Bright Light Steel
Words by Greg Thomas
Where To Throw When the Sun Is High
I’ve known some western steelheaders who put their flyrods down during the heat of the day, especially in August and early September, choosing instead to pilfer the beer supply and follow their gluttony with a midday nap.
This follows the idea that summer steelhead won’t bite when bright sun is on the water, and that the best times to get them are during mornings and evenings, when shadows cover portions of the water. That is only half true, and also throws sand in the face of a classic angling adage: You can’t catch fish if you don’t have a fly in the water.
Truth is, steelhead do take during the middle of the day, in bright sun, but you probably won’t raise one to the surface at that time. Instead, these fish find deeper runs, slots, chutes, and plunge pools, and hold a couple feet under the surface or near bottom. You can also find summer steelhead holding in the shadows that ledge-rock provides . . . and you’ll find plenty of that shadowy ledge-rock on Idaho’s Clearwater River, Oregon’s Deschutes and North Umpqua rivers, and Washington’s Klickitat, among others.
Ledge-rock alone, however, won’t hold steelhead. It needs to be accompanied by water that’s at least four-feet deep and relatively slow moving, meaning walking speed or slower. That pace allows a fly to get low in the water column and tempt a fish to bite, something you couldn’t do in a fast moving mid-river seam, for instance.
Karlie Loftice with a Clearwater River steelhead, taken on the swing with the Saga spey 8-weight.
That moment. The release.
Steelhead Don't Sleep In The Afternoons. Why Should You?
To get a fly down to the fish you’ll need to attach a sink-tip to the end of your fly line, which is something that purists may scoff at. Well, we like to catch fish, and to do so we’ll fish a shooting head and a sink-tip in the T8 to T12 range. To the end of the sink tip we’ll tie on two or three feet of six-to 12-pound test tippet. Then we’ll dig into our fly boxes and choose from our favorite patterns. You don’t need some gaudy Intruder to catch fish in bright light. Subdued, natural colors and smaller sizes are the answer here. Think Muddlers, Undertakers, Fall Favorites and Blue Charms. Whatever you are confident in is the right choice. Fish it well and the fish will eat. I’ve heard some people say a summer steelhead would eat a cigarette butt if you swam it close to one but, uh, haven’t tried that theory yet. Again, if you like a fly and are confident in it, it only takes one fish that wants to eat to make your afternoon.
When you’re gearing up for summer spey, don’t get rattled by all the choices in sink-tips these days. You can keep things simple by requesting tips in just three sizes and weights, and you can vary the sink-rate by casting at different angles and mending line in various ways. Here’s all you need: 10-foot sections of T-8, T-10 and T-12. T-8 sinks at 6.5 inches per second; T-10 sinks at 7 inches per second; and T-12 sinks at 8 inches per second. Want to go deeper? Loop on some T-14, but don’t be surprised when you snag on bottom.
Here you can find all the options of Rio MOW tips.
No matter which tip you fish, think low and slow. Steelhead often take a fly because it annoys them. Pick the choicest water and allow your fly to slowly swing through it, preferably near the bottom. You’ll lose flies while fishing near bottom this way. But you’ll also come up with some midday steelhead that your pals overlook while sleeping off their afternoon beer buzz and ignoring that ancient angling truth.
Gear
Rod: Fly Project Saga Spey. We think this is the best deal in spey and we also believe it to be one of the best rods you could own for western steelhead and salmon. Available in 4, 6, 8 and 9-weights. Own this and you can bomb the scandi lines with the best of them.
Reel: Sage Spey II; Fly Project Model OC II. The OC II is built for the West; it's available in four sizes, (6, 7, 8, 9) and has an absolute classic look and feel; pairs perfectly with your Saga rod. The Sage Spey II has a similar feel and you can't go wrong if that's your choice.
Line: Ballistic Express II
Leader and Tippet: Maxima Ultragreen. No reason to overthink this. You only need a few feet of leader/tippet and Ultragreen is a winner. There's a reason why the IGFA won't accept record catches taken on Ultragreen (it doesn't break). Get spools of 15-pound, 12-pound and 10-pound and you're all set.