There are times of the year when an angler may go to the water anticipating catching fish in a particular way and it just doesn’t happen. This can be especially true during the colder fall, winter, and early spring months. These times are the perfect time to tie on one of two different flies and give them a shot. Scuds and Sowbugs are great year-round baits. These are the basics of these flies and the best ways to fish them.
Scuds
Scuds are small crustaceans, freshwater shrimp, and they are present in the water year-round. They molt multiple times a year and are a big source of protein for trout. So, when the bite on other nymphs is non-existent and the fish are turning their noses up at streamers, turn to a scud. They also produce very well on still bodies of water like lakes, or ponds. Scuds also help an angler who may not have experience in that body of water catch fish efficiently without needing to drill down on matching the hatch nearly as much. The bottom line is in the cold months you will find my line loaded with a scud when venturing to new water, and my box with a lot of Scud Flies when fishing any stretch of river.
Sowbugs
Sowbugs are less like shrimp and more like a doodlebug. Turn over just about any rock looking for stonefly or mayfly nymphs and you likely find Sowbugs. They are again present year-round, constantly floating up and down the water column. These are another great pattern to swing past trout species during all times of year, but they really shine during the colder times.
Technique
If you’re successful at fishing nymphs that’s great news, you’ll probably be successful at fishing Scuds and Sowbugs as well. The ways to fish them are the same as nymphing, most folks will run an indicator and shot. These flies can be drifted through feeding or resting lies and cover watching for movement in the indicator’s float. Generally, both of these patterns excel in deeper water and probing shelves and other changes in bottom features. Anglers should adjust weight and indicator placement to try and get these flies on or very near to the bottom. Very often anglers choose to run these as a two-fly set up with a dropper line running below the indicator and another bigger fly on the end or bottom of the line.
Another way to run these flies is on a sinking line. This is great for truly finicky fish because the drift will be more natural. When running sinking lines a more natural strip can be imparted as well as a hand twist retrieve. A bit of small movement goes a long way. These aren’t big creatures so the movements are very small and very subtle, strip a few inches at a time.
Patterns
A few things to remember, size may matter more than color in these patterns. Scuds are constantly molting, six to seven times a year, so this can be the matching that has to happen to optimize the fly. Where color tends to come into play is on the Sowbug side, colors may greatly vary by the body of water or time of year.
Bead Headed Scud is where it’s at for me, if I was pinned down to one actual pattern for this fly the simple this would be it. Tied in a natural hue, I would toss this and have plenty of backups in multiple sizes. Remember I’m trying to get this as close or as far into cover as possible.
As far as Sowbug patterns go I stick to famous musicians, I like Ray Charles or a UV Eddie Vedder. The second one is named after the singer and guitar player of my all-time favorite band, so take that with a grain of salt, but The Ray Charles is the classic Sowbug. I would lean on a smaller choice of sizes on these and diversify on the colors for sure. Remember a dull natural color can always draw a strike in a pinch though.
These are year-round, everywhere producers. No fly box is complete without Scuds and Sowbugs and no skunks should be accepted without giving these a few drifts before the end of the day. Everyone likes some good old-fashioned seafood.
Euro nymphing is a specialized form of fly fishing using only heavily weighted nymphs with no split shots or strike indicators. It has been referred to as Czech, French, Tight-line, High Sticking, and Polish Nymphing.
In other words, this technique is a very effective way to catch fish no matter the flow or depth of water, it can be fished in any time of year, and has produced in both recreational and competitive fishing.
In its basic form, Euro Nymphing uses a single line, with a heavy weighted nymph at the end of the tippet. There is a sighter line between the main line and tippet. This is attached to another long piece of leader that then goes directly to the main fly line. There is no shot for weight, or floating bobber indicator. The sightline helps an angler detect a strike on a tight line. This technique is about drifting a fly on a tight line, feeling the bottom with as little line contact on the water as possible.
The total leader length should be twice the rod length as a general rule of thumb. The bulk of this will tend to be the section tied directly to the fly line. The sighter line, which is brightly colored for contrast, is attached to this and is about two feet in length. Typically, the sighter is a bright chartreuse section and a neon red for low light and bright conditions.
