Just bringing a buddy and a 5 weight tomorrow heading up to the sky/Wallace. ( 2 weeks ago snapped my 8 weight, ouch!) So far this year has been semi good, taking 1 big dolly and a few salmon earlier in the season. I don't have my sink tip right now so no swinging! The last 2 outings I have been drifting yarny's x2 ( egg patterns) with an indicator on the float line. zip O. Is there another pattern I should be trying with the nymph indicator setup? Perhaps a pink marabou dead drift???? I don't know. Big Black stone with rubber legs? Just want my first winter run steel. Is it that my guides keep icing up every other cast and the fish agree it's to damn cold? Any help from a steel slayer would be sweeeeeeet! Thanks.

i'd fish a pink beadheaded worm or a small eggsucking leech with a lifter or cab egg dropper.

I have the esl's. What is a lifter? And would the Marabou imitate the worm pattern aswell as the leech pattern? Thanks

Downturned eye, steel eyed pink & white bunny leach has been a good producer for winter brats, either high stick drifted no indicator or the 90 degree indicator rig.

I think nymphing a winter steelhead rig on a 5 wt will be a challenge. I'm not a nympher, but if I were to try it I'd fish an ESL like D3 said and a glow bug or bead or Lifter or Caballero, etc. as a dropper.

For ease of casting a nymphing rig I set up a line last year that I think will better serve the purpose. For my 8 wt rod I took a WF10F line and cut off the front 8' and formed a loop. The front taper doesn't turn over the split shot or weighted nymph so well, so removing it and letting the heavier belly section do the heavy work seems pretty functional. I just need to put some time into it and see how well it works out.

Sg

I cast a 5 w stiff, It isn't as bad casting as I thought it would be. Alittle tough getting the line up off the water but not bad for I only need 30 feet max typically to dead drift a hole or slot. I use an interesting mend technique taught to me by my brother to get 100 foot drifts with my fly line. I do miss my 8 weight, not as much work to get the weighted fly's out there.

www.troutbeads.com

Mottled orange, natural roe, pearl pink and bubble gum pink. 10 mil with an 8 mil dropper or glo bug. Setup with split shot 12-18" above the bead which is pegged 2.5 inches above a #4 hook. You want it to just tick the bottom. 15+ fish on this rig so far this year.

I like those esl's done with the trout beads

I typically run double yarn patterns with number 7 split, with a thingamabobber!

I prefer to Nymph Fish for Steel Head. Have done pretty well over the past couple of years. I moved out here from Montana about 5 years ago. Went into a Fly shop and asked how to catch Steelhead, the guy gave me some good advice and told me to fish the same way we did in Montana for trout. I prefer to fish a big fly on top (Kilowat, Egg sucking leach, Etc) and drop an egg pattern. Have done much better using this technique than swinging. Yet to catch a steel head swinging flies. I have caught plenty of other salmon, dollies, trout swinging just no Steel yet. Those thingamabobber really have allowed me to drift nymph some big flies. Just bought some eggs from trout beads per Coley G's suggestion thanks and hopefully the floods wont last too long.

Ive always had a dilema with fishing beads, theres something I dont like about my hook being below my bead by a couple inches. Im not sure why, I guess I think I would miss a lot of fish, but I havnt used beads long enough to really test that theory. Do any of you guys perfer fishing beads over glo bugs, glue eggs....ect? I also agree that thingamabobbers are the best indacators out there! Just order 5 packs of the XLs.

I prefer Beads over glo bugs. Pegged 2.5 to 3 inches above a # 4 octopuss. When your indicator goes down set the hook, no different than having a glo bug right on the hook. I have had more success on Beads then generic looking glo bugs. Yarnys are my second option. Have you ever tied your own Floats? I have been using Thingamabobbers alot and am finding I dont like them as much as hand tied yarn indicators. Just my 2 cents!

Funny that others know and use the Thingamabobber. I randomly ran into them in a fly shop in BC last summer and picked a couple up. I love them... and I've tried a lot of commercial and homemade indicators.

I have yet to fish the bead but I can attest to their ability to catch fish. Pretty f'ing cool actually. And Coley has made me a firm believer on the importance of different beads. Put them in the water when you get them and compare different ones. Then do it again in different water conditions. It is an interesting experiment.

I think nymph fishing with indicators is a lot of fun. The feeling of sticking a fish hard when the indicator goes under (or goes ballistic!) is so exciting. I think one of my favorite fishing memories of 2008 is watching my mom's thingamabobber rip diaganally through the water as a big rainbox slide over in a fast-moving slot and engulfed a large stonefly nymph. Reel screamer!

