Fly #53, 54, and 55: Summer steelhead flies

Thought I'd post a few flies I tied recently. They are rather generic and are meant for low/clear water.

A basic spider with a bit of flash for wings.

The body is peacock herl and oval tinsel ribbing.

This steelhead sized Royal Coachman was tied in a hurry
and is rather sloppy. However, it probably doesn't matter to the fish.



This has a hares ear body with oval tinsel ribbing.
The tail and collar is mallard flank.
This is certainly not a "pretty" fly. However ugly it may be, it works.

Fly #52: Green Steele Spider

Does this fly look familiar? It should, other than a couple of color changes, it is pretty much identical to my Blue Steele Spider. The blue version has been a great fly. Very productive for steelhead. For a change-up, I decided to tie one in green.

As always, click on the picture for a higher res version.

I won't bother with a description of the materials, you can figure it out pretty easily. Although I haven't fished this color yet, I'm confident it will produce in the right water conditions and with the right presentation.

Fly #51: Green Fuzz

I've been experimenting with various synthetic materials lately. One of which is Polar Fiber. My first tie with the material produced a nice flowing streamer in various shades of green and blue. It looked so good, that I decided to incorporate it into the body of a steelhead fly. In this instance, it was spun on a dubbing loop.


When you put this guy in the water, it has a really nice translucence to it. Additionally, it moves quite nicely. I can't wait to try it out.

Fly tying frenzy

Although you can't tell by my lack of tying posts, I've been on a rampage. Working on some new steelhead designs and refining ones that have been productive in the past. I'm also doing a lot of experimenting with new materials. Including many synthetics that look really good in the water. Oh yeah, I'm also going to tie a new intruder or two.

Expect a few pictures over the next week or so. I'm going to get my camera out and snap a photo before they hopefully get ruined on a monster fish.

Rain, Rain, Don't go away!

My two year old is always singing, "Rain, Rain, Go Away". Someday, he'll realize how much we need it and he'll sing a different tune. For now, it is impossible to not sing along with him. He is just too cute. Besides, if I try to educate him, his response is something like, "No, no daddy! Rain go away!"

Lucky for the fish, some rain is coming into California. Lets hope for a lot. The last time we were supposed to get soaked, it amounted to no more than a few sprinkles.

If it works out, and when the flows drop, it may be a good time for steelheading. I'll be out next Tuesday. Hopefully the timing will be right!

New Year Fishing Resolutions

I never make New Years resolutions anymore. Why? I rarely follow through with them. However, I figured this year, I'll make New Year fishing resolutions. This may be something I can actually do!

In no order of importance...

1) I vow to leave the fly in the hangdown for a longer length of time. Often, I'm in a hurry to step down or simply make the next cast. Catching fish on the hang down (before I got into two handed rods) used to be one of, if not the most productive part of my swing. I need to take a step back and remember that often fish are sitting there and just need a little more time.

2) When I get a bump or a grab, put on a different fly. Somewhere along the line, I also got out of the habit of doing this. I vow to make a second or third cast exactly like I did when I got bumped, but then take a few steps back with a comeback fly.

3) More thoroughly fish the water right next to me. I'm usually pretty good about this. However, occasionally I get so fixated on hitting 60-80 feet away, I forget that fish aren't always afraid to be 5-10 feet away. They need to be given the opportunity as well!

4) Smaller tippets. When the water and fly calls for it, I'm going to scale down size.


None of these are difficult to do, I just need to slow down and make sure that I'm doing what has proven to be productive for me in the past. Finally, New Years resolutions I can follow through with.

Yuba - Above Hwy 20

Spent the last day of 2009 on the Yuba. Parked under the bridge before the sun came up. Put my gear on and walked upstream and around the bend. There is a certain section of water that I always hit here. The run seems to always produce. So, it seemed I should start there.

Access	Above hwy 20 bridge
Air Temp	Low 45, High 56
Water Temp/Visibility	~47 F / 4-6 feet
Weather	Mostly Cloudy
Flow	~710 cfs
Time in/out	7am, 5:15pm
Leaders/Lines	Compact Scandi
	Int. Poly	All day
	7 & 12 lb FC tippet
Producing Flies	Sz6/8 steelhead hair wings	4

The first hour produced only a slight bump. However, after getting a little more than half way through the run, I hooked up with a small 15" female. She took a sz8 steelhead hair wing. Not much of a bend in my rod, but she did go vertical several times.

