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September 9, 2002
SUMMER LOVE STEELHEAD
by Tracey John Hittel
 It
is 6:30 AM, I am just getting into a deep sleep and I hear
a ringing in my dreams; what is it? I awake to the sound of
the phone, "Hello". "Are you ready to go? "
an anxious voice on the other end asks. It is Darcy, he has
slept little all nite, waiting for the morning sun to rise.
He spent yesterday on the Skeena system fly-fishing for Steelhead,
landing five fish all in one run. Archie was also on the Skeena
tributary yesterday he landed eleven, using both wet and dry
methods.
We get to the river mid-morning and creep up to the top of
the tail-out. Slippery rocks make it difficult to be silent,
but Darcy is adamant we do so. The river is in excellent condition.
We talk shortly about the flies and tip we are going to present,
I am using the black GP with a wet tip, Darcy is using a Coal
Car with a dry line, sub-surface fishing.
Darcy starts casting his single-hand eight weight first,
I follow in behind. I make my first cast, a false one. The
rivers edge offers us little room to cast, dense trees are
behind us. My second cast is better, fifteen feet from shore.
The fly swings downstream, BOOM! the fly line screams out
of the rod guides and I see red. I am into by backing instantly.
No need for a hook set, this fish is hot. After three jumping
presentations this fish is spent and we are taking its picture,
a Summer run Steelhead, fresh from the ocean. The feeling
is like none other, adrenalin is still flowing through my
body.
Darcy congratulates me, and we start again. Another ten feet
down the run and like clockwork, I swing my fly into the downstream
riffle, another fresh steelie is on and pulling like an Alaskan
dog team. I struggle to get a strong foothold on the large
round rocks beneath the waters surface, I secure myself and
another fish is digitized, a large male approximately 18-20
lbs. Darcy is switching flies as he looks upstream in a half
smile. He goes to a greased liner, the Bomber is his fly.
Minutes later, he looks back "I just had a tap",
he has a player. Darcy casts again and again, switching flies
to trick this steelie into a take. Nothing hits, he moves
on. I switch to a red GP, make a long cast, and mend my line.
My fly line stops in mid swing, I lift the rod tip up, and
ZZZZ the line screams, my Scientific Angler7/8 reel is working
very well, good thing. Another fish is digitized. We finish
the run and sit down and chat. My sink tip is brand new, just
purchased from Fish Tales in Terrace. Dave the fly-fishing
expert suggested this line, medium sink tip. He tells me that
it is not important to fish Steelhead on the rivers bottom,
I am a believer, thanx Dave.
 We
travel up river to another run, it looks as good as the last.
As etiquette is very important in this sport, Darcy starts
first. He has on a creation Arch has mimicked, the Purple
Austrian, he will explain in detail in a later report. Darcy
is using his subsurface tactic. He makes a long cast, Fish
on! again we see the explosive action of a fresh Steelhead,
its bright silver body reflecting off the suns rays. It is,summer
love Steelhead. The monkey is off his back, the first one
of the day is all behind us now. We take the picture and the
flies are back in the water. We work down six feet and Darcy
is into another fish, a teenager. I switch to a Rolled Muddler.
"Heh Darcy", I say, as he looks back, my rod is
doubled over, a double header. I actually had enough time
to take a picture of Darcys fish while still fighting my own,
then landing it and taking its picture, simply incredible!
 We
are starting to lose count on the numbers of steelhead hooked
and landed. It is getting to be noon and we sit on the end
gate of the truck, satisfied about the morning. The birds
are singing, the trees are turning to the red, orange and
yellow colors of autumn. Everything is perfect. We head up
river and see a vehicle parked along side the road, its Archies
truck. We head up to the run he is fishing, Ebony, his trusty
canine companion, is giving a early warning sign that some
one is coming. We gesture at each other and he walks out of
the water. We saunter up to the master, trying to conceal
our excitement from the morning happenings. We cannot hold
it any longer, "We landed eight fish in two runs. How
about you?" He smirks and almost, graciously announces,
"Eleven, in this run alone!". We join Arch in the
run and it is no more than the second cast and I feel a bump.
