STEELHEAD HELP

[creditmaster]

Hi guys.So I've been steel heading for about 4 years now but not much in the fall and i was wondering how the steelhead would behave in extremely mild weather that we have had for the last few months as usually it is 0 degrees as i have not had much success on some of the west GTA rivers with this mild weather.

Any advice would be helpful

 

Thanks

Imran

[MJL]

Fall is my most favourite time of the year...Autumn steelhead is what I live for

 

When the water temps are up, I generally look for faster flowing water in rivers or places that slow them down on their way upstream - Of course large pools will always hold resting fish too. With warmer temperatures, fish generally have no problems blasting up river (unless they are stopped or slowed down/stopped by large dams, low water levels or extremely fast water).

 

In the fall when temps are up, casting hardware or swinging flies is my preferred method of fishing. The strikes are just so savage.

 

In my experience, when the temps are up, I catch more fish on hardware than I do drifting roe, beads, pink worms, etc below a float. Only when the temps drop do I see the opposite. Of course there are often exceptions to that and I normally carry both a float rod and a spinning rod on the river. There have been some days in winter where Kwikfish or spoons have out-produced everything else. And there have been many warmer days in fall where fish wouldn't touch anything other than roe.

 

I carry a good assortment of hardware to the river - Spoons, Kwikfish/Flatfish, spinners, hotshots, various cranks all get used depending on the conditions. Here's a pic of one of my main hardware boxes that I carry with me:

 

[misfish]

This guy ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ knows his stuff. Great post Mike. Even though I smelt SKUCK this morning.LOL

[okumasheffield]

Wish I knew all these!

[OhioFisherman]

I am not sure if the shortening of daylight hours or water temp is the trigger for their movement, I avoided going out on real cold days, but still managed to catch them when the temps were in the 50's and 60's.

 

The warmer weather may still have them at the mouths of the rivers? They were not usually what I was targeting though.

[creditmaster]

Fall is my most favourite time of the year...Autumn steelhead is what I live for

 

When the water temps are up, I generally look for faster flowing water in rivers or places that slow them down on their way upstream - Of course large pools will always hold resting fish too. With warmer temperatures, fish generally have no problems blasting up river (unless they are stopped or slowed down/stopped by large dams, low water levels or extremely fast water).

 

In the fall when temps are up, casting hardware or swinging flies is my preferred method of fishing. The strikes are just so savage.

 

In my experience, when the temps are up, I catch more fish on hardware than I do drifting roe, beads, pink worms, etc below a float. Only when the temps drop do I see the opposite. Of course there are often exceptions to that and I normally carry both a float rod and a spinning rod on the river. There have been some days in winter where Kwikfish or spoons have out-produced everything else. And there have been many warmer days in fall where fish wouldn't touch anything other than roe.

 

I carry a good assortment of hardware to the river - Spoons, Kwikfish/Flatfish, spinners, hotshots, various cranks all get used depending on the conditions. Here's a pic of one of my main hardware boxes that I carry with me:

 

perfect . thank you for the help the river i fish(starts with a c) is a smaller river so i think hardware is the way to go.any colour prefrences?

[SirCranksalot]

MJL---my pref is hardware too but the roe guys seem to be getting more fish these days.

 

I just see 1 Little Cleo in that box. Do you use them regularly? I tried my favorite classic bass/pike/walleye white Big O and managed to hook 2. But then they did the classic bass move-----jumped out of the water and spat the hook. Ever tried Big Os?

[MJL]

perfect . thank you for the help the river i fish(starts with a c) is a smaller river so i think hardware is the way to go.any colour prefrences?

 

For the most part, when steelhead are fresh and aggressive (which is usually the case in the fall), they'll hit just about anything drifting downstream or moving across the river in front of them regardless of colour. When they hit, it's just total annihilation before they cartwheel 2 ft into the air, run 50 yards downriver and cartwheel some more

 

Sometimes colour can make a difference. Last week, a K6 Skunk Kwikfish did most of the damage over the course of 2 days. I went back and forth between a myriad of different coloured Kwikfish and skunk was the only one that got me fish.

 

In terms of top picks for hardware, it's hard to go wrong with a size 1-3 silver Mepps Aglia, Blue fox Vibrax or a Panther martin. K5-K7 Kwikfish in a few colours (depending on water clarity). 1.75"-2.5" crankbaits - Rapala shad raps, Floating original rapala, Rapala countdowns and Storm hot n tots have produced well for me in the past. Keep in mind that the factory hooks on most bass/walleye crankbaits suck when it comes to steelhead and you're better off upgrading them.

 

MJL---my pref is hardware too but the roe guys seem to be getting more fish these days.

 

I just see 1 Little Cleo in that box. Do you use them regularly? I tried my favorite classic bass/pike/walleye white Big O and managed to hook 2. But then they did the classic bass move-----jumped out of the water and spat the hook. Ever tried Big Os?

 

I've used Little Cleos for steelhead quite a bit and have caught fish with them. I've had better luck with other spoons though. Last week I had to make room in the box for some spoons and spinners my friends on the West Coast sent me to try

 

They're slightly smaller versions of what they normally use on the big rivers out there - They're silver and gold plated (silver/brass for the 50/50 spoons and copper for the copper ones). I mostly plan to try swinging them on faster moving rivers like the Niagara.

 

 

I own a couple Big O's but never tried them for steelhead. I got a day off this week from work so who knows...

[OhioFisherman]

I see some wiggle warts in the box, hard to tell what size they are. Back in the day Storm made wee warts and wee steelie warts, the only difference seemed to be that the wee steelie wart had a bigger and stronger hook.

[Beavertail]

MJL, those little hammered half and half spoons look dynamite, nice little collection there.

[MJL]

This guy ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ knows his stuff. Great post Mike. Even though I smelt SKUCK this morning.LOL

 

Brian, do you need a city boy to show you how it's done?

 

I see some wiggle warts in the box, hard to tell what size they are. Back in the day Storm made wee warts and wee steelie warts, the only difference seemed to be that the wee steelie wart had a bigger and stronger hook.

 

Those are the standard Wiggle Warts. I had a few of the wee warts at one time but the fallen trees got them

 

 

MJL, those little hammered half and half spoons look dynamite, nice little collection there.

 

I tried them this weekend without luck. They don't wobble as easily as a Little Cleo due to the flatter profile - They aren't as curved as Little Cleos. I'm guessing they'll work a lot better in faster water on the swing (which is where I plan to mostly use them). Around Christmas time, I'm hoping to get another box of spoons in the bigger 2/5oz and 2/3oz sizes

[misfish]

Brian, do you need a city boy to show you how it's done?

 

There are new signs posted Mike.

 

 

 

 

 

No city boys allowed. LOL

 

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