The hook is below the bead for the same reason the FnP has his special Kenai baitholder. Just trying to reduce the possibility of fish swallowing the hook with the bead. I've been using troutbeads for several years, and prefer them over globugs. I'm not a fan of troutbead's leader wrap method for locating the bead above the hook. The beads seem to easily cut through the tippet material, so I've been snelling small amounts of yarn onto the leader/tippet and then letting the bead slide down onto the yarn. Ends up looking like a little corkie-and-yarn drift rig.

I have tied my own indicators for years and recently discovered the thingamabobber, my buddie brought them back from the Clearwater last fall. I guess they were all the rage out there, I had my reservations at first about putting a balloon on my line but then I tried them and they float a hell of a lot better than any indecators I have ever tied. I am not a purist by any stretch, just like to catch fish and prefer a flyrod to fishing with spinning rods or baitcasters,Then I started seeing them in all the Flyshops around here. The forecast for next week is looking sweet so hopefully the flooding will be short lived and we can be fishing by later next week. So far this year has been really slow for me on the local rivers and I am hoping a fresh batch of steel rides the high water up. I just registered to this forum and I like seeing the Fly fishing link.

Good Luck

Mania

A nail knot using 20-30lb mono helps keep the bead in place above the hook as well. Some prefer to let the bead slide freely up and down the leader. I like it pegged in place with a toothpick. I think it is super key to use a very light mono/fluoro leader, 6lb to 8lb at the most, to let the bead move like a real egg in the subtle currents. Thicker test really stiffens the action of the bead/glo bug.

I like mottled beads in clear water with lots of light and clear/bright beads in dirtier water or lower light conditions. As Aaron said, experiment and don't be afraid to try some weird stuff. The chartreuse 10mil with a blood dot has taken a lot of fish!

This is old info but.... last winter on the Hoh (Feb 2008) noticed a fly guy fighting a nice fish out of a DB. The set up was a straight forward enough an 8 wt. & floating line about a 8' leader strike indicator set @ 6', but here is the strange part.

There was a big red egg/bead about 7 or 8mm pinned on the line about 8" above a 1/16 oz. barbell headed rabbit fur jig.

Dude landed a nice 16-17 lb. buck on it, I have no clue why was the egg pinned to the leader ??



c/22

Coley,
Do you ever put the split shot between the two beads?
This has worked well for me with both beads and nymphs. A guide I fished with showed me that technique about twenty years ago.

No I can't say I have tried that. At first thought, it seems like it would kill the action of the first bead and make it drag the bottom more than you would want. I don't really like the dropper because of this either, it pulls on the first bead in funny ways that gives it an unnatural look. In small water with good vis where I know I am getting my stuff in front of the fish, I will fish the single bead. In bigger water with some color or really generic terrain, I usually go with the double rig as described previously as it searches a bit better I think.

A "big" bead for steelhead is 12mil. Small is 8mil.

I haven't found it to be an action killer. I just adjust my indicator slightly shorter when running the split in the middle to avoid dragging the bottom to much. One advantage I think it does offers is that it gets things down into the zone a little quick in faster runs.
I agree with you though, sometimes running the double set-up is more hassle then it is worth.

12 mm beads.... I've got 10's. If you don't mind, what is your source for those?

I tried the split shot in-beteen the top fly and dropper a couple of times back in Montana and didn't like the drift of it, granted I was fishing (2) Nymphs but it seemed more prone to tangeling and I definetly like the top fly hugging the bottom and the dropper fly drifting up a bit. It seems like you catch more fish on the dropper almost like the bigger fly grabs the Fishes attention and then the dropper becomes irresisteible. I admit that I am a much better Trout fisherman than Steelhead but, this is somehting I have observed here and in Montana. Thanks again to ColeyG for sharing his infomation about the Eggs. I am really excited to try this technique and have put an order in last night. I will try to be as forthcoming about any information I may have to help fellow Fly fisherman out as well.

Mania

Unfortunately I haven't found a good retailer for beads in WA. I usually stock up in the summer at Mountain View Sports and Black Elk beads in Anchorage, AK. I would be willing to bet either place would ship some to ya. You can find generic beads at most craft stores and paint them yourself which is a fine option as well.

The secret weapon is the 12mil faceted in orange or red, add a little white or orange nail polish for a mottled look.

The thing I like about the weight above the first bead is that you are fishing two different parts of the water column. I like the bead rolling on the bottom, and the dropper to ride a little higher. Each cast is a little different with regard to how your gear gets pushed around, and sometimes each part of your rig is a little too one way over the other. By keeping one low and one high I feel like I am at least creating the chance for one to be right on the money.

Cheers.

