I caught and landed my first steelhead on a dry, which was kind of a big event for me. I have caught hundreds on wets, speys and nymphs. I have hooked others before (on dries) , but since I dry fly fish with a Sage VPS Lightweight 3 weight, the fish has always been quickly lost because I could not get the tension off the fish before it ran. (My philosophy on big fish is not to make them mad, and get them to fight vertically with their nose just under the surface).
On Sunday afternoon, I tend to fish mayfly emergers. We get a good afternoon hatch that goes to dark. I have seen some big fish take these, but the normal fish I catch doing this is a resident trout, or half pounder steelhead, so the fish size is 10 - 16 inches or so, with an occassional larger rainbow or cut throat, but you can almost catch one every cast for 2 hours.
I had just recently read Castwell’s fighting big fish article, which I think helped a bit. I also didn’t care if I landed it or not, which also helps. Another factor was Rio Fluoroflex plus 4X, $13 for the tippet, but it is quite strong.
Constant even pressure, and letting the fish run, and then chasing on foot, and getting my line back kept me from being spooled. The fish was not that big, probably 7 - 8 lbs, but on a 3 weight with a Hardy flyweight reel, it felt like a whale. I was able to tail the fish in a foot of water, and release it in good shape. It was a wild buck.
Hardy’s sound great when a fish is taking line, don’t they?
- rriver