Why I swing flies for Steelhead......

First off that is the way it was done with a fly rod in the 1960s when I got introduced to it by veterans like Joe Shirshac, Hal Janssen, Joe Patterson, Bob Long and Al Perryman.

I had been fly fishing for Shad successfully with a fly rod on the Lower American River but had not gotten into Steelheading on a fly yet.

I was just above Watt Avenue on the Lower American River where I had caught Steelhead for years on night crawlers (big worms).

I had my big 9' #9 fiberglass rod that I used for Shad with a #10 Type 2 shooting head and a big Boss or Silver Hilton Steelhead wet fly.

Across the river was Al Perryman and Bob Long who were dry fly fishing for Steelhead which was pretty progressive in those days.

Below me was Hal Janssen who was catching Steelhead so I was watching him for some clues. Hal was a sporting goods salesman who called on our the sporting goods store I worked at.

I a short while he recognized me and we talked. He looked at my outfit and asked me what kind of tuna I was after with that giant fly rod?

He was using a Winston 4 weight fiberglass rod with an Intermediate fly line and a small "Caddis Pupa"?

Back in those days a 4 weight was the smallest thing you could buy and a caddis pupa was unheard of, at least in our sporting goods store's fly fishing department.

Some days later our Cortland Line Company Rep, Joe Patterson, gave me some #12 wet flies he said might work, called a "Shell Back" nymph.

I took my 6 weight trout outfit with a floating line to Watt Avenue Bridge and they had lowered the river unusually low to 500 cfs to work on the fish screen at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.

I was able to wade anywhere and even cross back and forth anywhere above Watt. Just below the clay banks there were fish feeding on caddis that evening. Not really knowing exactly what to do I just cast above them and let the fly swing down into them.

It was like shooting fish in a barrel with lots of fish and lots of caddis.

My first fish was about 3 pounds and it was wild. Next I caught the fish that converted me to fly fishing only now for Steelhead.

It was a wild 5 pound Steelhead. The real deal.....it jump about 6 times taking me a few yards into my backing.

Anyway after that I was not going back to my custom made night crawler rod.....

Then I fished for years with Joe Shirshac on the Trinity and Klamath Rivers where we only fished conventional fly fishing methods, evolving to mostly swinging flies on a floating line in the fall.

So for me it is not about catching Steelhead, it is about wading, reading the water, casting and the "grab"........with good friends of coarse.

great story Bill!!!!

my first steelhead ever on a fly came on the Eel at the Van Duzen hole - old Fewick 8.5' 8 wt with a full sinking line - my reel was a knock off Martin!!!! - walked down there and just got in the lineup of about 30 guys and wham - back then all the guys were friendly - they absolutely knew they were dealing with a novice and gave me room and lots of support and advice.

My first steelhead on the North Umpqua came when I had essentially given up on the steelhead there my first trip (I was convinced they would not grab) so went upriver to fish for trout with an old Browning glass 6 wt and a muddler - managed to cast over a slightly submerged log so the line stuck and started screaming my fly across the surface - who would know my first steelhead on the river would be a surface grab!!!! Cartwheeled about 6 times before breaking me off but that fish has absolutely stayed in my memory as one of the most memorable steelhead experiences of my life!!!

Since we are talking about first steelhead, I thought I'd throw my stories in there too...

First day steelhead fishing ever was the Gualala less than a mile from the ocean. Got there at dawn, guy next to me landed a 14 lb male on the swing within 20 minutes of enough light to see. Big orange shrimp pattern. Still probably the most beautiful fish I have ever seen, and though I only tailed it for him to bring it in, I was probably hooked on steelhead right then and there.

Two weeks later (late Jan) I went to the Smith and landed an 8 lb steelie at dusk on the swing in Jed Smith state park, then a 12 lber the next day a couple pools down. Big purple egg sucking leeches kick ass, as do I.

Yeah, I was hooked bigtime..

It was five years before I caught my next steelie. Not for lack of trying, in one case I fished for a week straight on the north coast dawn to dusk without getting so much as a hit. Though the single little coastal cutt doesn't really count when you are swinging with the 8wt.. Grim. My ardor was cooled and the skunk ran strong in me for many years in this period.

Finally pulled a 5 lber out of the San Lorenzo with the indicator and egg pattern in 2005. Caught a couple more round those parts using similar approachs. Desperation breeds desperate men.

