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A rookies log.

65K views 930 replies 65 participants last post by  Mumbles 
#1 ·
So I think I have finally figured out that the reason I have not caught a Steelhead yet in the past 3 years I have been trying is due to my lack of commitment.
I am now going to log and document everything I learn here on this thread and maybe perhaps someone who needs help one day can look here. So here we go.

I live in Monroe. Therefore, my home water is the Sky. Today I decided to spend the day driving up and down between Monroe and Reiter to look for good access points and good runs to fish. When I finally got to the river here in Monroe I found that the river was REALLY high. So looking around for details in the water was right out the window. I still managed to look hard for obvious pull outs and stuff where I can park my car. Perhaps studying GPS would help in finding hidden access points too? I brought my 11 year old daughter along with me also because if I can not be a successful angler I may as well give this new generation a chance. Her and I went all the way up to Reiter and found some steelhead in the ladders. Her and I got so excited and pumped.
I have also started reading some steelhead books. The current book I am reading is called " A steelheader's way", by Lani Waller. This book is really amazing and is very well written, and am looking forward to my next book purchase.
Well there you go fellas. I am sorry if this is a boring thread but I think this would be a fun experience and I would also like to make some friends here. Putting myself out there I guess you could say.
 
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#90 ·
Daniel,

Thanks for the beer offer. That's forthright and good. But please understand and make note in your logbook that wine coolers are illegal among steelheaders.

As for your Okuma, if the spool spins round 'n round without falling off, and the handle doesn't break off, it's good enough to land a steelhead on. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but steelhead are way fuckin' over-rated. They are not dorado, roosterfish, or marlin. Maybe a little bit like baby tarpon, but only on a good day. When I was an impoverished college student I bought fly reels at Goodwill for $3 apiece. And they landed steelhead. Even when the pawl eroded into metal shavings and the spool handle broke off, I still landed that hot summer run, along with a memory I will never forget. That wouldn't have happened with a $15 Pflueger Medalist.

On the marriage advice front, fishing isn't the cause of divorce. Needy wives who want their husband to hang with them 24/7/365 are one cause. If your wife is, you might as well dump her now and get it over with because no human should have to life a suffocating life. Another major cause often blamed on fishing is lazy husbands who can't or won't live up to their slightly more than 50% of the marriage bargain even while taking the time necessary for fishing to be a major part of your life. If that is you, your wife will dump you sooner or later. That can be avoided by making the time you are together so satisfying and rewarding that she agrees that fishing helps define who you are. Just understand that fishing, in and of itself, does not cause divorce. Put this in your logbook too.

Sg
 
#91 ·
Daniel,

Thanks for the beer offer. That's forthright and good. But please understand and make note in your logbook that wine coolers are illegal among steelheaders.

As for your Okuma, if the spool spins round 'n round without falling off, and the handle doesn't break off, it's good enough to land a steelhead on. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but steelhead are way fuckin' over-rated. They are not dorado, roosterfish, or marlin. Maybe a little bit like baby tarpon, but only on a good day. When I was an impoverished college student I bought fly reels at Goodwill for $3 apiece. And they landed steelhead. Even when the pawl eroded into metal shavings and the spool handle broke off, I still landed that hot summer run, along with a memory I will never forget. That wouldn't have happened with a $15 Pflueger Medalist.

On the marriage advice front, fishing isn't the cause of divorce. Needy wives who want their husband to hang with them 24/7/365 are one cause. If your wife is, you might as well dump her now and get it over with because no human should have to life a suffocating life. Another major cause often blamed on fishing is lazy husbands who can't or won't live up to their slightly more than 50% of the marriage bargain even while taking the time necessary for fishing to be a major part of your life. If that is you, your wife will dump you sooner or later. That can be avoided by making the time you are together so satisfying and rewarding that she agrees that fishing helps define who you are. Just understand that fishing, in and of itself, does not cause divorce. Put this in your logbook too.

Sg
LOL My wife is actually very supportive, and will be by my side this year trying to catch those damn fish. Just figured I would make a few laugh with some wife jokes.
 
