Feel the Steel

Since the big rain three weeks ago the stripers in the Delta have been giving me the cold shoulder. I don't know if it has been the muddy water or if they are just AWOL but whatever it is those buggers ain't bitin'. I hope they will warm up soon to the overwhelming charm of my flies and grab a few of them.

In the meantime it was good to get out of the Delta and feel the pull of the steel. I got some fish this week with the help of Ryan Williams. He has a new iPhone 13 Pro that he used to take these pictures. They are good. If you want to get a nice steelhead and come home with a good picture of it he is the man. It was a foggy and overcast day that felt kind of like winter. Good time to be out.


http://i.imgur.com/cVMWZpb.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/iuxbLqW.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TJ7cNCY.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/fnQ1Lkh.jpg

Nice looking fish. Cell phones now days take great pictures. What river was this at?

Remember the first cell phone pictures on here.....they were better than nothing but were pretty crude.

I have an iPhone 12 Pro and my wife is probably going to get the iPhone 13 Pro.

Thanks John.....

Nice pictures John! Winter steelheading on the coast is what im most passionate about but i do love oct and nov because I know im at least going to swing up a few and gets me stoked for the winter. Grateful for the rain and the good run we’ve had up there this fall.

J - Winter steelhead is definitely the pinnacle of freshwater fishing but the low numbers have worn down my enthusiasm for it over the last few years. If I was living on the coast like you and had easier access I would feel differently I am sure. I was at the lagoon on the Gualala one year in March walking my dog on the beach and I thought I saw a flash of silver in the water. I came back the next day and looked more and found a school of downstream fish swimming in circles waiting for rain to open the bar so they could get out. That was quite a sight. It rained a few days later so I think they got out.

Hopefully there is a winter fish out in the ocean somewhere putting on weight so he has the strength to peel line off my reel in a couple of months.

Years ago on the Gualala, before the April 1 closures, we were there in early April on a Good Friday/Easter weekend. The bucket just upstream from the bridge at the bend probably had 100 steelhead in it and nobody was on the river fishing. We hooked maybe a dozen before moving on. Good times