It’s one of the toughest situations in steelheading, but it happens quite a lot.
Most often it’s early or late in the day, and light is relatively low. Feeling safe, a steelhead tucks himself in right against the bank. You make a long cast (because even though the fish are in tight, that’s what we do, right?) and maybe a mend or two, and let it swing. Your line straightens out below you and you think “well, nothing on that cast”. Just as you’re ready to strip in and make your next cast, yank! There he is, right on the bank.
What Not To Do
What you do next has a lot to do with whether or not you catch that fish. If you’re like your fearless editor, you probably can’t contain yourself long enough to wait for the heavy pull, so you set, and…nothing. That fish was stationary and your fly swung right onto his nose, and you pulled it away from him when he ate.
What You Should Try To Do, Probably
Theories abound on the best way to actually hook steelhead that eat on the hangdown, but the most commonly-accepted idea is that you need to let him eat. And eat. And eat some more. And then finally turn downriver with your fly, at which point you finally feel the deep pull and can set your hook right into the corner of his mouth. If you don’t wait long enough before you set, he hasn’t turned yet and you’re trying to set the hook into his nose, which is a pretty low-probability proposition.
What Do You Think?
Since we look at evil web statistics frequently from our evil lair at the top of the Space Needle, we know that a lot of you like fishing for steelhead. What’s your take? What should you do when you get that hangdown grab? Leave us a comment and let us know!
Fred Telleen says
Remain calm and whatever you do, don’t screw it up!
Gordon Morse says
this is where most atlantic salmon take a fly….and the advice is to slowly raise the rod, or “lift into the fish”, so that if the fish does not turn and set the hook in the scissors, then the angle of the line will set the hook in the nose.
mikenutto says
this has been the hardest part of dealing with a stelhead so far .they seem to wait to grab the fly at the last minute ,I have purposefuly set my drag as low as i can just enough so i dont free spool .Some times i fish to the end with a loop in my finger sometimes i dont that deepends on the water im fishing ,i still want the drag as low as possible .As i get to the end of the swing I wait now every time just for that bump.Dec hogan says one thing in his book that should stick with you here let him run !let him take the fly be ready everytime at the end of the swing .I also strip in different because ive had the buggers come up on the strip and give me a tug .i strip it in and leave it loose on my fingers .I also know a guy who pops the fly at the end of the swing by pulling the running line and then lets it go almost like a jigging action ,and this has worked for me once so far .
Dan says
I have noticed that there I are at least two(2) types of “takes” on the hang-down. The first take is a legimiate “take with a turn”. In that sitsuation the take is an aggressive take with an instant hook-up, same as if the fish took at the 45 degree angle. The technique I use in this sitsuation is to simply let the fish hook itself and run. The second “take” is not really a “Take” at all. It is a sitsuation where the fish has probally followed the fly, the fly stops, the fish eye-balls the fly, and then decides to investigates further. Since the fish does not have any hands,it investigates with the only equipment available; it’s mouth. The fish opens it’s mouth , sucks the fly in, and “feels” the fly in the same manner as a shopper picking up a tomato at the market to determine if it is worth further scrutinity. In some instances the fish is going to be successful in spitting the fly. But it is my experiance that if you do NOTHING the fish will eventually hook itself in the process of investigating, reinvestigating,etc. After the third “bump” the fish usually sences that something is “wrong”, tries to swim away and gets hooked. When I feel the fish turn and start to swim away, I set the hook with a “side-arm” swing ( tip of rod staying relatives close to the water). This technique has resulted in numerous hook-up on the hang-down. Conversely, I tried for 10 years to hook fish on the hang-down with a dry fly like strike with poor results.
Bob Saks says
You are right on with letting the steelhead eat the fly. I had my first steelhead trip last year and my guide made me wait until the line tighten before setting the hook. I actually didn’t set the hook but all I did was put a good bend in the rod with a very tight drag and the hook set perfectly. Caught three nice strikes and 5 salmon. Next day I took a freind with the guide and I caught 3 salmon and 2 steelhead before my freind caught on to this method at which time he caught fish also but prior to waiting had lost 5 .
Matt says
Panicking sometimes works for me. So far it’s the only method I’ve researched heavily…
Jeff Lynn says
My best results have been to
1. Let the fish eat and with a low drag setting set the hook by lifting the rod after the fish has taken 2-3 feet of line off the reel. It might be two-three pulls before I set firmly.
2. Above all make sure you have a razor sharp hook at all times.
Mark says
The way it was explained to me is as mentioned previously you feel the fish “investigating” or bumping the swung fly on the hang. The fish expects this investigating or bumping of a smaller fish (your fly) to stun or kill it, have the water flow push the small fish back it’s throat, a couple chews, a simple swallow and it’s another morsel down the hatch.
Absent the heavy pull you have to let the investigating, bumping and snacking continue. Easy to say!
Sharp as can be stingers help.