After putting her back, it was quiet until near the end of the run. I had the line below as more was being pulled from my reel. The fly was bouncing all over the place as I was also moving across the river. Not a very good presentation if you ask most anyone. However, that didn't stop a large fish from taking a grab that almost ripped the rod right out of my hands. The hook up was very short. There was too much slack line to set the hook. However, the fish must of been more than 25 inches. It was pretty unusual.



After finishing off the run with only a bump or two, I crossed and went upstream a ways. Caught another 15-17" female as the fly was dangling below me. Stuck around for a while but didn't feel the mojo. I went back downstream and stepped through with nothing to show for it.

I fished the same one from that morning, but from the other bank. Nothing. Crossed river again and fished my favorite spot to catch a couple more fish around 20".

It was a nice day and I had a chance to see 2009 off doing something I enjoy. Hope to get out again next week, but not sure if it will happen.

Losing Intruders

Normally I don't blink when I lose a fly. However, when it takes 45 minutes or more to tie one, it can be disappointing. Especially after only 10 minutes of using it.

This was the first "true" Intruder that I tied. Put on a shank with the mono loop at the back end so you can string the tippet through. Ala a tube fly. The way that Ed Ward originally tied them (if Skagit Master is any indication, he uses tubes these days).

The 5 inch fly looked awesome in the water with its flowing ostrich plumes. I made the mistake of using a lighter tippet than I should of for its weight. On one of my casts I blew the anchor and it blasted the knot. Off she went into the depths.

I'll tie another soon. This time I'll take a picture of it.

Skunked on the American

I figured that fishing on a cloudy day would improve my chances. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I don't believe I had one solid pull the entire day. I tried to make the most of the day by just appreciating the outdoors. However, catching something would of been nice.

Starting out at Paradise Beach, I fished for several hours using 8 feet of T10 and an intruder style fly. I worked several runs and even tried a new spot or two that I missed last time. After I felt I'd had enough punishment, I went to Gristmill and spent a little more time of casting practice. I didn't waste as much time here and moved over to River Bend Park hoping a fish would feel sorry for me.

Access	Paradise Beach, Gristmill, River Bend Park
Air Temp	Low 31, High 52
Water Temp/Visibility	~49 F / 4-6 feet
Weather	Cloudy w/ light drizzle
Flow	~2000 cfs
Time in/out	6:45am, 5:15pm
Leaders/Lines	Compact Scandi
	8ft of T10	Morning
	11ft of T10	Afternoon
	Int Poly Leader	Evening
	7 & 12 lb FC tippet
Flies	Various Soft Hackles	0
	3” black intruder w/ dumbell eyes	0
	Sz8 steelhead blue spider	0
	Various steelhead patterns	0

After scouting out some areas I saw on the satellite maps, I eventually ended up by the footbridge daydreaming as the rain began to fall. The day had ended and all I had to show for it were a few lost flies. Ahh, the fun of steelheading.

As you may recall from a previous post, I was curious what would happen if I put a sinktip on my compact scandi. Well, I now have the answer. There were no problems whatsoever and the line could easily turn over 11ft of T10 with a heavy 3" fly on the end. At this rate, I'm not sure if there is a need to even use a skagit line with the tips and flies I commonly use.

Weather Report

Here in Northern California, we are expected to get heavy rains starting on Monday. If you believe the forecasts, it will last for almost a week with a few breaks here and there.

This is of course good news for the steelhead. Hopefully it will move a few fish up into the various systems. Watch the water levels, and if you can somehow hit it when levels are falling again, make sure you go. A good source for information is here.

Klamath Report

Earlier this week, I traveled about 5 hours north for a day trip to the Klamath. I've never been before, but have heard good reports. Figured it was worth the drive to find out.

Also worth noting, I actually fished with someone else for a change. Ted and I met early in the morning somewhere near Hwy 5. It was a brisk day, with morning temps in the 20's. Stupid me forgot a hat, luckily it wasn't windy and although a bit nippy, it wasn't all that bad.

