10-24 SS Reading Water 1
Reading the water when you are steelhead fishing this time of the year.
Our omniscient, meaning all-knowing, fishing correspondent, Josh Mills, tells us about the 80/20 rule of fishing. It has always amazed me that I can go to a stream, river, ocean site and fish for hours without getting lucky. More times than not, I blame my gear whether it's rod, reel, bait or whatnot. If I can't blame the equipment then I lay it on the time of day or as a last resort, just my bad luck. Hold on. Josh will explain that it is reading the water. "It goes without saying that the 80/20 rule applies within fishing and that has to do with 80% of the fish are caught in 20% of the water. Or 20% of fishermen catch 80% of the fish. That has to do with those anglers who are catching a lot of the fish are reading the water correctly. Steelhead on their way up river from the ocean are traditionally going to lie in specific places year in and year out. This depends on whether the river changes during spring runoff or things like that. What you are going to be looking for if you are new to fishing for steelhead, the first thing you want to look for is moving water. You do not want fast. You want a nice even paced speed like a walking speed. Secondly, you want a bump in the water which indicates that there is structure below. Those fish will have a break so that they can pull up next to a rock and use that as a current deflector. They are going to use as little energy as possible so long as oxygen is being carried their way by the river. They are not having to eat at that time, they may just eat a little bit. They do not physiologically have to.