At the end of the sightline a tippet ring is attached and then a piece of tippet generally about two feet long is attached. Towing the line in a very small way is your fly tied to the end of the tippet. Above that anglers will often fish a fly on a dropper. All in all, this is the total set up for Euro Nymphing.
The technique is as simple as the set up, there is no false casting, nothing bulky to bunch and tangle during your back cast, and this all helps with the other beauty of this rig, efficiency. You simply implore a roll cast of sorts, lead the fly on a high rod, no mending, tight line. When the fly finally starts to tail out of the drift, swing it through, as it rises in the water column downstream and about even with your hip, use that tension and “roll” cast again. No fuss no muss.
As long as you can “feel” the bottom or you can see subtle movement in the bright sighter line you’re doing it right! One of the biggest struggles is the absolute line control one must have for this technique. It’s supposed to be fun, but remember line control isn’t the place for cutting yourself some slack, pun intended.
Now that we have talked about the casting, let’s dive into the strike. When you feel or see a strike it can come as the proverbial thump, or a subtle as seeing the colored line move a fraction of an inch, or even a pause. The instant reaction is to immediately set the hook up, but in Euro Nymphing the best way to set the hook will be to note the angle of the sight line and set the hook in the opposite direction. So if the line is at a ninety degree angle then the up hook set would be correct, but if it was at any other angle you would have slack in the set up with that set, you may miss the fish or even worse break it off on the set. so , if the sight line is angled downstream, set the hook angle upstream and so on.
Euro Nymphing Gear
Now the fun part, gear! You can use any fly rod over about nine feet in length to Euro Nymph. Honestly, you can use any length fly rod, however, you have the greatest advantage over 9-feet. Just like any other method of fishing, there are technique specific options for euro nymphing that will help you become more effective. A good euro rod would be a 9 - 11 foot, 3 or 4 weight. The length helps keep the line off of the water and because the flies are so small and the cast so efficient a heavier rod is a detriment. Moreover, the tip will be very light to detect a strike by feel and enough butt to handle big fish. There are many reputable rods made specifically for this technique.
The line is generally thinner than the normal weight forward line, the leader can last a very long time with the use of a tippet ring at the end of the sightline. Sightlines can be hand-tied with high contrast mono or purchased in a pre-made setup. Then the tippet can be of single diameter to help control the sink rate and easily replaced all with the help of the tippet ring. In the end, it will look a little like this if you want to build a basic one: the thickest section of a nine-foot 4x leader trimmed and attached at the point of equal diameter to the sightline, then at the end of the two-foot sightline, a tippet ring and a two-foot section of 6-7x tippet then the fly.
The flies on the end can vary greatly or be a very simple system. In general, the flies will be compact, tungsten weighted, wide gap nymphes. The sizes I would start with would be in the 10-16# size. Most of the time the bottom fly will be compact, not many appendages or hackle, maybe hard-bodied and a touch smaller in profile than the dropper fly. The dropper fly should have a bit more bulk to get it up in the water column. Some popular patterns are perdigons, barbless jigs, frenchies, and micro buggers. Don’t be afraid to try any heavily weighted nymph in this technique, just try to remember that the bottom fly needs to be dense and compact in comparison to the dropper.
The beauty of Euro Nymphing is also the fact that it can be done on a standard rod. So, if you’re a generalist with a 9 foot 5 weight, run an 18 to 20 foot leader set up, carry a sight line in your already overloaded pack and bingo bango you can Euro Nymph with great success.
This technique has so many more intricacies than I can cover in the depths of about 1000 words, but the resources exist. Also, because you already have a rod capable of giving this method a try, get some sight line and a good selection of tungsten nymphs and give it the old trout bum try. The worst thing that can happen is you don’t catch fish in a different way than you already weren’t catching fish, and at best you become a better, more well rounded angler who needs to buy a whole new cache of tackle. I prefer the later approach.
How to cast a fly is basic in its simplest form. This is what we are about to cover. There are, for all intents and purposes, two casts that you need to know.
Overhead Cast
Roll Cast
There are many other casts, such as the bow-and-arrow cast for casting in dense and brushy areas, but these two will get you through most of the situations you may encounter fly fishing. To practice these, the best way is to try and do them in an open place with still water, like a pond with not a lot of trees or cover around it. Lay the Line out on the water. Water tension on the fly line makes the rod easier to “load” which leads to less false casting.
