SPEY FISHING FOR WINTER STEELHEAD - Dave Kilhefner

Water-time is easy to write about, but in real life it is hard to do. To get more river time I was forced to let my gym membership go. It’s hard to become a better fly angler, but sacrifices had to be made.

  

What I learned with some difficulty is that Spey fishing is really a shallow water tactic, regardless of the heavy tips and flies. 

 

It was one of those late winter stormy days, when the rains blow cold and most anglers think about staying indoors rather than going fishing. Still, the report at the fly shop said “perfect water conditions” and “good numbers of steelhead in the river.” Mustering my resolve, I drove to the river, donned my waders with extra warm layers and a raincoat and made the hike through the forest. Arriving at the water’s edge I found my favorite steelhead run devoid of other anglers. I strung my Spey rod, knotted on a big steelhead streamer and started the “cast, step; cast, step” routine down through the run. When the rain started picking up and the swirling wind made casting difficult, I tightened my hood to keep from getting too wet. I was halfway through the run on my first pass when my fly swung out of the main current into the sweet spot... and that’s when a steelhead crushed it!

“Tight line takes, ain’t no fakes!” I said to myself, as I felt the rod jolt and load-up with a hefty steelhead that powered downstream causing my reel’s drag to scream. After three long runs punctuated by several big jumps, the fight wound down with a tug of war in the shallows. This would be the largest steelhead to date that I had caught on a fly. He was a thick bodied buck that posed for a couple quick photos before being released back into the river to continue his upstream journey.

Aside from being a trophy fish, this particular steelhead was memorable because it came from a productive spot in the river I discovered years ago while fishing gear, but never could bring a steelhead to a fly—at least I couldn’t. For a couple of years, I chalked it up to, “some places just don’t fly fish well.” Then one day I ran into some Spey anglers who knew how to fish it with consistent success. With their help I began to connect the dots. I upped my Spey game and begin making the transformation from a Spey caster to a Spey fisher.

  

When you’re Spey fishing it takes a LONG TIME to cover a stretch of water. Long casts... take time. Slow swings over wide stretches of river... take time. For this reason, it’s vital to swim your fly through the most productive water possible, and you can’t do that until you learn your water.

   

Deep Water Misconceptions

Spring is a great time to fish for steelhead, and hopefully you’re prepared with a Skagit line, fast sinking tip and a few big streamer patterns. The fast sinking tips do not serve the purpose you might imagine: taking your fly to the bottom of the river. In Spey fishing, fast sinking tips only provide sufficient mass to turn over a large fly and quickly penetrate the surface currents in the top one foot of the water.

When I first began my journey into Spey fishing I believed it was necessary to drag my fly along the bottom of the river in order to be successful. I wasted about a year and a half trying heavier and heavier flies, and longer and heavier sink-tips, until painfully bad casting took its toll. When it all came together, mostly what I caught were sticks and rocks.

Enter Marty Sheppard, one of the Northwest’s nicest and most talented steelhead fly fishing guides. By chance we met at the Fly Fishing Shop in Welches, Oregon, and after talking for a while discovered we were neighbors. Marty took me under his wing and taught me the ropes of Spey fishing. During our first conversation he said I’d laugh if I saw how he fished: easy casting tips & lightweight flies. What I learned with some difficulty is that Spey fishing is really a shallow water tactic, regardless of the heavy tips and flies. Truly! The deepest any Spey angler needs to get is 2- or 3- feet under the surface.

Trout, steelhead, salmon and nearly all predatory fish have their eyes positioned on the tops of their heads. Their “binocular” cone of vision, which gives them depth perception, is above them and thus they are very good at ambushing their prey from below. From the standpoint of making a good presentation, all we really want to achieve is a drift that gives our quarry an easy target to ambush and falls within their cone of vision. We’ll talk more about how to make a good sink tip presentation later in the article.

    

 When I first began my journey into Spey fishing I believed it was necessary to drag my fly along the bottom of the river in order to be successful. 

