Southern California Steelhead? 'Against All Odds'........

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

In the 48 years I spent in Sacramento in the fishing tackle industry I met hundreds of old timers of the Greatest Generation who lived in Souther Cal many years ago. Some moved up here and then told me stories of catching winter Steelhead in many small streams on the coast in the sothern half of our state. Then they systematically dammed almost all those short little coastal rivers because they needed to save all the water for the growing population. I see some of those fish still exist in the 10% of the streams they did not dam up.


http://vimeo.com/78145031

[JasonB]

Pretty remarkable creature when you look at what they have had to endure, and how adaptable they can be. I'm also very encouraged by the growing trend of dam removal nowadays instead of just adding more and more of them. Just recently had the exquisite pleasure of watching steelhead attempting to jump/climb "B-Z falls" on the White Salmon river in Washington state. It was really something to see these hearty fish attempting to reach further upstream in a section of river only very recently made attainable by removing a dam. My hopes are this continues; perhaps steelhead populations may reach more viable numbers in many more streams in the future.
JB

[Jeff F]

Dang. That is super cool.

I went to school at UC Santa Barbara, and used to swim in the Santa Ynez River below Lake Cachuma. Hard to believe there were steelhead of that size in that river!

Those little dams they show are absolutely pointless. Glad to know there's folks who are trying.....

Good on you Mikey Weir, et al.

~J

[Larry S]

In San Diego, Whitey Perry had a shop on University Ave just off Park Blvd. It finally closed in the mid-70's and
Bill Stroud combined fly gear with his saltwater shop on Morena Blvd. Whitey used to regale us with tales of
steelheading northern San Diego streams from the 40's and such. The San Dieguito River which empties near
the Del Mar racetrack had quite a good run. He also gave us great tips on Washington summer runs. Both of those
boys are gone now; but, we still have traces of mykiss here.
Best,
Larry S

[STEELIES/26c3]

That's awesome to see.

Similar happenings on the Alameda Creek watershed on which I grew up in the early 70's. I remember catching big, mangy steelhead with my hands amidst the stench of decaying algae from fast-fading puddles.

It made me sad to think that those magnificent fish had fought so hard and so long to get from the ocean to the SF Bay, then the tidal salt flats and finally to our rock-lined, urban flood-control ditch...

only to suffocate alongside carp, lampreys and suckers...

Hopefully we have awoken and intervened before it's too late...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Pretty remarkable creature when you look at what they have had to endure, and how adaptable they can be. I'm also very encouraged by the growing trend of dam removal nowadays instead of just adding more and more of them. Just recently had the exquisite pleasure of watching steelhead attempting to jump/climb "B-Z falls" on the White Salmon river in Washington state. It was really something to see these hearty fish attempting to reach further upstream in a section of river only very recently made attainable by removing a dam. My hopes are this continues; perhaps steelhead populations may reach more viable numbers in many more streams in the future.
JB

I feel the same JB.....take down more dams.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Those old timers told me that back then many used a 9' heavy fiberglass fly rod, large fly reel with backing and some 20# mono so they could "strip cast" in those small brushy coastal creeks for winter Steelhead with cured salmon roe. I heard that discription more than a few times.

[sfspey]

Growing up in So Cal in the 80's I lived along Malibu creek and fished it often. It was loaded with panfish and a few bass. I saw my share of 20" trout which at the time had no idea they were steelhead. Back then I would like to go to Ned Greys shop in Montrose. He gave me my first fly casting lessons and I learned fly tying in his shop.
When I got into steelhead fishing in the 90's I met a couple old timers on the San Lo and San Mateo creeks with there strip rods. They showed me there rods and I built one for myself. Haven't used it in awhile but occasionally I'll break it out for the smaller rivers. Works just as well with flies.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Growing up in So Cal in the 80's I lived along Malibu creek and fished it often. It was loaded with panfish and a few bass. I saw my share of 20" trout which at the time had no idea they were steelhead. Back then I would like to go to Ned Greys shop in Montrose. He gave me my first fly casting lessons and I learned fly tying in his shop.
When I got into steelhead fishing in the 90's I met a couple old timers on the San Lo and San Mateo creeks with there strip rods. They showed me there rods and I built one for myself. Haven't used it in awhile but occasionally I'll break it out for the smaller rivers. Works just as well with flies.

