Category Archives: Steelhead
Steelhead, Karma and the Art of Showing Up
I know of no more mystifying fish than the steelhead. Everything about anadromous steelhead is a mystery. An esoteric exercise in chaos theory beginning with an inexplicable choice to swim to the ocean and ending with an equally mystifying decision to eat a swung fly. The...
You May Be Killing Steelhead And Not Even Know It
STEELHEADERS ARE GENERALLY PRETTY SERIOUS ABOUT CATCH-AND-RELEASE, BUT IT'S LIKELY THAT MANY ARE MORTALLY WOUNDING FISH WITHOUT EVER KNOWING IT. There are few species of fish as vulnerable as wild steelhead. These fish are beset on all sides by threats both natural and man-made. With their...
PUTMBAK!
I wonder what the Great Lakes Steelhead would think if he knew what a controversial fish he is. No, he's not a native fish. Yes, it's a completely man made fishery. No, it's not a wild and scenic experience. Is he a real steelhead? Who cares....
Just When You Think Your Dialed In
IT'S A NINETEEN HOUR DRIVE AND A THIRTY MINUTE WALK TO THE SPOT WHERE THE SYCAMORE TREE IS DOWN ACROSS THE RIVER, MAKING THAT SWEET SEAM. Flies are tied in the truck on the drive up. The color and size that worked last year but with...
Working a Steelhead
I had the opportunity to watch my friend Jeff Hickman work a shy Steelhead the other day and his effort was exemplary. Swinging flies for winter steelhead is a game of numbers, very small numbers. It's a given when chasing winter fish that there may be...