Nothing wrong with a spinning reel for steelhead. I use a centerpin for winters and will switch to a 11' rod and spinning reel in the spring and summer .Got myself a spey rod last year and was just taking my gear rod as a backup. Took my daughter steelheading last year in march and she landed 4 and lost 3 with a spinning outfit and float and i caught only 1 on the flyrod, i still get bugged about it.
Steelhead fishing with a casting rod?
- Thread starter cooper99
- Start date
-steelhead-
Member
youngsteelheader
Member
i took my girlfriend steelheading with me last march on the stamp. she wore her pink outfit and yellow gumboots while listening to me tell her she probably wasnt going to catch anything so just enjoy it for a day on the river.... she got two beauties on my spinning rod and i got to be her skunked cameraman.... how does that work? kick in the balls to the manhood
Lipripper
Active Member
Mrs Lippy did that to me her first time out on the Cow..... I just paddled her azz and landed fish for her that day...
Roe Bags
Active Member
It must be that time of year again!! Agree with Nog hands down on this one. There isn't anything more effective than a guy that knows what he's doing with a baitcaster on the flow.You cant argue the amount of casts one can make per day vrs a centre pin. Its about covering lots of water at the end of the day. Is it as much fun or look as cool as pinning? Not at all, but it sure is effective. Add some bait and a jet and now your off to the races....
Dennis.t
Active Member
Agreed.Im out there to get as many casts as i can and hook as many fish as i can in the time i have on the flow chasing steel.Dont really care if i look cool or not.
I agree that centerpinning is definitely not a beginner's reel.. as it took me around 2 seasons to perfect my wallis cast. I'll always introduce new fisherment to a river using a spincast (If the person doesn't know how to fly fish). But you can't honestly say that one can drift a line down a stretch of water as easily with a centerpin then a spincast reel? One of the biggiest reason why I made the switch from spincast to centerpin was for the reason of drifting the line at the rate of the flow, plus maintaining a tight line is nearly impossible. Spincast reels were simply not designed for this type of fishing. But as I mention earlier.. if you primarily interested in using lures.. then drifting is not a concern.
Baitcasters are a bit different... The mechanics on these reels allow one to spit out line a lot easier than a spincast, but also stop the line a lot quicker to set the hook. But when it comes to drifting.. the ball bearings aren't as good compared to the ones in a centerpin.. so if your fishing ultra light.. which I normally do. the spool doesn't allow me to drift as naturally compared to a centerpin.
Also the hardware doesn't make the fisherman.. the person does. But I do find the humbliest of fishermen are the ones that don't have the top end gear. But I've also fished with ppl who fish with 'nothing but the best' and are some of the humbliest and respectful fisherment I've ever met. But I've bumped into a lot of snobby fishermen using all sorts of gear. Most recently a fly fishermen. I've been introducing fishing to a few buddies of mine (Whome they all chose to start off with fly fishing after realizing the limitations of spincast after two outtings), and this douche bag sees the hole we are fishing and purposely walks right through it and spooks all fish. Now this guy was walking around all high and mighty because he was sporting sage and sims head to toe. I've also been given attitude by a spincaster poaching salmon.. He had a problem that I was taking too long to fight a fish (Apparently 3 minutes is too long cause I wasn't using 40lbs test and snagging them). So I called the CO and they fined him $1500. My point is.. the hardware you use doesn't establish the type of fishermen you'll be or become.. If the respect and attitude towards the sport that truely defines the fishermen. But not that it matters... but I only practice Catch and release. I truely believe that my kids and their kids have the right to enjoy the same past times I enjoy.
Now I don't have a problem with any type of gear.. I have a spincast, baitcast, centerpin, fly, and even the 13ft and 17ft japanese reeless fishing poles.. they all have their benefits. They all have their downsides... but I find they all have their place where they fish the best. Personal preference.. if I was fishing a fast flowing river and I need to cover or drift a large stretch. I found a centerpin or fly rod will hook me into the most amount of fish if I was using a fly or bait. But if I am hitting a lake.. no doubt I'll hit up a spincast or baitcast. But give me a small pond... the reeless Jap fishing poles is a definite must.
I'm sure everyone has their preferences.. and I am sure they spend years adapting and perfecting their skills with their weapon of choice. My 4 year old son just got into fishing this year.. and he's been reeling them in with his lil buzzlight year fishing rod.. But I know a year or two.. I'll bump him up to a spincast and so on...
I guess my initial point wasn't broadcasted correctly... I just didn't appreciate the comment made about ppl that use centerpins.
