Summer run steelhead advice?

[Tinker]

I'm still under 10,000 casts and haven't felt so much as a steelhead nibble... This will be the first time I'll try the summer run and I have questions.

I will be bank fishing this summer - not that it makes a lot of difference, since being in a boat hasn't helped me a bit. :lol:

Are there different techniques that are more successful in the summer than the winter? Different colors? A special, lucky fish dance I need to learn?

I'll be using a spinning reel and rod. I'm pretty happy with the rod and reel. Not 100% confident in my choice of 20# braid and 15# fluorocarbon. And I have absolutely no confidence in how I rig my terminal tackle: lures, baits or anything else down where the attracting and hooking business gets done.

I'll be on small coastal rivers, expecting low-to-normal river depth and clear water.

Any tips would be appreciated.

(I did a forum search and didn't see the question or an answer. It could be buried under some obscure thread title, but if it's been asked and answered, I didn't find it).

 

[troutdude]

The lower/clearer the water, the smaller/lighter your gear and line should be. Line or gear that is bid/gaudy will only scare the fish. Use terminal gear that you are confident with. Or pick something new and experiment, until you do become confident.

Personally I like small spinners--no bigger than size 2 in dinky / low / clear streams. I'd suggest no line larger, in diameter, than any 6 lb. mono. But, I plan to practice with floats n' jigs this year.

Good luck.

 

[C_Run]

Do your research before you head out since there aren't many streams with summer steelhead on the coast. Other than that, be super stealthy since the water will likely be very low and clear, i.e. hide behind tree trunks, don't walk, crawl , etc. Use small presentations whatever you decide to use and definitely light leaders like TD said.

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

15 lb leader is overkill for almost all steelhead conditions. Try going down to 10 or 12 lb in the winter and 8 lb for summers. Make sure your rod matches the line you are going to be using.

 

[Tinker]

Six to eight pound leaders and lighter mainline... good with that. The rod and reel will handle that. Size 2 spinners... maybe. That's on the low side for the rod, so I'll test and change rods as needed.

15 lb leader is overkill for almost all steelhead conditions.

No wonder I've been completely skunked so far! Fifteen is the lightest I've used. I'm throwing heavy cable towards them! I'm very comfortable with light gear, and it's how I've always liked to fish until someone started giving me their opinion about 8lb being much too light for steelhead. I don't remember that I asked then how many they'd caught...

Do your research before you head out since there aren't many streams with summer steelhead on the coast. Other than that, be super stealthy since the water will likely be very low and clear, i.e. hide behind tree trunks, don't walk, crawl , etc.

I've seen two either a huge rainbows or small steelhead in the last week. It's what put the bee under my bonnet. The dogs were with me both times, and pointed at the first one in a pool, then stepped right over the second one in a riffle while it waited until after they'd passed before launching upstream.

I won't be taking the dogs. If they'd just point them out in the pools and the shadows, they'd be valuable, but you can't keep labradors out of the water for long. I reckon I can crawl, etc. Hadn't thought much about what I do with myself, and thanks for reminding me that steelhead are trout and that I shouldn't be whooping it up and stomping around. It's still hard for me to think of large fish in a river as a trout. :think:

Are summer steelhead going to be in different types of water than during a winter run? The rivers I'll target will not be warm water. Warmer than in Winter, but it'll still numb your fingers pretty quickly.

Thank you all. If I listen to the right folks, maybe I can cut it down to 8,500 casts?

 

[ChezJfrey]

No wonder I've been completely skunked so far! Fifteen is the lightest I've used. I'm throwing heavy cable towards them! I'm very comfortable with light gear, and it's how I've always liked to fish until someone started giving me their opinion about 8lb being much too light for steelhead. I don't remember that I asked then how many they'd caught...

I wouldn't worry about 15 lb. leader if throwing spoons/spinners in winter; I do that and have no problem hooking steelhead with it. Also, if the water is cold/murkier in winter with more natural/drifted presentations, it probably doesn't make much difference. However, when the water starts to clear and/or get warmer/lower, you will want to size down.

Also, keep in mind that both Herzog and Davis in their spoon/spinner books respectively also mention that with hardware, line size doesn't make much difference in attaining steelhead strikes, regardless of conditions. I believe Herzog goes so far as to claim to never use less than 15 lb. for spoons.

 

[Tinker]

I wouldn't worry about 15 lb. leader if throwing spoons/spinners in winter....

Also, keep in mind that both Herzog and Davis in their spoon/spinner books respectively also mention that with hardware, line size doesn't make much difference in attaining steelhead strikes, regardless of conditions. I believe Herzog goes so far as to claim to never use less than 15 lb. for spoons.

I worry about EVERYthing! I'll obsess and worry on every little detail until the day I catch my first steelhead. Then I'll obsess on how long it will take me to catch the second one..!

Which books? I don't remember stumbling across the names "Herzog" or "Davis" so far. Sounds like books where I should have at least read the Cliff's Notes...

I'll give them a Google and see what turns up.