#95 ·
People have been catching steelhead for decades on gear that's way less sophisticated than what's available today. Get a rod. Get a reel. Get a line. Go out and learn where steelhead hold. The greatest rod and reel won't catch shit if you can't read water. You can take to the water with thousands of dollars worth of gear, but you'll just be a poser if you don't know where or how to fish it.
 
#96 ·
Happy Sunday everyone. Well this is my personal log so I will make a quick log.

I was laying down last night, and thinking about fishing. Thinking about what else I need to have as far as gear, thinking about the river in my head, and wondering where is a good place to take my family that will have some good holding water.
It then hit me. I said to myself what are you doing. I began to think about all my years as a little boy in Lynden Washington where over the course of 10 years I had fished the Fish Trap creek with my friends, hunting cutthroat trout, and once catching what appeared to be a very tired pink salmon. I thought about it. Do I already have all of the skills necessary to catch fish? I must have caught hundreds of fish in that small town creek. I learned where those little fish hold. Also found some great swimming holes where we tried to talk the girls into skinny dipping with us but I suppose the cold water affect turned them off in more ways than one.
I am a rookie most definately. However, in some philosophical way, will we all always be rookies of the hunt? I think at the end of it in my personal experience with trying to transfer from a gear angler to a Fly angler is that I and a lot of other newbies have a bad habit of over complicating the whole thing.
In the end I have come to the conclusion that the minds inside those little trout that I would catch are not much different than the trout in big rivers. So now I tell myself, just get out there and fish the water like you already know how.
 
#106 ·
So it is the day before opening day. I am very excited and decided to take a little trip down to the river to try my water reading skills. So I went over to Al Borlin park here in Monroe where it is right next to the Sky. Honestly from what I saw or what I had access too, there was really not any good holding water. I saw a few seems but the speed of the water seemed a bit too fast. So I came to the conclusion that this is not prime steelhead water. SO am I right? If I am wrong in my observations then I need to study more about reading water.
 
#107 ·
Is that the public access immediately downstream of the Lewis St. bridge? I haven't seen that spot in a few years, and last time I did, it didn't look like prime holding water. However, rivers are always changing, and a spot that's good one year isn't the next, and junk water can become a hotspot.

Sg
 
#108 ·
Is that the public access immediately downstream of the Lewis St. bridge? I haven't seen that spot in a few years, and last time I did, it didn't look like prime holding water. However, rivers are always changing, and a spot that's good one year isn't the next, and junk water can become a hotspot.

Sg
That is exactly where I am talking about. If you could get to the other side of the river then I see potential but but I do not see that happening for me. I am heading out tomorrow somewhere on the sky to try my luck.
 
#109 ·
Al Borlin is upstream of Lewis Street, near the site of the old train bridge. I haven't been there in years, but always thought it was featureless like you observed. There used to be a nice run above it but last time I looked from the highway it looked like it had changed a lot.
A lot of good water, maybe most of it, won't be right in front of a park or access site. You'll have to leave your car at the park and find a trail to the good stuff.
 
#111 ·
Well just got back and wanted to post what I have found out, and that is I really suck at casting. I have been practicing in my back yard with practice leader but when I threw a heavy steelhead fly on my line it just seemed like everything changed. I would say I got used to it after a couple hours of casting but man it was a bit frustrating at first. I am sure after some time I will get the hang of it. From now on I am going to practice with a heavier fly.
Over all the day was nice. I fished the Lewis Street bridge on the skykomish. Unfortunately the river was VERY congested full of other anglers and ALOT of boats. I really had no choice but to take what I could get. I kept wishing that I would have perhaps gone to the Stilly or something.
The one thing that did kind of get under my skin was how rude some of the boaters were. Every single drift boater was very nice, but holy shit the dudes with the outboards made there presence known. A couple other anglers walked up to me looking very pissed off and it looked like they wanted trouble. They ended up telling me how sorry they felt for me as they saw so many boaters zooming by me and disturbing me. I just shrugged my shoulders and said, " i guess they have every right to be out here too, honestly I wish I had a boat".
So that was my day, I learned a lot even though I did not have any success. I drank some beer ate some jerky, and had fun. I do hope it will slow down a bit though out there.
 
