# 1st steelhead fly outing...



## whjr15 (Jun 16, 2005)

...Unfortunately, there are no pics since I was skunked! 

Picked up a pair of waders then headed out to Rocky River for the day. Boy, I thought I was hooked before I had waders! Anyway, after I became accustomed to walking around the river, I realized that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing!! I mean, in theory I understand the concepts... But in real life it's a different story! 

I had a dozen or so flies to choose from, but was just randomly choosing them based on my liking -- not necessarily the fishes! I understand the term "swinging." But I was unsure as to where I should be standing. What part of the river I should be fishing, with long casts or short. 

Those were the things going through my head, and I had no answer for them!  So I just kept switching it up, in hopes that I would stumble into a winning combo!

Also, I did not physically see one fish. I found that to be strange since the water was so clear. Do you typically see fish on your outings? Kinda killed my confidence to be honest.

All in all I still had a blast. I experienced first hand what the "after the next bend" quitting technique is -- having to walk a mile back to your car!  If anyone is getting out this coming weekend for steelhead, and wouldn't mind meeting up, let me know... I can use all the help I can get!


----------



## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

To be honest, meeting up with someone or even hiring a guide would really speed up the learning curve. About seeing the fish, on the Ohio tribs for the most part you won't see any, but if you're fishing pretty low and clear water you might be able to spot some. Swinging flies isn't the best technique for catching big numbers of fish, but if you keep at it and cover water you'll get some. Generally you want to make longer casts(depending on the pool size of course) at a 45* angle downstream and let it swing across the run/pool. People usually swing streamers at the tail ends of pools but you can catch fish throughout. Learning how to nymph wouldn't be a bad idea either. Just watch some youtube vids, other people on the water, etc. to gather as much info as you can get. There's a sticky in the steelhead forum for beginners which has a lot of terrific info. Like everything you get better with experience. Once you break that learning curve and get into fish it is extremely addicting! 

And yeah, that "after the next bend" thing gets me every time haha


----------



## whjr15 (Jun 16, 2005)

Yeah, I was shocked at how far away from my car I ended up! lol.

See, the thing is, is I'm not a steehead newbie. I've spin fished for them for several years now... However, I am a fly fishing newbie. But for some reason, with a fly rod in my hand, it's like I've never fished for them before!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I did have something on for a few seconds, until it got off. Having never caught a fish on the fly yet, all the new variables caused a sensory overload of sorts. Felt the tell-tale "tap tap tap", went to strip set the hook, the line flew out of my rod finger so I instinctively tried to gain with my other hand. When I fumbled around doing that, thinking that time was of the essence, I decided to resort to a normal "spin fishing" type hook set to try and salvage any dignity I had left. What happened, instead, was a fly zipping towards my face at 100mph! I wish someone would've gotten that on video!


----------



## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

Actually, being good at spin fishing has made me a better fly fisherman believe it or not. Don't think of it as something totally different, just apply your spin fishing knowledge to fly fishing. ie. fishing the right holding lies, getting your fly/bait bouncing along the bottom, getting drag free drifts, etc. If you're nymphing with the fly rod maybe pretend you have bait on the end and get your fly in the same spot you would with a spinning rod. You just use a different way(fly casting) to get your fly/bait from point A to point B. It will take a while to get used to in terms of casting and presentation, but just keep at it and gain all the info as you could get from either books, internet, videos, or people on the river. Fly fishing is very challenging at the start, and I always had to resort to spin fishing many times until one day it just "clicked." Good luck with your new endeavor, which can become addicting! Those steelies fight much better on the fly rod. 

Btw, what setup do you have?


----------



## Patricio (Feb 2, 2007)

p.m. if you want to meet up. I went out sunday morning, hooked 5 landed 3. then the sun came out and shut down the fishing.


----------



## whjr15 (Jun 16, 2005)

Patricio said:


> p.m. if you want to meet up. I went out sunday morning, hooked 5 landed 3. then the sun came out and shut down the fishing.


I'll have to take you up on that! My only day off is Sunday, so weather permitting, I'm going to give it another shot!


----------



## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Heh.
Wonder what's around the next bend?
Walk 1/4 mile upstream and check it.
Repeat until thoroughly tired.


----------

