Report: Meramec

While visiting the folks over Thanksgiving, I took a day out to fish the Meramec River. I've been on this river before, and in fact you can go back and read that report here. This time around, it was much colder and in fact, a couple of inches of snow had fallen the night before. The ground was still warm enough that the snow all but melted before the end of the day, but it still made for a picture perfect day.

The temps never rose about 33 degrees and this caused not only my guides to ice up, but my line became a little stiff as well. No big deal and all part of the fun. I'm not sure what the water temp was, but you can imagine it was also a little chillier than my last trip.

Icy lines...

On this outing, we parked very near where we were last time. If you recall, I scrambled down “Suicide Hill” to get to the water on that day. With the ice and snow, I thought that would be a bad idea to attempt such a thing this time around. Instead, I opted to park at “Cardiac Hill”, which is not very far away. You end up maybe ¾ of a mile or so upstream of Suicide.

Upon reaching the river, I realized that the water was extremely low and clear. Not what I expected. With the snow and rain a couple of days before, I expected it to be much higher. In fact, the water seemed to be a lot lower than when I was here last time. The fishing near where the path reaches the river did not look inviting. So, I went upstream. I was easily able to cross the river every 100 yards or so to access the sand bars that were on the inside of each bend. This made for easy traveling. I went quite a ways and found a few spots worth fishing, but there were not any lengthy runs/riffles like I had hoped.

I fished at the best looking spots and didn't get so much as a bite. The fish were down today, most likely in deeper pools. Problem was, I couldn't find any deep pools. Where were these guys?

I traveled far enough upstream that I was ready to turn around. I only had a half day to fish, so I needed to keep moving. I went back downstream and passed the Cardiac Hill path. I went far enough downstream that I ended up at Suicide Hill and where I was last year. The water was so low, I barely recognized it. It was a little disappointing. After several hours, I decided to head back upstream towards the base of Cardiac (last year it was almost impossible to go very far upstream of Suicide because of the water depth).

Over the course of the morning/early afternoon, I received a some bites and some good tugs. I hooked and later long distance released a good sized fish. But it never made it very close to my hand. The fish were definitely off their feed.

Trying to access the pool...

After getting back to the bottom of Cardiac, I climbed up on the bank and saw a bunch of trout eating deep down in one of the deeper parts of the river. Unfortunately, it was near impossible to reach them. I was 10 feet above on a steep bank and they were protected by floating debris. The trees surrounding me made it extremely hard to cast to them. These fish knew they were safe and picked probably the best place on the river to hang out.

Trees directly behind required an almost vertical backcast...

Next time I'm in town, I'll be checking out a new section of the river. Hopefully the water will be higher and the temps a little warmer. All in all, it was a beautiful winters day out in the Midwest fishing some usually fantastic waters.

Meramec River

I'll post a report soon on my trip to the Meramec River outside of St. Louis. In the mean time, since I haven't said much on this blog, I'll post a couple of pictures from that trip.

Here I am swinging a soft hackle size 10 and a winged wet sized 14. As you can see, it was cold and snowy. Besides the constant icing up of the fly line and the guides, it was fun to be out in such cold conditions.

Other than this trip to the Meramec and another to the Trinity, I've been on a tying spree. I've put together a bunch of hair wing and feather winged steelhead flies (finally went out and bought some mallard flank feathers). I'll be posting some pictures soon.

Report: Trinity

Braving the heavy rains, I made a two day trip up north to the Trinity River. Arriving just after 3am on Monday morning, I pulled into a deserted Hayden Flat Campground and slept for a couple of hours.

It was absolutely pitch black and the rain made it even more difficult to see. I didn't know exactly know where I was, but that made it even more exciting. All that I did know is that based on the roar of the river, I was close.

The sun didn't exactly “come up” as it was very cloudy. But, eventually I could see my surroundings. Sure enough, the river was just down the hill. Since I was in a campground, and while it was empty, I probably shouldn't have been there. With that in mind, I drove back to 299 and went downriver to an access road that also served as a boat launch.

The short but steep drive down to the gravel bar wasn't much of a problem. It looked very similar to a mogul run at your favorite ski area. The bumps were 2-4 feet deep and if I'd have known what I was getting into, I wouldn't have driven down. Luckily my four wheel drive had just enough clearance to make it over the humps if I zig zagged my way down. Getting out was much more difficult. More on that later.

