Steelhead Mania

[Sharphooks]

So what’s a fishermen supposed to do when all the rivers in his neighborhood have shut down, zero opportunities in the salt chuck until June and it’s pissing rain outside so bad that even a dog walk is not an option?

Get down and tie some flies!

I was going to go do my Alaska fly-in expedition end of this month with the raft and the tent but I cancelled after a friend gave me an invite to a chopper trip to the ....wait for it.... Dean River in August.

I’m all pumped up on that river....the only other fish besides the THompson fish that will take your reel to the arbor....I’ll have to cut short my North Coast trip this summer to drive to Bella Coola but to hook just one Dean fish before they cart me away will make it worth it

But boy oh boy I’m out of practice—-I used to be able to buzz off a dozen flies in an hour

Now with the coffee shakes and crappy vice that I’m too cheap to replace, I’m lucky if I get three tied in an hour.

I used to buy from a guy who tied a good quality articulated fly but stopped doing it

Does anyone know of a good supplier for these things?

 

[Dave]

Back when I used to swing flies on the Vedder I found big, black or black/purple intruders as good as anything else. Super easy to tie with black hair and marabou. Bull trout like them too!

 

[Sharphooks]

I agree that’s really all you need but I just gotta have the tungsten bead head....I just had an amazing river trip two weeks ago and every fish I got was on a leech with a weighted head—-floating line in fast lumpy water —-those tungsten heads cut to the chase in those conditions but they’re a pain to tie

 

[Hyde-N-Seek]

What size tungsten bead did you find it works better, Sharphooks? I have been using lead dumbbell eyes in large but still find them to be a tad slow in getting down for my preference.

 

[Sharphooks]

I’ve always gravitated toward large weighed hooks and either a full floating line with a really long leader or a moderate sinking 10-20 foot sink tip with a really short leader

The beauty of tungsten or a large weighted fly (lead wire wrapped around the hook shank etc) is with a long leader, a floating line can be fished as if it was a sink-tip but without hanging your fly up on the rocks. That set-up was absolutely deadly back when I fished the Thompson—-the long leader (15 - 16 ft) got the fly just deep enough, but not too deep.

I tie with different sized tungsten beads just to have different sink-rate options when fishing fast or slow, deep or shallow, water.

And I like that hot pink color—-creates nice contrast with black or purple rabbit strips or hackle

The barbells are O.K., but they eventually spin on the hook when the thread gets beat up—-the tungsten beads stay put on the shank

 

[Hyde-N-Seek]

Oh, those Thompson river days.. we didn’t fly fish much during those early years. Wish we did more now. Was always scared of those slipperiest rocks in the planet. Didn’t fly fished much back then but lot more these days. Really enjoyed it but lot less fish around. Ironic. Hopefully we can fish the mighty T one of these days. Thanks for sharing. Hard to beat pink with black or pink with purple.

 

[Fishless]

Oh, those Thompson river days.. we didn’t fly fish much during those early years. Wish we did more now. Was always scared of those slipperiest rocks in the planet. Didn’t fly fished much back then but lot more these days. Really enjoyed it but lot less fish around. Ironic. Hopefully we can fish the mighty T one of these days. Thanks for sharing. Hard to beat pink with black or pink with purple.

Greased line,....wooly bugger......."Y" bar.....oh ! The good old days............log cabin inn pub after releasing an 18 lber ..........magic.......sad the new generation can't experience this .........well,let's only hope memories will live on tho.......

 

[Hyde-N-Seek]

Yup, the mighty T was special. Always looking forward to those October and November trips. Sure missed it. Hopefully one day we can all experience it again.

 

[Sharphooks]

Uh oh....don’t get me started......




Hiking down into the Black Canyon....just me, the dog and a lot of stone and water

 

[Drink]

The T, I so miss the days. Drifting the river getting to our honey holes, priceless.
The Acacia, the Log Cabin Inn you name it and of course the occasion steelhead.