We suited up and got into the cold river. We were both swinging flies with our two handed rods. After a few minutes of floundering around with a 7ips sinking poly leader that seemed to hang up on every cast, I got into some fish. Most of them were quite small. Either smolts or small trout. I don't believe any of them were much over 10 inches. What they lacked in size, they made up for in aggressiveness. At one point, I caught two fish at the same time, one on each fly.

Access	Along Hwy 96
Air Temp	Low 24, High 47
Water Temp	~49 F
Weather	Sunny/Partly Cloudy
Flow	~1400 cfs
Time in/out	7:30am, 5:30pm
Leaders/Lines	Compact Scandi
	7.0 ips sink leader	All day
	12 lb FC tippet
Flies	Size 12 soft hackle	One half pounder, 22"
	3” black intruder w/ dumbell eyes	Several half pounders, 15-18 inch
	Size 8 blue steelhead spider	Smolts/small trout/half pounders
	Various steelhead patterns	pulls only

We explored this part of the river for a few hours. Eventually we decided to move downstream. I had picked out some possible locations via Google satellite maps. The first location turned out to be a dud. However, the second spot was a good one. We worked our way to the water and we both were getting bumps and pulls. As time went on, the bumps and pulls turned into caught fish. Most of them were in the 15 inch range. When I hooked one of the decent fish, Ted was nice enough to come quite a ways downstream to take the picture you see below. As someone who normally fishes alone, it was great to have someone get a picture.


She was around 17 inches and actually put up a decent fight. As with the others, I caught them with a 3” Intruder style fly. You can see it hanging out of her mouth if you look close enough. After trying out each others fishing rods, I went downstream to fish a hole at the end of a short section of rapids. I caught a few more fish, but access was difficult and I wasn't in the mood to balance on slippery rocks to try and get the fly into the only small seam that looked only slightly productive.


I walked back upstream, passing Ted that was now fishing where I caught that fish you see above. Went around the corner and proceeded to fish a section from earlier. On one of my casts, I was daydreaming when I felt about 7 inches of the dangling loop pull through my fingers. I set the hook and felt a sizable fish on the other end. After a few minutes, I had a nice 22 or so inch hen in my hand. Surprisingly enough, this bright steelhead took a small size 12 soft hackle. Not the trailing size 6 steelhead fly. This is one of the reasons I fish with two flies at once. You never know what they are interested in.

Continuing to step downstream, I rounded the corner to see Ted in the middle of the river fishing the far seam. I later found out that he caught some fish here. As I was swinging, I looked over at one point to see that Ted hooked a fish. It must have been a big one, because his rod was bent far over. The following is an excerpt of Ted's story. Read the rest in the comment section!

The last fish is the one that got away. And, surprisingly, it followed my fly bumped it a few times during the second half of the swing. As soon as the fly dangled, my line started to pull. I dropped the loop and waited, and waited. The reel sang for at least 10 seconds which seemed like eternity. The rod finally bent, but, I couldn't gain an inch of line. All I could do was to keep the side pressure on. After a few wraps of line in, it started running again...

It was now getting pretty late. I stayed until dark, but only caught some more smaller half pounders. What a great day. All in all, I think I brought around 18 fish to hand. Granted, a lot of them were small fish, but a good number were decent sized half pounders. I'm sure glad that Ted and I went to this river. Certainly one of the more memorable fishing trips in quite some time!

p.s. Thanks Ted for taking the photo.

Scandi vs Skagit

Common thought is that Skagit lines are what you should use when flinging sink tips and heavy flies. Unfortunately, over a typical day, I switch back and forth between fly sizes and tips so often, that going between a skagit and scandi is too much of a headache. (Yeah, I know, you can use a skagit line with a floating tip and small flies, but I prefer a more delicate presentation.) So, for those seasons that are not Winter, I'll probably be sticking with my compact scandi now.

Reason is, I performed a little test yesterday. I took a 120 grain versileader and put it on my 420 grain compact scandi. To the end of the tippet, I attached a 3" barbell intruder. On the first cast, I was ready for the fly to go absolutely no where. To my surprise it casted very nicely. The line laid over straight and I was able to hit 70-80 feet with no problems shortly thereafter.

Now I'm wondering what the max tip grain weight is that I can put at the end of that setup. We'll have to find out the answer another day. For now, I'm happy with these results. Now I know I can put on a heavy fly and decent sized sink tip on the scandi and expect it to work.

