My winter steelhead season has been rather uneventful aside from getting into a fiery dry line encounter in mid January. I continue pursuing winter steelhead with a cheerful heart despite continued skunkings as the beauty of rivers is always enough to get me off my butt as a regular wellness activity.
Today was one of my casual, easy going days where my fishing schedule would revolve around my wife's entertainment schedule. We slept in, had breakfast, and I took off for the river after Wendi got settled in for her day's activities. This meant just a few hours of low key steelheading so I drove off to a locale just a few miles away on a river better known for hatchery steelhead, the harvest mentality, and parades of side drifters.
I arrived at the river with tempered expectations considering my slow streak of winter steelhead catching and also in light of the less than optimal swing culture on this river.
Picking out gear is always a dilemma as I tend to have hoarding tendencies, but I settled on a cool setup that I have not used in awhile: Winston 13'3" 7wt Biix, Prewar 3 3/4 Perfect loaded with a Beulah 7/8 510gr Aerohead. I also wanted to further test my modified version of Bruce Kruk's leader system.
As I started at the top of the run , I recalled getting a winter steelhead on a Little Wang in this water in late December a few years ago. Figuring it is late in the winter season and that I had nothing to lose, I tied on a #4 Bivisi-bomber that I call the Grinch with it's bright green theme.
As I got midway down the run, I was fishing over a midstream boulder. As one of my casts reached the soft water on the far side of the boulder, the gaudy bomber swung slowly for a moment before the heavier main currents caught the belly of the line and began accelerating the fly downstream. At that moment, a bulging form appeared with a broadside nudge at the fly in two or three successive rises. It suddenly sunk in, "that was a fish"... The purplish hue of the back and shoulders of the fish suggested that it may be a steelhead that had been in the river for awhile.
I followed with a few more swings with the same fly with no results. I then tried a smaller, blonde bivisi-bomber, still with no results . I decided that my next move would be to try a wet fly. Not having my small summer assortment of comeback wets, I figured to try the smallest Winter's Hope I had which was tied on a 1/0 Tiemco 7999.
The next cast went out with the wet fly, with no setup for depth being made since the steelhead rose to the surface to begin with. The tight line, summer like swing went through the lie with out incident. I contemplated changing back the gaudy bivisi-bomber that raised the steelhead in the first place, but decided to make another cast with the miniature Winter's Hope just in case a slightly different swing might make a difference.
The cast went out with a steeper angle, in hopes of slowing the fly on the swing. I guided and lead the fly through the uneven currents and as the wet fly came into the seam on the far side of the midstream boulder, a solid pull drew things tight with the satisfying sensations of a hooked steelhead.
The modestly sized steelhead gave a spirited tug of war, but admittedly absent the line ripping runs of a steelhead fresh from the ocean. Upon landing the steelhead, it was confirmed that it appeared to be a buck who had gotten around.
So after not catching a steelhead in a while, raising winter steelhead to the surface is still fun, that's all...
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