-steelhead-
Member
kimbyote - Well said! a fisherman is definitely an angler that respects the fish and it's habitat regardless of the gear they choose to use and the cost of the gear doesnt = the success and angler will have. However, I'm really drooling over the sage z-axis switch... $800+ Ouch.
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
Hey, kimbyote--your posts are good ones. Keep em' coming. And for what it's worth, I wasn't dissing Pinners in general in my earlier post --just commenting on a couple of guys I once saw on a river who didn't know proper technique in a C&R fishery. They could just as easily have had fly rods in their hands for the same net result
Pinning is a highly refined technique, no doubt. And I respect the guys that have paid their river dues and know how to use them.
If you think a centerpin reel is more effective then a baitcaster, all the power to you. My experience is different--a newer high-end baitcaster and a long rod for me is nuclear weaponry. When I put down the fly rod and pick up my Loomis and my fancy new Shimano, sometimes it's like I have a four foot section of gill net tied on at the other end. After a bout of whacking and stacking, blood up to my elbows, drool hanging out of the left side of my mouth, it's moments like those that make me think there should be laws against using that type of gear. Maybe even some type of Indonesian-style punishment for guys like me that use baitcasers and flag poles--you know, like chopping off an arm so the fly boys have a shred of a chance?
But as you pointed out, at the end of the day it's all about what's between the fisherman's ears, not what he's holding in his hands--respect for the resource, helping out his fellow anglers, minimizing one's impact on the river. That's what it's all about
Good fishing to you!
Pinning is a highly refined technique, no doubt. And I respect the guys that have paid their river dues and know how to use them.
If you think a centerpin reel is more effective then a baitcaster, all the power to you. My experience is different--a newer high-end baitcaster and a long rod for me is nuclear weaponry. When I put down the fly rod and pick up my Loomis and my fancy new Shimano, sometimes it's like I have a four foot section of gill net tied on at the other end. After a bout of whacking and stacking, blood up to my elbows, drool hanging out of the left side of my mouth, it's moments like those that make me think there should be laws against using that type of gear. Maybe even some type of Indonesian-style punishment for guys like me that use baitcasers and flag poles--you know, like chopping off an arm so the fly boys have a shred of a chance?
But as you pointed out, at the end of the day it's all about what's between the fisherman's ears, not what he's holding in his hands--respect for the resource, helping out his fellow anglers, minimizing one's impact on the river. That's what it's all about
Good fishing to you!
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swashplate
Member
Everything mentioned here regarding tackle refers to a given method's effectiveness and efficiency, not what gives the most enjoyment.
And am I the only one who has an issue with statements like this?
And am I the only one who has an issue with statements like this?
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lorneparker1
Banned
im not sure if you are the only one. But im usually out there to do the same! lol
IronNoggin
Well-Known Member
Fishing is many different things to many different people. Some simply enjoy the day in those great surroundings. Some insist on using gear types they understand will not produce as well as some of the others. And some also like to Catch FISH!
Used to be in the "as many as possible" camp myself for a great many years, and still to some extent am that way. Took up the pin to give the activity a little more "challenge", and that it has. But all said and done, I still VERY much want to see some Chrome on the end of that line!!
Cheers,
Nog
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
Hey swashplate, I think it can be said that the numbers game is all part of the evolution of a fisherman. Some people "have issues" with guys who play the numbers game because maybe they’ve been there and done that and now expect everyone else to approach the river experience the same way they do...
But strip down the fishing experience to its bare essentials, freeze-dry it, and what’s left? It’s all about catching fish. Some guys are happy with one. Some guys need lots....
Like Nog said, fishing is many different things to many different people. But you can't fault someone for playing the numbers game if that's what floats their boat and they follow the regulations and show good river etiquette when chasing their numbers
I noticed you deleted an earlier post in which you commented that river etiquette (maybe you meant the numbers game?) is why people eventually pick up double handed ( fly) rods?
Maybe, but here's my take on fly fishing. I've been fishing the Skeena and her tribs every year since the mid-70's. Never missed a year. I grew up flyfishing as a kid so that's what I did up from the first day I set foot in Region 6. Never even thought of bringing a gear rod with me.
I'd go up there in July and stay until the snow fell. In those days I was spoiled---no wife, no kids, no job, but I had double handed rods, good reels, good lines and had a pretty good idea how to use my gear.
And you know what else I had? You know what my secret weapon really was? No competition. None. Double digit days were the rule, not the exception. I was surrounded by really stupid (uneducated) fish that nobody else was chasing but me. The result was lots of freaking numbers. I floated the Zymoetz with a school teacher one day and lost count after 15. Never saw a soul. It wasn't even noon yet. I finally told the guy I had to stop; it was getting obscene. He agreed and we stopped.