After gearing up, I walked down river a little to start steppin' and swinging my two fly rig. On the bottom was a size 8 generic steelhead hairwing fly. The top fly was a soft hackle of some kind. Within a few minutes I caught a few smaller 10-15 inch trout. They fought pretty well, but weren't much of a match for my 7 weight two handed rod.

The run was perfect. Three to six feet in depth, rocky bottom that provided plenty of structure, and a walking pace – riffly flow. As usual, I cast out straight across or down and across. The cast is either all the way across the river, or to the last fishy looking spot/seam. The idea is to get the fly to swim as slow as possible. Not necessarily a dead drift, but not allowing the line to belly and make the fly zip across at high speed.

I was river right with absolutely no wind, which called for a basic double-spey cast. This allowed for quick coverage of the entire river. Make a cast, step a few feet and do it again. If there are any aggressive fish, you'll find them.

After that first run, I went further upstream, much further actually. I basically walked back to that campground from earlier. I saw many salmon. Some were dour, others were much more fresh. A few of them were pretty good size. Although none of them looked like the monsters I saw on the Lower Stan a few weeks ago. Several smaller (12-18") trout later, I found myself downstream at the run where I was earlier.

At some point, I caught a decent sized steelhead. He barely grabbed my fly. No hard tug that you'd imagine from a good sized fish. As I started bringing him in, he leaped a good 4 feet out of the water. It wasn't until that point I realized he was large. Until then, I assumed it was a 10 incher. Each time he lept, I buried my rod tip under the surface to try and keep from getting off. As he got close, almost within my grasp, I saw that he was a little over 25 inches! Nice bright steelhead. He must of saw my hand reach into the water and he took off, tearing line off my reel at the same time. He made some huge leaps out of the water, making some violent head shakes along the way. When he landed from one of those cartwheels, I sadly realized he was now unbuttoned. I lost him! I laughed out loud and gave him a friendly curse word or two before moving on. I was almost giddy with excitement.

I worked this section pretty good, so I packed it in to go somewhere else. Keep in mind it had been raining like mad for the whole time I was fishing. That steep entry down to the gravel bar that I mentioned earlier now resembled a dirty slip and slide that I played on during the dog days of a midwest summer. As I approached and started going up the steep hill, I was okay until I hit the moguls. My tires started spinning. Uh oh!! Nobody was around, and I was afraid I'd have to be towed out of there. I made a run up to the moguls several different times. Each time I backed up further and gained more speed. Each time the same result. Spinning tires.

I said to myself, “screw it!” I backed up and hit those moguls at a pretty fast speed. After a violent jarring that made my head hit the ceiling (even with the safety belt), I made it out of that sticky situation. I was now on the highway shoulder. I got out and looked under the truck for damage. I bottomed out rather hard. I was sure I punctured something or broke something else. Everything seemed to be okay (hard to tell with all the mud and water dripping off). My little four wheel drive SUV performed pretty well considering the evil mixture of mud, moguls, and steep incline. Impressive!

Now that the almost-nightmare was over, I travelled downstream looking for a new spot. I drove all the way to where 299 crossed the river and turned back. I found a decent looking spot and got out. Went down to the river and threw in my line. I don't think I caught anything here. It actually wasn't that great looking once I was on the river. After a few minutes, I got back in the car and went upstream.

Drove past where I was earlier and through Del Loma. I stopped at a few places that looked inviting. Never spending more than the time needed to fish the run. I keep telling myself, carpet bomb, carpet bomb. Meaning, don't linger around. Just cover the water and move on. If a fish isn't grabbing you immediately, it isn't worth the time trying to convince him to. Besides, there may not even be steelhead in that section.

I can't tell you where I went next. Somewhere between Del Loma and Big Flat. It was a matter of just looking from the road and picking a run that looked good. The end of day one was coming to a close. I had caught around 10 fish. The biggest was that one that got away just as I was reaching for him. The next biggest one I actually got in my hand was another bright 22-23 incher. The size 8 and 10 hair wing steelhead flies were working. As were the soft hackles.

Near the end of the day, I found a nice spot to spend the remainder of it. As it was getting near dark, I walked back to my car to get a flashlight in case I needed it. Upon returning to the river, I saw very fresh - what looked to be cougar tracks that were not there earlier. Now, I'm not a hunter, so I don't know my tracks. But I do know these were rather big and they didn't really look like bear tracks to me. Whatever the case. There was a big animal that had visited between my car and the river (a distance of about 50 yards) while I was fishing. This was quite alarming to me. While I'm curious, I didn't want to be surprised by a meat eater. I went back to the river to fish a little while longer, but I was constantly turning around looking over my shoulder. I wasn't very comfortable. I decided to pack it in a little earlier than I would of otherwise.