You all know that on those fancy TV fishing shows, up in those dandy Canadian rivers, those boys on TV are always using lines and leaders capable of towing stuck Jeeps out of the mud, don't you? Fifty pound PowerPro and 30 lb fluorocarbon leaders. Always seemed odd to me that the rods are always between 8 and 11 feet long, that the rods are always medium-light action, and that the lures they're taking out of the fishes' mouths always look way too small to pull that heavy line... but darned if they can't cast that rig 200 Canadian meters or more! Educational TV? Bah!

Okay, so I'll keep the 15lb line to use for leaders when the rivers are up and murky, and keep stepping down to smaller/lighter leaders as the water drops and becomes more clear.

This is all Good Stuff! Thanks again!

 

[jamisonace]

15lb is never necessary in any conditions around here. 10 is my max summer or winter. Even if the fish aren't leader shy (I think they can be) 10lb or less is just easier to fish.

 

[Tinker]

15lb is never necessary in any conditions around here. 10 is my max summer or winter. Even if the fish aren't leader shy (I think they can be) 10lb or less is just easier to fish.

Thanks, and now I agree, but since I have around 20 yards of it 15# fluorocarbon left, I think I'll keep it around for Winter and fast/muddy water until I lose the rest of it.

I had the feeling that the line and lure/spinner sizes I've been using were too big and too heavy for steelhead. It's much heavier than I used back east around the Great Lakes, but hey! I didn't catch any back there, and I'm not there anymore, I'm here. I was ill-advised and I'm a bit of a buckethead about steelhead: I won't mind working with a guide for salmon later this year, but I want to catch my first steelhead on my own and I want to have to work for it.

But I want to work with the right tools.

 

[Silvers&Steelies]

I'm a believer of lighter leader too. Usually use 10 or 8 pound and steelhead stackers has had threads on here with lighter lines than that catching steelhead. I have a friend that still uses heavy line though and gets fish but personally I have done better with lighter leader.

 

[hobster]

15lb is never necessary in any conditions around here. 10 is my max summer or winter. Even if the fish aren't leader shy (I think they can be) 10lb or less is just easier to fish.

Yup. I went to 8 and lost 2 fish to a snapped leader and went back to 10 and didn't loose one that way. I prefer 10, but it also depends on the flexibility of the rod, 8 or less will work great in calmer water. In the fast water rapids where I was 10 worked best for me. I'd never go higher although my buddy uses 12 and hooks more steel than anyone i know.

 

[plumb2fish]

I noticed you are located in Port Orford, in that neck of the woods, the Rogue and Umpqua systems and their tributaries are going to be the only systems with actual "runs"of summer steel. There may be some strays in some of the other systems, but they won't be there in numbers.That could explain your struggles....

 

[C_Run]

There are some good sized searun cutthroat down your way. I wonder if that might have been what you saw. That season is coming right up.

 

[Tinker]

I noticed you are located in Port Orford, in that neck of the woods, the Rogue and Umpqua systems and their tributaries are going to be the only systems with actual "runs"of summer steel. There may be some strays in some of the other systems, but they won't be there in numbers.That could explain your struggles....

But isn't it too easy if I fish where the fish actually live? This would be the first time I tried for a summer steelhead, so I can't hide behind the good old "the fish don't live here" fact as an excuse for so many consecutive Winter skunkings.

I haven't gotten a really good look at them, and it could be wishful thinking, but I've seen what I believe might be a couple of steelies in the past week. Seemed too big for rainbows, but I'm not at all sure what they might have been.

I'd like to fish the upper Rogue one of these days. After I get a clue about what I'm doing - or at least about what I'm doing wrong.

 

[Tinker]

There are some good sized searun cutthroat down your way. I wonder if that might have been what you saw. That season is coming right up.

Hadn't thought about that. Could be. Maybe. Couldn't quite get a clear view of the colors, just something big with a dark back. I want them to be steelhead, but that don't make 'em so...

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

It may be true that fish don't care about heavier line when fishing hardware but keep in mind that a spinner or spoon will fish differently with 8 lb leader than it will with 15 lb leader. Keep that in mind when changing up from winter to summer.

 

[Tinker]

Thanks. Sorry I'll miss the upcoming Stalker's meeting. Too late to make plans, but I hope it's a great success and y'all have a really Big time. Maybe next year.

 

[Tinker]

It may be true that fish don't care about heavier line when fishing hardware but keep in mind that a spinner or spoon will fish differently with 8 lb leader than it will with 15 lb leader. Keep that in mind when changing up from winter to summer.

Wiil do. I'll test and tune them in the lake before scaring-off all the fish in the rivers.

 

[BlueWater]

Don't test them in Garrison Lake, dude. Invasive mussels in that lake. Floras, too, if I remember rightly.

If you run into strays in the Elk/Sixes, you'll be better off with light lines, 6 -8lb, but you'll have a hard time finding any in those rivers this time of year. The Chetco used to have sumer steelies and might be worth a short drive, but it's up right now from the rain. Maybe next weekend or next week.