The Bulkley was a ghost town. Entire stretches without people. Stupid with fish. It got boring. So here’s the thing---gear doesn't necessarily define the fisherman's behavior or how he approaches his sport. It's all about his own evolution as a fishermen and what it takes to make him happy. Once you've done the numbers game, you back off and start looking for something a bit more challenging. That's why God created floating fly lines, unleaded flies and centerpin reels....
One of the most memorable fish I ever got on a fly rod? I was fly fishing for winter steelhead with a 14 foot cane rod. Water was on the high side, not much happening. I stepped out of the water to reassess the situation. I grubbed around in my vest and what did I find? A six inch bubble gum worm I'd found wrapped around a rock on the Kispiox earlier that fall. I figured I had all the makings of a good experiment and the day couldn't get much worse.
I threaded the worm on a hook, flipped it out into a fast piece of water I'd just pounded with a fly moments before and before I could say WTF I had a chrome slab of a doe smoking line off my reel. She’d come up through five feet of water to grab the worm right off the top.
I remember that day like it happened yesterday. Was I a more evolved fishermen because I was using a cane double handed rod?
All I know is that busting a move with that worm got the skunk off my breath and it felt real good.
But strip down the fishing experience to its bare essentials, freeze-dry it, and what’s left? It’s all about catching fish. Some guys are happy with one. Some guys need lots....
Like Nog said, fishing is many different things to many different people. But you can't fault someone for playing the numbers game if that's what floats their boat and they follow the regulations and show good river etiquette when chasing their numbers
I noticed you deleted an earlier post in which you commented that river etiquette (maybe you meant the numbers game?) is why people eventually pick up double handed ( fly) rods?
Maybe, but here's my take on fly fishing. I've been fishing the Skeena and her tribs every year since the mid-70's. Never missed a year. I grew up flyfishing as a kid so that's what I did up from the first day I set foot in Region 6. Never even thought of bringing a gear rod with me.
I'd go up there in July and stay until the snow fell. In those days I was spoiled---no wife, no kids, no job, but I had double handed rods, good reels, good lines and had a pretty good idea how to use my gear.
And you know what else I had? You know what my secret weapon really was? No competition. None. Double digit days were the rule, not the exception. I was surrounded by really stupid (uneducated) fish that nobody else was chasing but me. The result was lots of freaking numbers. I floated the Zymoetz with a school teacher one day and lost count after 15. Never saw a soul. It wasn't even noon yet. I finally told the guy I had to stop; it was getting obscene. He agreed and we stopped.
The Bulkley was a ghost town. Entire stretches without people. Stupid with fish. It got boring. So here’s the thing---gear doesn't necessarily define the fisherman's behavior or how he approaches his sport. It's all about his own evolution as a fishermen and what it takes to make him happy. Once you've done the numbers game, you back off and start looking for something a bit more challenging. That's why God created floating fly lines, unleaded flies and centerpin reels....
One of the most memorable fish I ever got on a fly rod? I was fly fishing for winter steelhead with a 14 foot cane rod. Water was on the high side, not much happening. I stepped out of the water to reassess the situation. I grubbed around in my vest and what did I find? A six inch bubble gum worm I'd found wrapped around a rock on the Kispiox earlier that fall. I figured I had all the makings of a good experiment and the day couldn't get much worse.
I threaded the worm on a hook, flipped it out into a fast piece of water I'd just pounded with a fly moments before and before I could say WTF I had a chrome slab of a doe smoking line off my reel. She’d come up through five feet of water to grab the worm right off the top.
I remember that day like it happened yesterday. Was I a more evolved fishermen because I was using a cane double handed rod?
All I know is that busting a move with that worm got the skunk off my breath and it felt real good.
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swashplate
Member
An important part of being an ethical steelheader is limiting your impact. Going out and trying to sting as many fish because there is no rule on the books saying not to doesn't make it right.
lorneparker1
Banned
Please dont do this to this great thread.
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
Point well taken, swashplate (cool handle by the way)
So, you bring up impact---I pick up garbage when I'm on the river--that's how I limit my impact. But hey, if limiting impact for some guys is not "stinging" fish then maybe they should take up golfing? Not trying to get cute here ---I fully understand and appreciate what you're saying but how many is too many to sting?