Arch in the background gestures, he had a hit as well. I am
using the black GP. I make another cast, follow it up with
a upstream mend, and the water boils near my flyline, the
line straightens out and the fight is on. My fish is running,
hard. I cannot stop it, I can only hang on and wait for the
line to stop leaving the reel. It finally does. The steelhead
runs at me and bursts out of the water. My line is slack,
I know what has happened. This Steelhead beat me up, but we
all had a chance to have a look at this one. "Big shoulders
on that one, eh fellas", I say. They both agree. We finish
the run and decide to make our way back to Terrace for a hot
meal and some great conversation.
We will be back tomorrow. Archie is staying the night he
knows there is only a three week period for dry lining aggressive
summer Steelhead.
It is 6 AM and I am up before the alarm, so is Darcy. We
speak little and clean up before heading upstairs for a fresh
cup of brew. The temperatures dropped below freezing during
the night, the outside air is brisk. We decide on heading
to the upper section of river first, salivating as we pass
the runs that produced so well the day before. We wade into
the virgin water; as yet, untouched by man. Mist is rising
off the rivers floor and the roar of the canyon below breaks
the silence. Darcy is dry line fishing today. He has on the
Wiffle Cricket dry fly, very popular up here in Skeena country.
I am using the patterns the same as yesterday, GP's and Muddlers.
A large boulder in the middle of the rapids, produces a slow
piece of water and a resting spot for Steelhead. Darcy's dry
skates into the zone and a large male surfaces hitting his
fly, he pulls in excitement, there is no response. I cannot
believe what has just happened, a sight that has to be seen
first handed. He casts again, as the fly enters the flat water,
the fish takes aggressively. Darcy fights the current as well
as this early morning Steel, they are both exhausted. A quick
pic and the fish dashes out to the middle of the run, hidden
in the gin clear water.
I often wonder what a Steelhead thinks as he passes up a
dry fly. Darcy tells me they like to use their body and/or
tail to sink the insect then as it falls to the bottom of
the river, they eat it. Very interesting facts when it comes
to dry lining for steelhead.
Another method we found that is deadly for dry line fishing
is the twitch and skate method. After making a short cast,
not ten feet or more, hold your rod tip up and slowly twitch
the rod at the same time skate your fly from a 30 degree angle
to to shore. Take note as your fly dances along the waters
surface, making for a live presentation. We hit Steelhead
right at the shore using this method. I think what is happening
is that Steelhead see this fly from mid river, follow it downstream
and attack when they get close to shore. This has happened
time and time again and produces the same result. I plan on
mastering this technique before the season ends.
During our two day fishing trip we landed thirteen Steelhead,
lost two. An outing that we are proud of. Oh ya, we exchanged
numbers with Arch, he more than doubled our count in as many
days, using wet and dry methods. I talked to Darcy last night,
he was busy packing for the weekend, guess where he is going!
When it comes to Summer Skeena Steelhead many methods are
in use. I will describe a few that we find work well. I was
using a wet tip line and sinking wet flies. I stuck to the
General Practitioner, red and black. I also sunk a Muddler
pattern which was a very good producer. The hooks were in
sizes 4 to 1/0, depending on water clarity. I stuck with a
tapered leader, 15lb belly to a 12lb tippet. I would swing
all my flies from the 70 degree mark to the shore. Most of
the hits I received were in the 20-30 degree range. The second
method was the sub-surface technique. Coal Car and the Purple
Austrian were preferred patterns. Using a twelve foot tapered
leader with a floating line was our method used. Skating these
flies from 30 degrees to shore was the stuff. 1 to 1/0 for
hooks were our best producers. Then there is the purest method
known to fly anglers from around the world and the most popular,
the full blown dry fly method. Not always our most productive
method but by far the most rewarding. Seeing a Steelhead rise
or butt its nose into your fly before the take is something
to be desired. We tried two methods with this set up. Method
one was skating your fly across the surface, very quickly
into the 30 degree range to shore. The second method was a
short downstream cast, twitching and skating your fly into
shore. The hottest fly was the Wiffle Cricket, bar none.
Whichever fly-fishing method you choose it all comes
down to finding the right water, stalking the waters, presenting
your fly, and a little luck. Happy fishing!
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