# Fall Steelhead



## rbarta (Aug 20, 2011)

Here is a little video I made of my first steelhead of the year! Hope everyone enjoyed the good run of salmon we had this year and hopefully the steelhead are in the same numbers!


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## Big Medicine (Oct 31, 2002)

Cool video- thanks for sharing


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## Gamechanger (Sep 26, 2014)

Enjoyed that. Thanks!


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## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

Nice fish.


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## REG (Oct 25, 2002)

Chunky fish!


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

This was a fun video, thanks.

I am hoping to learn more about the mysteries of a Fall steelhead in the U.P. - but I think you were more expecting to get in to some Salmon when you set out on this trip?

I am wondering - was this a Lake Michigan trib?

I caught a jack Steelie in a Superior trib this past Sunday. That got me hoping I could find more. I hit many holes on a Lake Huron trib on Saturday, down by the mouth, and tried it a little higher up this morning for a little while, but zilch. I also worked a short Lake Michigan trib for quite a while today in the wind and snow - that one is stocked by the DNR and has exceptionally clear water - I never did even see a fish in it.

I heard something on Saturday, at the mouth of the Huron trib which has a public fishing pier (sort-of; not a deep-water traditional Great Lakes Harbor pier) - "when they first come in, the Steelhead hang in the rapids." This was from some guys with more local experience than me, and they might have also been LSSU fisheries students. The one guy said he didn't have his thermometer with him that day, unfortunately, but he seemed to imply that the Steelhead come in on water temps. He was thinking to get in to some Coho, but it is too late for that this year.

My experience with Steelhead in the Fall in the NW Lower is with them in holes, not runs. Applying NW Lower dates and techniques certainly led me to appreciate U.P. Coho quite a bit more, and I am glad of that. But that is off the table now, for this year.

So when is a more typical time to start trying for Steelhead in the U.P. ?

It is certainly cold now, below average for near-on two weeks already - well below average for the next two days. And let's say the Chrome comes in some - fish holes, or runs, to start out? And do the Lake Michigan/Huron fish come in earlier than the Superior fish?


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## rbarta (Aug 20, 2011)

B.Jarvinen,

My original attempt was salmon at a different river that morning but that did not pan out so I switched gears to steelhead fishing.

If the salmon are running there will be some steelhead in the river as well. I tend to wait until the major push of salmon have come into the system, then wait for the next big rain to target them. As to where I fish them, usually in fast water but more specifically the seams within that fast water. Whether it be a large rock or a log something that breaks the current will usually be where the fish hold as they move up river. 

A good way to find these spots are to wade the river when it is low so you can see where the fish will hold when the water is high. Another good method is fishing below where you know salmon have spawned or are spawning. Find the funnel below the group of spawning fish and this is another likely spot to find fall steelhead. Any time from October until the river freezes up I will fish steelhead but as the water cools fish slower water is the right idea. Hope this helps next time you are out on the water.

-Eddie


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Yes, Thanks! I can recognize holding spots well enough. I fish some pretty small waters sometimes, in the east U.P., as that is what is close. Seems like a rain would help color the water and have a better chance for a fish to be holding a little shallower than in clear water.

I know some spawning gravel stretches, but some of those are way up high in the systems and I wonder how far up a Fall U.P. Steelhead will go. In some other cases, the gravel I know has beaver dams below it, and on Type 1 reaches anyway, so that doesn't really matter too much. My Type 4 options are rather limited right now but maybe I will luck into more work in the central U.P. next year.

And then some stretches of fast water are just where it is flowing over bedrock, not actual spawning grounds. I will always continue the bush-whacking to find more of just the right spots, but that is a slow process.


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## rbarta (Aug 20, 2011)

They travel a ways up surprisingly, I will catch them throughout the systems just with the combination of nearby salmon beds. If you want to cover water a spinner is a great way to do it for fall and sometimes early winter steelhead but that really slows down as the water drops below 40 for me


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## Teggs (Mar 20, 2013)

Steelhead will plow right up rivers. They can travel 50+ miles in a day looking for food. Got my first steelie this year sept 30, last year oct 15, year before oct 9. We had our best week this fall was october 9-15 landing 22 steelhead. October 16-29 we only produced 12 steelhead. From the 30th until today Nov 4 in this 5 day period we landed only 2 steelhead, but a ton of browns, splake, and late coho. From Nov 4 until nov 9 last thursday we produced 15 steelhead because of cold temps and snowfall. Over the weekend from the 9th till today the 12th we only laned 3 steel but tons of other lake run species. Last year our best week was Dec 25- Jan 3 landing 25 steel. Our best week 2 years ago in 2015 was Nov 23- Dec 2 landing 16 steel. Every year is different and steelhead can turn on and off like a lightswitch. With steelhead they are not spawning just eating so they dont really need to be around. Certain spots will hold fish every 5-10 days. Seams and current breaks work the best. Steelhead dont care how fast or slow the water is moving and water temps only effect them when they are spawning in the spring. They will move through the river and river mouths regardless of water temp or clarity in order to find food. I have caught them in every kind of situation, some days better than others. All i can say really about trophy fall steelhead hunting is that its much like bucks in the rut. If its nasty and snowing sideways then fish before during and after the front. That giant fish might only be cruising then. Also moon cycles are flawless when it comes to steelhead fishing. Try to find a major or minor that works for you and grind super hard during that window. Dont stand in one spot. If your throwing fresh spawn or waxxies steelhead will hit withing the first 5 drifts. If you dont hit one then move, or if the rivers packed change jig colors or netting colors. The more water you cover the more steel you will find, and dont shy away from the small rock that might only be big enough to hold a little trout cause you will be surprised.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Well, thanks guys, this thread certainly helped my persistence level on those oh-so-many days this month when I didn't feel like the safety level was all that great to be scrambling around in heavy logging slash covered in snow and ice, running a chainsaw.