People who fished the Skeena tribs in the 70's and 80's could give any fish they caught a wood shampoo. I think it was one a day, 10 per year. Everyone was out there trying to beat Carl Mauser's record (34 lbs, +/-, I think it was) On some of the more popular rivers, people would actually hi-grade their fish (pound the water with C&R until they got a 25 lb + fish then beat it over the head)
So I thought it was real cool to run around "stinging" as many fish as I could. What fueled this delusional rampage? I thought that if I could sore-mouth every fish in a pool with a 3/0 fly, they wouldn't get picked off by the gear guys who in those days, seemed to be the ones with the search-and-destroy mentality. Steel was meat on the table to those guys. Steel was a trophy to them. Me? I was the idiot who ran around with a long rod "playing with my food". But somehow I thought that stinging as many fish as possible in the long run would limit someone else's impact. Yep, delusional. Young men and their folly--the oldest story in the book of life....
And here’s another story about "limiting impact" ---I used to fish a big Fraser tributary in the 80's and 90's. It’s a tough river to fish because the rocks are greasy as snot and the river redefines what "big water" is all about. But the fish are particularly stupid (aggressive) and once I figured them out, I saw you could rack up numbers with a fly rod, especially in late winter when everyone else went home and did other things. In those days, the river was open until 31 March.
It was freaking fish in a barrel!!
So to slow myself down (limit my impact) in October and November I decided to only fish using a technique that I figured was just about the most challenging difficult way to chase steel: fly fishing for them with an up-stream dry fly. That's a tough one-- you start at the tail of a hole and work your way up towards the top of the pool, casting upstream, stripping in your line as your small deer hair bug rides the current back down to your rod tip. You don't get the benefit of a skater which attracts their attention. You don't get the benefit of a tight line and an instant hook-up when they boil at your fly like they do with a downstream cast. That's way too easy! A lot of times you don’t get nothing except skunked because it's a tough way to catch a fish under the best of conditions. I learned that technique back east for brown trout. It was all about a drag-free drift or go home, sukka.
So I'm on a run they call the Hotel doing my thing with an LL Beans 8 weight bamboo rod and a No 8 dry fly. Light gear, big fish---nowadays I know better then that but back then, I thought I'd really put on the handicaps,, make things more interesting, more challenging. You know, limit my impact?
So right off a 12 lb doe comes up from her hidey-hole and sucks my dry fly off the top, making a swirl the size of a loony. That's the way steel take an up-stream dry fly--- no surface commotion, no nothing, just a gentle sucking sound. She did this right off the end of my rod tip so I basically lifted the rod up in her face and in so doing, drove that tiny iron home
Man, wasn't I the hot shot, hooking prize steel on a dry fly, (a freaking upstream dry fly!!) on a Fraser trib that skunks way more people then any other river I know!!
A couple of centerpin guys come running up--they'd seen the whole thing go down because I was coming up from the bottom end of the hole. They were whooping and hollering--you didn't see many fly-guys in those days so they thought it was a pretty cool thing to see.
Me? Instead of getting the old puffed up chest thing going on I saw right off that the doe had sucked my fly in so deep that it tore a gill arch and before I could even clip the fly off she bled to death in the shallows. I’ve never seen a fish puke so much blood and die that fast with such a small piece of nothing in her mouth.
You could kill steel on that river in those days--- it was legal. I had a punch card and did what I was supposed to do. But that didn't make me feel any better, especially seeing she was a doe with 10,000 eggs hiding in her belly. I felt like crap. I felt like a hooligan.
But here's the thing--- I learned something about "impact". You think you can manage impact, but you only have so much control. Just stepping into a river is impact. Just stepping into a river is a political act. Impact comes with the territory of fishing.
You either accept that, play the game in a sportsman-like way based on the rules in the rule book, and don't begrudge other people who might do things a bit differently then the way you do them, or you go home and do something else.
So, you bring up impact---I pick up garbage when I'm on the river--that's how I limit my impact. But hey, if limiting impact for some guys is not "stinging" fish then maybe they should take up golfing? Not trying to get cute here ---I fully understand and appreciate what you're saying but how many is too many to sting?
People who fished the Skeena tribs in the 70's and 80's could give any fish they caught a wood shampoo. I think it was one a day, 10 per year. Everyone was out there trying to beat Carl Mauser's record (34 lbs, +/-, I think it was) On some of the more popular rivers, people would actually hi-grade their fish (pound the water with C&R until they got a 25 lb + fish then beat it over the head)
So I thought it was real cool to run around "stinging" as many fish as I could. What fueled this delusional rampage? I thought that if I could sore-mouth every fish in a pool with a 3/0 fly, they wouldn't get picked off by the gear guys who in those days, seemed to be the ones with the search-and-destroy mentality. Steel was meat on the table to those guys. Steel was a trophy to them. Me? I was the idiot who ran around with a long rod "playing with my food". But somehow I thought that stinging as many fish as possible in the long run would limit someone else's impact. Yep, delusional. Young men and their folly--the oldest story in the book of life....