I won't be giving up on the skagit. For those days that I know I'll be using nothing but heavy tips, I'll put the skagit on and leave it on.

American River

As mentioned in an earlier post, I've decided to try and make my reports more helpful. Now, when I say more helpful, I really mean more helpful for me. This blog was originally intended as a journal I could return to, so that I could remember what happened and where. Problem is, after re-reading a few previous reports, I've found they aren't very helpful at all! Woops.

Access	Paradise Beach, William H. Pond
Air Temp	Low 38, High 64
Water Temp	~56 F
Flow	~1900 cfs
Time in/out	7:30am, 5:30pm
Leaders/Lines	Compact Scandi
	3.9 ips sink leader	Morning
	7.0 ips sink leader	Afternoon
	Intermediate sink leader	Evening
	12 lb FC tippet
Flies	Various soft hackles	0 fish
	3” black intruder w/ dumbell eyes	2 half pounders, 15-18 inch
	2" bead head black rabbit strip leech	nips/plucks
	Size 8 blue steelhead spider	1 half pounder
	Various hairwing steelhead	nips/plucks only

Arrived late due to the car accident mentioned in a previous post. Started at Paradise Beach and worked the area most of the day. Went to William H. Pond in later afternoon. Never before at this spot, had trouble finding good water. Next time, will park closer to foot bridge and work that side.

Later in the morning, I decided to try something I hadn't done before. Put a heavy and good sized fly (3” intruder with dumb bell eyes) with 120 grain leader/tip on the end of my 420 gr compact scandi line. Had always used a skagit line for something of this weight. Guess what? It casted as well, if not better than the skagit line. Much to my surprise, 70-85 foot casts were not a problem with great turnover. Next time out, I'm going to try 10 feet of T10. At 100 grains, it will be a slightly lighter tip, but grains will be spread out differently. Want to see how smoothly it goes. If successful, I'll keep upping the grain weight to see exactly where it all falls apart.

Overall, this was a decent day on the water. I was a little frazzled from the excitement that took place in the morning. Won't be fishing next week because of Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a good Holiday.

Side Swiped

Sometimes we get so excited to go fishing, we forget what can be one of the most important things. How to get to and from the river safely. So you can make it back to your family.

Yesterday, while driving down Hwy 80 to the American river. I was minding my business in the middle lane when peripherally I saw a truck approaching on my left side. He was VERY close to me. If my window was down, I could of easily touched the side of his vehicle. I naturally started moving to the right to avoid him and before I knew it, he moved right into me. Side swiping me and nearly causing a huge accident at 70 mph. Remember those action movies where a guy tries to run another guy off the road by smashing into the side of him? That is what this felt like. My only conclusion was that the guy had fallen asleep at the wheel and drifted into my lane. Then when he awoke, he jerked the wheel the wrong way- smashing into me. Luckily I was moving to the right, minimizing the impact.

I heard glass shattering and the crunching of metal. I slowed and started moving to the shoulder. Guess what? The guy wasn't about to stop. He kept going. I was furious! I floored it and followed him flashing my high beams. At the same time I was on the cell phone with 911.

The guy finally pulled over about 2 miles down the highway. I stayed on the phone with 911 in case he wanted to do something violent. It was about 4:30am and no one seemed to be getting off this exit in case something went wrong.

Long story- somewhat shorter. The guy had no insurance (does anyone have car insurance in this state? Pathetic!! Seems like the police don't care either!!) A CHP officer eventually showed up about 1/2 hour later after the guy had left (he was in a hurry to get out of there). Somehow or another, my car only suffered damage to the mirror. The breaking glass was his side window and the crunching must of been my beefy SUV mirror grinding his car as he moved into me.

I consider myself lucky that nothing worse happened. I was furious. But more importantly, I'm around to see my wife and son. Just wanted to say. Be careful out there.

BTW, I kept driving and although was late arriving to the river, I did fish the entire day. How's that for commitment?

Somewhere along the line..

I forgot what the purpose of this blog was. It was originally intended to be a journal of my fishing trips so I could revert back to it in order to remember what worked and what didn't. After re-reading some previous entries, it's obvious it isn't really all that helpful for me.

So, I'm going to try a new format. Starting with the next report (hopefully later today), I'll try to put more useful information in a more organized manner. We'll see how that goes.