For anglers learning the basics of swinging flies for steelhead and salmon, the simplest way to think about presentation is to watch the head of the fly line during the swing and make adjustments. We’re taught that, for example, you can speed up your fly by mending in a downstream belly – meaning that the…
Read More
Steelhead
Easy to Swap Leaders
If you’re bouncing around a river swinging flies for steelhead or salmon, you’re probably going to need to swap sinktips every once in a while. You’re hopefully not making a change every 20 minutes, but when you move from a ripping boulder garden to a glassy tailout, you need to make a change. Today’s tip…
Read More
Landing Steelhead – Try Upstream!
Time for more steelhead fishing wisdom from Scott Baker-McGarva, head guide at BC West! Go Upstream Sometimes when you leave an angler for a bit, you return only to see them struggling with a fish close to shore, (sometimes you need to leave the client to improve their mojo and fish attraction) and many will…
Read More
Nice Fish, Jason.
Today we present you with a beautiful picture of a beautiful fish in a beautiful place – the mouth of the Dean River. Nice fish, Jason. More on Dean River Steelhead Jeff Hickman’s Steelhead Rig Dean Steelhead Fly Roundup Nice Fish from 2012
Spey Fishing Etiquette
We’re calling today’s post ‘Spey fishing etiquette’ just because that’s a more manageable title than ‘swinging flies on foot working down a run etiquette.’ Our suggestions apply to any situation that matches that description – single or double-handed rod chasing any anadromous fish. And, in case it isn’t obvious, these rules apply to conditions in…
Read More
6 Ways to Catch More Steelhead
Fishing for steelhead is fun. Catching steelhead is even more fun. Here are 6 ways you can can more steelhead on flies. Let us know how you catch more! 6 Ways to Catch More Steelhead Fish the near water first. Steelhead can hold in really shallow water, really close to the bank. Always fish the…
Read More
Tom Larimer’s Steelhead Rig, 2013 Edition
We ran our first Expert Rig post over four years ago. Whoa! That’s pretty cool…except for the fact that things have changed a lot in the past four years. We’ve heard from quite a few of you that you’d like updates on what our fishing experts are fishing now, so today we start the very…
Read More
Michael White’s Steelhead Rig
We’ve had a flurry of posts recently about steelhead rigging, and in the process of revisiting everything we’ve written we realized that somehow, in the past 4 years, we’ve never run the Expert Rig of one of the most qualified guys out there. Today we right that wrong. Michael White a. k. a. “Whitey” is…
Read More
Your Steelhead Rigs
When more than 80 of you really thoughtfully wrote up your steelhead rigs for our free Bougle contest, you helped created a really cool resource. Already more than 1600 unique anglers have checked out that page, and they’ve no doubt gotten some new ideas on steelhead rigging, at the very least. Looking at all those…
Read More
Bougle Contest Winner – Tom Ehrhard’s Steelhead Rig
We’re thrilled to present to you the winner of a brand new Hardy Bougle, courtesy of our ‘Tell Us About Your Steelhead Rig’ contest. Tom Ehrhard took this one home with his entry that appears in its entirety below. Before we get to Tom’s rig though, we need to say a few things. You folks…
Read More