went today by myself and seen some steel!! I actually hooked 2 or so I think or it could of been 1 cause it might not of been a solid hook set in the mouth. the one I actually hooked tho for sure I seen him take it and he took me for a ride like never before and took me to right before the reel and when i went to put him on it he backtracked and did a 180 on me and I couldn’t strip enough to catch up as he charged me like a raging bull!!! then he came off. oh well tho that was freakin crazy!! now I know what its all about. i learned you ain’t manhandling that fish at all. he is gonna do what he wants to do with ya. you just gotta hold on for the ride. then my cousin HBJ met me up there and all steel vanished from site! haha heres a few pix.
(quote)"then my cousin HBJ met me up there and all steel vanished from site!(end quote)
Well, first, I’d suggest that your “cousin” bathe more often, or stay away from your good steelie holes!?!
And, welcome to the “obsession of metalhead fishing”! What you experienced, today, with the “take off and then return @180”, is very common for Steelies, at least here on the West Coast, when they’re still fresh from the ocean and full of fight!
You also, may have very well “hooked two” and not one, because Steelhaed are notorious “mouthers” of fly, bait and hardware. I’ve played large Steelhead for 15 minutes, gotten them almost to my feet, only to have them simply open their mouths and let my fly fall out. The hook never penetrated any flesh, they’d simply “clamped down on it and taken off”.
When I lived in Idaho, the Steelies acted the same way on the Clearwater and various rivers, there, as they do down here on the coast… they’d ALWAYS take off, like a rocket, only to eventually make that 180 turnabout and race back the direction they’d started from.
It’s something to maybe keep in mind, when hooking into your next one and be ready for it! Some of the old timers, that I fished with, claimed, “that by the time they’re fighting current, the bow of the rod and the weight of 80-90 feet of fly line, dragging behind them… they’ll reverse course, trying to rid themselves of the weight they’re dragging”.
“True” or not I don’t know, but they always seem to try and do the reversal on you, at every hook up!?!
Have fun!
Thta is a good-looking stream
went with my cousin HBJ to the v and met flytyer56 there. he showed us some good tips and I learned alot. soon after I tied on a red/white clouser and I hooked up with a nice buck steelie that took me on some nice runs!! he had lots of nice pink color on him and I fought him a good 3-5 minutes or so and flytyer went to net him for me and he jumped out the net and did a 360 around his leg and broke my leader. still awesome tho and no hard feelings whatsoever! if it weren’t for flytyers tips and suggestions I wouldn’t of hooked into him in the 1st place! I will count him as a 90% catch. I felt the power! also caught this sucker fish on a brown stone. thought I had a snagged bottom until the snag starting moving past HBJ and I am like why is my snag moving? oh crap a fish! heres a pic of the sucker I caught…
talked to my other cousin and he hooked up at a different spot with a blue/white clouser with red gills. said he casted in a deep hole a few minuted before he left. came out of nowhere and grabbed it and some guy netted it for him. thats 2 on clousers. mine was way different than his. i casted to mine and i could see him. there were monsters spawning so i let them go and he was a stray a lil ways away so i cast a green bugger and nothing. flytyer says no interest switch. so i go to the red/white clouser cause I got from bigyfly before i started tying I grabbed this steelhead package and got it in there. well i seen him chase it once on the swing so again i casted and he chases again! 3rd times the charm! it was prolly my most perfect cast ever it was right on and it swung right in front of him! he chased is 3 feet or so and killed it! I watched the whole thing! i set the hook as soon as he turned and the fight was on. wish i had a picture but poop happens and steel do 360’s on people and break off haha. heres what i caught mine on…
F69 nice job on the steelies. Thanks for posting those pics…I have been hearing about the red/whites working well were we are from.
Janus
wish I had another to test that theory out but I only had one red/white had 2 but must of lost or gave the other one ot someone? might try again tomorrow or tuesday
fishaholic69,
Your flies will be great for smallies as well.
Take Care,
Mike