Steelhead on the Spey

I have been lucky to live a life in which Steelhead are a driving force and in which I have been able to purse this ghost for most of it. Growing up in Oregon, chasing steelhead was a normal event for me and my friends. I got a job at a local fly shop as soon as I was old enough and fished as much as I was able to, never really making a paycheck after using my money for equipmemt and gas. This only furthered my passion for steelhead and fly fishing for this illusive hard fighting fish.
Through much of my life fly fishing has been more than a weekend affair, and I can recall missing events or even being late to things like Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner because I knew there would less presure on the fish and I would have a better chance at seeing the chrome that had become so embedded in my soul. Driving through rain storms, snow and black ice covered roads at 3:00 AM to make sure I had first crack at the water was an all winter thing for me and my friends. I remember scrounging for months to be able to purchase my first drift boat. Even today I can recall the feel of learning to row and read the water in that old blue and white boat. It is no wonder that the boat I row now, though it is new and much easier to row all day, is still blue and white.
One day driving up to the Sandy river for a morning of cold, wet and wonderful fishing I ran into a man who was fishing with a 2 handed fly rod and just like that I was hooked. It was like picking up a single handed fly rod for the first time all over again. As I watched him make these beautiful casts across the river and mend the line I lost all track of time. What seemed like minutes were really hours and the sun was now high in the sky and I had not even launched the boat yet. I was in awe of the casts, the rod and the way that this man was able to cover the water with what looked like very little work.
I had seen movies and read about Spey casting but I had never seen it, or watched its beauty in person. For a fish bum who was always looking for a better way to elicite a tug on my flies, Spey casting looked like a very interesting way to go about it. A few days later I walked into a fly shop and was disheartend to see the sticker prices on those wonderful sky sticks. It took a little time but I was able to eventually get one and I went to the river to practice after watching some youtube videos. That didn't work out well at all.
Spey casting as a style has 2 main forms. The touch and go cast like Scandavian or Tradional casting and sustained anchor methods like Skagit casting. Ed Ward one of the co-"founders" of Skagit casting is quoted with saying "in spey casting the easier it looks the more complicated it really is." Wow, was I learning this was so true. I felt defeated my first time out with my new spey gear. I couldn't get the line more than the head length out of the rod and had no clue how so many casters had made it look so easy. I was unaware that there were different styles, lines and rod lengths when I first started. I didn't know that you could take one rod and put a 50' head on it and cast with a traditional spey style, turn around change the line and cast underhanded in Scandanavian stlyle and then again change the line and cast Skagit style. While the casts may all look simiar through the different styles there are differences that need to be learned in order to make the set up work the way it was intended. Almost a year went by before I picked up the spey rod again but this time was different. I knew what I wanted and I was going to get it. I went to my local fly shop and paid for some real lessons. Looking back that is probalbly what I should have done the first time around. Now I was able to pick up the line roll cast it and also do casts like the single spey and double spey. I was hooked once again into the sport I love by being able to cast all day rain or shine with little or no back cast and control more line on the water.
I have come a long way since that day and so has the gear. I am very happy to see that a person just getting started into Spey casting doesn't need to spend as much as I did and with a good lesson from your fly shop or local instructor, a new caster will be enjoying the sport from day one. Just like everything else, practice and knowledge make your life easier.
Now equiped with my spey rod, some flies and a lot of practice I go in search of these wonderful fish every chance I get. There are so many ways to utilize the rod and line combinations that you can fish your 2 handed rod in almost any presentation. You can put on a floating tip and fish a waking fly or you can put on a Type I clear tip and fish small patterns in low clear water for summer run fish or you can put on Type VIII and fish big flies in off colored water for big winter fish. Spey rods are not the only style of rod I own but they are the rods I turn to most often.
Catching a Steelhead on the spey is the greatest feeling in the world. The way they can just slam you for the fly then tear off line faster than you know what hit you is amazing. You feel your backing knot slip through your fingers and think he just bit, how can I be in my backing already. The fish jumps completly out of the water a whole riffle below you then turns and burns right back at you. As you reel faster than you ever have to catch up, the fish turns once again and dogs down in the bottom of the deep pool. You feel him head shaking down there, trying everything to throw that fly from his lip. Just as you think your gaining line back onto the reel the fish flies out of the water again and again and then back down the river. You start running down the bank to keep up as he is headed back for the ocean. The fish never stops and as the sink tip enters the guides, you reach out and touch him. He is real, a Silver Ghost. You grab his tail thinking to yourself what an amazing fish, you remove the fly from his lip careful not to take his head from the water and watch as he sits breathing at your feet. A minute goes by and you can feel him reaching for the river again, you loosen your grip on his tail and he gives it a powerful slash as he tears back into that milky green water. These are the moments in why we fish all day, stay up tying flies and are always looking to come back to the river.
Steelhead on there own are an amazing fish. They swim past nets, seals, eagles and many more dangers. They swim over dams and falls to spawn in their natal waters. Doing battle with one on the end of your spey rod is feeling of a lifetime that I hope our children and us can all continue to enjoy for decades to come.

This is gonna be FUN!

Welcome to the Anadromous FLY blog, where I will keep all the up to date info on our Guide Trips and pics for the season.
Hope you enjoy this.