# Steelhead Fisherman



## duxdog (Apr 13, 2008)




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## N M Mechanical (Feb 7, 2008)

Those pics say it alot. But when I hit the river the phone is off no customers no worrying about bills just how to get this fish to take the fly and hold on then get a few pics and let them swim off nothing like it.


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## sweet tree (Apr 30, 2006)

Hooking a steelhead is like no other...When they feel that hook they get pissed. Then you are in for a fight that might last 30 seconds or what seems like an eternity. Its better than any drug.

The head shake, roll, and the jump, that does it for me.


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## METTLEFISH (Jan 31, 2009)

Steelhedz... those occurances do happen, but very in-frequently, if you fish enough, if you time your trips enough, and if you keep at it long enough, those high number days do occur, in my 30 plus years of chasing Potomodromous fish it has happened only four times. Hard to catch ?... hardly, hard to locate/get on.... sometimes, though it is always what I would rather be doing every time I fish, as I say...PURE ADRENALIN CITY.


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## Meridian17 (Jul 4, 2006)

Standing on a shore line
20 degree temperatures
Rod tip icing up
fingers freezing
day break is only a few minutes away
casting in to that deep hole that you just know holds a nice fish
watching that bobber or feeling that bounce
anticipation wondering if this is going to be your morning

There is just no better way to feel alive than to experience that feeling.

Oh yeah, hooking that nice fish - Well, that's cool too. Honestly, I think the true steelheader almost equates the hook up with the fish as secondary. If it was all about hooking fish, steelheading would not be the route I would suggest.

I have had days with hook ups in the teens and have had days with not so much as a bite - One thing I know is I enjoyed the heck out of every trip.


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## Alpha Buck (Jan 24, 2006)

Hi my name is Greg and I am a steelhead addict.:lol:

I've spent countless hours and god only knows how much money chasing these beautiful creatures. They have brought me to some magnificent places. Whether I am fishing the rugged north shore of Lake Superior, the river mouths of Georgian Bay, the mystic waters of the Olympic Peninsula, or my home waters of the Grand it is that next take that keeps me strung on this addiction. There is nothing else that compares to watching my float dip under, having my armed just about ripped off as my spoon quarters downstream, watching a plug rod get violently railed, or the feel of a fresh chromer demolishing a wobble glo. 

I once spent over 60 hours straight on a pier because I could not get myself to leave the ungodly numbers of summerruns that were around. When I left I was sun burned so bad that I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt in 90degree weather just to keep the sun off from me.:yikes: I had a pile of broken rods, a dozen rockstar cans, taco bell bags, and 3 or 4 5$ little ceasars pizza boxes to carry out. I went home and slept for a good 14hrs, woke up, called a buddy, and was back on the road for some more of that chrome action. You can call me crazy, but I will call you crazy for not taking advantage of a bite like that.:lol:

I love the fall fish the most, there is no other fish like them to me. Those cold November mornings hold a special place in my heart. There is something special about the acrobatics and shear power of a blue backed white bellied fall chromer that has nothing on its mind but to try and free itself from the other end of your line. I will take a mid 30 degree cloudy Nov/Dec day over any bluebird perfect weather sunny summer day. 

Whether they are a platinum, blushed, or a crimson red sided fish they are all a work of art. The fact that they are usually found in some very breath taking destinations make them all that much more of a sought after fish.

Here are some pics that help describe what it is I am talking about.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Ok, I'll start by saying I'm a caveman as I troll for steelies. Pure mouth breathing knuckle dragging at it's finest.

I fish the Kalamazoo. There's days in the dead of winter where I can fish 5 hours, bright blue sky, painfully white snow, and the only sign of another human on earth is the contrails from the jets 7 miles overhead. It's the cough of the two-stroke turning over on the second pull, the smell of the oily smoke, and the rythymic pulsing of the rod tips telling you the plugs are working.

Bald eagles fly over. Mink work the shoreline. Deer come out of hiding now that season's done and stand out against the snow. All kinds of ducks on the open water.

My guest is thinking I'm nuts and is working on their second thermos of hot chocolate and balancing the need to drink more warmth against the risk of having to expose stuff to the biting air later to get rid of it.

After an hour or two, you're just beginning to wonder if the right plugs are out, when the down rod bows over. False alert, just a log moved around on the last bout of high water. Drop back and work the plug loose only to look over and see the other down rod starting to pull. Log? No, a swirl 40' behind the boat tells otherwise. But it's a 3# hen and lightly hooked so it goes back. Half an hour later the fish of the year hits - a 10# buck rips a yellowbird downstream and makes a 165' run for a log jam before the rod is out of the holder. Then back in front of the boat. Under the boat, around the boat. After some tense moments we decide to net this one and put him in the smoker that night.

We may catch bigger fish, we may catch more fish, we may get skunked. But knowing at any time the noise of the river may erupt into that one mad fish keep me coming back.


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## Ranger Ray (Mar 2, 2003)

Started as a challenge
Became a contest
Now its for relaxation


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## bowonly (Oct 31, 2006)

Your question is too broad! When it comes to steel headers you have too many varieties. You have the fly guys, the bobber boys, the spawn bag bouncers, corkie and wobble glow guys, hardware guys that use spinners or whatever. And then you can divide those groups up into their own categories fly guys have the chuck'n'duckers, the spey and so forth. Bobber boys have the center pinners and others. They all work! But what I like somebody else might not. 
The one thing we all like is hooking and landing steel, can't describe it! You can only experience it.


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## ruhlandg (Apr 8, 2009)

its a feeling and a relationship that you can never really understand unless you have a true passion for fishing. theres no better feeling in the world than netting a fish after a 20 minute fight of seeing a monster fish turn and only seeing what you might catch. its about shakeng so bad from excitement that you can bearly stand. last week I landed my first biggy of the year and had to take a half hour break after watching my friend miss netting the fish four times. theres a point just befor your drag kicks in where you feel the maximum power of the fish where your heart stops. and theres a point when you feel the line go slack when you feel like you have just lost everything. but its that feeling that makes landing a fish so much better, but to be able to explain that feeling you first have to experience it


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## bigfisherman (Nov 9, 2007)

There are all the mushy reasons everyone is writing about but Greg says it best below........... 



Alpha Buck said:


> I once spent over 60 hours straight on a pier because I could not get myself to leave the ungodly numbers of summerruns that were around. When I left I was sun burned so bad that I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt in 90degree weather just to keep the sun off from me.:yikes: I had a pile of broken rods, a dozen rockstar cans, taco bell bags, and 3 or 4 5$ little ceasars pizza boxes to carry out. I went home and slept for a good 14hrs, woke up, called a buddy, and was back on the road for some more of that chrome action. You can call me crazy, but I will call you crazy for not taking advantage of a bite like that.:lol:"
> 
> That is why we all steelhead right there, that is what hooks ya gets in your blood, and you cann't shake it . It is what makes you drive 10 hours straight fish for 20 straight and drive straight home again. Makes you eat gas station sandwiches that have been on your dash baking in the sun for 8 hours, and sleeping in a van in the parking lot by the river. The rest of the stuff you learn to appreciate later on. First it is getting one, then it is about getting more, then numbers of fish, then size, then just nice to go out with your buds catch a bunch or not it doesn't matter or hook one for a kid that has never caught one before. Then you get like my old man and just want to get em again......:evilsmile


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