So on Opening Day, I finally caught what I was chasing - an Upper Peninsula Fall Steelhead. It was raining so hard I did not snap a picture, which was unfortunate as everywhere I went the next week everyone spent their time showing off deer pictures on their phone. It was a great fishing experience - I was not even 200 yards in from the surf-line of Lake Michigan, on a river punching through the shoreline dunes. The result is a wide, sandy channel and with leaves off, not a lot to pick from for the fish to feel secure. But in the deeper water along somewhat of a curve, a tree had fallen in. The one thing this stream has going for it, in my opinion, is that it is fairly easy to present what you want, right in front of structure that might hold a fish - one can see all possible snags in the shallow clear water.

I sent a #3 Copper Mepps out into the center of the channel and pulled it back upstream right along the edge of the tree top. The best part was when a branch suddenly moved, as if hit by something ... something underwater ... and a few tenths of a second later, my spinner was inhaled by a nice 4# fish, just as shiny as could be.

But that came after many, many hours of fishing the east U.P. this month. The Lower Peninsula guys are all noting a very poor amount of Fall fish this year, so that probably plays into this some too.

I like the idea of Fall Steelhead cruising for nutrition; but this where I think the streams I can get at easily, on a day off, are a bit lacking.

Stream #1 - a short Type 4 stretch, not quite a mile long, on the Superior shore. This stream sources from an inland lake and has trouble staying cool enough for Brookies at times - heat kills have been known to be discovered on it, some years. It is one of the most perfect stretches of spawning gravel I have ever seen. But that's all there is - almost no spots deep enough for a fish to hold. It gets an erratically great Coho run, and I caught a nice enough little Skipper at the top of it the first weekend of the month, and one last jack Coho too, from the same little pool. As it turned out I visited this stream for 3 weekends running. On the 2nd weekend I discovered a fresh deposit of spawn on the gravel, but saw no evidence of any other fish, anywhere and could not draw any bumps. On the 3rd weekend I managed to spook a very black fish out of a little hole but saw no more evidence of any fish, even with a much, much higher flow from a snow melt, showing many more possible micro-sites to fish.

A few miles down the road from this is another Type 4 stretch that is not 100 yards long in linear distance though a little over that in stream distance. It does offer a few pools to fish and could be interesting later this season as a beaver has blocked it right at the Type 4/Type 1 point, which could stack up some fish, when they come in.

But I don't see either of these streams really attracting many fish on a feeding basis.

Stream #2 - is a very long Type 4 stretch. It sources from a set of 3 medium/large inland lakes; it's North Branch sources from a inland lake large enough to be seen from Space. A DNR fisheries report from the 1960s describes the North Branch as one of "low productivity". This is possibly because a lot of this stream flows over The Escarpment - i.e., a lot of rock. This has been my experience in some other parts of the country, though I fish some rocky stretches in the west U.P. that are loaded with fish. I fish this stream a lot because of the rocky areas, a nice break from fishing alder canyons in the basically flat east U.P.

But I never catch all that much on it. An occasional small Brown from that year's stocking effort by the DNR; very rarely a Brown that looks to have been in the stream for 2 years. Fishing pressure is at least moderate on these stretches.

I have fished this stream at the mouth in a variety of spots, in the middle, and up closer to the top in an area extensively improved for spawning habitat. My best luck has always been when pods of Cohos can be found; as a Lake Huron stream, this is very spotty in occurrence, compared to Lake Superior streams.

I have caught an occasional Jack and some-probable-current-year-plants a few miles up from the mouth. I have never had a chance to fish it in the better spring months.

Stream #3 - is a type 4 stretch of several miles, with a large inland lake source. Some years, I have caught and seen #s of little Rainbows, probably from that year's stocking, that are still refusing to migrate out to Lake Michigan even by mid-November. It does not support any resident Brookies that I can tell. It has a variety of deep water bends and one absolutely deep water pool where I have caught Coho, despite it never being stocked, historically. This is where I finally caught a Steelie on Opening Day. This one also is probably better for a spring fishery, which I have not tried, but might have a chance at this coming year.


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