Fishing Tips – Page 4 – Keep Calm and Fly Fish

Streamer Eater

Streamer fishing is one of the least used tactics I see anglers using when I’m on Northern California water. Many anglers live and die by the indicator and although they may catch a lot of fish, they lose out on one of the most dynamic and fun ways to fish.

Throwing streamers is as KISS (keep it simple stupid) as you can get. Tie on a streamer pattern, throw it across the river, strip it in, and cover water. …and that’s all there is to it. There’s no way it could be that easy you say? I use to think the same thing and boy was I wrong. It is that easy.

Many anglers have forgotten about their days with spinning gear. Fishing with lures is basically streamer fishing. The advantage a fly angler has however is that they can dramatically slow down their presentations and easily throw flies that move much more naturally in the water. Spin anglers have an advantage fishing deeper water that fly rods can’t get to. Either way it’s the same concept; imitating baitfish to fool a fish into biting.

So Easy Even You Can Do It

Here are a few things that I’ve learned that might help convince you to try streamer fishing. This post is mostly in reference to streamer fishing for trout in moving water.

Temperature

Fish are more willing to chase a streamer when the water is warmer in the spring, summer, and fall.

Winter can be a tough time of the year to get a fish to eat a streamer. Cold water temperatures slow down their metabolism making them slow and lethargic. During the colder months try slowly swing your streamers instead. This will allow your streamer to stay in the strike-zone for the longest amount of time in order to trigger a territorial strike.

Huge vs. Small Patterns

From my experience fishing big articulated flies… I don’t think they work very well in NorCal. On average the biggest trout you’ll catch around here will run about 18” – 22” therefore you don’t really need to throw 6” – 7” fly patterns to get them to eat. They may work from time to time but it’s a bit of an overkill. Now if it were brown trout we were talking about…

I’ve had the most success fishing streamer patterns that are around 2” – 4”.

Cover Water

Streamer fishing is dynamic. Movement is key. You are looking for a big fish that either wants to kill or eat. Don’t fish one run all day long.

From my experience fish usually won’t react to a streamer if they’ve already seen it once. Keep moving.

Become A Stripper

The dynamics of stripping in your line makes throwing streamers very different from swinging them. Think reaction strike. You want the fish to react on instinct. Keep your retrieve steady.

Varying your retrieve and presentation can also help you get more strikes.

I find that most fish will strike when stripping in line from a swinging motion or at the hang-down.

The Hook-Set

This one is a bit tricky and takes some practice. You basically need to let the fish hook itself. If you feel a hit don’t react, just keep your retrieve steady until you feel the fish really grab it. When they grab it, set the hook in a sweeping motion downstream to ensure that you don’t pull the hook out of it’s mouth.

The small hits you feel are called “short-strikes”. These short strikes are the fish whacking the fly but not eating it. If you attempt to set the hook during a short strike you will spook the fish. If you get short strikes but not a good grab, try a second time. If nothing, move on.
Kelly Galloup states that “50% hook up days are really not uncommon at
all, and on the great days it will be around 70% hook ups, that’s just part of it.”

Match The Hatch

Olive sculpin patterns are absolutely deadly in NorCal. My Hero Sculpin is what I like to use and it totally rips lips in all the places I’ve fished it.

My recommendation for those who need to gain some confidence in streamer fishing would be to fish a woolly bugger; the ultimate streamer pattern. If in doubt, fish the bugger.

The Rig and Rod

I use a 10ft extra super fast sinking (7ips) poly/versileader with about 4-5ft of 10# mono. This rig works well and for the most part hits the water column just right. Cast upstream, mend, let the versileader sink, and when the streamer starts to swing start retrieving line.

My go to rod for streamer fishing is my 9ft 6WT but I’ve used appropriate sized streamer patterns on all of my rods from a 2WT to 7WT with great success.

If the fish are really willing to chase they’ll come up to about 6” below the surface to attack your fly which is incredible to watch.

Do or Do Not, There Is No Try

The only way you can get better at streamer fishing is by doing it. Don’t be afraid to experiment and get skunked. I guarantee you that once you hook your first big fish on a streamer you’ll wonder why you didn’t start streamer fishing sooner. Just do it.

Kelly Galloup is my streamer fishing hero. Watching his videos and
reading his stuff helped me gain enough confidence to start throwing
streamers. This video helped me a lot.