It was now dark and since there was no cell reception, I drove down 299 until I had some bars. I needed to call my wife and let her know I hadn't fallen in the river. After doing so, I had a dilemma. Do I spend the night near where I was or go upriver? I was interested in the water up from Junction City, but also worried that steelhead hadn't moved that far up yet.

I decided to take the chance. I drove to Sky Ranch Road/Oregon Gulch. This section is south of Junction City along a very narrow winding road. There are few homes and it was hard to tell if I was going in the right direction. Eventually, I found the small narrow path to the gravel bar. Unfortunately, there was standing water across the entrance. In the dark, I couldn't tell how deep the water was. I didn't want to take the chance, so I backed up. Backing up in the darkness with a driving rain on a road barely wide enough to fit your vehicle was not easy. Eventually I made it up the hill and could turn around. Driving north, I found a spot to pull off this road and sleep for the night. I got in the back of the SUV and wrapped up in a sleeping bag. I was exhausted. Before I knew it, it was time to wake up.

That water that covered the road was only a foot deep. No big deal. Better safe than sorry. Now that I was on the gravel bar, I got out and started fishing. This area wasn't that great. I immediately caught a smaller 12 inch trout, but that was it. The more time I spent here, the more guides/boats started showing up. This must be a popular put in. I must of seen 15 boats go into the river. Not bad for a Tuesday. A few guys were fishing a deep section where water was piling into a pool . They pulled out some large fish. I'm going to guess they were salmon. I was a distance away, while they could have been steelhead, they seemed too big and since they looked to be in deep water, I'm only assuming.

Anyway, I wasn't really doing that well here. I covered the runs pretty thoroughly. I decided to move on. In fact, I went back to where I was yesterday. The Big Flat area to be precise. I stopped here and there along the way at whatever looked good. Caught a few fish throughout the day, but nothing like Monday.

Trip Tackle: 12 foot tapered mono leader (hand tied, 30lb, 20lb, 12lb, 8lb) or 10 foot intermediate poly leader with 3-4 feet of tippet or on one occasion a 3ips poly leader with 3 feet of tippet. Always used two flies. Steelhead hairwing pattern at the end in size 8-10 and a soft hackle or winged wet in front size 10-14. Tried eggs with no success and a few nymphs with no success.

As my two day trip wound down, I drove away happy to know I caught a few larger steelhead in the 20-26 inch range and even more in the 12-18 range. To me, it was a good couple of days. Especially considering how everyone has been saying that the steelhead fishing on the Trinity has been rather slow. Maybe I'm lucky, maybe the fact that I refused to stay in one area for too long. Who knows. All that I do know is that I had a blast. Rain and all!

Here is a partial list of the places I visited/fished. I won't say what I caught where. But just to give you an idea of how many places I visited.

Skunk Point, Big Flat Access, Big Flat Camp, Sky Ranch Road, Oregon Gulch, Pigeon Point, Baghdad Slick, Little Swede, Hayden Flat Camp, The Access Rd at Hayden, Cedar Flat, Sandy Bar, French Bar, Big Bar/Corral Bottom, and a handful of others that weren't marked.

Keep moving! Hit and run!

Report: Lower Stanislaus

A couple of weeks ago, I made another trip to the Lower Stanislaus. I decided to delay this report until after the river closed. Reason being, considering the stuff I saw on the American, you never know who out there may read this and decide it was time to go target some very large salmon.

I arrived at the Tulloch access while it was still dark. I had already rigged my rod before leaving the house, so I only had to throw on my waders and get to the water. For the first time, I started up underneath the dam and worked myself down. I threw a 2-fly rig consisting of a size 14 wet fly and a size 12 soft hackle. I had a few bites here and there, but didn't catch anything for a while. I could see the trout swimming around about 6-10 feet under the surface, more or less out of reach since I was swinging just under the surface.

As I scrambled along the rocks to get myself downstream, I was able to open up my cast a little bit. There were less overhanging tree branches and I could get in a good double spey cast across to the far bank. Fish were starting to come to the surface for a few bugs that filled the air. At this time, I caught a few around 10” in length.

Working yourself along the river in this section is not easy. Wading is limited. You are more or less pinned on a rock and doing whatever you can to get the fly out. As I was clumsily moving around, I heard a big splash. A few moments later, I saw a large salmon come out of the water. He was fresh and lively. This was the first time I had seen salmon off of Tulloch. That shouldn't be a surprise since I don't normally spend a lot of time in this section. Nice to know they're out there. Although I was tempted by the big fish, I moved on and let him and his friends be.

