OK, most of our rivers are blown so I'm curious how you modify your presentation during winter.

I'm not talking Spring for nates - this is Dec-Feb for mostly hatchery fish.

I've taken two approaches and each has worked sporadically.

One is to target deeper slower pools (5-8' deep), use lighter sinktips, and cast slightly upstream (essentially a Grease Line presentation with a sinktip) to get the fly to a fishable level by the time it's in front of the fish. Works OK, but deathly boring.

Another is to focus on the near-shore travelling water - 2-3' deep. Riffly water, scallops, logs. Anything that creates a change in depth/flow along shore. Still using really light tips.

I've had the best luck with this, even under low water conditions. You can (1) slow the swing of the fly and (2) know that you're in the "strike" range of the steelhead even with your light tips as the variable of depth is minimized.

A caveat - I'm fishing larger rivers with wider floodplains. This might not work as well on smaller rivers like the NF Stilly or Pilchuck.

I'm sure there are others cold water tricks - what works for you?

On the same train of thought

How many times have you seen a gear/fly fisherman standing waist deep in a run (You can laugh at 95% of them this time of year)? It’s always fun to catch a steelhead behind someone like *****

Today I went and look at the Skagit in Mt Vernon there is a plunking bar there (need I say that the river is up?) and the water is just about in the plunker’s parking lot. Those guys are casting out as far as they can with the first 25 feet off the bank being at 1 to 2 foot vis seems to me those fish would be traveling next to shore in that area since it’s a big bend in that area

Now I'm not saying to go out plunking; but this hold's up when fly fishing up river too

Brian,

When you say cold water, I'm thinking the low and clear conditions caused by dry cold weather, with water temp at 36-39 deg. F. I've had my best luck then by sticking with "low and slow" presentations that are the stock in trade for winter fly fishing, and one other thing. I think steelhead become dour under low, clear water conditions whether summer or winter, so I also try to find a place where the fish are undisturbed, and more willing to move a few feet to strike. I've had a few good days fishing low clear water with the air temp not too much above freezing fishing that way.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Yes, mostly the low/clear/cold and 30s that is our typical winter conditions.

I used to look to the first mentioned slower pools because of the security of water depth and the fact that the even slower water at the bottom of these pools requires very little energy expenditure for the steelhead to maintain their lie. As you said, they get a bit dour and don't want to move much.

Why I prefer the shallower "edge" fishing these days is that, even if there are fewer steelhead in these lies, the steelhead travelling/resting in these lies are more active and more likely to strike a fly.

I'd rarely fished the shallow edges and riffles in winter, preferring to put on a heavier tip and wade thru these lies to cast out to into the main current. That being said, my hatchery winter success rate has been less than exemplary.

I noticed, too, that quite a few sidedrifters on the Skagit and Sky were chucking their eggs & slinkies into 1-2' of water (essentially behind me after they drifted past ).

Just something to think about. The guys doing this were hardcore fishermen - there must be some reason they're throwing their baits in that close to shore.

DS

You know this is tough reading about this because I have 6 more weeks to go ?

I testify to the shallowness of the side drifter's approach.

Three years ago, I fished with the guys from Three Rivers Marine and a buddy, and we caught all but two of our eight fish in water less than three feet deep.

The other two came from deeper water near cover. I even had one steelhead chase the bait across the surface to the boat before it backed off.

One trip isn't much more than an anecdote, but it does make you wonder, especially if you're laid up...

Keith

H2H - yeah, i know.

About as much fun as when my fishing buddies call me (@work) from the OP when they arrive @ 0dark30, then again 2 hrs later to brag about their Tour de Force on Bogie Brats.

Just makes it sweeter when you finally get back on the water.

later,

DS

Now that's fun

When you see that "V" coming at ya

When the weather is like this I just stay home and rest these old bones.

Jim

Just wait till the rivers drop a little; from a phone call that I received last night said there coho in the Cascade and fresh Steelhead

BrianL,

I don't often look to the traveling lanes as a place to fish unless I think the weather and water conditions make it an odds on probability that steelhead are actually traveling. I don't think most steelhead do much traveling under low, clear, and cold water conditions because their metabolism is reduced quite a bit under those conditions. Of course, there are always exceptions, and I cannot forget a banner day on the NF Stilly years ago with 36 deg. F water. One hatchery cookie cutter after another moved the several feet necessary to intercept my fly. I just stood there in awe and reeled them in.

One of my favorite spots on the Skagit, aka Secret Spot, is both a holding and traveling lane about 3 or 4' deep, but covered with enough riffled surface to make fish feel secure. It's been productive when the river is low, clear, and cold, and up to medium high and colored. And the interesting thing is that I've never hooked a fish further out in the "steelhead looking" water that appears to be the right speed and depth.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Guess the gist of it is that I've come around to thinking that hatchery fish, given their obsessive drive to get "home", travel even in less than ideal conditions. Maybe not as many or as quickly as during high water periods, but some are still moving upriver.

Additionally, these travelling lanes are often ideal spots to present a fly. So, if there ~is~ a fish there, you have a better chance of getting a take.

FWIW - this is just a theory I'm playing with after years of terrible luck on winter hatchery fish on a fly.

It's also a distillation of what i've surmised from the types of water my friends and I have managed to hook winter hatchery steelhead in over the past couple years and what it suggests about the steelhead found there.

I may be crazy, but trying to figure steelhead out is half the fun, right?

DS

When you find out will you tell me ?

Are you kidding?? I'll give you a signed copy of my BOOK "Inside the Mind of a Steelhead"

Couple of things I do in high and or very cold water is fish just off the beach .. which usually means my spey rods stay on/in the car.

In both these situations the fish appear to huge the bank, and I do mean right off the water's edge.

What i don't see mentioned here is the use of full sinking lines. This is when these fellows really show their merit. A tip line will tend to get forced right back to the surface by current flow. A full sinker will too, but at a much slower pace.

The other thing with cold water (for me) has been to reduce the size of the fly(s) I'm useing. In cold water a #10 hook is as big as it usually gets. If a two fly rig, a #10 followed by a #12. Sounds darned small, but the fish tend to hook themselves and you can control/land a large fish on a very small hook (save for very fast water or the bugger desides to go airborne on you )