   

Another simple but very important concept that gets over-looked is that salmonids are shallow-water feeders. Since steelhead and salmon aren’t really feeding when they enter rivers on their spawning run, we want to target them when they are active. This happens in “shallow water lies” that are typically 2- to 6- feet deep. Sure they like to distract us by resting, hiding and jumping in deep water, but that is not where they feed. Thus, most of this article will be devoted to the art and science of ambushing big fish in shallow water, when they are active and easier to catch.

 

Water-Time

Statistically, the average angler gets to fish 3- to 5- times per year. If your goal is to consistently catch large trout and steelhead, that simply isn’t enough time on the water to develop your skills. Look at it this way: would you go to a doctor that only worked 3 to 5 days a year?

Several years ago, I committed to fishing a couple afternoons per week, mostly to get out of the office. To up the ante I invited nearly everyone I knew to go with me so I wouldn’t back-out. Simply getting on the water was the primary goal. Actually, catching fish was always a welcomed byproduct.

Water-time is easy to write about, but in real life it is hard to do. To get more river time I was forced to let my gym membership go. It’s hard to become a better fly angler, but sacrifices had to be made.

If you can’t do anything else, just get on your local waters and fish them regularly. Your skills will develop, you’ll learn the natural rhythms of the water, and, if your lucky, run into the local experts & guides who can help you. Concentrate first on learning and second on catching fish—your rewards will come with time.

 

Learn Your Water

After making regular visits to the water a funny thing began happened—we started catching fish, and lots of them! We didn’t chase reports. We always went to the same stretch of river and with time, learned the water as best we could.

At first, we fished every spot likely to hold fish. Catching a few fish clued us in to the more productive water and we naturally concentrated our efforts in these areas. Then we started to wonder what made these spots so productive. We used that knowledge to find similar spots which also produced fish. It wasn’t all about catching fish though. Learning to put the pieces of the puzzle together was a lot of fun and greatly increased our enjoyment of the sport.

Truth be told, when you’re Spey fishing it takes a LONG TIME to cover a stretch of water. Long casts... take time. Slow swings over wide stretches of river... take time. For this reason, it’s vital to swim your fly through the most productive water possible, and you can’t do that until you learn your water.

     

Since steelhead and salmon aren’t really feeding when they enter rivers on their spawning run, we want to target them when they are active.

  

How Most Steelhead Move

I say “most steelhead” because steelhead are not robots, so this model does not hold true for every steelhead in the river, but it is true for the majority. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years about steelhead fly fishing, it’s that playing the percentages produces a lot more steelhead than hoping the odd fish will see my fly and decide it’s time to commit suicide.

When the water has 2- to 4- feet of visibility and it’s running higher and warmer than normal, steelhead will be moving fairly close to shore. On days like these, the odds of success are very good and all you have to do is keep your fly in the water. Unfortunately, these days do not happen often on our Northwest rivers, especially on the day you decide to go fishing.

When the water levels are normal to low, steelhead movement usually begins in the afternoon when water temperatures are highest. Once the direct sun is off the water, steelhead will begin to move upstream throughout the afternoon and evening, repopulating the “shallow water lies” and hopefully becoming “players” in the process. In the early morning, some steelhead will still be hold-ing in shallow spots until sunlight or another disturbance moves them back into deeper water for the day.

Once the sun gets high in the sky, from late morning through-out the afternoon, most steelhead and large trout will be parked in deeper pools and current edges where they are safe, secure and nearly impossible to entice with a swung fly. However, you’ll often see gear anglers having success during the day and you can use this information to your advantage.

     

Spring is a great time to fish for steelhead, and hopefully you’re prepared with a Skagit line, fast sinking tip and a few big streamer patterns.

   

Low Water Morning & Afternoon Spots

Once you understand how steelhead move in lower water you can begin to unlock the mystery of when and where to fish. I made this discovery one afternoon when I caught a steelhead. I returned to that pool early the next morning when fishing is supposed to be best, only to get skunked. This had to happen many times before the pattern started to reveal itself.

The best fly fishing spots during the afternoon tend to be upstream of a deep pool or run where steelhead can spend the day lounging in deep water. You can locate these spots by reading the water and looking for the pathway that leads from the deep pool to the shallow water, usually in the form of a trough or current seam. In the afternoon, when steelhead begin moving out of the deep pools they will begin to populate the shallow water areas where they are aggressive and vulnerable to fly fishing tactics.

