Most of us will embrace struggling at one level or one other. Whether or not we’re pushing ourselves to complete a marathon, working via sleepless nights to earn a promotion, or ending up that superior dragon again tattoo we’ve all the time needed, accepting a bit of ache for an final reward simply provides some spice to life. This mentality is very prevalent within the outside world, the place backcountry hunters and deep-sea anglers push the bounds of psychological and bodily endurance. And for my cash, no different outside exercise is sort of as sublimely masochistic as swinging flies for Nice Lakes steelhead within the winter.
Initially a technique for catching salmon within the rivers of the UK, swinging flies for steelhead was solely not too long ago adopted by West Coast steelheaders, and the approach is selecting up steam across the Nice Lakes. It’s not practically as environment friendly or productive as different strategies, like pulling plugs or drifting roe beneath a bobber, and it might probably typically take hours and even days to get a strike.
Photograph by Kubie Brown
That is all a part of the draw. As a result of as a substitute of repeatedly hammering away at inactive fish till you power them to chew, you’re looking for out essentially the most lively and scrappiest fighters within the river that need to play ball. You’re additionally out fishing throughout the nastiest time of the 12 months, trudging via snow and ice and standing within the face of freezing winds. It’s a recreation of willpower, which makes each fish you hook a bit of extra particular. And if you lastly get that electrical and well-earned seize, you’ll see there’s no higher approach to catch a steelhead than on the swing.
The Fundamentals of Swinging for Steelhead
Swinging flies is taken into account a problem due to the nuance concerned and the time it takes to hook a fish, however the act of swinging flies with a fly rod is pretty easy. (You can even swing a lure with a traditional rod-and-reel, however we’ll hold the main focus strictly on fly fishing right here.)
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The thought is to make use of the river’s present to methodically cowl giant swaths of water together with your fly, which is usually a gaudy streamer or one thing comparable. To do that, you solid your fly down and throughout the river at a roughly 45-degree angle, then regulate your presentation by mending or tightening your line relying on the pace and depth of the run. You then observe your fly together with your rod tip as the road comes tight and a “stomach” or arc kinds within the fly line. It will trigger the fly to maneuver or “swing” via the run and throughout the present, and the swing ends when the stomach in your line straightens out fully and your fly stops immediately under you. You then take a pair steps downstream and repeat the method, presenting your fly to new sections of water till you get a seize or run out of persistence.
Photograph by Kubie Brown
It’s this seize that makes swinging flies for steelhead so addicting. As a result of when a strike does come, it’s not often a delicate nibble, and together with your line tight, you’ll be able to actually really feel the fish slam your fly. After spending so many lengthy and fishless hours hypnotized by the repetitive motions of casting, swinging, and stepping down, the sound of a screaming drag and the sight of a leaping steelhead is sort of a violent jolt of actuality. There’s simply nothing else prefer it.
The place and When to Chase Nice Lakes Steelhead
When most individuals hear the phrase “steelhead,” they consider the rivers on the West Coast, from Northern California via British Columbia and as much as Alaska, the place these ocean-going rainbow trout return to their natal rivers annually to spawn. However due to an introduction program that began on Michigan’s Au Sable River within the late 1800s, there may be now a naturalized inhabitants of steelhead trout within the Nice Lakes system. A whole bunch of tributary streams that feed the Nice Lakes now host sizable steelhead runs throughout the fall, winter, and early spring, making it some of the accessible and well-liked locations within the nation to swing flies.
It issues little, for my part, that many West Coast anglers look down on Nice Lakes steelhead as a result of they by no means contact salt water. The actual fact is, these adfluvial rainbows are each bit as huge and powerful as their anadromous cousins.
Photograph by Kubie Brown
In a typical 12 months, steelhead will start getting into the rivers round all 5 of the Nice Lakes throughout mid- to late-autumn. They’ll proceed to indicate up in small pulses via the winter months and all the way in which into April. Prime run timing relies on the river and native circumstances, however it might probably begin in October and peak as early as mid-November in some locations.
Anglers haven’t any scarcity of water to fish across the Nice Lakes, and so they may spend all 12 months exploring these tributaries. A number of the extra well-known Nice Lakes tributaries embrace Cattaragus Creek, Elk Creek, and the Vermillion River, that are a part of the well-known “Steelhead Alley” alongside Lake Erie, and Michigan’s Grand, Muskegon, and Au Sable Rivers. You can even discover some huge steelhead within the mighty Niagara River alongside the New York and Pennsylvania border.
Fundamental Tools for Fly Fishing the Nice Lakes Tributaries
Nice Lakes steelhead don’t eat a lot as soon as they enter these tributaries, as they’re primarily targeted on migrating and spawning. However they’ve spent a number of fun-filled years packing on energy within the lakes beforehand, and after they do return to the rivers, they’ve all of the power and vigor of grizzlies. This implies you’re going to need to go away your trout gear at dwelling and hit the Nice Lakes loaded for bear.
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You’re going to want a 6-, 7- or an 8-weight fly rod and a reel with an honest disc drag that may cease, or not less than decelerate, a operating steelhead. Many anglers select to make use of conventional single-handed rods, that are nice for fishing the smaller tributaries and creeks across the Nice Lakes. Nonetheless, in the event you’re planning on swinging flies in a bigger river, chances are you’ll be higher off with a two-handed rod, also referred to as a Spey or a change rod. These longer fly rods are able to casting additional distances with much less vitality, which helps when looking for out lively fish.
