2-13 SS Winter Steelhead
It is February and it’s time to go steelhead fishing. Josh Mills tells us that this is a perfect time to go steelhead fishing however you have to change your tactics just a little bit. Listen in. “If you are still interested in going out and trying to swing for steelhead throughout the winter, a couple of tips that I can throw your way is one, put on a little bit heavier sink tip because you are going to want to start getting down to the fish because they are just not going to want to move as much as they did when the water temps were higher. When water temperatures in the summer fall are in the upper 40s and 50s, fish are going to move actively and attack flies. Well now they are not going to move as much. They are still going to go and get it, but not as much. So now if you add a little bit more sink tip, to get down lower to that level where the fish are not having to move as much, when I am talking more of the sink tip, I am meaning a little bit longer and a little heavier weight so sink tips come in T8, T 10, T 14, T 16, the higher you go up in number, the higher the weight. The 2nd is control your swing as much as possible. Again in the summer and the fall you can let it rip across the current, now what you want to do is try your best to keep the slowest most moderate speed swing as possible so again, the fish do not have to expend a great amount of energy in which to go get the fly. My dad, for instance, caught one at 37° on the swing on his spey rod because he was very precise at slowing down his swing speed.
