STEELHEAD 101 • Bill Herzog

Forget everything you have learned about steelhead behavior and embrace the weirdness.

Old School shot of the author with a summer steelhead.

 

So far, fellow steelheaders, this past early summer (2024) was more than we could have hoped for, as far as numbers of returning summer run steelhead. Especially hatchery fish. More than normal rainfall during May, June and even early July kept rivers looking more like February than June. All that water gave free passage to fresh summer runs, and boy howdy did they take advantage. Match that with loads of snowpack coming down the hills and, man, we are basically fishing under winter conditions. But, this is still (kind of) summer, and a few factors came into play that many of us have rarely seen, if ever. 

   

  

  

  

We know how to find steelhead under higher water conditions…we look for the slower edges, the rising tailouts, the flat spots in the runs with some kind of structure. Conditions this June/July mirrored what we usually find during winter, but a strange thing happened on the way to filling the KatchKooler with summer chrome. All the usual, standard issue holding spots like slower edges, deep tailouts and slower deeps were mostly empty. Where were the steelhead? Oh, they were there, but in places all of us would commonly classify as “meh” and probably ignore while heading down to the next greasy run. 

Remember that part about it being almost summer? Yes, it was a bit cooler than normal, but still with daytime highs in the high 50s and low 60s, rivers that do not receive lots of snowmelt (mostly runoff and/or come from reservoirs) may have been high like winter flows but they were warmer! Instead of water between 38 and 48 degrees like we would find December through March, flows started at 48 and some days pushed 58. Due to the warmer water, yes, they held in the spots the books and articles taught us to look for success, but never warned us about what we can only call “crossover conditions”, where we can truly expect to find summer steelhead consistently. And it is not where you would think.

  

Spoons are effective and a lot of fun to fish with.

 

This past June I spent a lot of time chasing steelhead. I was gonna do it anyway, no matter the water conditions or numbers of fish returning because, hey, I’m a steelheader. The rains were incessant, keeping some rivers nearly or completely blown out, while others known for start-ing right out of the gates with drag-your-driftboat-through-the-trickling-riffles low water were at ideal winter flows. This warmer water pushed (or they went there on purpose, they ain’t talkin’, I don’t know) a lot of steelhead into wide, 100-yard-long flats where bottom is plainly visible bank to bank. They were laying where tailouts cease and the water speeds up to enter a rapid. In the middle of fast, tilted narrow sections between runs. At the very top of the deepest tanks where only Chinook can be found, right where the bottom drops sharply to 15 foot plus. If it was deep enough to cover the fish, they were there. My Uncle used to say, “they aren’t very tall”. It was as weird as driving a Rolls Royce wearing only newspaper underwear. 

     

    

  

  

Mind you, the rivers I fished under there higher, warmer flows were still featuring plenty of visibility, six feet plus. I like to believe finding steelhead under these conditions had a lot to do with how fresh the fish were, and the water height. Moving steelhead can be negotiated nearly anywhere the river is deep enough to cover their bodies. The answer to finding steelhead, no matter the species of fish or time of year, when conditions run slightly high and rivers are “warmer” than normal, is to fish everything! We know what this means, you better bring all your clubs in the bag to the river. 

One technique, or even two won’t cover the water properly. You have wide, semi-shallow flats, deep tanks, rock ledges, pockets behind trees and boulders, classic depth runs, sliding tailouts and fast deep water all “holding” steelhead. After that initial float in June, we carried six or seven rods all rigged with different terminals. For the long, even current deeps with large structure, we pulled plugs. In the wide, non-descript flats and fast, tilted ripping chop we swung spoons and spinners in the somewhat shallows. Where the pools dropped swiftly from riffle to can’t-see-bottom and a presentation had to get down right now, there was a rod rigged with good ol’ drift gear—a 6-inch piece of 1/8th stick lead, a few feet of 8-pound Maxima, a #1 hook, #12 rocket red Corkie and a chunk of prawn. 

   

You can fish spoons with both spinning and casting outfits.

