Please leave any comments, or questions at the bottom of this page by using the toolbox. ( Add a comment )

Besides the tips and tricks I can tell you about there is much more to read and learn about in the following on line magazine.

http://www.midcurrent.com/ but the best reading you could ever do is work by Roderick Haig-Brown, by far my favorite because of its accuracy is A Passion For Steelhead by Dec Hogan. You could only write a book like this if you had spent many. many hours on the rivers. I lent my copy out, but have never had it returned, some day I hope. Sharing ones knowledge and experience to others is rewarding, thoughtful, and to me always appreciated.

I spent a good part of my life guiding on the Skeena Watershed, but most of my life has been spent in the pursuit of Steelhead in these waters on a fly. Once you have mastered the fly cast whether it be single hand or you are one of the many who have taken up the Spey, you have just started. You now need to learn everything else from water currents, temperature, barometric pressure, structure, and a whole lot more just to give yourself the opportunity to consistently hook into and land one of the greatest sport fish on a fly that you will ever encounter . Sure you can cast a fly, bring the line in and cast again, and occasionally you will make connect with a wild Steelhead on the other end, only because the Steelhead is a predator that just can not help but attack a good looking and attempting meal, or because they just can not help themselves.
The Skeena River Steelhead first enter the system in July, and don't pass that way again until they are their way to Sea in June 11 months later. I have seen hundreds of Steelhead in schools heading up river in August, and as many as a dozen holding in places farther up the system in late August and September, and later in November.

On this page I hope to give you some tips, I call them tricks, that will hopefully increase your success. Remember not all flies catch fish, but have confidence in the fly you are using, and what you are intending to do otherwise you may as well go home.

So we begin by determining that you are pretty confident you can cast a fly and may even be a master at that craft, but is that all it takes to bring Steelhead to that fly, not just occasionally, but consistently? If not then this is where I will try to help you to understand just what you need to be thinking about and doing to make this happen.


Casting - I guess you can say casting is # 1 in what it takes to be successful in this art of fly fishing for steelhead. Focus on casting, but you can continue to learn all the other aspects, like fly presentation, structure, mending etc. You can read all you want about casting and fly fishing for Steelhead, but no written or detailed illustrations, or hands on fly fishing instructor will make you a professional fly caster, but it will all help put it together if you practice, practice, practice. A hands on fly fishing instructor if you are just starting out or you want to sort a few things out, so you know exactly where you are going wrong.

Its like you have fished down runs with no previous problems, and you thought that you had it all figured out, so why can't I do it now, you ask. If it starts to go wrong, slow down, stay focused and it will all come together in a slow rhythmic cast that will unfold the fly line and you see the fly being delivered effortlessly out over the water depositing it, right where you wanted it. If it does not, call 911, but better yet ask for help, and get back on track, but don't take it out on the equipment, it can still do want it was made to do.

Learning is never ending, to make longer casts with a single hand rod, while casting sink tips, is to let the forward cast anchor for a mini second as the fly hits the water, as you lift it out you are loading your rod, and making it work as it were intended. With a spey cast too, your formation of the "D" as well as placing of your anchor, and how well you do that will determine what happens with you deliver your forward cast.

Everyone has their own style, and choice of tools, but we all have the same goal, and that is to cast well, so that it becomes second nature, and then we can get down to business, hooking Steelhead.



Line Choice -

I guess you have heard many say you need to get your fly on the bottom to be successful in catching Steelhead on a fly.

( False ) I know, this is what I was told when I first started fly fishing way back when muscle cars were most of the traffic on our highways. I have learnt from experience, that this is not true, in fact it is the wrong way to fly fish for Steelhead on the fly.
If you want to have more success try and stick with a dry line and or a light intermediate fly line. You can elect to lose flies on the bottom, break off and have to replace tippets or you can get educated, have more fun and hook more Steelhead, by getting your flies up off the bottom. There are still fly fishermen & some guides that will tell you to fish on the bottom, if they are, you getting bad advise.

There are a few examples when you can fish a heavier sink tip, but when you are doing so, it will become apparent that this method is not a lot of fun, nor is it really more successful, but you will find you can use them, so don't get rid of all your real heavy sink tips. You can use weighted flies with light sink tips, but still stay off the bottom, they fish better, and seem to be more productive. it's the way I prefer to fish.





Ted has been learning from my experience and is
getting rewarded.

Spending more time on the water, eyes open observing, and listening and experimenting, can only make fly fishing for Steelhead more fun then you could have ever imagined.

It takes more then just casting a fly out onto the water, bring it back in and continue to repeat this with out knowing anything of the water you are fly fishing in or what structure is out there, much, much more.



Tippets -

Steelhead are not line shy, so you do not have to go to altra light tippets that will just not hold up with some of the big Steelhead in the Skeena water Shed. It would be safe to stay with a 15lb tippet, although I do sometimes go to a 20lb tippet in the Skeena River, and also when flyfishing for Chinooks there and in rivers like the Kispiox, Kitimat.

