right place,wrong time

2 days ago sam and i were finally able to head to the coast to officially begin our winter steelhead season. Days before we had planned a trip but a few mishaps prevented us from making it to the stream of choice during ideal water levels.I knew the best section would be low and clear so the fishing would be tough,but being on the river is better than sitting at home any day.Basically it was a day of showing sam the ropes and showing him the section i like to fish for steelhead.I wasnt expecting any fish but to my surprise sam spotted one in a tailout,so chrome it was almost blue.The fish was in a difficult spot and we fished it for 20+ minutes throwing the kitchen sink,first trying indicator tactics,but the only thing that even slightly interested it was an orange/red marabou tube and even that wouldn't get it to bite.After that letdown we fished around and scouted newly formed spots since the last flood.I think it is obvious at this point that we were on the river at the right place,just the wrong time,knowing this helps though,i know the level it is at is the lowest it is fishable,and being that it is still quite early for this stream the main part of the run hasnt arrived.Now that we have a drought on the way ill stick to playing rugby and tying flies waiting for the rivers to reset. To check out some pictures and recipes for my favorite dead drift indicator winter steelhead flies(shown in the 3rd picture down) go to my fly tying section at the top of the page,it has been updated finally.

Here is Sam dead drifting some egg patterns through the tail end of a run

when the water is at the right level this run holds fish

my favorite winter steelhead flies for indicator nymphing. check out my fly tying page for recipes and more