  

Our lure outfits, well, we beefed them up a bit from the standard issue rod/reel/lines. Because the steelhead have been so extraordinarily screaming hot and aggres-sive, combined with increased flows, an 8 to 17#, nine and a half to ten foot either spinning or casting. Three Shimano Sedona C3000s filled with 20-pound V2 Moon-shine Power Pro with ten feet of 15-pound Maxima Ultragreen for a “bumper”. Yes, the Sedona is an entry level spinning reel price wise, but the drag systems are so smooth I don’t need more. Those go on three light, longer spin rods, one with a 2/5th oz, one with a 2/3rds and one with a #5 third-ounce spinner. For spoons from 2/5ths to 2/3rds, any bright finish will take fresh summer runs, regardless of the condition. Gold, bright nickel and copper have been my go-tos in clear water for summer runs since Nixon was President. Two fifths for long, wide shallow flats and 2/3rds for longer casts and deeper runs. I of course run BC Steels, primarily bright nickel or in 24k gold finish that really pops under cloudy/low light. A lighter gold (polished brass) finish is also quite good for sunny conditions. The #5 all silver or silver blade/blue body Vibrax is standard issue for the shallow, wide flats.

I will say that on the rare sunny day our success in the flats and steep water was less, but still had enough encounters to keep hammering away at those types of water to keep them honest. Nothing truly blows your mind when a mercury bright sea fresh steelhead attacks your lure in a little over two feet of water, not a bit of structure anywhere save for some softball sized rocks under a blazing sun. Finding steelhead with consistency in these types of water truly goes against all we’ve spent so much time on the rivers and pages of how-to literature. But there they were, are—never will those “maybe water” places ever be passed up again whenever this type of condition decides to come around again. 

      

      

  

  

Going to different techniques gives the anglers who may be several boats (or bankies) behind those who have been fishing before them. For example, shortly after opening day we followed two drift boats down my favorite summer river, and yes it was fairly high from recent rains. These guys were very good anglers, hitting every run and deep green with bobbers and whatever they had below them. They caught fish. But they didn’t fish any of the wide, non-descript long flats or fast tilted stuff, passing that water up. We followed with, surprise, 2/5th oz. copper BC Steels and #5 all brass Vibrax spinners, sweeping those flats and getting many grabs, most of them visuals. They also passed up the “salmon water”, the slower, steady deeper than 6 feet. Those spots were plugged with #30 Hot Shots and 3.0 Mag Lips. Yes, I had a couple S Glass plug rods with old school Shimano 201s. By using different techniques in the higher, warmer flows, we targeted fish other couldn’t. 

But if no one else is around, it’s still a great idea to bring as many techniques as possible to the river. When fish are literally everywhere, there is always one technique that will out produce another depending on the type of water you target. 

     

Image of the author with 1980s summer steelhead..

 

On another subject…this summer, so far, has seen the returning steelhead numbers in the Columbia on par with the ten-year average going through Bonneville. Many rivers in Washington and Oregon have seen the finest numbers in years. What a great turnaround, brought to you by a fish that, unbelievably, are trying to stop or reduce plantings. This year, I cannot remember hotter steelhead. The comments on the rivers from other steelheaders, they very excitedly tell the same tales of countless jumps, slack lines, almost never tiring. Those would be Skamania strain summer steelhead. They been around seemingly forever. This article is about how to find those hatchery summer steelhead. 

    

      

  

  

We need to keep those powerful, great biting large fish in all our summer/fall rivers. Nearly our entire ability to fish for summer steelhead at all is because of the Skamania steelhead. Without these fish being planted, most rivers would be closed to protect wild summer runs. Being able to harvest such an excellent quality fish…bonus. Many put only the spring Chinook as better on the grill. I agree. 

Let’s do what we can to keep the reason I buy a fishing license going strong for years. My first exposure to summer steelheading was a Skamania strain, and the last one I caught was the same fish. Until next time, play really loud music, tell everyone you know you love them and get on the water!

 

 

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