Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Steelhawk]

Be willing to walk the river and adjust your strategy based on the river condition. There is no one hot spot each day. At high water, focus on the side channels. Watch for bottle neck spots where fish will pile up below obstructions, particularly towards evening. Be patient and never give up. Steelhead can be a fish of a thousand casts althougth there are the lucky early birds who can get their fish at first light at the usual hot runs.  I agree that there were some excellent posts on steelhead in the past. Search them out. Good luck to your steelheading journey.. 

[Catch44]

Thnx dude...and its great to be chatting away with ppl who have done it for yrs and know some in/outs, and have different opinions on fisihng and steelehead.Its awesome,and im reading and learing from each post that put down, plus eading what I can on the internet as well.I figured that steelhead were a bit tricky to catch,and have some good roe,plus bright wool to try.

[bentrod]

I beached 6 steelhead today, and lost 3 more.  took home a limit of 4 hatchery fish with the largest being 14 pounds and the small fish was 8 pounds.  Pretty epic day and all without bait.  BTW, it was on the Methow River in Washington State. 

[Catch44]

Thats cool....wish my day was that good....all i got today was a chummy.But still better than nothing and still better that sitting around home..lol...

[Sterling C]

Yea...but i thought i got busy later in year...for the steelhead

It does.

Winter steelhead season on lower mainland rivers starts in late december and lasts until the end of april and into may if you flyfish.

When I said that steelhead season never really ends is that there are rivers that will have fresh fish in them at all times of the year.

[purple monster]

  and if God wanted us to talk more than listening, he would of given us 2 mouths, and one ear.  Fortunately, we have two eyes.  This was very good information and great patience and presentation.  Nice to see some friendly  info exchange.

[Catch44]

For sure,its great to see some friendly info exchange and others helping each other and making contacts and such..Ive never done any fly fishing.It looks like fun...and looks like you need some patience..lol.....so late dec..is when it gets going strong?..seems like the vedder is slowing down a lil bit now tho...

[BigCoho]

when does steelhead fishing start and stop

ask my wife that question lol

[Catch44]

HA hahaha....mine is going....you going fishing again...yup..i am..its just alot of fun..and if you go with some friends even better...i guess its just me thinking the vedder is slowing down...havent caught much lately...only 2 chummy's on sunday..

[HOOK]

steelhead start showing up now in tiny numbers and getting increasingly more until the peek which if i remember right is around February. Of course im talking about the Vedder. My first day out is usually Boxing Day (not in the derby) and if im fishing gear i have gotten a fish every boxing day so far that i have fished (after my first 2 yrs of nothing of course)

I find i usually catch most of my fish from February until April because of the warmer water temps the fish are more willing to move larger distances to attack things. I also have found they fight better and better as the water warms up 

there has been some great advice and tips added in this thread but the best one is Get out there and fish, fish, fish and watch others that are having success. nothing better then on the water experience.

[Catch44]

Thats what I was saying a few posts back as well.I ppl watch(pro-say)..and see what they are doing diff then me..or what they might be using..and such..and just try to go out as much as I can.And I love being out on the river..its awesome..we have all this, so why not enjoy it and take care it while we can.

[devon42]

is the canal a good spot to fish for steelhead because i know last season i didnt catch anything in the canal but i i did at the top of the river but i did see someone take one in the canal im just wondering if its harder to catch them there then lets say mid river or something.

[Steelhawk]

The canal is good for newly arrived fish. Fish it with the rising tide. Also when the water is super low in March/April and most steelies are trapped there. But it will be a zoo also. So I prefer to walk the river for some solitude and exploring some pristine waters instead of jamming up with every one. Kind of hate to see the way steelheading is done there, as it is more like coho fishing instead of the hunting game of steelheading. Just my humble 2 cents.

[Catch44]

I hear ya...it gets crazy on the river.And if the steelies are like the coho..i'll be bushing it to try some nice spots where no one is.

[DionJL]

check the first few pages of the Fish Porn 2009 Thread.