Photograph by Shuttershudder / Adobe Inventory
Single-handed casters ought to load their reels with a thicker weight-forward fly line or taking pictures head that may flip over heavy flies at distance. Should you’re going the two-handed route, select an appropriately weighted Spey line and join it to the operating line that fills up your reel.
You’ll additionally need quite a lot of sink-tips or sinking leaders that you may connect to the top of your fly line. These will assist get your flies down into the strike zone and keep there throughout the swing. In smaller rivers, a pair 5- to 7- foot leaders with 2- to 5-inch-per-second sink charges could also be all you want. For bigger, deeper rivers, longer 10-plus-foot leaders with 7- to 10-ips sink charges are the way in which to go. You can even get a pre-loaded pack of assorted sink tricks to cowl all of your bases.
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Lastly, you’re going to desire a couple spools of stout, 12- to 20-pound tippet to attach your fly to the top of your chief. Connect a 2- to 3-foot size of tippet to your chief with a perfection knot or another loop knot, and also you’ll be prepared to search out some water to fish and tie on a fly.
Studying the River and Selecting a Fly
Discovering steelhead is all about understanding methods to learn the river. As they make their method upstream, steelhead will push via sections of heavy present after which cease and unfold out in deeper, slower-moving water, the place they may relaxation and maintain. Though you’ll be able to typically discover a prepared fish in quick currents, you’re higher off swinging your flies via these slower, deeper areas the place fish are taking a break from their migration.
Photograph by Kubie Brown
To get began, attempt to discover a part of water the place the present is shifting at a strolling tempo. In smaller rivers, this generally is a small pool or slow-moving piece of water behind a log or a rock. On bigger rivers, it may be a mile-long run. Take note of spots proper earlier than or after rapids, close to small waterfalls, or anyplace else the place a steelhead may have to relaxation. When you’ve discovered a few handsome runs, choose them aside for any candy spots: the slower holes and depressions, cabinets and drop-offs, and locations the place rocks or different buildings type a present break. These are the most effective spots for fish to carry and so they’re price fishing via a number of occasions.
After discovering a great spot, your subsequent job is choosing the proper fly. This requires a barely completely different method than selecting a typical trout fly, for instance, as a result of steelhead aren’t as targeted on consuming as soon as they enter the river. Most of the time, they’re biting a fly out of aggression, and it’s this reactionary strike that anglers are attempting to elicit after they swing a fly via a run.
Steelhead flies are available all kinds of sizes, shapes, and colours. Whereas there are some basic dry fly patterns you’ll be able to swing, the best choices are usually streamers and different moist flies which are fished beneath the floor. Plenty of these flies, particularly those used within the winter, are huge, colourful, and gaudy. They appear nothing like every of the batfish or every other prey you’ll discover within the river — as a result of, bear in mind, you’re not making an attempt to imitate a meals supply a lot as make the fish offended.
Photographs by Kubie Brown
Steelhead will usually present a choice for one sort of fly or one other on completely different days, and even throughout completely different occasions of day. On hotter brighter days, when water temperatures are above 45 levels, steelhead are extra lively and bigger and brighter flies are sometimes the best. On darker, colder days when steelhead are extra sluggish, smaller, darker flies are often the way in which to go. Be happy to experiment, and in the event you’ve drawn a clean with one fashion or colour in a handsome run, you’ll be able to all the time change flies and fish via it once more till you both get a tug or run out of fly patterns. Or you’ll be able to regulate your swing.
Adjusting and Adapting Your Presentation
Presenting your fly on the proper depth is the important thing to success when swinging flies for steelhead. The usual wet-fly swing is completed by casting downstream at a roughly 45-degree angle, mending the road so the fly can sink, after which permitting the fly to swing via the present till it stops immediately downstream. It’s an environment friendly approach to cowl a number of water. However it’s not the one method, and anglers will usually have higher luck in the event that they regulate their swing for various present speeds and depths.
Fishing a shallower, boulder-strewn run, for instance, may name for a bit of quicker swing. You are able to do this by mending downstream and rising the dimensions of the stomach in your fly line, which permits the present to drag the fly throughout the run extra rapidly. The sluggish, deep swimming pools the place steelhead like to cover name for a unique method as properly, and the usual 45-degree swing won’t be getting your flies down deep sufficient to the place the fish are. In the sort of water, it might probably typically assist to solid immediately throughout a run at a 90-degree angle, and even barely upriver. You’ll be able to then make a big upstream mend after which take a step downstream, which can give your fly much more time to sink earlier than it begins to swing. Usually these little changes are all it is advisable hold your flies in entrance of fish.
Adjusting and swapping sink ideas and leaders is one other approach to hold your flies within the zone. Each time you hit a brand new run, look it over and be aware of its depth and pace. Shorter and heavier leaders, like a 5- or 6-foot size of 10 ips, are nice for swinging via quicker water and for presenting your fly vertically round rocks and different construction. Longer, lighter leaders, like a 12-foot size of three ips, are nice for masking slow-moving runs as they’ll assist hold your flies simply off the underside and proper in a steelhead’s face.
The Swing Is the Factor
Photograph by Kubie Brown
Like sending up a fervent prayer simply begging to be answered, swinging a fly for Nice Lakes steelhead is holding onto sufficient hope to remain out longer, ignore your frozen appendages, and stand your floor. You solely stick with it as a result of you recognize that in the event you hold the religion, you’ll finally get a seize. And when it lastly does occur and also you hook right into a chrome torpedo of a fish, the whole lot else simply melts away.
