Recent content by ChezJfrey

Exactly...kind of a head shaker there. Native, wild fish = bad, Invasive, non-native fish = good?

Agreed, Willerman. Another inexpensive option for float setups is the Okuma Connoisseur with a Michigan handle. In fact, since sensitivity and such is really not important for float fishing, mostly length, that rod is still my preferred float setup as the handle style puts the reel toward the...

I agree with the others, that will be too light to cast well. Do you have any spare spools of your 8 weight? I would try that instead. Over lining one weight would be preferable; I even know some people that do that intentionally. In fact, I did that with my single-hand 5 weight, putting a 6...

Those are both gold for hardware advice. I took a shine to Herzog's Spoon book and its conveyed knowledge has served me well :)

I will chime in and also say that for spinners/spoons, line doesn't much matter, especially in winter. I use 15 lb. mono attached to hardware in the winter; that is tied to 30 lb. braid. Funny story about my first year of steelheading. I was fishing for nearly a year, without any steelhead and...

Ha! Great news. How 'bout them apples, Dr. T? ;)

Funny you mention this. My first attempt with a fly was also summers, and my first successes. But they were few and far between. In fact, after I hooked my first on the fly, my next one to hook took exactly 50 weeks to replicate the experience. LOL. However, after a couple years, I took the...

A swung leach and a sink tip to get it down, or nymph an egg pattern are two basic ones that will work for steelhead. I've done well with black/blue leaches in winter. Read Paul Smith's PM, I've seen here that he's a fly guy that likely knows what's up :)

You bring up a good point about the number of people vs. boat size. Most river fishing for steelhead I've seen is 3-4 to a boat, sometimes larger, but seems to me even the Columbia guide boats will typically only take about 6. And for novices, renting a boat to tool around on a lake is fine, but...

I always like when I set the true survivors free. My best survivor was from a few years ago, on the Wilson. Chunks of flesh missing, but still carrying on like a trooper:

Holy smokes, O. mykiss! That's a biggun! My first of the season on my 'usual goto' water:

C'mon man...like the rod balance is gonna reduce my arm fatigue when steelhead are constantly dragging me down river at breakneck speed. That reel size/weight is the furthest thing causing the fatigue problem. ;)

Ha! Nice going. Funny how I too sometimes neglect the spinner. I toss a spoon pretty well, but it doesn't always do the trick for a fish susceptible to hardware, as a buddy of mine has proven to me a few times when he bats cleanup behind me on a run and after my spoon was dismissed, he nails...

Yeah, those Garcia reels are pretty much bullet proof and truly a gift. Don't know anything about the rods, but those reels are a sure score.

So I'm curious...who was the wimp? Sportsman's (which if so, not really an apt name if a little snow causes such trepidation, is it?), or you? LOL, just ribbing... ;)