Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
The most common steelhead mistake is casting past the fish. A spey rod makes 60 or 70 feet easy, so anglers throw across heavy water that holds nothing instead of fishing the soft inside seam 20 or 30 feet out, where the fish are actually sitting.
Brian Silvey is an Oregon steelhead guide who started as a commercial fly tier as a kid and has guided since the early 1980s, running a winter fishery on the Sandy River and a summer and fall fishery on the Deschutes.
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Are you overfishing the water with a spey rod?
Two-handed rods made distance easy, and distance is now the most common way anglers waste a run. A client put on a small ripple that needs a 30 or 40 foot cast will routinely throw 60 or 70, sending the fly past the heavy water into the rapids and swinging it back through nothing. The fix is to start short at the head of a run, then add line from the same standing position, a couple of strips at a time, until you reach the distance the water actually calls for. Only then start stepping down. Most anglers get locked into one comfortable distance, usually five to eight pulls of shooting line, and fish it everywhere regardless of what the run is telling them.
What casting angle should you use for steelhead?
Casting angle is set by water temperature and what you want the fly to do. In warmer summer and fall water, fish move aggressively to the fly, so quartering down about 45 degrees with a single spey or a snap-T puts the fly under tension immediately and keeps it tracking from the far end of the swing all the way in. In colder water in November and December, a squarer cast across the current gives the fly time to sink or slow down before it comes under tension. Trees and brush behind you often dictate the angle whether you like it or not, and a double spey followed by a single mend puts a big curve in the line that costs you the swing.
How do you swing a fly for steelhead with a single-hand rod?
A single-hand rod can fish a swing well, it just needs more mending. With brush behind you, use a roll cast or a single-hand version of the single spey to get the fly above you and quarter it out. Because a shorter rod cannot reposition as much line, expect to mend immediately after the cast and then again with smaller mends to keep the line clean. The limitation only bites past 60 or 70 feet, which is a distance you were never going to reach with trees at your back anyway.
How much should you mend when swinging for steelhead?
The goal of mending is a swing that holds one consistent speed all the way through, because that steady, predictable movement is what triggers a steelhead's grab. After the quartered cast, mend right away, holding the rod at an upward angle and coming in behind the line so it stays straight rather than developing a curve. Overmending is as costly as not mending: throwing a second and third mend piles slack on the fly and stops it tracking. Every spot is different, and a rock or a boil may demand a second mend where the next spot does not. Watch the line, and if the swing looks fast or wrong, fix it with a small mend that does not move the fly.
Does mending change through a run?
Mending changes from the top of a run to the bottom. The head end sits in faster, heavier water broken up by current and rocks, so it needs the most mending. By the middle of the run one mend plus a small correction usually holds the swing. By the tailout, if you have thrown the right angle, the current may be consistent enough that no mend is needed at all. Anglers who mend the same way at every step through a run are fighting the water in two of the three sections.
Should you set the hook when a steelhead grabs your fly?
Lifting the rod the instant you feel a steelhead grab pulls the fly straight out of its mouth, the same way a premature lift takes a dry fly away from a rising trout. The fish needs time to turn on the fly. One way to build in that delay is to hold a six to eight inch loop of line lightly in your fingers, not clamped against the cork, so it can slip when the fish turns. If you are the kind of angler who latches down the moment you feel weight, do not hold a loop at all. When you do set, do not lift straight up: with a long two-handed rod, that fails to generate tension. Lift and load toward the bank once you feel the weight of the fish, then raise the rod tip and see what the fish does next.
What flies should be in a fall steelhead box?
Build the box by depth rather than by pattern. In the summer and early fall, a floating line and a traditional wet fly fished just below the surface covers mornings and evenings: skunks, green-butt skunks, purple and pink combinations in size four or six, and a size six muddler minnow with its gold body, spun deer hair head and turkey wing, which is subdued but pushes a lot of water in faster current. Add smaller marabou patterns with a slimmer silhouette, then a two-and-a-half to three inch leech or marabou, then a four-inch fly with larger eyes for late fall and early winter. That progression gives you something that fishes a few inches down, a couple of feet down, three or four feet down, and four to six feet down.
When is your steelhead fly too heavy?
A fly that constantly bangs bottom and hangs up is not fishing the run. Snagging repeatedly disrupts the swing and, beyond being no fun, blows the water you were trying to cover, so drop to a lighter fly that swings all the way through cleanly. The same logic applies to sink tips: on the summer and fall river, mornings are fished with a floating line and a wet fly just under the surface, and once the sun is up, light sink tips get the fly down a little so the fish are not looking into the glare. Water temperature is the organizing variable, colored water and cold water both calling for depth, while clear warm water rewards a smaller, more traditional profile.
Key takeaways
- Start short at the head of a run and lengthen from a fixed position before stepping down, rather than opening with the longest cast you can make.
- Quarter down about 45 degrees in warm water to get the fly under tension immediately; cast squarer across in cold water to slow or sink the fly first.
- Mend to hold one consistent swing speed, and stop mending once the fly is tracking - extra mends pile slack.
- Expect the most mending at the head of a run, one mend and a fix in the middle, and possibly none at the tailout.
- Hold a six to eight inch loop lightly in your fingers to delay the set until the fish turns; if you cannot release it, do not hold one.
- Lift and load toward the bank rather than straight up when setting with a two-handed rod.
- Stock the box by depth: surface wets, small marabou, a two-and-a-half to three inch leech, and a four-inch weighted fly for late fall.
