Cold Water Takes

I know this almost sounds crazy but I do not strike steelhead in cold water, I simply pull back the rod. This is why.

Steelhead often do not do not turn on a fly, like many believe. They simply pick it up. The colder the water, the softer the currents, the softer the take. Does that mean they never hit it hard? Heavens no, but my way of thinking is, you are going to get all of these rod yanking fish. The fish I am talking about is the one that simply touches the fly. Soft takes, scary soft.

The other day I was watching as my gentlemen fished their way through a productive slot without results. As the second angler fished through I noticed his line hesitate only for a moment in the sweet water. I Asked, "Did you feel anything there? " He said, "Not really." He continued fishing  downstream. A few minutes later I pulled my rod from its case. I asked Jim if it would be OK if I made a pass through the slot.

He said "Sure."

I Simply waded above the holding spot and worked my line into the slot.

I'm thinking " He probably just touched a rock." A couple more step downs and I feel my line brush over something in mid current. I lift the rod as if to lift the fly over a rock. At first I thought it was a stone, (it moved), Oh a Dolly, I struck. The line surged and then melted from my J Ryall. A large steelhead rolled in the surface. I shook my head. Soft, I am thinking......Scary soft.

How did I evolve to this pull not strike approach?...

In years past I would approach striking late winter steelhead the same as I would my Stilly summer runs. I have now come to approach them as two different fish and this is why.

Where the summer hatchery fish tend to move quickly from saltwater to their imprinting locations, i.e., Boulder Hazel Fortson , etc., these fish get fished on a lot. They tend to nip at the fly, because they have been stung before. The late winter native is an entirely different animal. He lumbers into the system sexually mature, and approaches his new domain like a 600 pound guerilla. Where does he sleeps? Any place he wants. He is big dumb and aggressive. (Just the way I like them)

The only thing is, he enters the system when the rivers are running high and cold. The colder it is, the slower his reaction time. Don't let this fool you, his greatest demise, is his habit of biting anything that is in his zone. Flies, lures, bait, nets, it doesn't matter. But in cold water, he doesn't generally take it hard.

Sauk river steelhead are particularly known as an aggressive biter, but the "Sauk River Yank" where he jerks you to the shoulder (one of life's better rushes) doesn't generally happen until the water temperature approaches 50 degrees. Trust me on this one, the steelhead that is staring at your fly at 40 degrees is an entirely different fish than when he zeroing in on missile lock at 50 degrees. Takes are lighter.....much lighter.

So how do you detect these cold water fish?

The first requirement, is to realize you are looking for the subtle bite. I am absolutely amazed on how many times I am fooled by soft takers thinking the disturbance at the line was a rock, a smolt, a Dolly etc. If he hits it hard great, but don't wait for it.

So then I realized I was getting these cold water takes and started swinging at everything. Bad idea, let me tell you why.

Mr. Steelhead loves well oxygenated water, we call it a High Biological Oxygen Demand or BOD. Anyway, the way he can take in this well O2 water without wearing himself out is to lie in front and behind obstructions like rocks and logs - also providing security. Anyway, so you are swimming your flies around these fly eating obstructions, and when your fly stops in the current, the drag on your line says it might be fish, Swing! you set the hook.

If it happens to be a steelhead and he has the fly well, great you are in the money but this is generally not the case.

Lets paint a scenario. Lets say Leroy steelhead is lying behind that prominent rock and our fly swims by. Lets say it hits the rock, and we jerk. We just took the fly away from the fish, and possibly spooked him too. OK, lets say he followed out from behind that rock and just plucked the fly or maybe hasn't really turned down on it yet. We feel something and Swing! We missed the fish, and definitely spooked him away. Fine, how about the fly comes in, he takes it softly, tastes iron and spits it out. They can do this you know.

So Dennis what do you do?

First, you have to start and maintain a sharp hook. That means you have to have a sharpener. You have to have a fly that is so sharp that if he even picks it up, he can't expel it without the hook grabbing flesh.

Next is the hard part. When you feel resistance.......any resistance don't set on it, just tension back....... like you are just pulling the fly free......only your not! {pulling it off a rock}. We call it the Preset, because we are not trying to barb the steelhead.......only tensioning up, to see if it IS a steelhead, and not the bottom.

Lets go back to the steelhead. Your fly comes in, and brushes the rock. You lift it off, the steelhead sees the flies swims over and takes. Or, the fly comes in, the steelhead doesn't take the fly well, only plucks at it. You simply lift, which pulls away, now this prey is trying escape, and he body slams it. Or, he takes the fly softly but we take away. We realize that might have been something, and cast in there again, remember we still haven't spooked the fish, and he is getting upset seeing this intruder for the second time. Bam! And finally, he does take the fly well, but he is huge, so it takes him a full second to turn down on the fly, and we simply let the weight of the fish and our sharp hook do the rest.

I tell my anglers to swim their flies, and pull the fly off the rocks. If it turns out to be a fish........break his neck, then hang on.

Which leads to the final components. You will triple your sensitivity by keeping a low position as the fly swims across the pool. High rod position is counting on the steelhead to take the fly strongly. Sometimes they will, but ask your self this... If you never detected something plucking at your fly, would you ever make a second cast in that position to see if it was a fish?

Along with the sharp hook and the low rod position, a quality drag reel that you don't have to hang on to the line to set the hook is a major component. I can't tell you how many fish this has saved. Many times my newbies will be fishing along and the rod will go down and fish is running before they ever knew what happened.

If you are having trouble catching cold water steelhead, try this system, it works for me. 

Dennis Dickson
http://www.flyfishsteelhead.com