The Overhead Cast
The Overhead Cast is explained as the basic cast everyone pictures.
Here's a good buddy of ours demonstrating an overhead cast.
Assuming the rod is in your right hand pull line off of the reel with your left hand. Start with your hands together thumb to thumb. Grip the rod on the handle with your fingers around the grip and your thumb pointed down the “spine” of the rod. Separate your hands, your right going back as if you were going to point at something directly behind you with your thumb, your left will go down towards your hip like you’re strumming a rather large guitar.
As you bring the rod back behind you your line will follow the motion. You are casting the line not the fly. For a novice angler look at your rod tip. You should stop your “backcast” when your arm is at 90 degrees and your rod tip just past that. When you’re in this position watch for your line to straighten all the way out behind you. When this happens you should feel the total weight of the line in the rod.
An example of a Single Haul Cast, using your left arm to pull the line out during a back cast and then bringing the same line to the rod during a forward cast. This shoots the line forward and builds momentum.
Casting Farther
When you want the line to go farther in front you have to repeat this process multiple times without the line touching the water again, pulling more line off the reel and feeding it up with your left hand gradually. This is False Casting. The left hand will pull the line down as you perform a back cast and feed line forward as you cast forward.
When you are satisfied that there is enough line out to equal the distance you want your fly to go, only then do you break your arm over all the way pointing your thumb at the intended landing zone all while loosening your grip on the line with the left hand. Where your right thumb points is where the fly should go.
Arm Position
The casting process is slower than you would expect. The amount of your arm that should move is often explained as this: Pretend there is a book gripped under your arm pit. Now perform a backcast and forward cast and do not drop the book.
An overhead cast can be broken into two types of casting, those techniques are The Single Haul and The Double Haul casts. The left hand is the difference-maker in these two casts.
Single Haul Cast
For a Single Haul Cast, an angler would essentially spread their arms while holding the line in their left hand and back casting to the two o'clock position with their right hand. As they then “turn over “ or move the rod into the casting position the left hand will move towards the right hand and let go of the line at the same time. This cast is essential and the “basic” fly cast. You need to know this one.
Double Haul Cast
The Double Haul Cast is essentially the single haul technique but a tug or Haul. So, after separating your hands on the back cast, immediately bring them back together at the peak of the back cast. Now, in the forward motion you will separate your hands and spread them out like you’re lying about the size of fish you caught, then bring them together. At that point when you feel the line tug forward simply let go. Every pull on the line by the left hand is a Haul. This is why this is a Double Haul cast. Every haul adds line speed, so this cast is especially useful when casting for distance or to better cast into the wind.
Roll Cast
The Roll Cast is arguably the most useful and underrated cast in fly fishing- master this cast. With the line in front of you on the water, lift your rod tip up towards the sky. As you do this motion the fly line will begin to make a bow or loop heading behind you. When the fly line crosses behind the vertical rod and makes a D with the straight part of the D being your rod and the line making up the curved part impart the same forward stroke you would during the overhead cast. The line will follow the loop and lay out in a straight presentation. It is a very simple cast but can be used in a lot of situations.
When To Use Each Cast
So, that was the “How,” so now is the “Why”. You would use an Overhead cast for any sort of casting presentation that is at a distance greater than say twenty feet. This is the basic fly fishing cast. When you first pictured yourself fly fishing this is the cast you picture yourself doing. We used this to target cover, breaks, or eddies. This cast is often used to present big flies like Streamers and very small flies like tiny Dry Flies because in either case putting yourself at a greater distance from the fish is beneficial. When in doubt you can most likely use an overhand Single Haul cast to drop the fly where you want it.
The Roll Cast is to fly fishing as the trim hammer is to a tool belt. Precise, accurate, and repeatable. The Roll Cast is used to present Nymphs or Emergers quite a bit. It can be used very effectively at sub-twenty foot distances. Small streams can be picked apart with roll casts from one position. This form of casting is also great for repeating drifts. Remember that often when a trout is in a “Feeding Lie” if that fish moves, generally another will move into that same spot. So if you catch fish number one, number two might be a rinse and repeat away. Roll Casts are also very helpful when there are a lot of overhanging branches and the like around you. This cast happens almost entirely in front of the angler.
