How many steelhead flies do you really need?

Long_Rod_Silvers said:
Tom,
Do you ever swing a little mini lady caroline thru your home waters?
With how well you do on the HE, I'm fairly confident you'd get some decent action on a swung mini lady caroline.
Might be kind of fun to try.
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Got a report from a Northern California stream the last week of August, 2 days on the water floating. Saw 0 anglers total both days. Caught a King, browns to 6#’s and steelhead to 8 all on greased line Lady Carolines.
 
Robert Engleheart said:
Got a report from a Northern California stream the last week of August, 2 days on the water floating. Saw 0 anglers total both days. Caught a King, browns to 6#’s and steelhead to 8 all on greased line Lady Carolines.
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With a report like that, I know where you were;-)
 
Well today all I needed was a size 16 hare's ear....🤷‍♂️
 
DerekWhipple said:
If someone really wants to catch a summer steelhead, they should just nymph for trout. You have to have a trout rod though, or else it doesn't work.
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And your trailer has to be 5x. Anything stronger and it also won't work. 😆
 
clarkman said:
And your trailer has to be 5x. Anything stronger and it also won't work. 😆
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I was just gonna ask if you at least had 3 or 4x. Haha! Nice work!

I think I'd rather fight a typical 4-7 lb desert steelhead on 5x than a nasty 18" redside. Back in the day we would camp across from the locked gate. Late May, early June. From that side it's a great run. We would go out at night and throw streamers out into the dark. We got broke off multiple times on 6 lb Max. And usually on the initial yank. Big redsides are gnarly!
 
Except for the fact that steelhead are on a life journey to make more steelhead. Trout just go back to their spot and resume normal life.

If you hook a steelhead on trout gear please just break them off immediately. We barely get to fish for them as is...
 
Yard Sale said:
Except for the fact that steelhead are on a life journey to make more steelhead. Trout just go back to their spot and resume normal life.

If you hook a steelhead on trout gear please just break them off immediately. We barely get to fish for them as is...
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Cool. But if one actually knows how to fight big fish...*raising my hand....not to be a total dick*....but I do, it doesn't matter. That said, I actually agree with you. If it takes too long, it's not terribly difficult to break off... I've done it more times than I can remember, but I've also landed more steelhead (especially deschutes fish) than I can remember on both trout setups and steelhead setups.
 
skyriver said:
I was just gonna ask if you at least had 3 or 4x. Haha! Nice work!

I think I'd rather fight a typical 4-7 lb desert steelhead on 5x than a nasty 18" redside. Back in the day we would camp across from the locked gate. Late May, early June. From that side it's a great run. We would go out at night and throw streamers out into the dark. We got broke off multiple times on 6 lb Max. And usually on the initial yank. Big redsides are gnarly!
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Yeah, she was on the smaller side. Otherwise I probably would a just broken her off.
 
clarkman said:
Cool. But if one actually knows how to fight big fish...*raising my hand....not to be a total dick*....but I do, it doesn't matter. That said, I actually agree with you. If it takes too long, it's not terribly difficult to break off... I've done it more times than I can remember, but I've also landed more steelhead (especially deschutes fish) than I can remember on both trout setups and steelhead setups.
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Fair enough. I'm sure you or I can land a steelhead on 3x quicker than lots of folks that like to watch their reel spin. And I've had plenty of fish roll over and come right in. But the first time you get a wild fish in close and it runs having a proper rod and at least 10# Maxima makes a difference.

And I wasn't really talking to you specifically. Just to the idea in general.
 
Yard Sale said:
And I wasn't really talking to you specifically. Just to the idea in general.
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Intuitively, I knew that. For some reason I was in a mood....but yeah, totally valid on your part.

That said, if she were much larger than the ~24" that she was, it woulda been over pretty damn quick with a barbless hare's ear stuck in her mouth.

Funny though, but I caught a little 14" redside later that pulled more line than that little gal....
 
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