Steelhead Video

Austin had been anticipating his fall steelhead trip for months. He sat at his tying bench for hours on end trying to perfect the perfect steelhead patterns. He asked the right people good questions and analyzed videos of how to best handle hot chromers in high water. He was ready to put all of the pieces together and chase some steelhead with Boz and myself. Previous steelhead outings this season, without Austin, had yielded some go-to spots. We had to pay our dues and pound water before finding these spots, but now these spots were old hat. So, while we were in route to steelhead country Austin asked, “Where will we start tomorrow?” Boz and I both agreed that we were a bit tired of fishing the spots that we knew were productive at high flows. However, Austin just wanted to get some steelhead under his belt. I said, “Austin, how about we go to the honey holes at first light and you can get the stink off, hook into a few steelhead and get your confidence level up. Then, we will all go in search of new chrome in uncharted territories and you can find your own chrome.” Austin and Boz both thought that was a good plan. So, we started our first day by lacing up to some piping hot chrome in the drifts that we had become so familiar with at 1800 cfs. I was amazed to see Austin fly fish for steelhead with such proficiency. His leader, tippet and overall setup were perfect. His flies were tied perfectly and built to last. He was reading the water like a book and his drifts were flawless. Clearly, Austin had spent this past year learning from his steelhead mistakes last season. He had taken all of his last years shortcomings and turned them into strengths. I knew he was going to have no problem finding his own chrome and perhaps steeling some of mine. Throughout the 3 day trip we were in and out of the car constantly. We fished so many sections of so many rivers, our heads were spinning. There were long spells of nothingness replaced by short lived spells of off-the-hook action. We visited many spots that I had come to know throughout the years. Some of the spots that we thought were going to be on fire, were void of steelhead. Other spots that were seemingly insignificant transitional water, were on fire. During one of our moves to another spot, we passed a good friends fly shop (Yankee Fly And Tackle) and saw my friend John Rucando tying flies through the window. I had to stop in and say hello and pay respect to the guy who taught me so much about steelhead fly fishing. Several years ago, John and I spent days on end pounding rivers and creeks in search of steelhead. I was new to steelhead fly fishing back then and watched in amazement as John tricked steelhead in huge water, small water, fast water, slow water and everything in between. John had my head spinning as I would be hung up on the bottom and he would be tricking beautiful chromers with streamers, nymphs and egg patterns. I learned so much from John and caught my very first steelhead under his guidance. So, it was kind of cool to visit John and have Austin with me going through the same motions that I went through with John. John said, “Where are you guys heading?” I said, “We were thinking about XYZ.” He replied, “That is a good bet, you should also try ABC, I did very well there the other day.” Then, while we were talking about chromers of the past something caught my eye. I saw a two-handed rod that looked perfect for many steelhead applications. Not too big, not to small and it just stuck out at me. I said, “Hey John, what is that rod?” John walked over and gently lifted the Thomas and Thomas 11 ft. 7 weight double handed fly rod from the rack. He held the fly rod like a newborn baby and as his eyes scanned the rod from the top down he said, “This is the perfect steelhead fly rod.” As a sign of respect for all John taught me and because I wanted to have a special steelhead rod that only works because of what I learned from John I said, “I’ll take it.” John truly thought I was kidding at first but I said, “No really, I’ll take it.” John was putting it in the case and giving me the forms and all that stuff that go with the fly rod and I said, “I am only gonna use this on special occasions.” John replied, “No, use it today and use it always. It is meant to be fished.” So, I slapped a reel with spey line on my new rod and we were on the water again. I caught a beautiful steelhead on my new fly rod within a couple hours of buying it and life was good. We then went to the run that John suggested. It was a run that none of us had ever fished so the water and the drifts were foreign to all of us. I made a pass through the entire section and nothing panned out for me. Austin decided to spend a little more time carefully picking apart each seam until he found his own chrome. And, boy did he find his own chrome. Every where we went, Austin had no trouble dialing into his own chrome. Many battles were lost, some were won but the satisfaction from this trip came from finding our own chrome.