New Column: Breakaway Adventures
New Column: Breakaway Adventures
New evlNOW Columnist Indrek Kongats 1st Topic: Talking Fly Fishing for Steelhead in WNY
Publisher’s note: ellicottvilleNOW is excited to welcome Indrek Kongats to our team of writers. Indrek, of Ellicottville, is an artist, traveler, outdoorsman, and business owner. He proudly operates River Dog Art Gallery in Houghton, NY, and his Breakaway Classic Adventures specializes in adventure travel destinations. Look for Indrek’s column to appear often in ellicottvilleNOW. Learn more about him at breakawayclassicadventures.com.
Our Great Lakes steelhead isn’t much different than its forefathers from the West Coast; they are still anadromous, entering rivers to spawn before returning to the large body of water they call home. The difference between steelhead from the West Coast and our Great Lakes steelhead strain is the difference of their saltwater versus freshwater cribs! Steelhead are still just Rainbow Trout but Jurassic in size and as tenacious as a T-Rex!
My fascination with steelhead fishing began almost half a century ago when a group of friends invited me to take a trip with them to the famous Salmon River in upstate NY. I was an experienced trout fly fisherman by choice while my friends were float or center pin aficionados and proven slayers of steelies. It was no contest; I never hooked a fish while they were catching and releasing fish in the dozens. Upon returning home skunked and embarrassed, I was determined to find a way to catch steelhead on a fly rod… and I did! Now I can, without embarrassment, satisfy my own expectations and fish with pride and confidence!
Western New York abounds in excellent steelhead rivers that dump into both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Popular Lake Erie rivers include Cattaraugus Creek, Eighteenmile Creek and Chautauqua Creek. Some minor rivers are Walnut, Silver and Little Sister. Major Lake Ontario Rivers are Eighteenmile Creek, Oak Orchard River and the Genesee River, while some minor ones are Johnson and Sandy.
George Hrycun from Alfred, New York. “Nice October male Steelhead caught on the Cattaraugus Creek”. Photo / Indrek Kongats
Steelhead runs are triggered by weather, water and lunar phases. Ideal conditions are low temperatures below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, water flows over 200 CFS and a New Moon. They favor running a river at night and in total darkness. September will see runs of smaller fish while mid-October marks the start of the main runs of larger steelhead when all three elements, temp, flow and moon phase are optimal! Steelhead will run throughout the winter and into the spring, returning after spawning in March and April. By May, the season is over for Great Lakes fish but on the West Coast there will be summer runs as well.
So why is fly fishing for steelhead harder than fly fishing for trout? The main reason is that steelhead are in the rivers to spawn. They have already bulked up in the lakes and aren’t aggressively feeding, but they will attack your fly, not out of hunger but out of reflex, sheer aggression and a natural defense of keeping their freshly deposited eggs safe from predators!
Trout will rise to hatching insects, revealing their position and indicating that they are actively feeding, while steelhead are in stealth mode, lying near the bottom of the river sight unseen! A steelhead fisherman has to get to know their river and its steelhead lies before they can catch fish on regular and consistent bases. (That’s not to say exploring new waters can’t be immediately successful; it’s just that the knowledge that he or she has already gained from their home turf will direct them to the right spots.)
Rigging up a fly rod for successful steelhead fishing is equal parts of science - physics and engineering! Most fly fishermen are used to a weight forward floating line with a 3-6wt rod. Going after steelhead requires something more robust, 7wt to 10wt rods loaded with a more aggressive weight forward tapered line coupled with a 10-15’ fast sinking tip section. Remember, steelhead are on the bottom so your fly has to pass in front of its nose to get a reaction. When the water temps are in the low 40s during late fall and winter months, the fish are not going to move more than a few feet to chase a fly. On occasions when we get warmer days when the temps are in the mid to high fifties and water clarity is at its max, steelhead will attack at all depth levels and from greater distances. Swinging a fly will work great under these ideal conditions but the majority of the time the weather is cold and the water is off colored so weighted flies fished deep and slow will work better.
My rig of choice is a fast action 10’ 8wt rod with a WF8F/S6 (sink rate of 6 inches/second) fly line and a very short 0x 3’ Fluorocarbon tippet tied directly to the fly line. My fly of choice is a fly that I designed and tie myself… the Steelhead G.O.A.T! Sports fans know what the G.O.A.T abbreviation refers to… ‘The Greatest of All Time’!
Morten Fadum from Colorado Springs, Colorado. “March female Steelhead caught and released on Cattaraugus Creek. Photo / Indrek Kongats
My recipe for this fly is simple. It is essentially a bead head nymph. Bead headed flies date back more than a hundred years and are the most successful fly design ever developed for trout, thus the term, the ‘G.O.A.T’. My version somewhat represents an egg pattern that is very popular bait with virtually any form of steelhead angling including fly fishing. What makes the Steelhead G.O.A.T special is in my choice of materials: fluorescent orange Angora goat wool dubbing! Angora goat acts like velcro and will catch on the teeth of a fish. Fish will inhale a fly in a split second and expel it even faster once it realizes that it’s not real food. The Angora goat fibers will more than likely get caught, even if momentarily, on the fishes teeth, just enough to tell you to set the hook! I add an orange bead head and use a strong and sharp size 10 or 12, style 1150 Daiichi hook to complete the project. Sometimes in fast and deep water I will weigh the fly with underwraps of #20 lead wire or use a tungsten head versus a steel bead.
These flies have to be dead drifted by casting them up and across to get them to bounce across the bottom and this is where the 10’ rod really helps in mending and keeping your excess line off the water. Look for a hesitation in your floating section of the line to know when to set the hook.
Hope that you’ll find this information useful and good luck! May the fish gods look upon you with favor and hook you up!