Selecting Flies for Pacific Steelhead Popular flies for Steelhead vary greatly whether you are fishing in the Pacific region or in the Great Lakes. The fisheries have developed separately and so have the preferences anglers have for flies cast to their intended prey. We will primarily concentrate on Steelhead flies on the West Coast in this article and concentrate on flies of the Great Lakes region in a future article. There are some common patterns used in both regions as well, and we will point those out as we go along. Fly fishing for Steelhead can be traced back to the Eel River, in Northern California, during the late 1800's.. And many of the first Steelhead pattern's roots can be traced back to the same era as well. There were a few problems during this time, and none more crucial than lack of material with which to tie flies. Standard featherwing trout patterns became the foundation of many steelhead patterns. Other patterns were adopted from English trout patterns and Atlantic Salmon patterns. Many of today's most popular Steelhead patterns can be traced back to these beginnings. Green Butt Skunk, Skykomish Sunrise, Purple Peril, to name just a few all hail back to these early beginnings. [Read More]

Fly Line Care Items Dirty fly line is a recipe for bad casting. So clean your line to provide for better casts and longer fly line life. Fly lines need to be cleaned for best casting. Additionally, by cleaning your fly lines, you'll greatly extend the life of the line - saving you money as well as time and hassle in changing out the line. And if you fly fishing for larger fish that have a tendency to pull out large amounts of fly line, don't forget about chaning out your fly line backing occasionally, too. [Read More]

Three Main Trout Senses Obviously, you can't get rid of all foreign smells you may introduce into a trout stream. However, there are a number of easy things a fisherman can do to reduce the likelihood of a trout getting wise due to smell. When using fly line cleaners and fly floatants, use the newer ones that are designed to “mask” the chemical smell. The cleaners and floatants are usually the same price as other “non-masking” chemicals, but can go a long way towards reducing the likelihood of a trout becoming alert to the fisherman due to smell. Also, before hitting a challenging trout stream, it never hurts to leave the cologne and other fancy deodorants back in the hotel room. On a challenging trout stream, an angler needs every edge they can get, and avoiding strange smells to finicky trout is a good way to do this. [Read More]

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Edwin Evers used a combination of three different baits to catch his four limits at the Table Rock Bassmaster Elite Series.
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Fishing a Nymph…
I got to the river at around 0930 on Saturday which with hindsight a little optimistic as it was still quite chilly, there was no fly life and no fish moving. In fact I spent most of my time just sitting watching the water waiting for something to happen. When I got bored of.