Scrambling up the rocks to the path, I went downriver and waded out again. Caught another swarm of 10-15 inch fish. As usual, I kept moving, looking for “players”. Instead of pounding the same section over and over, I like to keep moving and look for those that are active.

I stayed at the Tulloch area until 1 or 2 pm. The fishing was that good. Normally I'm gone before noon. I'm not going to say where, but in a deep hole, I was able to see a few very large salmon. And a bunch of "small" salmon over 30 inches that paled in comparison. In fact, those big guys were the biggest salmon I've ever seen period. I didn't know that fish this big were in the Lower Stan. I can't say for sure, but at least two of them looked to be around four feet and built like a missle. They were absolutely huge. The first time I saw the larger of the two, I really thought I was seeing things. He made the 30” fish look tiny by comparison. By the looks of things, he was fresh from the ocean. He was moving around like a mad man chasing others that were getting too close. Totally unexpected and awe inspiring.

Not long after this discovery, and my 10 minutes of just sitting on a rock just watching, I went back to the car for a quick trip down to Two Mile.

After arriving at the new location, I went down and fished right where the path meets the water. Normally I head upriver to begin, but for some reason, I decided to start here. On the second cast, I landed a 15 inch trout. Keep in mind, this was around 2pm. Fishing was great, all day long. Afterwards, I traveled downstream and caught another before heading upriver.

I won't go into details, but I fished the usual spots and a few new ones. I was catching fish almost everywhere. There were salmon all over the place around here. There was a good mix of spawners that have been there a while and look to be in bad shape, and then there were some fresh guys that were happily leaping out of the water with the trout.

As reported in another post, I had caught three fish at one time. This happened pretty far downstream in an eddy. It was an exciting moment that I soon won't forget. Between that and seeing the huge salmon, it was quite a day. After it was all said and done, I caught more than 20 fish more than 10 inches. The largest was around 18 and full of fight.

Thanks Lower Stanislaus, I'll be back when you open up next year.

Triple Catch

While on the Lower Stan yesterday, I was working a 3-fly rig. In an eddy, I caught a rainbow and after reeling him in, all of a sudden, he really started fighting hard. I was thinking that I had a really big one.

When he got within 10 feet of me, I noticed that there were two fish. Each of them had latched on the lower two flies. Right as I was trying to corral them, a 3rd, and pretty small (7 inch) rainbow popped up from no where and onto the last fly!!

I was laughing so hard I almost fell in the water. All 3 fish to hand. The first two were around 12 inches, the last was 7.

It will probably never happen again. It was pretty darn amusing seeing these guys trying to escape in different directions.

I'll have a Lower Stan report soon. It was a doozy of a day and I saw some incredible stuff.

Two Handed Casting and Leaders

Something happened on the American River. I'm not sure what it was, however, by the end of the day, I felt that I had taken a step backwards in my spey casting abilities. I wasn't getting as much distance and the line wasn't unfolding very well. I'm not sure if I was tired or was just low on concentration.

On Sunday, after watching my weekly football game, I decided to head to the local school playground and get some practice in. Focusing on my technique, I felt much better after a quick half hour. I was back to casting 80 or more feet in a controlled manner. I also modified my form a little bit and feel more confident about my technique.

Spey casting is so enjoyable for me. There are so many facets to the cast that it takes a lot to bring it all together. How you hold your hands, how you set the anchor, where you set the anchor, how you apply the power stroke, etc, etc. When it all comes together, it can be satisfying. Before getting a two hander, I never really enjoyed casting as much I do now. There just aren't as many variables to keep my mind buzzing. I know it sounds ridiculous to anyone that has never used a two handed rod before. I was there and thought the same thing. Give it a try and you'll know what I mean.

However, casting isn't fishing. And if you allow yourself to get too caught up in it, you suddenly find yourself ignoring the presentation. Which of course is what leads to actually catching a fish. You have to be careful.

On the rigging front, I've built a few tapered 12 foot leaders in various lengths to use with steelhead. I'm hoping to get back to the grass to see how well they turn over the larger flies. Something that seems to be working right now is the following formula.

5' of 30lb
3' of 20lb
2' of 12lb
2' of 8lb

However, since grass casting is much different than when you are on the water (more tension when anchoring on water), the true test will be my next fishing trip.