Take your rod to some still water and give these a try. Once you feel like you get it right as much as you do it wrong, go find the streams in your area.
Fly fishing for Steelhead is a different sorta thing that draws a different sorta person and takes different sorts of gear and tactics. Generally, when an angler is in the river searching for these chrome-cast monsters it is in the months where most folks are figuring what size auger to use for drilling holes to catch fish, not what size flies.
Steelhead are Rainbow Trout that have migrated out of the rivers into big water (Oceans or Great Lakes) and then come back to the river to breed, perform the spawning migration. This happens on the west coast from Northern California all the way north to Alaska and in the East in most states that have tributaries to the Great Lakes. This trip, or 'run', to propagate the species takes place from about the time we humans change our clocks to “Fall Back” an hour in early November all the way through the Spring of the following year up until about Mid April.
This is truly a cold water migration, and unlike salmon, Steelhead are alive from the beginning through the entire process and then head back out to the big water. Anadromous, is the term that is given to fish that use this method of a lifecycle. This means an angler can target these fish on their way upstream to spawn and as the go back down stream or “Drop Back” and head to the large H2O.
So, with that being said Steelhead are a hardy fish and in my estimation one of the best battles one can engage with on a fly in freshwater. The gear you need to really make headway in these moments of engagement is very specific. We will briefly cover the two handed rods that some folks use but will mostly concentrate on the standard one handed fly setups that can be used with a base knowledge of fly fishing fundamentals.
Fly Rods For Steelhead
The rundown of rods that can be used for these fish concentrates on three types in all actuality. The standard Single Handed Fly Rod, the Switch Rod and the Spey Rod are all in play here.
A Switch Rod is exactly what the name states, a rod you can cast with one or two hands. They are about a third as heavy as an actual Spey rod and can be used with Skagit or Scandi Lines. For the purposes of this conversation of winter Steelhead we would load our Switch Rod with Skagit line. This line has a “heavy” tip section or “Shooting” tip and is meant to Cast big streamers or “Meat Flies”. This line turns over fast and will require a sinking or floating tip. Switch rods are a good middle ground but as my dear friend Craig (Licensed Guide and Captain) states “They excel at absolutely nothing.”
A Spey Rod on the other hand excels at one very particular thing, getting a large fly out far and down in the strike zone. This is a two-hand only proposition. They help you cast a long distance and punch through the wind. Spey casting, when done properly, is beautiful. These rods are long, topping out around 14 feet and the line is twice as heavy as Single-Handed fly line. They are purpose-built and great for the task they are intended.
This brings us to the bread and butter of fly fishing, The Single handed fly rod. The reason we will concentrate on this setup is a barrier to entry issue. Switch and Spey rods are pound for pound more expensive than a Single Hand setup that is capable of handling this game and both require a different skill set than one may have gotten from just a bit of time with a standard trout or panfish rod in their hands.
An angler would be well suited to set himself or herself up with a 10 foot 8 weight rod and quality floating line. Unlike the set ups for smaller trout and panfish the reel does more than just hold the line, it helps you fight these fish that will normally tip the scales at double digits and can jump like they are trying to win a slam dunk contest. I would suggest a stout Large Arbor reel with a solid disc drag system. The one “extra” you may want to look for is a spare spool that you can load with a sinking line, but that is not a necessity. This total setup will put you in the game for these winter run fish.
Setting Up Your Fly Rig For Steelhead
After you get that together, you will need some 9 foot 3x leaders and tippet that matches up. Get fluorocarbon, Steelies are notoriously line shy. You will need some egg-shaped strike indicators, a split shot, a landing glove and a semi-dedicated fly box. Oh and warm clothes, Steelhead are a very northern latitude fish.
Flies For Steelhead
Now the fun part, what are we throwing at these things? How are we setting them up? Lets dig in! If you’re setting up a fly box just for Steelhead these are the “Must Haves” for general purpose chrome getting. This particular section could be an article all by itself, and has been written as such before, so I am going to give you some basic categories with a few standouts in each.
