Steelhead Gear/tactics

**Troutbum from Griswold** · 09-09-2007, 03:18 PM

I use a 5wt when steelheading and have caught some good size fish. Winston BIIX 9.5 5wt is a great steelhead rod. I am thinking about the 9.5 6wt BIIX for streamers, great saltwater 6wt, and it will make a great steelhead rod. The rod is light, fast, responsive, extra 6 inches gives you an advantage with nymphing and line pick up (Not as good as a 10 footer but close). My 5wt handled 11 lb steelhead no problem but I have to now say that I feel the 6wt gives a better edge.

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**AaronJasper** · 09-09-2007, 07:33 PM

Dave there is one five weight ten footer there. If they sell it there will not be another chance at getting one until Mid-November. I have something you can use for when we go steelheading. You are right get the trout rod before the steelhead rod.

For the smaller Lake Erie tribs you can use your trout tackle but on the Lake O tribs the fish are a little bigger and the streams are larger on average. I personally think that you are fishing in much higher volumes of water. For example the Salmon River flows at 750 cfs for very long periops of time. You will never fish in any water that is a fast flowing as that on any of the Lake Erie tribs. Even on the largest of the Lake Eire tribs like the Catt you are fishing during periods of low flows sine this river has a tendency to "blow out" as a result of even the smallest rain event.

**Nymphmeister** · 09-13-2007, 09:17 PM

You definitely want to stick with a 7 weight for your first Great Lakes Steelhead rod, it's the all around size, not too much for the Erie tribs, but enough to handle big Lake Ontario Steel.

Keep tying those egg flies, in a variety of colors & sizes, from drab to gaudy. I would say to keep them in the medium to small range- people often fish ones that are too big in my opinion, real eggs are pretty small. Go-to colors that have produced a lot of Steelies for me have included Oregon Cheese (my #1 all time producer), egg (sort of a creamy color but not really, very natural looking), Steelhead Orange, Chartreuse, Cerise, Light Roe (a non-gaudy orange). Other good colors are Apricot Supreme (pastel orange color), Baby Pink, White (produced my biggest lake run brown to date), and many, many swear by blue, esp. with clear, low water and heavy fishing pressure (make sure to use light blue, dark blue doesn't seem to work for shit). More often than not I skip making the dot on the Glo-Bugs, but it doesn't hurt, and there are a couple colors I always do it on (for example I put a small Steelhead Orange dot on my Egg colored ones).

Fresh fish, low light, and murky water all point toward brighter colors and bigger eggs. Clear water, bright sun, heavy fishing pressure, and lower flows make smaller, drabber, more natural and pastel colors the best choice. Also think about matching your flies to the natural ones you will often see in the water. And for the record, TroutBeads will generally outfish the living daylights out of any egg flies. My 2 buddies kicked my ass with them last Fall while I stubbornly fished my usual, time-tested egg flies. As soon as I switched, my success matched theirs.