Tip of the Day

One of the things you will learn about steelhead fly fishing is that sometimes you can put in a lot of time for one shot at a fish.  That one pull that you put in 40 hours for.  You will likely be logging a lot of time and effort until you get that next hookup. I want you to be ready...

Have you ever been on the river when one person was hammering the fish and all others were picking their nose?  The dude seemed to hook up 3 or 4 times for every touch you had.  Probably wondering what fly pattern he was using, right? Sometimes in fly fishing, bigger isn't always better.  In fact I've found that the smaller...

Do you remember the greatest fly fishing movie of all time?  Yeah, I'm sure you do - A River........, well you know the rest.  If not, watch the video clip below.  Remember that seen where Norman is false casting away - something about enticing a fish to rise. Well, that's not reality.  In realtiy or in steelhead fly fishing reality...

One nice tip to save you the potential pain of breaking your spey rod, is using electrical tape around the ferrules.  Pretty simple way to assure your sections don't separate.  Why tape? As opposed to single handed rod casting, which is a pretty straight back and forth type of motion, with spey casting, there' a lot of side to side...

Do you sharpen your hook on a regular basis?   A fish's mouth is hard and tough.  Although steelhead often hit like a freight train, they can also take super subtly.  Just as light as a tip-tap is sometimes all you feel.  Take a look at Tip #1 here for clarification. A sharp hook can mean the difference between just getting...

  The power of the take of a steelhead is, well...... Powerful.  It can really blow you away if you aren't ready.  Hell, it can really blow you away if you are ready.  I've talked about a few techniques already that will help you hook and land more fish -  see the Open Clinch Knot and Bow to the fish. The...

The open clinch knot has probably helped me hook more fish than any other knot.  Super simple to tie and strong, the open clinch knot does two big things - It gives your fly more action and keeps your fly from getting tangled up. Click on the video below to see how the knot is easily tied.  The big trick...

  There's no question, one of the best, and easiest, tips I could ever give you for hooking steelhead is called the Hang Down.  This is how it works - After you cast and swing your fly through the run, your fly will be "hanging down" below you.  Make sure to let the fly sit there for 3 or 5...