my2labs
In my brief experience with the two-hander, getting deep isn't as important for summer fish as it is for winter fish, as summer fish will chase a fly with more consistency than winter fish due to water temp (they'll even hit surface skaters). The guys I fish with who have been doing it for a while say that ticking bottom in the winter is key because you want that fly to swing really close to the fish or the fish isn't going to be interested in chasing the fly unless it's an easy grab and they certainly aren't going to rise for it. As a general rule, I use 10' of t14 sink tip and a pretty short leader (4-5' fluoro) because the sink tip will have more influence over depth than any weight I've added to the fly. I know guys that are extremely specific about sink tips, even switching them out from one run to the next, but I'm not that advanced. It's also important to slow the swing as much as possible by mending continuously, which is an art in itself. I tied some real beauties that swung great to my eye, but was told that I used too much dubbing and that my flies weren't sinking fast enough or staying down, so I started tying them sparser and have had good results. I definitely lose a few more flies near bottom, but that's the game, apparently. And touching bottoms is still fun.
I started tying them sparser and have had good results.
Are the steelhead taking the fly or is it a glorified floss ? Most if not all the ones I have seen on the swing are from the outside in. I talked with a guy who had a fly rod with a small weight and a lured type bead on the end he was making fun of bait fisherman while we was swinging a bead I guess it's ok as long as it s with a fly rod? I'm not tryING to start a war but I have a hard time believing they take it, I'm mean what kind of bug goes across the current in that matter?
Who knows, but a swung fly is bound to trigger some kind of instinct the same as a spinner or spoon..
I guess its just another way to fish... Science states winter steelhead do not eat.. Who knows, but a swung fly is bound to trigger some kind of instinct the same as a spinner or spoon.. I can't see 75 ft away what they do, but slmost all of my fish are hooked in the right end.
Well as stated above....
When I was a kid I flossed with a fly rod. It is very easy to do so. However, you will see people who are flossing hook them in the "chin" often as the hook pulls toward the fish as the weighted line moves forward. Using the line/fly combos that I used to use, you could sweep an entire riffle and hook into multiple fish.
I don't see how swinging a fly as I understand it is done in the Northwest, can produce the same result. I'm sure if you throw on a 9' leader and a heavy fly with a sink tip this can be accomplished but fly "swingers" aren't aiming to do this.
Hope that helps clarify.
Good luck with the fly guys you make mad
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Well then, neither a swung fly nor a jig looks like, or swims like food, yet you state that your fish lift and move to strike, same as a swung pattern.. So i guess you have answered your own question. Steelhead take presentations for no spparent reason.. Anger or food or defense.. None of those feedings are forced,arent we all great sportsmen...
The fly guys can get as mad as they want, hooking a fish from the outside in is snagging with one exception of the hang back method where the hook is 3 inches or so away from lets say a bead using the bobber dogging method. spoons and spinners are different when they use them on the swing I have never seen one hooked from the outside in. I have nothing against fly fisherman I have a steelhead flyrod myself just never use it on the swing.
I jig fish and every single time I hook a steelhead it's inside out and right through the upper part of it's mouth, never in the side and only once in the bottom jaw.