait downstream. Those fish are strange sometimes...
"If I find a good pool with lots of fish, I should be able catch them. I need to find these locations where people are catching fish and fish them myself!"
Haha...yeah...good luck. You can pry those locations from my cold, dead, stiff fingers...and even then, I'll have a death grip on them. But to be honest, and I'm being completely truthful, you don't need to poach another person's spot. It has everything to do with you as an angler...not the spot. Two people can fish side by side and one can be catching all the fish while the other cannot buy a bite. Why? It's about the rig, and it has everything to do with the presentation. I used to sit in a pool all day and beat it to death even when fish are not hitting. There are a lot of fish there...they should bite, right? Then I realize you don't know what you don't know...and soon I pay more attention to things and came to the conclusion that it is me as an angler...not the fish. Now I can hit much of any stream and catch fish. You just need to know how to find the less wary and active fish, and give them what they want.
Presentation is very important. You need to realize how a bait drift naturally in the current. The current is faster at the top, and slower at the bottom. As water runs over rocky areas, that water near the bottom slows down even more due to the resistance of the rock against the current. These little bottom eddies form. Think about this issue...and think about your drifting speed critically. Again, it's all about presentation. Are you presenting a roe bag rolling along the bottom like a single egg? Or are you casting a spinner across the current and letting it tumble in the current? Different bait must be presented differently. The former would require you to slow down (or even bottom bounce), the latter would require your to retrieve just fast enough to turn the blade.
"I need to cover water well. I need to drift the entire pool to make sure all the fish sees my bait."
Yeah...it's true to some extent. But not always. I really have a problem with those float gear guys. They want to make 50 feet drifts, 100 feet drifts...drift their rigs all the way to Lake Ontario...because their float reels allows them to drift their bait naturally in the current...and because they can drift in fast water as well as in slow water. Okay...keep thinking that way then.
When you have 50 feet of line out, you lose fine control of your drift. I don't care how responsive your reel is. You have too much line out. It's like trying to insert a key into the key hole when you key is at the end of the 50-foot pole you're holding. You lose find motor control! The question is why you do not want to make such a long drift...
In most of the small streams, holding pools are usually not that large. You may have a run or riffle at the head of the pool, then then pool deepens like a bowl, and then it exits at the tail end with another run or riffle. I see guys drifting from way up the riffle, all the way into the pool and past the deep part and then drift way out of the tail end. But is that the best way to do it?
Think about it guys...the depth of the pool is not constant. The depth at the head of the pool is often much shallower than the main hole within the pool. Fish, therefore, holds at different depths within the same pool. I won't even go into how active fish vs. non-active fish will hold in the pool. But the point I want to make is that you can't effectively work the same areas of the pool with the same presentation! If you set you float 3 feet from your hook, you may be much too "deep" when you are drifting in the shallow part and thus snagging often. So you set your float shallower...but now you want to drift through the main hole of the pool but your bait is only 2 feet under the surface passing over a 5 feet deep hole. It just doesn't work. I don't care how you think you can maneuver your rig to hold it shallow in the riffle and then drop it deep in the hole...it's just not the ideal situation. Stop making these long, long drift...and concentrate at specific sections.
If you're drifting your bait without a refined and ideal drift, the fish would have seen your rig and bait many times already before you even get it right. They are already wised about your presence and your presentation. Do you think a wary fish will hit? Good luck trying.
Anyways, that really is all there is to it (well...most of it...I do have to keep some secrets). But usually, I meet people on the stream and they are having a tough time. I give them a few of these pointers and they can turn it into a good day within a few hours. These are just things I've observed, analyzed and realized.
But...I thought I'd share some of my reasons to steelhead success with you.
By NO MEANS do I know EVERYTHING. It's very far from it. Every trip I'm learning something. There's nothing that needs to be said about attention to details...observe, analyze and realize.
But saying so...here's what I've observed...at least for post-spawned fish after opener. I'm still trying to figure out those fall time fish and winter/early spring fish...
