Steelhead are watching you?

[hokies1994]

I really enjoyed Bill's thread on tip strengths/size and was hoping to start another that I've been curious about. When I was up on the Trinity a few weeks ago, the flows were pretty low and the fish weren't very active. I tried to find some of the canyon water where there was some deep areas of moderately fast moving water. My theory was that there were steelies holding there since the normal places were so low.

My buddy and I got to an area that I fished while he rigged up. Almost immediately a very large steelhead surfaced and flopped over the top of the water. He was on the surface for at least a second. I didn't think much of it except that I wanted to try to fish that area. When I didn't have much luck, I moved futher upstream about 100 yards and had a few casts when the same exact thing happened - a steelhead surfaced and splashed across the top for about a second. Again, I tried to fish the area with no luck.

This is when I started to think that both of these steelhead surfaced to take a look at me. Is that possible??? One reason I think this may be possible is because I watched pods of moving steelhead have scouts that would check out the areas to make sure they were safe before the rest of the fish swam upstream. The fish wouldn't move upstream unless I was out of view behind bushes and completely still. So, to some extent, I know steelhead are intelligent.

Has anyone else experienced the feeling that the steelhead where watch you???

Mark

[jbird]

Mark

There is a gentleman named Lee Spencer that oversees the viewing platform and visitors center on the N. umpqua river in the steamboat area. He has some journals that used to be available on line. He spends a good chunk of his life observing steelhead in the unpqua river. An intersting comment he made in one of those journals was how steelhead reacted to different people. In that clear slick pool there where you can see many dozens of big steelies holding amungst the bedrock. He said he has witnessed particular people that have made the fish nervous, and even scatter just by their presence. Even if the person was among a group. Immediately upon that individuals departure, the fish would group back up and laze around. He said it didnt happen often, but he's seen it enough times to deduct that the fish sense something with certain people.

As far as steelhead in cold weather and cold water. You have to s l o w everything down. fish slow water...not just deep water, but slow water between 4 and 8' deep. I'm sure theres fish in deeper water than that, but theyre hard to get at with fly gear. Especially the slow side of seams where theres a smooth chop on the suface current. Sometimes theyll sit in the slow, slick tongue above a break, if its deep enough.
Try smallish flies like a #8 prince nymph or copper john. glo bugs are always deadly in slow water cause theyre unweighted and they drift with the current really nice. Of coarse you need a lot of weight on your leader or incorperated into your dropper fly...anyway, thats how I find them.

Jay

[Darian]

I believe that almost all of the behavior of Steelhead (....and fish in general) is attributable to instinct. 8) A fish of the largest size that steelhead become has a brain the size of nickel. Think about their strategy for survival and you can see that they live their entire life in fear being eaten or eating. When they're coming in to spawn (a brief portion of their existence), they're motivated to move upstream in a shallow environment (relative to what they left) and will generally stay low in the water column. These fish are more active during low light conditions. All of this is to avoid predation. Things get a little wacky when they're on the redds but that's the time to spawn and be damned with the predators.

There have been many attempts to explain why Salmon/Steelhead roll without arriving at an explanation but I haven't seen anything about fish coming to the surface to take a look at a fisherman.... Attributing human characteristics to animals/fish/etc., is a human act not necessarily based in fact. 8) 8) 8)

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

My good friend Walt Bennett is in his '80s now and was one of the very top coastal Steelheaders. I have really listened to everything he ever said about fishing over the past 40 years.

He mentioned that when Steelhead are "showing" or "rolling" on top they are usually in a mood to eat.

I think he inferred that when ever the fishing was real good you could see fish breaking the surface.

It seems they like to roll in the AM and PM too.

I think they are 'happy' when they are rolling.

We had a time in the 1980s and early 1990s when the Steelhead runs in Nor Cal seemed to be really low.

During these years I would tell Andy Guibord about the "rolling" Steelhead I saw when it was very good in the '60s and '70s.

He likes to joke with me and others about the "mythical rolling Steelhead" that I talked about.

[WinterrunRon]

Hummmm, interesting.

I'm not convinced steelhead break the surface to "look". I can think of very few fish/animals with sensory systems acutely adapted to water that are equally effective out of water and vice-versa. Eyesight and lateral lines, while high performance sensory organs for fish below water are probably poor sensory organs above. I can't imagine them breaking the surface in an effort to see anything.

I belive anadromous fish to be very instinctual, entering the fresh water of their origin driven by millions of years of ancestral evolution to perform an single function without thought. Thier fear of being consumed and not making it back to the sea takes a back seat only to spawning, at which time they are most vulnerable to predation. But it's a brief trade off made in order for future generations to survive.

Interestingly, I've watched small schools of steelhead in groups of 2-16, migrate up river past a "fall" by going underneath at the bottom of the water column and then quickly migrate to the deep side of the river to contunue their journey, yet salmon seem comfortable migrating up a river in large numbers and extremely shallow water and even leave the water to jump over the fall they encounter. Why?

I belive this may be due to the fact that salmon don't live in the same "fear" steelhead do... they have a one way ticket and will not return as part of the re-generation process of the species, the steelhead must. Perhaps each know of their fate? I belive they do. But I don't think this is due to concious thought, I belive it to be evolutional behavior.

Something to at least consider?

Ron

BTW, I've never witnessed a steelhead "rolling", and I have no idea where this term comes from. I've seen them breifly break the surface ("showing" as Bill mentioned), but never "roll" as in a lateral or forward tumbling motion. Anyone have any thoughts or information on this?

Merry Christmas everyone...

[jbird]

Ron


I think the term rolling is a term used for steelhead showing on the surface. They show in different types of 'rolls' as do trout. If I am on the river and there are steellhead showing on the surface, whether theyre tailslaping, launching or porpoising, I'll say "I saw fish rolling" Maybe I misunderstand the term, but thats how i've used it.

Bill,
I have witnessed something pretty interesting regarding this subject. Actually, MArk Sandlin pointed it out to me a couple years ago and I really think he's on to something. On the rogue, when salmon and steelhead are in the river together...sept.oct.....when the steelhead are launching straight up in the air...like head toward the sky. They just dont bite. They can be showing all around you and ya get all excited but they just dont seem to be comfortable. Mark suggests that they are being chased around by the salmon in theyre prespawning rage. I have seen it enough times to agree 100%.

One other thing is I (for reasons I cant explain) catch more fish when they arent rolling. The fishing can certainly be great when they are, but my huge days seem to always be when the river looks sterile.

Jay