Steelie tips

[kabah088]

No I'm not asking for dance tips but I am actually asking for tips on fly fishing for steelies. I am new to fly fishing for steelhead even though i have fly fished for trout, bass, and pan fish before. I have never really ventured to fish the lower American river just below Nimbus dam even though it is in my backyard and i plan to change that fact this year. What works? what doesnt?

I hear swinging a fly downstream is an effective strategy but what type of fly and what style of leader do I use for this approach.

Sometimes at dusk i see the river monsters go crazy on the surface! Can these guys be snagged on a dry caddis?

What about "nymphing" an egg imitation?

What are your thoughts on this matter as it to pertains to a newbie on the Lower American River.

[Jeff Fisher]

When I lived in Sac for the past 20yrs or so, I learned every rock in that river. Trial and error led me to the conclusion that you don't need much to consistently catch those fish (except being at the right place at the right time).

Floating line with a the heaviest poly-leader (sink tip); A 3' piece of 1x Maxima; a conehead woolybugger with GOOD fluffy marabou (not the pieces of crap they sell at American Fly Fishing Co). Kiene's had some last year that worked really well. Olive body with an olive tail and little bit of red marabou on the bottom of the tail. It's all I used pretty much all year. The fish went crazy for it.

Cast as far as you can and swing that bugger. I tend to twitch it while it swings, then hold and twitch at the bottom of the drift. 99% of all grabs I got came while the fly was directly below me and I was twitching it or stripping it in.

For 1/2 pounders in the fall and spring, you can't beat a tan or olive beadhead dirty bird #12.

That's all you really need. Stay away from the hatchery and explore the river. It won't take too long to figure it out. Walk up or down from the access points/parking lots and you'll be amazed at how much good water there is to fish on that river. Howe Avenue is probably has the least steelhead water. But all the others are good.

[huntindog]

if you do not have a seasoned mentor to guide you through the beginning stages of learning to fly fish for steelhead (i had my dad) i HIGHLY recomend paying a guide for a day or two on the water. Be very specific with him that you are trying to learn...i am certain that there will be several guides recomended after i post this..for a couple hundred bucks you will get a huge jump in the learning curve.....other than that...time time time and cast cast cast...I figure by the time i turn 60 i may have it figured out myself...

[BillB]

Righty-o Huntingdog. Charlie Gonzales comes to my mind first and the guides through Kiene's.