Dry Line Contributors Wanted

Just thought to put an invitation out to anyone who has a dry line steelheading story or perspective to share to please feel free to let me know and I can set you up to be a contributor on this blog or I can copy/paste your story and pictures here as well.

I find it great fun to share fishing stories with others and to exchange ideas about dry line steelheading with folks who have the same specialized interest within the sport that draws us together.  After awhile, it probably gets old listening to the same crazy guy rambling on here so it would be great to add some variety and I'd be glad to see other folks posting stories here.

Chrome Report from Steve Turner

It's great to have a network of fishing buds that share the passion of seeking steelhead on the surface.  It's fun emailing back and forth sharing fishing stories and keeping the steelhead fever stoked.  My good friend Steve Turner recently emailed the following report and it was such a stellar fishing story that I thought it was too good not to share here.

Steve's email:

Mornin’ Gents,

Report from the D:  The fish are freaking stacked in the runs like sardines!! (Well, OK, that might be a wee bit of an overstatement, but there are most certainly some fish around!)

Charlie and I drove to the river in the pre-dawn only to find several rigs already parked and the best spots already staked out so we decided to head downriver and fish the water in the middle to lower sections of the run. I opted to start in above a gentleman who was fishing the middle run while Charlie continued further downriver and dropped in well below him.

I watched this fella go one for two in the heart of the run, and saw another single-hander directly across the river from us hook and land a fish just before he slipped, went for a short swim-about, then dragged himself to shore and headed back to his boat to dry out. Once the guy below me finished fishing his way through the run, he turned, gave a wave, wished me luck and headed out. 

I continued fishing my way down, swinging an Undertaker on a dry line until I arrived at the holding lie. I decided my best bet might be to show the fish something different, so I tied on Todd’s now infamous “Little Wang” - black with a green butt.

At the lower end of the bucket, just as the LWGB was sliding out of the chop and into the softer water, a huge bulge appeared behind the fly, then a gaping white maw absolutely crushed the poor little penile creature. It was one of those super-hot fish that went totally ballistic at the sting of the hook, melted line off the reel at an incredibly insane clip, then exploded way upriver in a hell-bent for destruction, end-over-end catapult while the fly line was still way downriver, making me wonder if it was even possible that this was the same fish I was currently doing battle with.

It was one of the best tussles I’ve had in quite some time! I was finally able to tire her enough to lead her into shallower water. I could see she was a beautiful wild hen and I didn’t want to chance harming her just for a picture, so I quickly snapped this shot just before tailing her, slipping the hook out and gently sending her back on her way. Really a special fish - nickel bright, super broad across the back and perfectly formed. Although the picture makes her look a bit smaller than she actually was (they always do, don’t they?! =), I’d guess she was pushing the 10lb mark, maybe even a touch heavier.

 

Charlie fished a Pom Skater through the lower sections and at one point had a steelie absolutely explode all over his fly, somehow miraculously managing NOT to impale itself on the hook in the process. Unfortunately, try though he might, he was unable to coax it back for a second go-around.

As I finished fishing my way through the run I noticed that a sled had somehow sneaked in and parked just above me (My hearing must be even worse than I thought). It turned out to be Tom Larimer and his camera  crew shooting some footage for an upcoming spey fishing video. Tom’s an old friend of both of ours and we had a nice visit with him and his crew, then we headed upriver to the uppermost run which had by this time been abandoned by it’s earlier occupants.

It was approaching noon and beginning to get really warm, but we decided to give it a quick go anyway, so we put tips on and divvied up the run with Charlie going up to the top and me starting in about mid-way down. I had neglected to throw my tube flies in the sling-pack (which is typically what I fish on tips) so for kicks I tried something really different and lashed a size 6 low-water Night Dancer onto six feet of 10 lb. Maxima and attached that to 10 feet of T-14, fully expecting never to see that fly again.

I’d made maybe half a dozen casts and had just reached the full length of my shooting head, when about midway through the swing, the rod darn near got ripped out of my hand. The take was so violent that even Charlie saw it from his station way upriver.

