Fly lines

Finding your fish and getting him to take your fly is only half the battle in catching a steelhead. You have to successfully hook him, play him and land him. There's enough work involved in the first step to frustrate a fisherman. When you get into the second step, it's easy to make a foolish mistake and lose your prize.

Steelhead are supreme tackle-testers. You ought to be able to land at least 60 percent of the fish that you are able to hook solidly. For novice steelheaders the success is often much lower.

It may take a few fish to get the hang of the various techniques involved.

Perhaps the highest percentage of fish are lost right at the take. If you overreact, the whole thing will be nothing more than a sudden yank on your line, a huge boil with enough fish showing to let you know what has happened. Then it's over.

This scenario is almost always a result of a violation of the number one rule: "He is either on or he is gone." With steelhead you do not set the hook. Because you are fishing downstream on a tight line, the fish will hook themselves or there will be no result at all.

A response from you can only make bad things happen. If the fish is on and hooked and you raise the rod, you are tightening up on a steelhead that is almost certainly going to bolt. The force of you going one way and him the other results in the yank-splash-gone syndrome.

Learning not to set the hook is especially difficult for trout anglers coming over to steelhead for the first time. It goes against everything you have learned in the past.

One way to dampen the involuntary hook set is to carry a drop loop while you fish. A drop loop is nothing more than six or eight inches of line pulled off the reel and held by your finger against the cork of the rod. This loop of line will serve as a slight buffer against really hard takes and accidental hook sets. It offers a little cushion to the impact as the line slides out from under your finger. It gives you a chance to repress your natural reactions and to let the fish run on the take.

Once the fish has made his first run you are over the biggest hurdle. But it's still not over. You've got to play the fish carefully. It is easy to misjudge how hard and fast Steelhead may react.

This is where a good quality reel pays its biggest dividends. I like to use a modern disc drag reel with a good solid background pull preset before you start fishing. I use the drag to fight the fish on the long runs. I try to keep the pressure as smooth as possible without a lot of jerks and hard pulls. It is inconsistent pressure that loses fish.

Inexperienced steelheaders often try to over-control the situation by over-controlling the reel. They want to have a hand on the crank all the time. Keeping your fist in the reel slows your reaction time. It often results in the crank banging off your hand repeatedly, causing a deadly jerk, jerk, jerk reaction. You can't get the smooth response that will buffer the sudden movements made by a desperate steelhead in his efforts to escape.

I prefer to control the line by holding it under the finger of my rod hand. Every time the fish stops I just reach down, pick up the line and pinch it against the cork. I move my reel hand away so there will be no mistakes. By holding the line with a finger, I'm more sensitive. I respond more quickly to actions by the fish.

I only touch the crank when the fish is giving line and coming toward me. If he is stopped or going away, I let the finger on the rod grip and the disc drag on the reel do the work. I do not attempt to palm the reel except during long, extended runs.

Don't misjudge a steelhead's heart. They don't like to give in. They almost always come up with that extra surge of power right at the end - after you think they are totally beaten. When you get a fish close, watch for those last desperate runs. Handle the fish carefully, and obey the common-sense rules that prevent hard jerks on the line.

By following these simple guide lines, your hooked-to-landed ratio should go up substantially.