Winter is the time of year when I actually fish subsurface a fair amount. Cold, colored, and relatively higher water levels put me in a state of mind to embrace the unseen but tactile vibes of fishing wet flies on a dry line. The winter season is typically very lean for me as to actual steelhead encounters. When fishing wet flies on a dry line, I have recently gravitated to General Practitioners tied on either a Partridge Code M up to 5/0 or vintage Mustad 7970s, in size 1. These heavy hooks do their job in getting the fly down, but they could never match the efficiency and effectiveness of sink tip systems. My favor for GPs has to do with aesthetics, but also due to the fact that the long tails on these flies help to buoy up the heavier rear end of the big hooks that include the bend and point.
On a recent day on the water, I found conditions to be favorable, with a good level as the river has been on a slow drop with the dry weather. The water I like to fish is a big, broad run with largely indistinct features. It starts with a minor riffle than continues to broaden and slow with the main current on the far side. This is perfect water for the longer rods that l have been favoring for the past several years.
On this day, my strategy was to start off with a shorter 15'2" 9/10wt rod built by Steve Godshall. This rod is part of a conversion set up that can also be fished as a 17'7" 9/10wt by switching sections around. I was just in the mood to fish the brisk, "short" rod for my first pass through the run. This rod is perfectly matched with a Beulah Aerohead 9/10 line (56' @ 640gr) and the taper design on the Aerohead allows for great line speed to help cut the cross winds that occur in this spot.
I started off with a orange GP tied on a sz 1 Mustad 7970 as the river was running fairly clear, with sun on the water. I worked through the riffly section at the top and felt anticipation as I came into the heart of the run where the water slows and the inside is just the perfect speed. I was remembering this area where hookups were experienced in the past. I fished each cast, thinking a pull was sure to come at any moment. I actually got into a winter steelhead on a dry fly through here in a prior season:
As I passed through the sweet section, the currents on the inside broadened and slowed to a snail's pace. I decided to continue working down in case a lethargic steelhead may be resting in the soft water.
In areas where I feel my odds of a steelhead encounter is marginal, I tend to move through relatively quickly, taking more steps between each swing. With the nearly static flows in this broad, featureless section, I decided to switch flies on a strange impulse. I thought using a fly with more intrinsic movement might have some appeal in the slow water. I remembered that I had a single pink MOAL (rabbit leech) in my Altoids tin, along with my assortment of GPs and Winter's Hopes. This particular fly had a rather circuitous journey: I went through a phase of tying and fishing MOALs from 2010 to 2013. I had dry line steelhead success with those obnoxious flies on coastal rivers I often fished. I even sent some MOALs to Bill McMillan and he had good success with them on the Skagit. Black/Chanteuse MOALs were among the most successful colors for Bill and I, but I never found success with pink versions, even though gear fisherman do very well with their pink worms. From 2014 onward I gravitated back to flies tied on standard hooks especially Winter's Hopes and my stockpile of MOALs have sat in my closet largely unused since then.
I may have developed a complex about fishing MOALs since they are not a traditional pattern and all the talented tyers on Speypages tie dry line flies in a much more gentlemanly manner. Anyways, back to that lonely pink MOAL: I had been fishing a favorite area on the Willamette last summer and as I got out of my Geo Tracker to begin an evening dry fly session, I noticed a patch of pink on the ground. I figured to pick up some litter and assumed I would find a discarded corkie and yarn with some leader material. I found the "trash" to actually be a pink bead headed MOAL. As I took a closer look at the fly, I realized it was a fly I had tied years ago. I recognized the way the fly was tied and that confirmed it had come off my vise at some point in my dark past.
I pondered over how the pink blast from my past would have ended up on the ground along a favorite local steelhead run and I surmised that I may have gifted some flies to someone, or it may have come from someone who purchased my flies from a couple fundraisers that I donated to some years ago. The pink MOAL was slightly faded from being out in the elements for who knows how long, and the rabbit fur was matted from either being run over by vehicles or being stepped on. I threw the bedraggled fly into the center console of my Geo and later sharpened the Gamakatsu trailer hook before throwing it in my Altoids tin with my other winter flies.
Ok, back to the slow section on the winter steelhead run: I have developed a new, weird habit of tying a Lefty Kreh non-slip loop knot on the end of my 12# Berkley Big game tippet that is large enough to loop flies on and off, eliminating the need to retie every time I change flies. This process allows my flies to be oriented in a pleasant manner, without causing wear to fly heads and continually shortening my tippet over the course of a day.
I looped the pink MOAL onto my tippet and went to work. I made several casts and swings from the same position as it takes some time for rabbit to soak up water and sink. When I felt that the pink worm on a fly rod was adequately soaked, I made steps down to cover water. The flows were slow enough that each swing progressed at a very leisurely pace. With the bulkiness of rabbit fur, MOALs tend to sink slowly, so my fly choice was nicely compatible to the water I was fishing.
There are often annoying cross winds through here, so some casts just don't always fully turn over and land on target. I simply let those sloppy casts go, where the unintended slack allowed the gaudy fly more time to sink before coming tight on the swing.
I was about 25 yards below what I felt was the prime bucket of the run when towards the end of a swing moving at a barely discernable pace, my line stopped and I felt a subtle pull. I slowly swept the rod towards the bank and came against solid resistance. I soon felt some movement and head throbs, then the unseen creature seemed to give in and allowed me to reel it right to me until the butt of the leader came through the tip top of the rod. I began to question if I hooked into a jumbo squawfish or trout. I began strategizing leading my opponent towards the bank then it decided to identify itself with a quick burst and a jump, showing as a steelhead of 10/11lbs.
Mr, steelhead decided on stubborn tactics so he maintained a strong battle in close with a series of short bursts, twists and turns. These dirty tricks made me thankful for the trailer hook design of MOALs which give steelhead less leverage to get dislodged from the hook. I was eventually able to get a hold of my leader to lead the steelhead to the shoreside photo studio. After a series of mug shots, I made sure to fully revive the valiant fighter and send him on his way to produce more progeny of a similar nature.
Dry fly steelhead are my favorite, but I have no complaints about getting winter steelhead on a dry line, even with ghetto styled flies!
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