Trip Report: American

Better late than never, eh? Last week, I went for a day on the American. Arriving before sunrise, I got out on the river and was ready to go at first light. Step and swung several steelhead patterns with a trailing soft hackle or nymph. Got several small bites, but didn't land any fish for the first hour.

Later on, the two fly setup got more attention. I caught a handful of small 10 inch rainbows that went after the soft hackles. Still, no half pounders.

After several hours of fishing this area, I decided to move upstream to the Nimbus hatchery. I had never been here and was curious to see what it was like. Upon arriving, I saw a ton of Salmon in their spawning beds. I decided not to fish here and accidentally hook a salmon. That didn't stop other fisherman. I saw a guy with a fly rod targeting a salmon that was sitting quietly on his redd. It was disappointing.

I went downstream to the riffles far below the hatchery area. The water looked great and I had a few hard bites. But they were all released before I ever saw them. Further down river, I witnessed some spin rod guys snagging fish (see my previous post) from a distance. More disappointment.

I stayed till night fall and sat through a massive hatch where mayflies were swarming around me. I have never seen one so strong. Despite all the bugs, only a few fish came to the surface. None went after my soft hackles. Something that generally is very affective.

On my way back to the car, more gear guys were targeting salmon at the redds. Frustrating.

Other than the guys targeting salmon or snagging fish, it was a pleasant day. Despite not catching anything of significance, I enjoyed myself.

No Respect

Just recently, I was on the American River and witnessed some awful stuff. It is bad enough when I see people putting fish on the ground to take a picture or keeping it out of the water for an excessive amount of time, but to see this kind of behavior is just sick.

First off, with the Salmon situation being what it is and the moratorium on targeting the fish, I was surprised to see so many people going after them. Maybe they weren't keeping what they caught, but they were definitely trying to hook them. Spin rod guys and fly fisherman alike. No respect.

Saw one guy pull out a large Salmon only to pull it up onto shore, push his hand onto it against the rocks to keep it from moving and yank the hook out. The fish was thrown back into the river. Way to go.

The worst thing I saw were a group of guys casting spin rods across the river. They were all standing in a line almost shoulder to shoulder, then ripping their lines back. I saw at least one Salmon caught this way. Sick!

While on Putah Creek last week, I watched a guy catch a trout and as his friend took what could of been a hundred pictures, the fish was out of the water for more than five minutes. I tried to calm myself down by assuming they were going to kill this fish and eat it that evening. Not that the abuse was necessary. Nope, the fish was thrown back in the water. Probably dead or near dead. Sick.

Please show some respect for the rules and the fish themselves. That's all I ask.

Trip Report: Putah Creek

Because of the high winds, I opted for a day on Putah Creek instead of the American. My thought process was that I'd be a little more protected here. Even though it became quite nasty at times, for the most part, the winds were acceptable.

Keep in mind, this is only my second time to Putah. I'm not very familiar with it, so I limited myself to two areas, the bridge and access 5. Started out below the bridge at sunrise. Although it was a Friday, it was pretty darn crowded. I couldn't get into the water I wanted without bumping lines, so I only stuck around for an hour or so. It looked like a decent area if you can put up with the stench from the campground across stream and had more room.

I went down to access 5 so that I could explore the island. It looked somewhat empty at first, but as I was stepping downstream, a group of 6 or so fly fisherman were moving upstream. No big deal. They were all really nice and we crossed paths. I was throwing a two fly rig, a small nymph on the top and a larger soft hackle on the tail. That size 10 was getting all the attention.

Throughout the day, there were more people here than I expected. I can't imagine what this place must be like on the weekend. Elbow room must be at a premium.

One thing I noticed, that I probably already knew from the postings on forums is that everyone bobber fishes here. Obviously, it must work for these guys or they wouldn't do it. If you read this blog, you know I'm not an indicator guy. I just can't get it to work for me. I feel handcuffed. I like the freedom of swinging, high sticking, or just dead drifting while watching the fly line as my indicator. You can switch techniques so fast without doing anything special. And since I move through runs quickly looking for aggressive fish, I need to be able to quickly change to suit what that area requires.

I must of walked up and down that island six times, both front and back. I tried all sorts of flies from some small 20's to size 8's. The large flies worked for me. I caught a nice 16 inch fish on a size 8 steelhead fly swung through some disturbed water. A size 10 egg imitation dropper worked well at the end of the day. All in all, I caught around a dozen wild fish in the 10-16 inch range. Mostly on size 10 soft hackles or winged wets.