And here’s another story about "limiting impact" ---I used to fish a big Fraser tributary in the 80's and 90's. It’s a tough river to fish because the rocks are greasy as snot and the river redefines what "big water" is all about. But the fish are particularly stupid (aggressive) and once I figured them out, I saw you could rack up numbers with a fly rod, especially in late winter when everyone else went home and did other things. In those days, the river was open until 31 March.
It was freaking fish in a barrel!!
So to slow myself down (limit my impact) in October and November I decided to only fish using a technique that I figured was just about the most challenging difficult way to chase steel: fly fishing for them with an up-stream dry fly. That's a tough one-- you start at the tail of a hole and work your way up towards the top of the pool, casting upstream, stripping in your line as your small deer hair bug rides the current back down to your rod tip. You don't get the benefit of a skater which attracts their attention. You don't get the benefit of a tight line and an instant hook-up when they boil at your fly like they do with a downstream cast. That's way too easy! A lot of times you don’t get nothing except skunked because it's a tough way to catch a fish under the best of conditions. I learned that technique back east for brown trout. It was all about a drag-free drift or go home, sukka.
So I'm on a run they call the Hotel doing my thing with an LL Beans 8 weight bamboo rod and a No 8 dry fly. Light gear, big fish---nowadays I know better then that but back then, I thought I'd really put on the handicaps,, make things more interesting, more challenging. You know, limit my impact?
So right off a 12 lb doe comes up from her hidey-hole and sucks my dry fly off the top, making a swirl the size of a loony. That's the way steel take an up-stream dry fly--- no surface commotion, no nothing, just a gentle sucking sound. She did this right off the end of my rod tip so I basically lifted the rod up in her face and in so doing, drove that tiny iron home
Man, wasn't I the hot shot, hooking prize steel on a dry fly, (a freaking upstream dry fly!!) on a Fraser trib that skunks way more people then any other river I know!!
A couple of centerpin guys come running up--they'd seen the whole thing go down because I was coming up from the bottom end of the hole. They were whooping and hollering--you didn't see many fly-guys in those days so they thought it was a pretty cool thing to see.
Me? Instead of getting the old puffed up chest thing going on I saw right off that the doe had sucked my fly in so deep that it tore a gill arch and before I could even clip the fly off she bled to death in the shallows. I’ve never seen a fish puke so much blood and die that fast with such a small piece of nothing in her mouth.
You could kill steel on that river in those days--- it was legal. I had a punch card and did what I was supposed to do. But that didn't make me feel any better, especially seeing she was a doe with 10,000 eggs hiding in her belly. I felt like crap. I felt like a hooligan.
But here's the thing--- I learned something about "impact". You think you can manage impact, but you only have so much control. Just stepping into a river is impact. Just stepping into a river is a political act. Impact comes with the territory of fishing.
You either accept that, play the game in a sportsman-like way based on the rules in the rule book, and don't begrudge other people who might do things a bit differently then the way you do them, or you go home and do something else.
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lorneparker1
Banned
Sharphooks is the fresh water Charlie!
Great posts sir! Keep it up.
Lorne
Great posts sir! Keep it up.
Lorne
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
Hey Lorne, thanks for that. Weird direction this thread went from where it first started---only in the steelhead world...lots of passion out there. It's a good thang!
No Worries, it wasn't your comment about centerpinners that got me going. We are all passionate Fishermen and with all the different methods available to us.. It would be impossible for all to agree the 'best way' to catch fish.
Dennis.t
Active Member
If you want to lessen your impact then quit fishing and take up another hobby.Lawn bowling perhaps.I kill very few steelhead in a season.Every fish that comes to hand is givin the utmost respect and carefully released.I fish hard and cover alot of water in a day.I dont fencepost the meat holes and harrass stacked up fish.I take a few casts in a run and then move on as i keep my feet moving all the time.No one cares, respects and is as passionate about the sport then i am.I hook as many fish as i can because i cannot get enough of the adrenaline rush from each and every fish,even after 28 yrs hunting the steel.Chose not to fish the T this yr despite it being open because i feel its not ethical to pin cushion the last few remaining fish of a once magestical run.I hope this post helps you better understand where im coming from.Cheers.
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