You make the call... am I fishing or fly fishing for steelhead?

[BillB]

I wasn't going to join this fray, but . . . In the words of the old Billy Martin beer commercial, "I feel strongly both ways." My brother is deadly with a Green Wennie.

[shawn kempkes]

I was fishing the Bogachiel River on the Olympic Peninsula a couple of years back. Timing being what it is, Washington FF were having their annual Hoh Down and there were more fisherman than fish on the Hoh (all great guys, however, I met quite a few). Upon arriving at a spot we had planned to fish, there was a man and woman already fishing (ironically, using indicators as I recall) and a small statured man looking more like a college professor than a Northcoast Steelheader observing them a good ways from the water's edge resting on the gravel bar. Guess who? Yup, introduced himself as Doug Rose and his clients were the ones fishing. Not to judge, because I don't know the man, but I think he might now do a good portion of his steelheading from a keyboard and the tip of a pen.

Ron I was hoping you would remember that. The truth is the rivers here are being overrun by some carpetbagger guides from out of state that like to drag the bobber egg bead rig thru redds where fish are actively present and they dont care whos water they have their dudes casting into. Some of Dougs hostility might be coming from this.

[davkrat]

Fishing is fishing. As long as the fisherperson is ethically and legally fishing than so be it. Having just recovered from duck season I can say be thankful that fishing gear, fly, indibobber, bait, etc. does not necessarily impact the guy next to you who is also fishing. You each have your piece of water, respect your neighbor's spot and let them fish how they want. In duck hunting nothing is worse than some downwinding skyscraper ruining your chance to work birds, it effectively ruins your chances to hunt the way you want to. I love indicator nymphing, dries and swinging flies and when I'm doing any of those activities I could care less what the guy next to me is doing unless he's snagging or using bait in a no bait zone! As long as it's ethical and the person is enjoying themselves and respecting the fish I could careless what they're wearing, what they're using or what they want to call it.

[STEELIES/26c3]

A dedicated winter steelhead fly fisherman or woman willingly accepts that they won’t catch that many fish because they are more interested in the way they fish than whether they end up with a fish at the end of the day. In all other methods of winter steelheading that I have experienced, it’s just the opposite–catching fish is more important than the way you do it. Indeed, most expert winter steelheaders that I know who don’t fly fish experiment with a variety of techniques until they catch a fish. For them, the fish is more important than they technique."

Not sure if the above statement is more idiotic or arrogant...

It's a really sweeping generalization about what constitutes a positive fishing experience for a fly fisher vs a non-fly fisher...

I would argue that we ALL want to catch fish at the end of the day... otherwise why not visit the river with hook-less lines or just leave the gear at home altogether and bring the binoculars and a Peterson's Guide... to the river...

Personally, it is for me, also about the experience and the outwitting of the fish (with method/s of choice).

Reading water, understanding fish holding, feeding patterns, stream hydrology/physics and many other biological and ecological factors... are all points of consideration whether fly or gear fishing and such considerations, for any application, can be equally academic and demanding of intellect and skill.

Also, figuring out by the aforementioned details and via process of elimination... what and how to present to a steelhead can be as easy or difficult and as successful or unsuccessful as the individual angler chooses, no matter what her/his fishing technique.

If one angler uses an egg pattern with a Copper John dropper and executes a seamless dead drift under an indicator but catches no fish and never changes flies nor technique...

and a spey guy swings a purple bunny leech for hours on end and uses the same downstream, quartering cast, and same fast-strip method but after 2 hours and zero takes... he trades purple for black and slows his retrieve and interjects a pause here and there... which elicits a grab and a bright fish landed.

and a gear guy uses roe, then spoons, and finally entices a steelhead to bite a spin n glo and then hooks another and another because the action and color or of that goofy lil plastic, winged thing just so happened to be what pissed the fish off enough to strike that day...

Is the spinning guy's three fish any less earned or deserved than the spey guy's one fish?

It would seem to me that the indicator guy was unsuccessful not because he was a fly guy but because (unlike the gear guy or the spey guy...) he failed to think outside the box.

An angler, to be routinely successful, must take an academic approach to fishing. Further, the most successful (just as Darwin's survival of the fittest principle applies to nature...) anglers are those who adapt and evolve.

It's not what's in your fly OR GEAR box... but rather what you do with it...

which determines the purity and perfection of your angling experience

[flyguy1]

great reply Mark. What ever the method, its about enjoying the experience.

Scott

[Mike R]

Boy, I hope you released that chromer...right into the brine. Smoker meat!