It didn’t take but a few seconds to realize that this was not a typical Deschutes river fish, given the super-long, super-strong runs even with mega pressure applied. After a lengthy battle, I was finally able to tire her enough that Charlie, who had come down to help land her, was able to get a hand around the wrist of her tail. I’m guessing this was a stray B-run fish from the Clearwater. We snapped a couple of pics and then allowed her to continue on her journey. I know, I know. She’s just a hatchery brat, but I have a soft spot where the Idaho bound fish are concerned and just couldn’t bring myself to harvest her.
 

We decided to run into town during the heat of the day to grab a burger and shake at Big Jim’s in The Dalles, then return to give it one last shot when the sun left the water - which we did, but unfortunately with no further excitement. Given water temps that were pushing seventy degrees by this time, the fish may have been less active than they were in the morning when temps were closer to the comfy sixty degree mark.

I gave Charlie one of my coveted Little Wang GB's to fish the evening session with, and he really liked it. (Shocker, eh?!  =) In fact, he asked if I could get some info on the foam you use Todd, i.e. type, size and maybe where you typically get it.

Anyhoo - that’s the haps from the D boyz!

Steve

Double Dose of Mojo - Floating with my Bride and Hardy meets Cabela's

My wife Wendi decided that she'd float with me in my drift boat for the first time yesterday afternoon.  We did a short local stretch for a quick afternoon/evening float.  Wendi brought her phone, some paperwork, and some sale ads and was good to go.

I hit a few spots in the nice shade on river left as evening approached.  I fished a favorite run with anticipation, but the glare made it tough and I regretted stopping there because of having to bang into rocks in that shallow stuff which jolted Wendi around and made her back hurt - note to self, next time pass that spot up.

Hit another favored run with high hopes, nothing.

I figured to close out the evening at a nice classic run near the take out.  I came in a bit lower in the run to avoid banging the boat around on the rocks near shore.  Wendi was on her phone with an insurance guy getting car insurance quotes while I walked above the boat, figuring to allow myself space to extend my line enough so that by the time my fly would get even with the boat, I had a good working length of line out.  I had my Ambush head and a strip or two of running line out the tip.  On about my second cast, my fly was even with the boat and I was looking down at my reel to look at a bit of loose running line I had after the cast.  Just then, I heard a good splash at the fly and saw the rise in the periphery of my vision, and fish on!  I managed to keep my loose line from tangling and the steelie took off.  After a few back and forth runs I had the fish just about banked on the gravel bar and it somehow caught some traction and took off across the run again.  I got the steelie back in and it started heading for my anchor rope so I put some pressure on to keep it from tangling.  I got it cleared of the anchor rope then had it coming back to shore and the hook pulled out, Dang it!!  Ah well, again, can't bonk em all, got a good fight out of him/her.  Looked like a typical 8-9lb steelhead, fairly bright with a hint of pink.

The Green Butt LW strikes again, plus Wendi saw the whole thing from the rise to the end of the battle, she was quite entertained.  She was going to video me with the fish on, but she was still on the phone and her battery was running low.  Also, I was using my brand new Cabela's TL R 11' 6wt switch rod that was on sale my local Cabela's and it was a deal that I couldn't pass up.  Maybe my new toy has some mojo.  Didn't know $80 could buy me so much fun.  My 3 7/8 Perfect and 9wt Ambush were an ideal match on this little rod.

So I had a great day with my three B's - my Bronco, my Boat, and my Blonde.

Blessed Friendships

I gathered with some good friends on a favorite summer river a couple weeks ago for what is becoming an annual summer steelhead rondi.  I looked forward with much anticipation to gathering with my buds from "up north".  Adrian Cortes and Aaron Ostoj had arrived a day before me and got two campsites for our little crew of steelhead fanatics.  Steve Turner would drive down from Ridgefield, WA to catch up with us for a quick overnighter and morning session.

On the first day that I arrived, I caught up with Adrian and Aaron on one of the lower river pools. My alarm had gone off at 2:30am and I had left my home in Springfield by 3am, arriving at the river by about 4:50am - only steelheading could cause such maddness. The report was that the evening before, Adrian has raised and hooked a nice summer run on a green butt skater in the tailout of a pool further upriver.  After some line was coming off the reel, the hook pulled out, but very encouraging news to hear.

We split up water down at the area where we met.  After fishing through, we parted ways with  Adrian and Aaron hitting spots and I took off solo and hit several pools before the summer heat set in and we would meet back at the campground.  After fishing through my morning session, I headed for camp and I got my tent set up and settled in for a midday break.

