Dry Fly Steelhead

[SteelheadBee]

I tend to promote dry flies for steelhead. It's fun and can be very effective. Now is the best time of year to do it.


I prefer natural patterns. Nothing like seeing that bug disappear in a big swirl of fury. In some cases, the steelhead miss the hook...let them rest a few minutes and cast back to them (I've had them comeback as much as 7 times). The anticipation of a "comeback" steelhead hookup is a highlight for many steelheaders.

Cheers for October!

 

[singlehandjay]

Beautiful fish.

 

[Shad]

Nice work!

My favorite places to do that are all closed. One of the most unfortunate things about WDFW's default "shut it down" strategy for salmon management is that it also prevents people from fishing for game fish at the best time of year.

 

[SteelheadBee]

Singlehandjay, Shad, thank yous.

And Shad, man that's depressing...I cant add much else to that plight.

 

[Greg Armstrong]

Beautiful!

Please tell us about the the rod, and especially the reel. It resembles a JW Young, or maybe a Dingley. Or is it a more modern reincarnation? Beautiful combo regardless of what it is.

 

[DoesItFloat]

How do you like that knot so far?

 

[Millsfly]

its like mainlining some druuuug

 

[SteelheadBee]

Beautiful!

Please tell us about the the rod, and especially the reel. It resembles a JW Young, or maybe a Dingley. Or is it a more modern reincarnation? Beautiful combo regardless of what it is.

Greg, the rod is a 2-handed hollow-built spliced bamboo 12'0" Summer Run MK1 7wt built by James Reid. Balancing it out is a 4inch Dingley. It's currently lined with a Bridge Tributary at 425gr.


This particular combo has caught me many dryfly steelhead since 2014. The following photo shows the leading worn off on my thumb from fighting multiple hot dryfly steelhead

 

[SteelheadBee]

How do you like that knot so far?

I use it exclusively on dryflies nowadays and have yet to lose a steelhead.

 

[Greg Armstrong]

Dingley was the best of the best in his day. A star at Hardy before he went out on his own.
That’s a gorgeous reel.

I understand that Mr. Reid is backed up for several years for rod delivery. That’s a beautiful rod matched with that Dingley!

 

[DerekWhipple]

Much respect for the discipline to stick with it, must be unimaginably sweet when it pays off. When I try it, I do it for about an hour first thing in the morning, but then I eventually throw on a muddler or octo caddis on heavy irons. Maybe I should just only throw a few muddlers or skaters in the car when I leave the house.

 

[O' Clarkii Stomias]

The old adage "you can't catch 'em on dries if you don't fish dries" holds true. It's really a great way to search for fish providing the conditions are right. Having a fish boil on a dry, then following up with a small wet and catching that fish is the pinnacle of steelhead fly fishing IMO.

 

[Robert Engleheart]

I use it exclusively on dryflies nowadays and have yet to lose a steelhead.

What knot is it?

 

[DoesItFloat]

What knot is it?

I believe it's called the "no-spin knot" (I call it the "reverse crankbait knot", as that's what I heard first years ago in my salt days) - basically you thread your tippet through the hook bottom, then tie a multiple surgeon loop knot above the fly, then trim all the tags off so the fly can move freely on the leader. When the fly is fishing, the knot butts against the top of the eye and comes out the bottom to help the fly stay up as it skates. Works really well with down-eye hooks.

I like using it, too, but, with 0 confirmed fish raised, I don't quite do it as well as Adrian.

 

[SteelheadBee]

@Robert Engleheart , @DoesItFloat describes it better than I. It is the "Non-Twist Knot". A couple of dryfly steelhead friends found it on the Deschutes Angler instructional videos and shared it with me. I have landed a very nice Bulkley doe fish with this knot (I wanted to test it on big wild fish) so I have faith in it. Like any other knot, make sure to cinch the knot well after lubricating.

A few images to ponder on the knot:



What I really like about the knot is that it doesn't pinch any fibers of the fly...which used to annoy me when I tied traditional knots (especially when I riffle-hitched).

 

[SteelheadBee]

Much respect for the discipline to stick with it, must be unimaginably sweet when it pays off. When I try it, I do it for about an hour first thing in the morning, but then I eventually throw on a muddler or octo caddis on heavy irons. Maybe I should just only throw a few muddlers or skaters in the car when I leave the house.

Dryfly steelheading indeed is a state of mind. I carry 1 or 2 wetflies in my summer steelhead box on the rare occasion that I fish a comeback wetfly (typically, all my comeback patterns are all dry flies)

Below are the only 2 boxes that I carry from June-November (I stop fishing for summer-runs in December):

 

[SteelheadBee]

Dingley was the best of the best in his day. A star at Hardy before he went out on his own.
That’s a gorgeous reel.

I understand that Mr. Reid is backed up for several years for rod delivery. That’s a beautiful rod matched with that Dingley!

I agree regarding Dingley. I think his reels are better than Hardy's.

Ironically, I also think it's more difficult these days to get a James Reid bamboo than it is to find a Dingley reel.

 

[Robert Engleheart]

@SteelheadBee, do you have a preference as to presentation; skated or dead drift? I ask because on a trip to Cape Breton where dry flies are probably more common than wet, the local guides were horrified when I asked if they ever skate a dry. Dead drift only, preferably with the tail downstream. In neighboring provinces skating does occur I’m told.
When I go back I plan to skate more.

 

[SteelheadBee]

@SteelheadBee, do you have a preference as to presentation; skated or dead drift? I ask because on a trip to Cape Breton where dry flies are probably more common than wet, the local guides were horrified when I asked if they ever skate a dry. Dead drift only, preferably with the tail downstream. In neighboring provinces skating does occur I’m told.
When I go back I plan to skate more.

I skate and wake about 97%of the time. A swing just covers more area than dead-drifting when searching for steelhead. There are spots on my homeriver where I know that fish will hold and will take a dead-drift presentation.

Atlantic salmon fishing is strong in tradition. Dryfly fishing for salar is usually always upstream and dead-drift (of note, Haig-Brown presented his Steelhead Bees upstream and dead-drifted as was standard method for salar). The one time I fished for Atlantics was on the Miramichi. The guide wouldn't let me wake a GreaseLiner...the most I was allowed was to swing a Green Machine (when he wasn't looking, I riffle-hitched it and fooled a salar).

I have heard that Atlantics are more curious than steelhead when it comes to surface angling. I believe the salmon also tend to school up more than steelhead - I suspect the competitive nature of more fish makes it easier to raise them on dead-drifted patterns.

One season on my local steelhead river, we had a good return on summer-runs. I was able to consistently raise them dead-drifted since there were so many on a pool and they competed with each other.

 

[DoesItFloat]

Dryfly steelheading indeed is a state of mind. I carry 1 or 2 wetflies in my summer steelhead box on the rare occasion that I fish a comeback wetfly (typically, all my comeback patterns are all dry flies)

Below are the only 2 boxes that I carry from June-November (I stop fishing for summer-runs in December):
View attachment 36653

That lone Wang in your box look so sad and lonely.