"Steelhead don't like sunny days"
Yeah, it is true to some extent. Steelhead are much more wary when it is sunny. The reason is that they have much better visual of you and of your presentation. Stealth is of the essence. Stay low, stay hidden, try not to have too flashy gear that bounce off too much reflection (I chuckle at those with the bling bling reels). Same goes for your presentation. Go as light as necessary. Small split shots, light leader, smallest hook size reasonable for the bait you are using.
The best thing I like about sunny days is that it pushes fish into predictable areas. They want to get out of the sun so they look for cover. Undercut banks, log jams, deep dark pools...those are often the places concentrating fish on sunny days (or midday). You'll see fish are moving and spread out in the morning...but then they duck for cover when the sun is too high. Really, that just sets them up to be hammered hard.
Plus, I have lost count of the days when for no particular reason the fish simply turned on when the sun came out. It could be that the shadow receeded in the midday sun and hit the pool just right...or it could be that the sun peeked over the tree tops and start hitting the pool. But sometimes, the reverse is true. You may just start to get a shadow onto the pool and the fish turns on...or the sun is now low enough and it turns the fish on. I'm still trying to figure it out...sometimes it seems like there is no reason why fish turns on (well...maybe there is and I'm just keeping it secret
...nah, I don't have a clue...if I do, I would be hitting them consistently)."Go small and light when the water is clear"
Again, it is true to some extent. Again, light lines, small split shots, small clear float...it's a given. I often see people use floats that are too big and wide. I get a good laugh at those fishing for steelhead with red and white bobber. Seriously...that red sticks out like a sore thumb against the blue (even grey) sky. You think a fish won't see it? Again...gotta be ninja...stealth! I also see people use a long fluorocarbon leader thinking that the fish are line shy, then they put on these pebble size split shots. Well, that's counter productive, don't you think? Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating...but even a BB size split shot 18" from the hook on your fluorocarbon leader is way too big...and people often put 3 or 4 of those on their line to "balance" their large float. Lose the large floats...and use small split shots. You don't need something that big that close to the leader. Use bigger ones all you like closer to the float, but small ones near your leader please. How small you say? Think a grain of sand at the smallest, closest to your hook...and no bigger than a BB size shot at the base of your float. I've seen it too many times when fish sees that large BB size split shot on the "invisible" fluorocarbon leader and move away from the drifting rig. Just observe the fish as you drift...and realize what is going on. Please don't use 15lb mono mainline as well...that's way too heavy...even for double digit steelhead. I fish 8lb mono main line. I actually don't fell the need for fluorocarbon mainline. I think that stuff is a gimmick anyways.
But what people often don't realize is that post-spawn steelhead are HUNGRY! If they are not wary already, and if you can approach them without spooking them, they are often looking to feed and recuperate before heading back to the lake. These fish grew up in their natal stream. They are imprinted on certain foods...so give them those certain foods...give them some meat! I see guys fishing roe bags and single eggs all the time whether it is low water or high water. Sure, if the fish are spawning and there are eggs still drifting in the current, go fish a roe bag. But if it is later in the season and all the fish a spent, go with meat. What is meat? You know...the natural food stuff that is always in the water. Look in a fly box...hint hint. But don't go too small...think big. They are hungry and they want meat!
Don't feed a mouse to a lion."Steelhead are shy and wary"
Again, it's true to some extent (I sound like a broken record). They are very smart, and they are extremely in tuned with their surroundings...like a spider on its web. But because post-spawn fish are hungry, they do (and sometimes readily) make mistakes. It all comes down with presentation. Again, stealth is your best friend. Don't go casting your float and landing them with a splash. Don't go popping your float at the end of every drift (my greatest pet peeve of the float reel clans). Remember...enter and exit quietly...don't make splashes, don't make noise...act like a ninja.