The evening session was uneventful for me, but I was able to become familiar again with some of my favorite pools on this special river.  Back at camp that night, we compared notes and Adrian reported that he raised and hooked a steelie in the lower section of a big pool where some nice bedrock structure provided some cover.  He saw the surface attack and the steelhead was pulling line from his antique clicker.  He said he waited about ten seconds before hollering over to Aaron of the news of having a fish on.  Just moments later, the fish got unpinned.  However, raising and hooking 2 steelhead in two days is considered good fishing in my book.  Adrian's the top rod and on a hot streak.

Steve Turner arrived that evening and the talk of steelhead gulping skaters on top filled our discussions.  Steve, Adrian, and I have a upcoming trip planned for a BC river in mid Sept so our anticipation in planning for that trip was also in evidence.  It was decided that Steve would fish with me the following morning as we would cruise the river in search of steelhead in my beater 1990 Honda Accord.

The 4am alarm came too soon, but of course coffee needed to get made in time for us to head out at first light.  Steve is brand new to this river so it was fun to show him some of what I have learned of this special place over the past 5 years or so of fishing it each summer/fall.

I chose a pool which was an "easy wader" to start the morning, with the dim lighting of dawn.   I tried to get Steve to go through first, but he insisted that he wanted to sit back, learn about fishing the river and take photos.   I kept trying, but was unsuccessful in getting Steve to budge from his plan.  As I worked down the run, Steve kept even or below me on the bank as he took shots with his Nikon.  Towards the bottom of the run, Steve and I were chatting and I was just beginning to strip in for my next cast and rod got pulled down and jerked a couple times, evidently from a steelhead grabbing the skater at the dangle.  It was over as quickly as I realized what had happened, with my rod and line going limp.  As I stripped in, I noticed there was no resistance at the end of my tippet.  Sure enough the unseen steelhead pulled my fly right off my leader by breaking one of my bloot knots at the 8lb Maxima section.  I've been having a bad streak of breaking off fish right after the grab on this river - this one was probably at least the fourth steelhead that has done so to me down here.  I've got to do a better job of checking my knots.

We headed to another pool and while fishing short casts and watching my skater come into the transition zone between the fast main flow and inside water, a steelhead came up and gulped my waker down.  This guy gave a decent fight, but I soon realized he was a little "half-pounder" sized steelhead of not more than 20".  I won't complain though, every steelhead I encounter is special.

We fished a few more pools and then we came to one I wanted to show Steve.  This run does not get fished very often, judging by the overgrowth we encounter in getting down there.  I misjudged the angle of the sun in relation to this run,. so by mid morning, it was in full sunlight.  I was finally able to convince Steve to fish this run first since the light for photography was then poor.  I pointed out the casting station to Steve and point to lies where Adrian hooked up to a steelhead on a Jock Scott and a spot where Adrian raised one to a skater last year.  I tinkered with my fly boxes as Steve made casts and extended his line.  When I looked up, I saw Steve making a cast to the far side and the skater swung across a choppy seam.  The white post I tie on my skaters was clearly visible in bright light conditions like this.  The skater comes through the seam and is promptly attacked by a steelhead.  I think both Steve's and my jaws dropped at that moment and surprisingly the steelhead didn't get hooked on that rise.

I showed Steve a few more pools before completing our morning sesstion.  We met back at camp for lunch break before Steve left to return home.  Aaron and Adrian broke camp and we visited for a bit, looked into each other's fly boxes and I was even gifted with an exquisitely tied Jock Scott from Aaron, who like Adrian, is a very talented tyer of classic salmon flies "in-hand" (no vise).  I was able to give a few more of my foam skaters to the guys as well.  I think since the guys may not use as much foam and deer/elk hair in their classic salmon flies, that they are willing to accept my crudely tied patterns.  I was honored to share my patterns with my friends and that they've actually raised/hooked fish on them.

I also showed off the flies gifted to me by Mike Papais (see my prior blog entry) and we continued to talk about this swell fellow who we have yet to meet face to face.  I fished Mike's flies a fair amount during this trip and Adrian borrowed one of Mike's patterns to swing as well.  Mike's flies look absolutely great swimming on the swing.  I was able to try some of the smaller patterns as comebacks to rises that could have been steelhead and I fished some of the larger patterns as a primary presentation on some runs.  Surprisingly, I just got  several trout and a 14" half pounder size steelhead on Mike's flies, but it is inevitable that these gorgeous gifts will get me a steelhead at some point.