Very cool SFS........

Ned Grey was part of the history of fly fishing in southern Cal.


Here is a nice piece about Ned Grey and his shop:

http://www.btbff.com/index.php/btbff/1E1PB/20/

.

[Larry S]

Would someone explain "strip casting" to me? TIA.
Best,
Larry S

[Digger]

I went to this screening last night down here in the city of Ventura.
It was put on by Cal Trout and it was held at the original Patoginia store (with free Sierrra Nevada IPA!!!)
Pretty cool. And I met Mikey Weir afterwards.

Tonight's agenda is "Waypoints" by Confluence films at Cal State Northridge

[dpentoney]

Would someone explain "strip casting" to me? TIA.
Best,
Larry S

Larry S,
Strip casting is fishing bait on a fly rod with a fly reel loaded with monofilament. A deadly way to catch trout and steelhead with a worm or a little piece of roe and a few split shot for weight. I used to fish an 8 weight Fenwick with a Pflueger 1492 Medalist, the smallest one, with 8 lb. test for winter steelhead. A 4 weight rod with 4 lb. test for trout.

[Darian]

WOW!!! Does that bring back some great memories. Strip casting was practiced by many steelheaders along the coast in the 60's/70's. Fly casters found it to be a good method to salvage a trip when arriving at their choice of water only to find it too turbid to fish a fly. It worked best when using a shooting head set-up with mono backing. Merely take off the head and replace it with a pencil weight, a swivel, leader and a hook. The cast was made by stripping off enough line for the desired distance, holding the mono in loops in one hand and then lobbing the whole thing out into the river for a drift. Most everyone used cured roe but many used spinners/night crawlers for bait. Saved many a trip for me. Versatile method for fishing.... :cool:

[Larry S]

Thanks, dpentoney and Darian. Figured it had to involve some "lobbing." I remember that night crawler/harness
rigs were very popular on the Trinity in the 1960's; winter fishing. Fenwicks and Ambassadors.
Best,
Larry S

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think strip casting with roe and weight using mono on a fly fishing outfit was very popular years ago on small brushy coastal steelhead streams.

I never tried it but I caught my share of steelhead in the fall on night crawlers with a spinning outfit.

[Jeff F]

How the hell do you set the hook with this method? Easy enough with a stiff 7' spin rod. But with a 9' fly rod and all that line out? I'm assuming most of these fish were gut-hooked and whacked.

And oh yes.....there ain't no fish that swims which can resist a juicy nightcrawler! Been trying for years and years to devise a fly-fishable artificial crawler that actually catches fish. I think the smell has to do with it too....

[Darian]

I never found the hook set to be an issue while strip casting. Many fish were hooked deeply and whacked. Catch & release wasn't exactly the mantra in that time. My personal concession to using the method was to quit fishing after catching one fish. Mighty tasty, tho. :cool:

[dpentoney]

Strip casting usually involved short casts, often hook-ups occurred right under the rod tip. Using split shot gentle pick-ups could be felt and most fish were hooked right in the corner of the mouth. I felt more connected to the fish strip casting than fly fishing, as the fish didn't have a flyline to drag through the water when hooked.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I would say that catch-n-release did not really exist much before about 1970?

[sfspey]

As dp said it works great for small brushy creeks and short casts with a little split shot. I used egg patterns back then and did well on that.
I made my rod with an 8 ft blank and had no trouble setting the hook. Strip a little line off, cast, feel the tap along the bottom, line stops, fish on, release and repeat.

[Jeff F]

Hmmm. Yeah, I guess I was thinking it was casting out across the river with lots of line out, like I did when I used to fish with slinky's and crawlers.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

http://caltrout.org/2013/11/released-see-southern-california-steelhead-against-all-odds-in-its-entirety/

I think this is a link to the entire movie now.

[STEELIES/26c3]

So much more than the sum of its parts

Yet still so hard to reach into hearts

and minds of the general populace

So with a head of steel it still needs US

ML

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Watch this video if you like Steelhead..........