#112 ·
So I have been floating around looking at other threads. It seems that the majority agree that when starting out like me, it is "easier" to fish for trout rather than steelhead. I can see some wisdom in this advice from my own experiences today. From what I have noticed, casting a larger heavier fly plus poly leader definately made things more complex. I can surely see that perhaps casting a 5 wt with a dry fly or nymph setup can be more "user friendly". I however have decided to make the commitment to torturing myself. So consider this another valuable point supplied by more experienced anglers on this forum.
 
#113 ·
Also want to note the importance of dressing appropriately. I noticed how fast I got hot today wearing a full set of waders and only standing in ankle deep water. So for all you fellow new guys thinking about rods, reels, and lines, that is great but please do not neglect your own health when on the river, and please take some thought into your clothes and methods of nutrition and hydration. I was counting my blessings having my camelbak on my back with 2 liters of ice cold water.
 
#114 ·
Daniel,

It really sucks to learn that you can't cast only after you're on the water for a day's fishing. Lawn casting WITH THE GEAR YOU'RE GOING TO FISH WITH really helps, minus the hook anyway. Use a fly and cut the hook off at the bend. How heavy a fly? If you're just learning to cast, I recommend avoiding weighted flies, and if your rod is an 8 wt, make your largest fly a size 4, unweighted. Once you already know how to cast is the time to experiment with larger and heavier flies. BTW, are you casting a poly leader on the end of a standard, unmodified WF8F? If so, that could be part of your lousy casting. I think I already posted a sink tip line that casts and fishes easier/better in this log. You should read it; lotta' good info.

Welcome to 21st century fishing. There are 3 times as many people but exactly the same amount of water as 40 years ago, and more of it is posted.

Trout fishing is easier than steelheading only because there are more trout around than there are steelhead. Plus trout actively feed, so presenting a fly that imitates natural food in a near natural way ups the odds a whole lot.

Dressing appropriately only matters if you're not in your teens or twenties. That's why one of my first chapters is how to dress like a fisherman, from the skin out. Hydration is important. I used to drink river water, but a nasty case of giardia cured me of that. I always pack a water bottle and some beer in warm weather. A flask of whisky in the cooler months is nice also.

Sg
 
#115 ·
Salmo_g

How alarming. Yes I was using a poly leader with a weighted fly. It was giving me a very difficult time. I was used to tossing a regular mono leader with a small dry fly. After a lot of research about the problem I discovered and confirmed that my issue was casting too hard too fast. it seems when casting larger flies and poly leaders it is best to slow down and open the loop. The best way I can describe the problem if you will is that the fly was flying too fast and hitting the end of the leader hard creating slack in my line which was also causing line stripping issues. It took a lot of false casts to get the line out there than what I was used too. I am going to head to the park to practice what is called an oval cast ( I am sure you guys know this but new to me.) The oval cast is apparently the best way to cast heavy equipment from what I understand.
 
#117 ·
I haven't used a RIO versitip line so have no personal opinion. But not everyone likes them, but that could be said about any sink tip. All I know is that I have made and comfortably used many sink tip lines from standard WF*F lines cut and looped or spliced at 15' from the tip. Even simpler, except for more splices, is splicing a favored running line, then 15' of level 8 or whatever weight, then splice on or loop a sinking tip. Easy to cast and fish. You have so much energy for this endeavor you should consider giving this a try.

Oh, BTW, that's right about slowing down and opening your loop if casting weighted flies.

Sg

PS: fishing around the Lewis St bridge is such a newb move. There's good water upstream and downstream from there. A ways.
 
#118 ·
Salmo_g

Oh for gods sakes man I know that was shitty water but a newb has to do what a newb has to do. LOL. Anyways, are you suggesting I cut my wf line back about 15 feet to where the fat part of the taper begins? This does make sense. Will the poly leader turn over much better if I get rid of that thin part? I need to understand clearly before I butcher my 75 dollar line.
 
#119 ·
A integrated shooting head fly line like a Rio Outbound Short or SA Streamer Express or the Airflo one (don't recall the name) works exceptionally well with Poly Leaders. I personally don't like single hand versi tip lines. They kink like made in the air since the tip has no taper and is looped on.

Like Salmo said, you'll have much better time if your willing to drive away from Lewis Street. And even better if you get out of the car and walk.
 
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