Where to find Steelhead -

Since I have spent most of my life in pursuit of Steelhead in the Skeena River water shed, I can help you there, but the key to being very successful is something in what Mantracker says when he says " know your land, and know your prey." I say " know your water, and know and observe your prey". I have spent more hours on the water observing Steelhead, where they are holding, where they are travelling, and how they react to a fly.


Steelhead hold around structure, ahead as well as behind rocks, in bowls, trenches, in riffles. I spend most of my first time on the river each year checking out runs, observing where the structure is, check to see if known structures have been affected by shifting gravel and small rocks during Spring runoff. This way when the Steelhead are in, I will know where they will be holding.
I am constantly watching the surrounding water below me to spot a nose appear above the surface or a tail, this gives me a general idea in what lanes Steelhead are travelling in. Although most times travelling Steelhead do not strike, it is not always the case. Besides sometimes this kind of movement may come from holding Steelhead, as they are not always glued to the bottom as some seem to think. Steelhead seldom travel or hold near structure alone, there could be two three or even a half dozen Steelhead all holding close together.

Don't waste your time trying to toss a fly into some deep hole in hopes of properly presenting a fly that will be eaten instantly, yes there may very well be Steelhead down deep in these holes, but more then likely they are there because they were spooked, and would probably not take a fly if it hit them on the nose. Most Steelhead will be found in less then 6 feet of water, and as shallow as 12 to eighteen inches. Steelhead will hold more in an even flow of current, this is hard to determine some times as a run with a riffle at the top, and with all kinds of structure, and the tail out where the current starts to pick up speed.

The depth of the water and the surface current will allow you to determine just exactly where Steelhead are more likely to be holding, and of course wading these runs, will help you more for the next time you fish it. Reading your water will take some time and experience, but once you learn you will just be a few more steps closer to becoming a Steelhead Master in his or her Zen. Before you get to excited, learning proper fly presentation is 90% of the whole game, so you see you are a long way off, but getting the experience is a big part of this incredible and breathtaking journey.

What fly is best?

There are a lot of good flies out there and some just don't fish well for Steelhead, but the fly is not as important as having the confidence with the fly that you are using and that you present it properly to holding and traveling Steelhead. Steelhead see colours real well, so pay attention to the clarity of the water, weather, water temperature, and the fly you are using, and keep a record so that you can refer to it. Most fly fishers have certain flies they use for certain times, others just don't know why they are always changing from one fly to an other, but probably because nothing seems to be working.

My best tip for Skeena water shed Steelhead is to use big flies, these Steelhead are always willing to take on a big prize.


Rod Choice -

Although I am not referring to fly fishing with a Spey Rod, just single hand rods, a 7-8 weight 9 1/2to 10 foot is plenty although some times in the Skeena river with some of the crazy brutes I feel under gunned, but that just makes the rewards more worthy. Just so the Speyers are not left out 7-8 weight Spey are also good, I just think that a 14 foot Spey Rod for these great fish is a little of an over kill, most of the time. Besides you can do a lot more with a single hand rod, like presenting the fly in the water much longer, getting a better dead drift, prior to any start of a swing, and of course retrieving a fly and executing the Butterfly on the straight hand down. I might also add that both the Spey and Single hand rods have both their pros and cons. Spey fishing has certainly caught on big time in the last 20 years, but I still do prefer the single hand rods.

Fly Presentation -

This is the meat of fly fishing, once you think you have every thing figured out and then learn proper fly presentation and why, you then realize this is what it all comes down too. You will be finding and hooking more Steelhead then ever before, this is what you have always dreamed of.

One of the biggest mistakes that fly fishers make is on what is called the mend. The mend is a movement of the fly line belly out of the river current close to you so that you can slow the fly down and not have the current pull the belly of the line in a big arc hence pulling the fly down the river faster then you want to present it. You can watch a good fly caster do this with both a single hand rod and a Spey rod. The objective of this maneuver is to slow the fly down but not to move the fly at all. A very difficult thing to do, which takes a lot of practice, but very important. So important that it is better not to mend at all then to mend poorly and pull the fly out of its natural drift. It is virtually impossible to mend a spey without moving the fly, but it can be done with limited movement when done correctly.

The mend done correctly, with single hand fly rods can eliminate any and all fly movement, which will allow the fly to drift and sink undisturbed until to starts into a natural drift across the run, called the swing. A mend of this nature is very helpful in executing the dead drift.

Unlike the more natural casts, which is normally down and across the current at the 1 o'clock, 12 o'clock being straight across the river, the dead drift is started by casting to the 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock up stream and with a proper mend this allows the fly to sink and drift naturally down river farther before starting the swing. If the fly is not jerked and is allowed to drift and sink naturally, can attract Steelhead holding in mid waters staged to strike, to do just that. Fishing with heavy sink tips will not allow you to accomplish this as the line and fly will sink to the bottom. For this maneuver to be successful it can only be done with light intermediate sink tips, unless the speed and depth of the water allows.


( This Page is being rewritten and up graded ) Big Red