Hi. My name is Phish. I have a serious problem. I am addicted to steelhead fishing. This habit has lead me to lost time at work, college and with other people (not that all of the above mentioned are worth spending alot time with or at). Why cant there be more time in a day or week? Or maybe more daylight during the winter? I need more time so I can feed my addiction.

On to my real comment/question.....

Reading steelhead water. High water conditions and low, clear water conditions. Tips and such.

I have heard tons of opinions on where and why steelhead lay in certain spots. I believe that reading water is what seperates the REAL steelhead fisherman from just plain ol' fisherman. Since I mainly drift fish, I will tell of my experiances relating to drift gear fishing.

My favorite spots during high water conditions are shallow, slower areas around seams (current seams are just plain fishy anyways). In low water conditions I move toward the shallow waters along the deep pools. However, this DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL RIVERS! I find it a pain trying to read rivers that I am not familiar with. The seams and pockets that I would fish on one river end up being duds on other rivers.

My question, some general guidlines for reading drift fishing water. Do some people just have a knack for dissecting a river into pieces where steelhead lay? On a river that I know how to read and know where fish lay, I catch a large number of steelhead but on an unfamiliar river I usually end up with lost gear and a skunk.