On the other hand, after a steelhead powers through a long series of rapids they want to rest. For this reason, shallow water lies above a set of rapids tend to fish very well at first light.

 

Playing the Crowd

One of the joys of fly fishing is being able to enjoy the quiet and solitude found on the water. But if you are fishing public waters with big trout and/or steelhead, you’ll probably have company—sometimes a lot of company! It’s important not to let the crowds get you down and admittedly that’s easier said than done.

 

 

 

When the water levels are normal to low, steelhead movement usually begins in the afternoon when water temperatures are highest. Once the direct sun is off the water, steelhead will begin to move upstream throughout the afternoon and evening, repopulating the “shallow water lies” and hopefully becoming “players” in the process. In the early morning, some steelhead will still be holding in shallow spots until sunlight or another disturbance moves them back into deeper water for the day.

    

Steelhead fishing around crowds can give you a good handle on where steelhead are located in the river. For instance, it’s common to see gear anglers pounding the deep slots in the middle of the day. If they are catching fish, it’s a good bet that later in the day the “shallow water lies” nearby will populate with steelhead. Just don’t fall into the trap of trying to fish the “gear water” with your Spey rod, it’s a waste of time, and I speak from experience. 

 

Sink Tip Fly Presentation

Contrary to popular belief heavy sink tips and big flies don’t sink worth a hoot under the tension of fast river currents. I learned this lesson one day while watching a Spey angler from a high vantage point. He was throwing 12 feet of T-14 fast sinking tip, swinging his fly across the current on a tight line. I never saw the fly get deeper than six inches. A few months later I saw a couple of experienced Spey anglers working the same water. After the cast they executed a small “pullback mend” to get the line straight and then released the tension on the line by swinging the rod tip forward. This “pull-back” created just enough slack to allow the tip to sink and achieve a nice swinging depth. For lack of a better description I call this the “cast, drop and swing presentation,” because it has those three steps.

To execute the “cast, drop, swing,” first pick a target and make a down & across cast. After the cast make an immediate “pullback mend,” which is nothing more than pulling your rod back with a smooth motion until the rod tip is facing slightly upstream. This will straighten everything out creating enough slack to feed back into the drop. Next, swing your rod tip down river with a smooth motion following the running line. The trick here is to release the tension of the line and at the same time, maintain contact with the fly in case a fish grabs. At this point the running line should drop until most of it is laying on the water. When your rod is pointed downstream at your Skagit head the running line will lift off the water as it comes tight and the fly will begin to swing across the current into that magic zone where strikes happen.

You’ll notice during the swing that the Skagit head will form a “soft J”. The “soft J” indicates the sink tip and the fly have sunk below the faster surface currents and the fly will be slowly swimming in the middle water column at about a 45-degree angle across the current.

    

When you bring a fish to hand, always keep it wet. If you have to lift the fish out of the water for a quick photo, make sure there is water dripping off the fish. If there is no water left to drip, it’s been out of the water too long.

   

The Strike

The beauty of the swung fly presentation is that after you set up the swing, you’re free to take a mental break and enjoy the sounds and sights of the river. Let the current swing the fly and if a fish does decide to grab, just let it happen. In other words—do nothing! The best response is a delayed strike or none at all. As far as a strike that occurs during the “hang down,” they are rarely solid hook-ups. If you tell your fishing buddies you got a strike on the hang, you will get a lot of knowing, pained looks. Don’t let them get you down, you found a fish!

 

Etiquette

There are two basic rules of fly fishing etiquette: take a couple steps after fishing out each cast and never step in a hole below someone, also called “low-hole’en”. Sometimes folks can move at an excruciatingly slow pace, so when in doubt strike up a friendly conversation and ask before moving into the water.

As far as the fish go, “Keep ‘Em Wet.” This campaign is strong in the fly fishing world and a good ethical practice for “catch and release” fishing. When you bring a fish to hand, always keep it wet. If you have to lift the fish out of the water for a quick photo, make sure there is water dripping off the fish. If there is no water left to drip, it’s been out of the water too long. Practice good fish handling practices and maintain the future of our sport.

 

SKEENA STEELHEAD

 

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