Almost time for this nonsense to begin.  Lets see those steelhead pics!

 

I missed my spring trips due to covid.   These were from last fall

6 hours ago, J Francho said:

Almost time for this nonsense to begin.  Lets see those steelhead pics!

 

My

buddies used to tie up egg patterns in colors like you have there on the table for pellet fed monster trout.  One of the older, more purist type guides walked in and saw all the wild colors on the tying table and said “did Walt Disney barf on here?”

That guide probably never tied up his own bags or used roe.  Any color works.  When late summer hits, you grab what color is available.  If you look close, the netting doesn't change the color of the eggs, which we generally leave in their natural color.  I only salt cure them anymore.  When you trim the bags, there's no more color.  At any rate, when bags don't work, trout worms do, and the top colors are pink, red, and yellow.  Probably because that's the colors of roe.

 

These aren't pellet fed trout.

Yeah, this was just stocker rainbows and it was back when the Y2K and San Juan worm were newish (to me anyway). Some of the guides tie only natural drab nymphs and anything else they consider low brow, almost as bad a bait chucking haha. Me, I’ll fish with anything 

I haven't picked up a fly rod in at least 15 years, and haven't tied up a fly in a decade.  Joined the darkside many years ago, and only centrepin now.  It's more fun watching guys froth up the water with their spey rigs, while I'm hooked up.

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

I haven't picked up a fly rod in at least 15 years, and haven't tied up a fly in a decade.  Joined the darkside many years ago, and only centrepin now.  It's more fun watching guys froth up the water with their spey rigs, while I'm hooked up.

Yeah, spey casting is a really dramatic looking way not to catch fish, I've found.  Swinging is a crappy presentation.  There's nothing really natural about it.  It's basically just hoping you trigger a response from the fish.  I've only gone steal heading once or twice, because we don't have any around here, but I didn't get one till I started using a float.  I really think there are better ways to get a natural drift that using a bobber, but they're painstaking for trying to cover water in a big river.  And I don't see the point of using indicators on a fly rod.  You can get a better, easier presentation from a bobber rig on conventional gear.  You just can.

There's really no easier way to to plum the depths of a deep hole.  I'm not really fishing for resting fish, but I'm also not really after the ones you can see in the riffles.  I'm not so concerned with "natural presentation" as the ROI is pretty low.  Any fishing is is trying to trigger them to bite.  Some methods result in more catching than others.

 

Here's a pretty brown.

12 hours ago, Nelson Delaney said:

I missed my spring trips due to covid.   These were from last fall

I really prefer fall and winter - less traffic.  At least once the kings finish up.  

We use sacks for ice fishing the harbor on Lake Michigan.

I have seen several videos of salmon and steelhead (rainbow trout) fishing in New York. They even tell you where they fish which is nice. It looks like a fun way to fish. 

No steelhead here, but I enjoy the bonus rainbows they stock in the lakes this time of year when I can find the bigger ones. The smaller ones are nice because the big bass enjoy them ?

8 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

No steelhead here, but I enjoy the bonus rainbows they stock in the lakes this time of year when I can find the bigger ones. The smaller ones are nice because the big bass enjoy them ?

These baits are pretty realistic.  Good swimming action.

 

2 minutes ago, J Francho said:

These baits are pretty realistic.  Good swimming action.

 

That one could eat a lot of the fish they stock here.

That's a little one.  Legal size is 21".

 

This is a nice one, maybe not quite a DD.

what did you use to catch that

10mm bead pegged 1/2” above a #10 hook. I used a 13’ centrepin rig with 8# mono main and shot line, and 4# Seaguar Leader. Judging by the flow behind me, I’d say I was using a 6-8g Raven float. 

I haven't caught a steelhead yet in Ludington.  But I did catch some Brown Trout in January where I live in Southern Michigan!