Update to: Hooked.

[jesse202505]

been wanting to post this, but last weekend I went out to try my new fly rod for my 3rd time on eagle creek and ended up landing one coho and losing another. finally landed my first one, I was surprised that it even took my fly. it wasn't the best looking fish I had seen that day but hey atleast I finally landed my first one! which i released unharmed. can't wait for the steelhead to start showing up. time to tie some winter flies :thumb:
any advice for popular steel head flies? also id like to get a book to read about flyfishing steelhead not trout, and that also tells about what flies work best for the time of year.
Ive read an article a while back on a book called "bugwater" and it looked very interesting, talked about flies and patterns as well as how to fish them, the book has really nice detailed pictures of the actual flies, the author is a flyfisherman and took the pictures himself. has anyone read this book or heard about it?

 

[Moe]

Great job getting a big fish on the fly! Is that the eagle creek on the Clackamas?

 

[everett464]

Bugwater is one of the best books about fly presentation around - Arlen Thomason isn't just a fly fisherman, he's a retired molecular biologist who decided to put his scientific approach to work examining how trout see bugs - its fascinating, beautiful, and informative. It will not likely do much for your steelhead efforts, though.

Dec Hogan's "A Passion for Steelhead," is likely the best book about fly-fishing for chrome that I have read, but beware, it WILL make you want to spend outrageous sums of money on spey equipment.

As far as flies go, here is what I use:
Nymphing: either an unweighted Glo-Bug 18 inches behind split shot, behind an indicator; or a tungsten barbell weighted Glo-Bug directly behind your indicator. I have had luck with Mega princes tied on #2 standard hooks as well.
Swinging: MOAL Leech - 2-3 inches long - black; black with a pink/blue/chartreuse butt; purple. Intruders - these are going to do much the same thing the MOAL leech does, colors are all over the place - I like rusty orange models and purple models. Standard steelhead wets - I like an all purple; pink and purple; red body with orange butt and accents; greent butted skunk; silver hilton.

Steelhead are not feeding to a hatch, and they're usually not even all that particular. Find the steelhead, then find where in the column they are going to take a fly. Somedays it will be swinging up high with a traditional wet, somedays swinging down low with a big articulated fly, and somedays nymphing the bottom. Clear water calls for brighter colors, darker water means darker flies. Take it easy on the dressing - flash is sexy to us, but not necessarily to steelhead - they have good eyes, and can see more than most fisherman give them credit for. If you're only going to get two or three flies, start with a purple MOAL Leech, a Green Butted Skunk, and a fire orange Glo-Bug.

Ev

 

[jesse202505]

Great job getting a big fish on the fly! Is that the eagle creek on the Clackamas?

Thanks.Hopefully it wasn't just beginners luck haha. But I can now say that the control and feel of your fly line, especially with a fish on is far better than spin fishing...! I'll hopefully be going to salmon river in two weeks and I'm definitely taking my fly rod.
I have a 4 piece rod and its definitely a plus when it come to taking it with you. Packed in its case I hang it off my backpack and it doesn't even feel like its their. And yes eagle creek off of clackamas.

 

[jesse202505]

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated. I'll have to try "Passion for steelhead" sounds like what i m looking for. And I actually caught them using a orange with a little bit of red globug I tied myself. I'll have to look into making the other ones you suggested. I'd rather tie them myself over buying them at the store. Unless there hard to tie.

 

[TimberTodd]

Congrats on the silver Jesse. I just finished reading Fly Fishing For Summer Steelhead by John Shewey. Its a short book and I gleaned a lot of good info out of it. I am now reading The Complete Steelheader by John Larison. Someone had recommended it in a post last winter. I too am anxious for winter steelhead to arrive.

 

[everett464]

Tying Steelhead flies isn't going to save you a ton of money, usually, but it is fun, and most of the patterns are pretty easy - I buy intruders almost always (because they are a bear to tie) , and MOAL leeches when I'm felling lazy. The rest of them are not complicated to tie, and relatively inexpensive once you break the materials down per fly.

I did a cost analysis of tying my own MOAL leeches just last week, and came up with this:
$1.53 for materials + $50 labor (my standard hourly rate x .25 hours) = $51.53 per fly.

 

[eugene1]

Great buck 'ho there, jesse! That's a really cool fish, I like those buck bulbous noses.

everett, my bro is the cheapest person I know. If he can save a penny by doing it himself he will. It turns out your hourly rate is exactly $0.00 if you are not working on a money making job, from how he breaks it down. LOL.

Best,

 

[jesse202505]

Congrats on the silver Jesse. I just finished reading Fly Fishing For Summer Steelhead by John Shewey. Its a short book and I gleaned a lot of good info out of it. I am now reading The Complete Steelheader by John Larison. Someone had recommended it in a post last winter. I too am anxious for winter steelhead to arrive.

does the complete steelheader talk about both winter and summer steelhead? sounds like I might be getting more than one book. what river do you fish steel, if you dont mind me asking. not asking for specific location or hole just the river. thanks

 

[jesse202505]

Tying Steelhead flies isn't going to save you a ton of money, usually, but it is fun, and most of the patterns are pretty easy - I buy intruders almost always (because they are a bear to tie) , and MOAL leeches when I'm felling lazy. The rest of them are not complicated to tie, and relatively inexpensive once you break the materials down per fly.

I did a cost analysis of tying my own MOAL leeches just last week, and came up with this:
$1.53 for materials + $50 labor (my standard hourly rate x .25 hours) = $51.53 per fly.

well thats a $51.53 fly that no one else can buy haha. I like tying flies and jigs, It feels more like a trophy steelhead when you catch them on home made gear

 

[jesse202505]

Great buck 'ho there, jesse! That's a really cool fish, I like those buck bulbous noses.

everett, my bro is the cheapest person I know. If he can save a penny by doing it himself he will. It turns out your hourly rate is exactly $0.00 if you are not working on a money making job, from how he breaks it down. LOL.

Best,

thanks it put up a good fight that lasted about ten minutes before he gave up. crazy thing is it seemed like he didn't even know he was hooked until I pulled on the line again. Then he went nuts!

 

[TimberTodd]

I spend 99% of my river fishing time on the Wilson. The final chapter of the Shewey book is on winters and talks about some different flies used and swinging with sinking lines. The Larison book looks to cover all aspects of steelhead on the fly. I just started into the Larison book last night.

 

[jesse202505]

I spend 99% of my river fishing time on the Wilson. The final chapter of the Shewey book is on winters and talks about some different flies used and swinging with sinking lines. The Larison book looks to cover all aspects of steelhead on the fly. I just started into the Larison book last night.

The larison book looks more like what I'm looking for.. Let me know if it turns out to be good I'd appreciate it.