Aaron's fly box:

In Hand Masters:

Flies from Mike Papais:

Rarely caught in front of the lens, Steve Turner fishing a run in full morning light:

Steve raised a steelhead right here:

Steve Turner shared the series of photos below from the morning he fished with me.  Steve is a master of light and composition.  His incredible talent is evident here - too bad his selection of male models was limited to a scrubby steelhead fanatic from Springfield (me)!

Steve has become enamored with this special place after his first visit.  He returned this past week to spend a few days on the river.  Steve and I were able to gather again last friday, when I was able to meet up with him for the day.  He insisted on me fishing runs first, even though he is the one that is new to the river.  I tried, but couldn't argue Steve out of his kind and generous nature.  Steve did the driving that day in his luxury new F150, so it was a day of traveling in comfort for me.  Steve also treated me to a wonderful lunch.  I feebly tried to reciprocate Steve's kindness and generosity with more flies and pointing out more spots on the river.  It turns out Steve did a great job of sniffing out surface steelhead on his own during his stay.  He raised and hooked a hot steelhead in a non-decript run that he found on the evening before I met up with him and he hooked into a similar 5/6lb range steelhead at a new spot we fished together  that morning.  Both fish got unpinned, but the thrill of the surface grab and hookup is never soon forgotten.

Thanks to all of my fishing friends for wonderful days on the river and great companionship that reach far beyond fishing.

Blessed by His Grace,

Todd

4 O' Clock Steelhead

Sometimes the best time to go fishing is when you can........

I had a small window of time to fish today between running errands with Wendi after church and watching my granddaughter Harmony while her parents head up youth night.

Left the house a little after 3 and headed for a favorite stretch of river close to home.  By the time I started fishing, it was about 3:30pm with mostly sunny conditions and a bit of a hazy overcast going.  Not the best timing to fish for steelhead on the surface, but I had to try anyway.  I first fished the nearshore side of a nice looking channel and as I looked over, wondered how it would fish from the mid river bar I could see.  I waded back up, started at the top and fished from the mid river bar, casting towards shore.  This is nice choppy, riffly stuff and as I got down where the mid river bar starts to deepen, I'm watching my GB skater, aka "little wang" come across and gulp, fish on.  Not a rip snortin', reel screamer, but this little buck gave a decent tussle.  Fortunately my skater was lodged firmly on the upper jaw and I was eventually able to lead him to a little gravel bar and beached him.

I was fishing one of my old glass single handers today:  the Fenwick FF857 - 8.5' 7wt, 7wt Ambush line, and my old SA system 8 (Hardy Marquis 8/9).  It was fun casting that Ambush on the glass single hander.  The seam is narrow enough that the single hander was entirely adequate with a "9 strip" cast.

I need to buy a couple of those cheap stringers so I can keep a hatchery steelhead alive and fresh until I'm done fishing.  With no stringer or cooler with ice close by, I had to head for home right after getting the fish.  No complaints, got to bonk one and then spend time with my cute little granddaughter.

I'm truly blessed to have surface steelheading 10 minutes from my house - life is good!

Wild Reverence Press Release

FYI -- the movie Wild Reverence is finally available for viewing on Vimeo.  See below for Shane's email, the movie link, and a description.

Thanks!

Sincerely

John McMillan

From Shane:

Greetings All!

I am excited to announce that after two and a half years I have officially made “Wild Reverence” available for public viewing.  It’s been an exciting spring as I have been on tour screening the film across the west coast and getting a great response with very engaged audiences who want to change the status quo.   I can honestly feel the paradigm begin to shift toward a positive future for wild fish and more ecosystem based management of our natural resources.

I have an extensive tour lining up this fall.  And I will be hitting the road  mid. Sept. into Nov. (more details on the tour coming shortly)  I felt it was important to make the film available now and begin to spread the wild word a bit.  My primary goal of this film was to present the massive amount of information I had learned over the course of several years in an unbiased manner through my personal journey.   I would be eternally grateful if you would help spread the word of the film.   Thanks for all your support in this amazing journey!  It’s all of you that give me great hope for the future.