Thanks guys, this has helped quite a bit. However how does one go about fishing two beads? In the past I usually fish a larger bead head rubber legged nymph with an egg dropper(2ft or so of leader tied to the shank of the nymph hook). The nymph helps it get down but now Im thinking it might kill the action of the egg. And second, does color really matter a ton to steelhead, I was always kind of under the impression that they mostly bite on site and werent very picky, as long as you have a good presentation?

With the bead as the dropper in your nymph rig, the bead will still be free to move about the current When you drop something off of a bead setup, I think that hurts the action of the bead as it is being dropped off of. Sometimes that is worth the advantage of getting something else in the water, sometimes it isn't.

Color and size both matter. When I am fishing with another person or two and working down a run in a line, someone farther down the line often pulls a fish out on a different color after the first few have worked it really well.

Sometimes it seems like the big beads turn fish off and smaller ones work better. Sometimes it is just the opposite, like the smaller sizes aren't worth their time and the big ones turn them one. Like with flies, have a few you can fish confidently, and then mix it up from time to time. It is all greek to me.

Not exactly purist fly fishing here, which is why I often fish this rig on a gear rod as well.

A few bead eaters from this season.

Coley,

I'm not much of a nympher either so bear with me on my questions.

By ticking the bottom, doesn't that reflect on your indicator by pausing, skipping, etc? Can't that be confusing with the the take?

If that were the case, it seems like you'd be either take a chance by missing takes by only setting the hook on an obvious take or you would be setting the hook on every subtle movement hoping for a fish but finding nothing 99% of the time?

Or are the actual fish takes substantially different than the split shot ticking the bottom?

After fishing beads for awihle, from my experience, that ticking of the bottom is perfically fine and is what you want. I can tell the difference between ticking and a strike. But for maximum effeciancy i set on any drop of my indicator thats is prenounced. Ticks are easy to notice after many outings with my nymph set up. I have noticed a few fish caught on just a minimal amount of drop with the indicator. Just be redy to set the second that thing goes down. If your not ticking bottom and loosing beads and re rigging every 15th cast or so, your not deep enough.

The way I like to fish'em has the indicator bobbing and ticking quite a bit. Getting the weight just right so that you are ticking instead of sticking is key. Personally, I don't like to have to re-rig this setup very often. I call it the 20 minute rig, even with pre-tied bead leaders. In reality it only takes a few minutes to re-rig, but every minute rigging you aren't fishing eh.

As with all bobber fishing, the fish are usually fairly easy to tell from the rocks, but not always. A grab is usually faster than a typical hang-up and it comes on a different rhythm than the ticking. Often the indicator will have a pulse to it as well. If you are watching your indicator and it sticks on a tick, it's likely bottom, etc. Like a wise man once told me, hook sets are free, however, everything comes at a cost and unnecessary yanks aren't without consequence

The type and size of your indicator or float plays a big part as well. I like a little more substantial indicator. Raven makes some great ultralight center pin and fly rod float/indicators.

You don't need much of a "hook set" in this type of fishing, a quick but gentle sweep is more than enough to drag the trailing hook into a lip. I have found I miss more fish and wind up with less solid hookups with a more violent tug. Another advantage to a slow sweep is when you aren't pulling on a fish, your gear is still in the zone and gets back to working straight away.

Depending on the bottom structure, sometimes there is no tick, and your indicator should just be moving a little slower than the current.

Check out the end of this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHGDaoQ1QdE&feature=related

Not a great example, but kinda fun anyhow.

Go play around, see what works for you and report back!

Coley, could you draw out your setup and post it up here so I can copy it?

Sure, just let me get my crayons and some toilet paper. I'll be right back.

Bend over, I will show ya. Bassturd.

this is one set up I use.

I'm still of the opinion that a nymph/bead setup under a small float while using a SPINNING rod would be a really killer way to hook steelhead.

There are just those times that the fish are really keyed in on flies, and not big pink things that us gear guys like to toss at them.

It seems that the fly guides I know that run the nymph/bead setup get quite a few hook ups per trip - a little more than the regular gear guides.

Now, actual landing the fish seems to be low, but I bet that is because of the fly rod.

One of these days, I'd like to try that nymph/bead setup by with a spinning rod. Exact casts to where you want your stuff to go, and once you get a fish on, it's game on.

Why are you fishing with two indicators, BCB?

Those are channelbobs, not indicators.

I knew I would get asked this question. Typically I don't. The area I was fishing was really big and some fast moving water from 2 creeks were dumping into the zone I was fishing. I wanted to make sure my rig was staying at exactly the height I wanted. I found 1 indicator on my fly line and one just down on my 25 lb maxum seemed to keep me up in the bigger fast water otherwise brings one down with the current.

Yes, you did say that. (I edited it a bit)

That's a lot of posts for just over two months, slow down... you are starting to annoy me.

PS: You screwed up the whole page with your oversized photo, ...you gonna fix it or you want me to?