Fall Run Football Fatties

The Feather River is one of the many prime destination to fish during the fall steelhead run. As one of the main tributaries of the Sacramento River, the Feather River has one of the highest returns of salmon and steelhead in the valley. Although gear anglers don’t focus on steelhead much until the stretch between the hatchery and HWY 70 bridge opens up in January, fly anglers are hot on these fall chrome domes from September to December.

Fiesty Halfpounders Too

A lot of the steelhead action on the Feather takes place in the Low Flow section between the hatchery and outlet. The High Flow section from below the outlet to the end of the Oroville Wildlife Area is usually not very productive unless there is a strong salmon run but fish can be found there. Most of the riffles in the Oroville Wildlife Area hold steelhead but there are a few that never hold any. It takes a bit of time to figure out where the fish hold but if you watch other anglers and where they are you’ll figure it out in no time. Keep in mind that the section between the hatchery and HWY 70 closes from July 15th – December 31st.

No Front Fins. Must Have Made The Trip Home Several Times. Amazing!

I have found that the number of fall-run steelhead that return each year to the Feather is somewhat correlated with both the amount of rain and salmon the valley gets. No rain no steelhead, no salmon no steelhead. It’s a bit of a no brainer. We are well into November now and with a few good storms here and there, the salmon have arrived!

I spent two days chasing Feather River steel and overall I will admit the fishing is fair right now. The more water you cover the better chance you’ll have of finding a hooking up. It felt like I made a thousand casts but I found them. Seems pretty fair to me.

There are a ton of salmon in the low flow and the steelhead are right there with them. Despite the number of salmon in the river, I wasn’t able to convince any steelies to eat an egg. But I did find one egg eater.

Egg Eating Pike Minnows

There is a lot of information online about how, where, and when to fish the Lower Feather River so instead of going into too much specific detail, here are some of my personal fly fishing tips for Feather River steelhead.

1. Use strong knots, leaders, and hooks!

I rarely lose a fish to tippet breaks. Most of the time when I lose a fish its because I didn’t double check my knot durability. Check your knots often.

Don’t use cheap flies for steelies because if you hook a big one it will bend it and spit it. Cheap flies = cheap hooks.

You don’t get a steelhead on the end of your line very often so make sure you’re prepared.

2. Change flies often!

Steelies are pretty grabby if you put the right fly in their face. If you’re not getting any takes its probably because you aren’t using the right fly pattern. Change them out often to figure out what’s working.

During the spring-run, flies that imitate bugs work best. The flies I have the most confidence in are bird’s nest, psycho prince, Moorish dirty birds, and copper johns. If you get lucky you can even get a steelhead on a dry. Try an EC Caddis. From what I’ve observed, caddis are the main food source for fish on the Feather.

During the fall-run the same flies work will still work in addition to egg patterns and San Juan worms.

3. If you hook something, play it!

When fishing for fall-run steelies there will usually be lot of salmon around. If you’re decent at dead drifting you won’t have a problem whereas it is pretty rare to hook a salmon while nymphing. The only way you’re going to hook a salmon is if they spook as you are stripping in your line to recast or you hit the needle right on the head and floss them.

These are hefty adult steelhead we’re talking about so they will sometimes feel like a snagged salmon. However believe me when I say if you set the hook and it’s headshaking, 90% of the time it won’t be a salmon.

You get a take but its not really running around like a crazed steelhead. You find that the fish is holding in one spot occasionally moving around a little bit, you start getting skeptical. Play it patiently and once you get it close enough check the set.

I was once a victim of breaking off or not taking what was at the end of my line seriously because I thought it was a snagged salmon. Not anymore…

4. Fish early or late!

In my experience, I usually catch more steelhead at first light to about noon. Waking up at 5am to get to the river at sunrise can be tough but it’s worth it. Fishing early also allows you to hit up some of the best water before anyone else does.

It also works the other way around. The later you fish the less pressure you have to deal with. There’s no such thing as sloppy seconds when it comes to steelies.

5. Cover water!

In my opinion, steelhead fishing is best experienced while wading. The amount of effort it takes to hike all over the river in search of that one take is what the experience is all about.

Don’t stick around in a run, riffle, or pool for too very long, if they are there they’ll let you know. Steelhead fishing isn’t a numbers game, it’s more of a game of hide-and-seek.

With such awesome steelie action it can get pretty crowded out on the Feather during steelhead season. I like to fish the further areas first then hike up the river to avoid driftboats and anglers that are moving downstream. 10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish. Come join the 10% club.

If you are unfamiliar with the Lower Feather River, Streamtime Maps has an excellent map of the river. These are quality maps that show access points, riffles, runs, pools, etc.

You can find them online or at your local fly shop.