Top water fishing for steelhead

Newsletter Fishmadman February 2012

Here is the Early spring or End of winter Newsletter ?… When I look out my window I still see huge ice plates floating about on the sea… Not really top water fishing conditions… So here is a Newsletter to bring you pulse and inner heat up a few notches.

Newsletter contend this time:

•On the Top For Steelhead

•Riffling Hitch on the Exploits River

On the top for steelhead

Skeena River steelhead caught on a Black Tube Bomber ™ - Picture with curtesy of Chad Black Nicholas Dean Lodge

Living in Northern Europa one is blessed with fishing possibilities - some of the worlds greatest Atlantic salmon river are merely few hours away... Surface fishing for salmon and sea trout is certainly a possibility during summer but when the low autumn temperatures starts creeping up on angler in Europa, salmon and sea trout turn their attention away from the surface. Sunken line and leaders are now needed to keep the fly in the right depth of water.

On the West coast of Canada crispy cold autumn mornings could very well mean top water fishing for steelhead ! - As temperature drops, big fish will be resting in pools and will be attracted to surface pattern fished slowly cross current.

Dead-drifting Dry Flies for steelhead

As all Salmonidae; A good part of the season the steealhead-parr have their focus pointed upwards and fishing a dry-flies at dead drift is a straight forward method too hook up with adult steelheads - Fly patterns like: Clark`s Stonefly - Wulff flies - and Bombers are favored patterns by steelhead anglers.

Rusty Brown Bomber a all time steelhead favorite - Here done the Tube Bomber way

Canadian West Coast Bombers are sometimes dressed differently than those found on the East coast.

Were as most East coast Bombers will be fished dead-drift for salmon - The West Coast Bombers could be styled for commotion fishing

Skated Dry flies

More so than it is with Atlantic salmon the steelhead is attracted to skated and waked fly-patterns - and will react aggressively to flies fished active during summer and autumn. Steealhead anglers have been building flies for this fishing for decades - Flies that will work on the top - in rough and calm water. Fly patterns like Waller Walker, Wag`s Walker, The Skaopper -and Grantham Sedge

Here The famed Grantham Sedge from Mr. Grantham`s hands - A top fly for steelhead Read more

Riffling Hitch

Dragging wet flies in the surface or using tiny tube flies fished on a angle is a classical techniques for Atlantic salmon that works equally good for steealhead. One could call Riffling Hitch fishing: a quiet way of skating or waking a dry fly - but it would not be all correct as the actual presentation of the fly could be different on a steelhead river versus a salmon river. The salmon angler would want to keep up the hitch and prevent the fly from ducking down - Steelhead anglers would benefit from the fly going under water and then re-appearing as hitched fly.

The Skunk: A traditional steelhead wet fly pattern often used as a Riffling Hitch fly - Here on our Fishmadman Flexible tube tied for Rifling Hitch with a small Owner Double hook attached - Note the leader coming out of the front part of the tube - in a angle to the tube

Wake & Skate series

Together with guides from one of Canada's greatest steeelhead lodges: Nicholas Dean Lodge we at Fishmadman have develop a series of Wake & Skate flies that corporate some of the smart features from our hitch-tubes system, with known steelhead patterns - Our series consist of a variation over 4 proven patterns:

The hitch-tube steelhead flies has also shown to be very good on our Scandinavian sea trout and Arctic Char in Greenland

Flies are is tied on our superior 3,2 millimeter hitch tube, and will hold a variety of different short shank hooks.

Flies fishes equally good from both banks and the various patterns will cover fishing in different situations and various water flow.

Your next top water destination….

Fishing for steelhead in the surface is considered the top of fly fishing - Certainly it is at the top of the Fishmadman wish list - so we asked lodge manager Chad Black from Nicholas Dean Lodge to give us a brief view into the possibilities they have to offer during the season -

Picture with curtesy of Chad Black Nicholas Dean Lodge

The peak dry fly steelhead season on the lower River Watershed is from mid August to mid October. While there are certainly opportunities on either side of these dates, this is when the dedicated steelhead angler can reasonably find conditions that are conducive to dry fly fishing. Water levels are dropping into shape and clearing following the summer freshet and, perhaps most importantly, water temperatures are relatively warm. Under these conditions, you’ll find steelhead that are aggressive, sometimes playful even, and willing to chase down a fly that’s waked slowly across the surface of a boulder strewn pool. It’s hands down some of the most exciting fishing of the year – and one of my personal favorites!

To be successful when fishing dry flies for Skeena steelhead, there are a few key points that you need to keep in mind:

•You need to identify the best holding water where a dry fly can be fished effectively and with a reasonable chance of success. Deep, tanky pools are great places where steelhead will hold for prolonged periods of time. But, these places are very difficult to swing a fly, particularly a dry fly. So, what you’re looking for are pools with a nice even flow – a fast walking pace, two to six feet deep, preferably with boulders scattered throughout, and with a particularly heavy section of water below the tail-out. This encourages steelhead to rest in the pool and gets them looking up.

•You need to fish your dry fly with confidence. The reality is that day in and day out, you will hook more fish with a wet fly that’s fished below the surface, with or without a sink tip. So, if you want to raise a steelhead on a dry fly, it’s going to take some perseverance! When you do, you’ll be glad you invested your time – it’s one of those scenarios where the ends do justify the means.

•Some styles of flies create different profiles when skated and are better suited to different current speeds. As an example - I’ve done exceptionally well fishing our foam skater (tied on hitched tubes by Fishmadman) in faster, riffly water, particularly at the heads of pools, where it creates a large, broad wake. However, in slower, more even paced flows or near tail-outs, this same fly creates a wake that’s just too large, and can sometimes even put steelhead down. In this case, I switch over to a fly that creates a smaller disturbance or wake on the surface, like the Grantham Sedge (also tied on a hitched tube by Fishmadman). Don’t be afraid to experiment to find out what the fish want on a given day.

Pictures with curtesy of Chad Black Nicholas Dean Lodge

Without a doubt, watching a steelhead slowly materialize out of the shadows in a choppy, riffly run and seeing it track – and hopefully inhale your fly – is one of the pinnacles of the steelhead fly fishing world. It’s such a visual, personal experience that no matter how clearly one tries to describe and capture this moment on paper, it really is one of those moments in fly fishing that you need to see and experience yourself!

So, while there are many different fisheries available in the lower Skeena region throughout the angler’s season – including small, unnamed coastal rivers for large steelhead, and monster 45 lb. chinook salmon on the fly and larger - the dry fly steelhead season will likely forever remain a client favorite – and one of mine - here at Nicholas Dean Lodge.

Tight lines Chad Black

Riffling Hitch on the Exploits River

This winter was so ##%XX! cold that I took time of to edit the little sunny video film we managed to get in the box while we visited Newfoundland and the mighty Exploits River the summer of 2011 - We did so with guide superior Mr. Bill Bryden from Eureka outdoors - Yet another superior destination in Canada - for the topwater angler..

Click the image above and it will take you to the film

☛ Support Mr. Orri Vigfússon and NASF in rescuing the Atlantic salmon - Go to NASF page ! ☚

All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, known or hereafter invented is forbidden without the written permission from Jesper Fohhrmann/ Per Fischer -

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