The Steelhead Are Gathering

They're Back!

Along the Lake Erie shores, at most of the tributaries, the Steelhead are gathering at the mouths and ready to move upstream. Nothing turns my friend on more than catching steelhead, browns, rainbows locally and nearby.

He alerted me Sunday night that they were going to be out and hitting some honey holes this week. Not being an avid trout fisherman I still manage to get excited discussing new tackle or other gear obtained since the last run of fish.

I asked him what they were using for bait and he relied "anything", translating to live bait, spinners, spoons, flies and jigs. He told me he was having his best luck with a hand tied jig, very lightly weighted and trailing about 6 feet behind a small bobber to keep it running at just the right depth for his presentations. This is an easily adjusted rig, slide the bobber forward to run shallower or let more line out to run a bit deeper. Of course the rate of retrieval can account for much of the same manual adjustments.

I told him that I found that very interesting, since we have for years, used the same technique on ultralight spinning gear to land large panfish. They really hit it hard, the bobber snapping straight into the air when the giant bluegills, rock bass, crappie and other panfish took the lure. This rig absolutely triggers some slamming hook-ups!

He whipped out his small fly box and showed me his handiwork grinning as he described the lethal attributes of each and every fly and jig. I smiled too, although not a salmon or trout fisherman, I am a dedicated fisherman, I just target other species as my favorites.

I went out to the car and made him a gift of an Ewa-Marine waterproof all purpose pouch to slide his small metal lure case into. His aluminum case might not rust but the waterproof pouch will also keep your gear floating, bobbing at the surface of the water for an easy and welcome retrieval.

Time to get the waders out guys, looks like those robust steelhead will be hanging around within casting distance soon, if they're not already!