Just One More Theory

Steelhead drive some people crazy. Searching for that perfect moment in time when it all comes together and the personal reward has reached its apex, sometimes it’s few and far between. For myself, and many others, seeking out steelhead with a swung fly is the pinnacle of fishing. Practicing casts with an imaginary rod and "feeling" the take mentally consumes a large part of my day. I probably look like a raver trying to figure out a new dance move while I picture that cast in my head and my arms move without even knowing it.

I love theories. Especially fishing theories and, coming from a background in physics, this may come natural to me. Fishermen literally drive themselves nuts with theories, and steelhead fishermen may be some of the worst. Theories on such ineffable topics as why a winter steelhead in a sun baked run ate the string leech swung by the 11th fisherman through the run-  And it was theories like this one that drove Harry Lemire nuts. Theories on why some flies will work, some colors will work, and why you need certain leaders...

And you DO need certain leaders don't you... which ONES though, now that's the tricky part. Pick yours from our selection here.

What you begin to find is that steelhead fisherman start to compile two lists. A list of what works, and a list of what doesn’t work. This eventually leads to some of the most opinionated fishermen anywhere. "That fly won’t work"-."Why the hell would you fish anything but 20# chameleon Maxima-" Pretty soon the steelhead fisherman has an old worn out pair of socks and an especially worn out pair of underwear. After working in fly fishing retail for 18 years, I forget more theories than I can remember.

Personally, I don’t write much about steelhead- or write much about anything, for that matter. After thinking about a few small things that some fisherman do, and personally witnessing some steelhead behavior, I finally have a theory.

Theory #1 created 7/20/2016 at 10:41 a.m.: Why do 10% of the steelhead fishermen catch 90% of the fish?
Answer- Focus and Anticipation.

Legendary steelheaders always seem to swing up a few after nine that other guys didn’t even have a sniff at. Why is this? I don’t know: at all.

What I do know is that fishing is a life-long learning process. As soon as you think you know a lot- someone comes along and throws a wrench in all your theories, proving decades of work to be useless. For me, this is why I love fishing. It is the un-known, the anticipation of that perfect moment, with the perfect friend, in that perfect place.

Part 1: Focus

So now that this "story" is officially as scatter brained as my head, I’ll get to the point.  From my observations, steelhead fishermen who are meticulous and focused, are the fishermen that rank highest on the success list- and I remember fishing a particular day with Harry, Sand, Kate, and Justin. With all that was going on around him, Harry never looked up from the run or his line, until he was ready to step out of the water. Meticulously covering every inch of water, step by step, cast by cast, he put the fly where he felt a fish should live. While observing this, I thought to myself, what self-respecting steelhead wouldn’t eat his fly? An eagle could have landed on his head and fed him fresh sashimi and he still wouldn’t have looked up.

Part 2: Anticipation

Most people, who have fished with me, often get annoyed, when I blurt out every "take" I get. When people ask others how their day was, they often say something like- "I hooked one- and Calvin had 20 some eats- blah, blah, blah."

The reason I have always been so excited by any hesitation on my fly, comes from a particularly cold and sunny day on the Sustut River in BC.

I was fishing with legendary fishing guide Paul (don’t know his last name).  We walked up to the bluff above the run after we set up a man named Jay in the run. Upon turning around and looking down, I could count 18-20 pound fish holding in about 6-10 feet of water. With each cast and each step down, we could see Jay’s fly getting closer and closer to the fish. After about eight casts, a hen broke loose and rushed his fly fast She did this repeatedly, about 12 times, opened and closed her mouth around the fly without turning. She was literally eating the fly right in front of us. I yelled to Jay- "Jay she’s eating it-" He said, "Huh?"

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Then the hen returned to her holding spot next to a rock and her rather large double red striped boyfriend. I looked at Paul with a head shake and he just sat there and laughed. We told Jay to make that same cast, he did, and the fish ate 5-6 more times before she lazily went back to her lover. Cast numèro three would surely be the one I thought. So, Jay "bombs" another one out there.

This time the hen is contemplating whether to even bother moving to the black and blue fly invading her space. Finally, she lazily comes up one more time, eats the fly, and turns. Jay yells, "Fish on!" I throw my hands up like, "no kidding, Sherlock!"-. Then he lost it.

Conclusion
I have done a lot of thinking about these two moments, while wading in thigh deep water, searching for signs of fish. From that moment forward, pretty much anytime my fly stops- it’s a 20 pound hen trying to eat it.

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