Here is the official link.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/17698

Thank you kindly,
Shane

Second Pass Steelhead on Top

The rise came suddenly and unexpectedly....

I was watching my latest design foam skater coming across on a fast swing through the chop made by the flow pushing for the far bank.  I was giving the fly movement with steady, but modest twitches that pulsated rather than "popped" the fly on the swing.  Just as my fly approached the softer seam where the main flow converged with the softer inside water, a chrome form launched across the surface, taking my skater on her way down.  It was an "idiot proof" surface grab - no time to contemplate not jerking the fly from the fish - she had the fly solidly in her jaw instantaneously with no room for error on my part.  I love when this happens!  

My antique winch was screaming followed by airborne steel sending my heart racing.  My chrome prize gave me several reel-melting runs, putting my old English made clicker to the test.  This particular vintage reel has no palming rim (still relatively new to me) and I found it easy to use finger tension on the inside spool to apply drag on the running steelhead.  There's no sweeter sound than the scream of old English click/pawl reels with a hot steelhead on the line. 

This steelie fought aggressively and I feared for her loss at any moment during the fight.  I knew I'd end up releasing this rare prize, so losing her during the fight would be fine, but I love seeing these fish up close once in a while and getting a photo when possible.  As I held onto my rod with the steelhead giving me her best, I took a breath and just relished in experiencing the moment I had waited for, in being able to experience the electric power of a majestic fish.  It's the excitement of the surface grab and raw energy of a strong running steelhead that keeps me casting for as long as it takes to get my fix.  With their powerful runs, acrobatics, and speed, these fish are able to elicit a delicious sense of excitement and fear at the same time - it's a sensation that just never gets old or ordinary.

The run I was fishing didn't have any convenient gravel bar beach and I was using a 12'6" two hander to add to the difficulties.  I was somehow able to get this strong fighter to shore and I marveled over a perfectly formed hen in the 9lb range.  I got my wish and was able to get an up close look at a rare blessing and got the photos I'd hoped for.  I went for one last photo and she decided she'd had enough, turned for the river, and was gone with no help from me.  The barbless hook had fell out of the hen's mouth, giving her a clean release.

As I stood back and took it all in, I praised God for the blessing of experiencing a moment of perfection in the midst of His creation.  I was overcome with a feeling of gratitude for the opportunity to chase after these incredible chrome fish in such a beautiful setting - life is good.  It's amazing how a single steelhead encounter can bring on such profound meditations and reflection from a fisherman overcome with a passion for surface steelhead!

 

As the title of this post alludes to, I got the fish described above when going through the same run on a second pass.  I don't typically go through runs in summer and fall more than once while fishing a skater.  I figure if I did not raise any steelhead to the top in one pass, then there arent any steelhead in the run willing to come to the top.  Very rarely, I'll make a second pass with a wet, but most often I move on to new water looking for a surface grab.

On the day I got the above steelhead, I had spent time in camp revising my foam skater design even further.  I slightly altered the tie in of the foam pieces in hopes of having a skater that will stay on top, even in brutal, heavy flows.  My prior design skater stayed on top most of the time, but when the line/leader gets caught in strong downward hydraulics, the fly would get sucked under and spin underwater until bobbing back to the top.  I attempted to stabilize the foam lip to prevent the skater from going in most water textures.

During the evening session, I took out a yellow/orange mini skater I had tied with the new revisions.  I was pleased that while going through the run on my first pass, that the little skater stayed on top most of the time.  I didn't get any grabs on that first pass, but I wanted to try a green butt colored skater with the new revisions.  Just so happens, I had that fly rigged on my 12'6" Echo Classic so I decided to make a second pass to test out my other skater.  As I struggled to cast the longer rod with sidearm casts under overhanging branches, I managed to get the head and three strips of running line out, which was a perfect working length of line for the run.  When I got a little ways down the run, the steelhead grabbed, obviously in water I had already fished through with the smaller yellow/orange skater.

I have wondered what triggered that steelhead to grab a skater on a second pass.  Maybe using a slightly larger, dark colored fly made the difference?  Maybe using the longer rod gave a slightly different casting angle that the fish preferred?  Maybe I just happened to get the right swing over a specific lie on the second pass?  I've definitely got more questions than answers here, but I think I may fish runs with a skater more than once in the near future.