JonT said:
...steelhead fishing is an occasional hookup within a string of a whole lot of skunks. Landing one is an entirely different animal.
This is correct.
In 2011, I started my quest for steelhead and spent 12 months fishing for them. I caught zero. Last year I hooked 44 of them and am at 20 this year. The thing is, I probably made 80 trips to the river in 2011...sometimes only for an hour or two. An hour before work in summer, an hour or two in the evening, weekend mornings, whenever I had some spare time. I think one of the reasons it is taking so long is due to the 10-15 trips; you need to get out more in order to ramp up the learning curve.
Also, pore over everything you can find about the river you fish. When are the fish likely around and where? Figure out the water levels/conditions for the particular spots fish are being caught (if you see or hear about them). Even witnessing fish being caught gives you a clue as to what part of the river the fish were holding if you can see the moment they hooked up. Part of the key is knowing where in the river the fish are at a particular time of year and at what levels (sometimes fish hold in different spots according to flows...sometimes the spot is good through multiple levels...depends on the hydraulics of the specific spot).
A fair number of fellow fishers are willing to talk fishing on the banks. Strike up a conversation and/or watch what they do if they are catching fish. During my endeavor over the last couple years, I've come to collaborate with dozer, whom I met on the bank one day a couple years ago. We got to talking and found that we participate on OFF. The two guys with half a clue, spending enough fishing time together, eventually formed a full clue and we are now about equal in steelheading ability and far better than the two guys getting skunked every day that we used to be.
What river and run timing? ODFW also has catch statistic going back years. For the individual rivers I had any interest, I entered numbers for each month into a spreadsheet table, for 6 years running, and highlighted the best months. This gives an idea of where to be and when.
Most river levels, often with some forecasting ability are available online to help determine when they might be fishing well. A little poking around on the internet often gives a good idea about what levels are best for a particular system. As does keeping track of what the level is when you catch fish -- keep track of what, when, temp, weather, clarity, level/flows, technique, etc.
There are also a few good books about technique-specific approaches that also offer decent tips about what to look for on the water. I picked up Davis' spinner book, Herzog's spoon book, Larison's fly book, Haugen's drifting book and while not the end-all, be-all and I even deviate from Herzong's 'never cast a spoon upstream' gospel, I found them helpful.
However, one must practice to develop, so I hit the river every chance I can...sometimes only for an hour or two. Using the catch charts and my log helps determine where/when. Sometimes a few posts on the internet offer a decent enough hint once you get to know some of the regular poster's habits and the occasional slip of a hint they may not have intended Depending on time-of year and knowing the fish are migrating up, I start lower on the river and as the season progresses, move upward. Look at a map and find the parks/access points. When you get there, find the likely water fish it thoroughly, then walk up/down...keep going until you reach an impasse. Even in the major park areas, I am often the guy that disappears around the corner and quite often, I have found fish time after time in spots that nobody ever seems to be, even though it's quite accessible. In fact, there is one spot in a park that I have caught over a dozen fish and in my years of going there, I walked around the corner to find 'someone on my rock' and joked to him that in all my time going there, he is the first and only person I've ever seen snake my spot and we laughed about how 'money' the place is and nobody ever hits it.
The more you show up and fish, day after day, month after month, eventually you start to frequently run into other 'regulars' and often that eases them into divulging a few tips and about other general areas on the river they might mention...doing likewise with them helps facilitate this.
If you don't want the steelhead (and the decision to quit) to plague your dreams and conscience until the end of days, keep at it and good luck