It is important to approach your intended fishing spot quietly. This means when you are wading, don't rampage in like a herd of stampeding hippos. I know...it's exciting and unnerving to see a pool full of steelhead...but they are no good to you if you crash in and spook them before you can even get a drift in there. Simply, spooked fish will not bite (well, there are exceptions...but try not to spook them). Move slowly and make sure you land your foot softly on the river bed. Better yet, get out of the water if you can and only enter the water if you must. If I'm familiar with the location I'm fishing, I go to the extreme of staying away from the river bank way in advance, and slowly creep my way to the bank. Yes, sometimes I even do it on hands and knees (and yes, in waders...that's what knee guards are made for
). Even when you are fishing, stay low. Crutch down if you need, go on your knees if you need, sit as low to the water as you need.If you can approach them with stealth and not spook them, you'll see the complete opposite behaviour from steelhead. They will shoot out of a log jam to hit a drifting bait. Suspended fish will hit a bait drifting just under the surface like a bass hit a popper. Fish will even move across the creek to chase a drifting bait downstream. Those fish are strange sometimes...
"If I find a good pool with lots of fish, I should be able catch them. I need to find these locations where people are catching fish and fish them myself!"
Haha...yeah...good luck. You can pry those locations from my cold, dead, stiff fingers...and even then, I'll have a death grip on them. But to be honest, and I'm being completely truthful, you don't need to poach another person's spot. It has everything to do with you as an angler...not the spot. Two people can fish side by side and one can be catching all the fish while the other cannot buy a bite. Why? It's about the rig, and it has everything to do with the presentation. I used to sit in a pool all day and beat it to death even when fish are not hitting. There are a lot of fish there...they should bite, right? Then I realize you don't know what you don't know...and soon I pay more attention to things and came to the conclusion that it is me as an angler...not the fish. Now I can hit much of any stream and catch fish. You just need to know how to find the less wary and active fish, and give them what they want.
Presentation is very important. You need to realize how a bait drift naturally in the current. The current is faster at the top, and slower at the bottom. As water runs over rocky areas, that water near the bottom slows down even more due to the resistance of the rock against the current. These little bottom eddies form. Think about this issue...and think about your drifting speed critically. Again, it's all about presentation. Are you presenting a roe bag rolling along the bottom like a single egg? Or are you casting a spinner across the current and letting it tumble in the current? Different bait must be presented differently. The former would require you to slow down (or even bottom bounce), the latter would require your to retrieve just fast enough to turn the blade.
"I need to cover water well. I need to drift the entire pool to make sure all the fish sees my bait."
Yeah...it's true to some extent. But not always. I really have a problem with those float gear guys. They want to make 50 feet drifts, 100 feet drifts...drift their rigs all the way to Lake Ontario...because their float reels allows them to drift their bait naturally in the current...and because they can drift in fast water as well as in slow water. Okay...keep thinking that way then.
When you have 50 feet of line out, you lose fine control of your drift. I don't care how responsive your reel is. You have too much line out. It's like trying to insert a key into the key hole when you key is at the end of the 50-foot pole you're holding. You lose find motor control! The question is why you do not want to make such a long drift...
In most of the small streams, holding pools are usually not that large. You may have a run or riffle at the head of the pool, then then pool deepens like a bowl, and then it exits at the tail end with another run or riffle. I see guys drifting from way up the riffle, all the way into the pool and past the deep part and then drift way out of the tail end. But is that the best way to do it?
Think about it guys...the depth of the pool is not constant. The depth at the head of the pool is often much shallower than the main hole within the pool. Fish, therefore, holds at different depths within the same pool. I won't even go into how active fish vs. non-active fish will hold in the pool. But the point I want to make is that you can't effectively work the same areas of the pool with the same presentation! If you set you float 3 feet from your hook, you may be much too "deep" when you are drifting in the shallow part and thus snagging often. So you set your float shallower...but now you want to drift through the main hole of the pool but your bait is only 2 feet under the surface passing over a 5 feet deep hole. It just doesn't work. I don't care how you think you can maneuver your rig to hold it shallow in the riffle and then drop it deep in the hole...it's just not the ideal situation. Stop making these long, long drift...and concentrate at specific sections.
If you're drifting your bait without a refined and ideal drift, the fish would have seen your rig and bait many times already before you even get it right. They are already wised about your presence and your presentation. Do you think a wary fish will hit? Good luck trying.
Anyways, that really is all there is to it (well...most of it...I do have to keep some secrets
). But usually, I meet people on the stream and they are having a tough time. I give them a few of these pointers and they can turn it into a good day within a few hours. These are just things I've observed, analyzed and realized.