Eggs
The number one most imitated morsel of food in fly form is an egg, it can be a salmon egg, trout egg, or sucker egg. Some amazing patterns for this category are The Nuke Egg, The Blood Dot, Sparkle Egg, The Estaz Fly, Sucker Spawn and purists forgive me the Death Roe soft plastic egg. The later is terribly effective when drifted just above a bare hook below enough shot to get it to the fish. Yet, is occasionally frowned upon in some fly fishing circles. I actually used to work with the owner of Death Roe, and I will tell you I wouldn’t frown upon anything Mike has put out because that dude is a true outdoorsman. My personal favorite is the Estaz fly, but most folks have pinned their choice down to a Blood Dot or Nuke Egg.
Egg patterns can be fished as a dropper in some places(where legal) and are often fished under an indicator and shot. They should be fished similarly to an unweighted nymph. This is where that 10 foot rod beats out the 9 foot, especially when drifting and mending. The name of the game is less drag on the fly when possible.
Nymphs
Speaking of drifting and dragging the next category is very common to your fly box already, Nymphs. I have heard the rumor that 90 percent of all trout species taken every year are caught on a Nymph, I can buy that rumor because there have been years I wouldn’t have caught anything if it wasn’t for these little legged imitators. If you have the idea of how to Nymph fish for trout, Steelhead are the same just with a bigger bang.
Look through your fly box, the larger Nymph sizes in there will work for Chromers. BeadHead anything works well. So you can throw a Stone Fly, Hares Ear, Copper John, or Pheasant Tail. This is also the way I would fish the Wooly Bugger that is called Egg Sucking Leech. I don’t strip or swing that fly often, because of the nature of what it is meant to represent. Sizes you should be looking at should range from 6’s through 10’s and have multiple multiples of each in each size if possible. You will snag them, break them off and let’s face it there will be wind and trees at play here too.
Streamers
Finally the most fun category of fly for winter steel are the Streamers. You will be swinging these a lot of the time but also occasionally stripping them too. Remember a lot of Steelhead Streamers are tied for Spey and Switch rods, you can throw them on a single hand but they are big and tough to turn over. I would look at anything in the Zonker category, WHite Death being a great one. Also standard Wooly Buggers, Sculpins , Green Butt Skunk and the Intruder.
IF you didn’t buy that most fish are caught on a Nymph, try this any fish can be caught on a Clousers Minnow and these cold water bruisers are no exception. This category is also what might bring the extra spool and sink tip line into play.
Tactics For Steelhead
Well, you have an idea about timing, a new setup and enough flies to drag you under if you fell in, we should consider some tactics. Remember, these are still trout. Shelter, Breeding and Food are to Fish as Live, Laugh, Love are to suburbanites in SUV’s…universal. You can target Steelhead in any place you would target a stocked trout, Eddy, Riffle, Pool, you get the picture. They tend to be line shy so I like a little bit of movement to the water, in the spring I will target some frog water but generally I like something at about the pace of a walk. I like to fish towards the head and tails of pools. Any offshoot can hold good fish, I would tend to start shallow and fish to deep. Remember to always cast close, there are a lot of fish not caught because they are simply at someone’s feet. If you understand the basics of targeting fish in lies you just need to scale that to the water you will end up on for Steelhead.
Steelhead is an all day affair, an angler who shows up before first light is fishing the coldest part of the day but often some of the best action, same with the end of daylight too. My days fishing steelhead often look something like, streamers for two hours, nymphs and eggs mid day, streamers for an hour or so before dark. Like most things in the world the big meals are at either the beginning or end of the day with some light snacking in the middle.
Well, now that you’ve read all of this, picked out your gear, flies and blend of coffee all you have to do is hit a river. You can book guides all over the areas aforementioned, make sure they encourage fly fishing, or you can bang the bank yourself. Please be safe either way, korkers, a staff and a self inflating vest are always a good idea for water that is normally this cold, icey and deep. Remember to dress for the weather, but also remember the in climate conditions are part of the draw. Bring lots of calorically dense food and warm liquids and stop by some local shops for the best local info. Now is the time to make this trip a reality, we are at the beginning of the run now and it’s on for about 6 months, get in on it!