Then 2007 on the Trinity happened and my faith was restored. Though those 5 long years in the wilderness, and 2007 on the Trinity, bred an uncommon fondness for the security and safety of the indicator that I am not sure I will easily grow out of. It is nice to get a tug and see some fish up close at some point during long stretches of dawn to dark all day fishing (the only way I know how), and I am but a weak man, prone to temptation.

These great posts and this stormy weather really brings me back to those days of swinging flies for steelhead back in the 1970's on the lower Eel River.

Speaking of sentimental, that is where I learned to fly fish as a 21 year old just back from the war and beginning fisheries biology studies at HSU. It took 6+ years and several academic probation periods to finally earn that degree mainly due to time spent swinging flies for steehead and salmon rather than going to classes.

It was Mr. Lloyd Silvius who had a small fly shop at his home in Eureka who got me started with a few casting lessons and a handful of Renegade wet flies for fall run half-pounders. Lloyd showed me a particular fast stripping method that got me into fish the very first day on the river with a fly rod. Think I broke off 6 or 7 fish before landing a nice jumbo half pounder. Actually, stripping flies in the lower pools was more effective for these early fish. Once the river came up and the winter fish arrived, it was all about swinging comet flies through the runs.

It was the local old timers who took me under their wings and really gave me the most important education I could ever have hoped for. Men like Joe Curless, Ralph Cole, Ben Anderson, Nelson Rossig, Art Dedini, Kurt Berg and his lady friend Jean and many others whose names are unfamiliar to most, who were very generous about the how, what, where and when. And I caught steelhead, we all caught steelhead, some big steelhead. The largest one I saw landed was a winter fish of 21+ lbs by Kurt Berg. I pushed a few over 15 lb. a few times. Lost some that I knew were larger. I know for sure there were larger fish as I was the last guy to run the fish counting station at Benbow on the S. Fork Eel for DFG and got to see them one by one up close and personal. That is a story in itself.

My gear was seal dri waders, 9wt fenwick, #2 fast sink shooting head on a beautiful vintage, 1936, 3 1/4 inch, wide drum Hardy Perfect, that my mother-in-law found in a garage sale in Stockton, CA and sent to me! I still fish with this reel but only for steelhead.

Later in the 70's, I ran a ranch near Cook's Valley right on the S. Fork of the Eel. When the lower river was blown out, I was swinging flies before, during and after work with the boss and Glen, the supervisor for the State Park just down the road. During that time, not too many guys were fly fishing that far up river and some did not believe steelhead would take a fly way up river. WE knew better and we had it all to ourselves and it was heaven.

I swing flies for the take and the wild ride that a good fish gives. I do it because that is the way I learned to do it and I like and respect the tradition that goes along with it. I do it because it reminds me of all the wonderful people I met along the way, most of whom are gone now, who had the patience and time to teach a young person something really special.

It's been 40 years since that first day and I still go back each year to fish and visit friends. I know I will never have the fishing like those 10 years spent on the N. Coast, but I still get a few now and then. Mostly though, I dream about swinging flies for those big winter fish on a particular run, with all those familiar faces and realize how fortunate I was to have lived it.

I love this thread! Great posts. Brings back memories and inspires me to go out and make new ones. Well done folks. Well done indeed.

My first steelie was from the San Gregorio estuary/lower river. A mint bright beauty. Got it using light spinning gear. That was some 35 years ago. Then came a few more from the Russian River with my uncle (again using spinning gear). The Russian is where I was introduced to the fly game for steelhead. Bill Schadt and Bob Nauheim where the two guys I watched on the river.

By the early 80's I was starting to explore the San Lorenzo and The Eel (South Fork). The Eel became magic for me. Couldn't get enough of it. Great stuff. By the late 80's I was blessed to be able to fish our other Northern Cal fisheries...Smith, Van Duzen, Mattole in particular. In addition I was lucky enough to share watertime with my buddy John Shewey on his favorite Oregon waters.

Swinging streamers and also skating waking flies spun my wheels big time!
Cheers, Ken
PS: Not sure about my spelling. But heck you get the idea.

We (baby boomers) have great memories but I can only imagine all the great days the guys one generation back had (the great generation).

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If you have not seen the new DVD "Rivers of a Lost Coast" please try to.

We sell it for $29.99 and rent it for $1.00 day.

You can come into the shop and we can put it on the TV and watch it any day too.

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Your right Bill its the GRAB that we live for....swinging flies, or stripping.