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.