The Putah is a fun little creek, however, the options seem a little limited to my style of fishing. I'll probably try again when the flows are even lower. Just to see what it is like.

Putah or the American

I'll be out tomorrow for another full day of fishing. Will it be on the American or Putah Creek? I'll probably decide at the last minute. I'm talking with friends and visiting a few forums to see what the steelhead situation is on the American, if it looks positive, that will be my destination. Otherwise, it will be a trip to Putah.

Ideally, I'd like to do the American and swing some flies for steelhead. However, reports lately have suggested it may be good to wait another week or so for better chances. Decisions, decisions...

As always, a report will be here afterwords.

Trip Report: Lower Stan

Arriving at Tulloch access before sunrise, it was raining quite hard. I suited up while still in the car to keep from getting drenched and quickly headed to the water. I started nearest where I parked and went down river. Caught a few 10-12 inch rainbows in the very low and clear water. Used very sparse soft hackles in size 10.

Before too long, I went upriver a ways and then came back down to where I started. Caught more fish of the same size on a variety of soft hackles and winged wets. Anywhere from size 10-12 worked just fine. It was still pretty early morning and the rain was coming down lighter, but still putting a chill in the air.

I quickly became bored and decided it was best to get in the car and go down to Two Mile Bar. After getting to the river, I covered the usual water for a few smaller fish. Eventually I went further downstream than I normally go and found a beautiful stretch. Because the water was so low, I was able to cross the river here. Something I've not been able to do in the past.

I put on one of those hair wing steelhead flies that I recently tied and started swinging it. The first cast out, I hooked a nice 16 inch "steelhead". I put that in quotes because I doubt he's been to the ocean, but by DFG definition, he is a steelhead. This was the last fish I caught in this stretch. I had a few hard grabs, but nothing hooked.

This size 10 hair wing received plenty of interest.

After going back upstream and fishing some of the same water I covered earlier, it was getting late. Because of the experience I had last time at Two-Mile, I decided not to push my luck. I made more of an effort to be back at the car before dark. However, before leaving, I made one last stop with a size 12 wet fly in the riffles. I caught a 10 inch or so fish on almost every cast for the last few minutes of light. The fish were really biting.

Overall, I brought to hand around 20 fish. Not only was it raining for a good portion of the morning, my waders formed a leak in the crotch! Needless to say, it was a very wet day. Despite the soaking, it was a good time on the Stan.

Fly #32: Off to the Lower Stan

I'll be packing my rain jacket and heading out for some foul weather fishing. Some of the best days are when the rain is pouring. Let's see how the Lower Stan treats me tomorrow.

I've been on a tying spree the last couple of days. Like the one pictured above, I've not only been tying more steelhead flies in preparation for a Trinity trip, but have been tying a bunch of soft hackles for the everyday trout. My box has been sorely lacking some simple sparsely hackled/dubbed soft hackles in muted colors. For some reason, these seem to be the ones that have ended up being snagged and lost out on the river.

For a little variety, I tied in some buck tail hair as tails or hackle on those size 10-14 soft hackles. I'll give those a try as well.

Fly #31: Steelhead Hairwing

After a trip to the local fly fishing shop, I loaded up on some material and hooks to tie some hairwing steelhead flies. Using a small size 10 salmon/steelhead hook, I began a tying frenzy.

This is one of my first attempts. Using a Tiemco 7999 hook, this fly is decorated with a silver tinsel butt, a red guinea tail and hackle, and a red bucktail wing. I added a little flash upfront with a gold tinsel nose. The dubbing is black with wire ribbing.

I've heard that the Trinity River steelhead prefer smaller hairwing flies. That will explain why I chose the rather small sized hook.

Fly #30: Thanks Stripes!

For this fly, I'd like to thank my two cats, Boots and Stripes. I believe the fur came from Stripes, although I can't say for sure. All I can say is that it works great for dubbing.

Tied on a size 12, this rather simple soft hackle has the cat fur dubbing (shorter stiffer hairs found on one of their beds) and natural colored partridge for the hackle. Copper wire provides the ribbing.

Fly #29: Attractor Soft Hackle

Here is another attractor fly that has been working rather well for me on the Lower Stan. This one is on a size 10 scud hook and features silver tinsel on the rear, red dubbing, olive marabou, and blue guinea hackle.

This is another attempt at crossing regular soft hackles with features that make steelhead flies successful. Brighter colors and marabou. Not tested on the anadromous fish themselves, however, it does work on your everyday trout.