{"id":16996,"date":"2022-12-19T17:29:40","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T01:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/?p=16996"},"modified":"2022-12-19T17:29:40","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T01:29:40","slug":"7-top-tips-for-winter-steelhead-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/7-top-tips-for-winter-steelhead-success\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Top Tips for Winter Steelhead Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Steelhead
Tips to Winter Steelhead Success big and small can totally change the day!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here are our 7 Top Tips for Winter Steelhead Success on the Swung Fly<\/h3>\n

<\/h4>\n

Tips for Winter Steelhead Success # 1<\/h4>\n

How deep is my fly?\u00a0 Am I even in the game?<\/p>\n

One of the most important aspects for winter steelhead-spey success is to get your fly down at least half the depth of the water.\u00a0 Steelhead are often in 3-5\u2019 of water and holding near the bottom.\u00a0 Getting your fly at least half that depth is critical in winter.\u00a0 This is not the same game as summer when fish will rise to the surface to grab your fly.\u00a0 Getting the fly deep requires a combination of the right swing speed, the right sink tip and the right fly matched to the proper speed of steelhead water.<\/p>\n

The best way to know how deep your fly is \u2013 is by using the Sink Tip Test.\u00a0 We show you how to do this in our ebook video \u201c5 Steps to Winter Spey Success\u201d\u00a0 You can get the book and see a free book PREVIEW here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Tips for Winter Steelhead Success # 2<\/h5>\n

Fish the right water. Reading steelhead water during the winter gets a bit tougher if your used to the sweet and easy flows of summer and fall.\u00a0 Winter water levels can get high and nasty and you\u2019ve got to adjust.\u00a0 They can also get super low and clear so knowing how to fish a piece of water that\u2019s significantly softer flow and shallower than it was last time is important.\u00a0 The key is to find the right speed and depth during any conditions.\u00a0 Look for walking speed water.\u00a0 Too fast or too slow can mean zero fish.\u00a0 Find the sweet spot and find the fish.\u00a0 With big water fluctuations of winter this \u201csweet spot\u201d may move.<\/p>\n

Tips for Winter Steelhead Success # 3<\/h5>\n

Be prepared. The old Boy Scout motto is so good here, we see anglers spend so much time fussing with their gear and not fishing.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss valuable fishing time because your digging in your gear looking for something or you forgot your glasses and it\u2019s taking you 15 minutes to tie a knot\u2026Winter steelhead gear is easy; grab some flies, sink tips, line cutter, hook file, tippet and you are ready to go.<\/p>\n

Tips for Winter Steelhead Success #4<\/h6>\n

Have the right clothing. It\u2019s winter, it will be cold and often it is raining. Count on it.\u00a0 That\u2019s the way it is.\u00a0 Do yourself a favor and have lots of layers and a good waterproof gear to keep you dry.\u00a0 Staying dry and keeping your core warm are essential.\u00a0 Be sure to take those gloves off when you handle a fish- wet gloves suck and they are not good on the fish\u2019s protective slime coating either.<\/p>\n

Tips for Winter Steelhead Success #5<\/h6>\n

Keep moving through the run. This is one big one that makes such a difference.\u00a0 What many people don\u2019t see is that the way you efficiently progress through a piece of water is how you trigger a response from a resting steelhead.\u00a0 Covering water helps you find those fish.\u00a0 Think of it as a hunt.\u00a0 You are searching for these guys, it\u2019s a different mindset from trout fishing.<\/p>\n

Tip #6<\/p>\n

Manage your swing. So often anglers get out there and once the cast is done they literally check out.\u00a0 Holding on just hoping for a grab.\u00a0 Instead be actively engaged with the line speed and movement across the water thinking about how the fly is moving.\u00a0 Each time you move the rod it impacts the fly and how it is positioned in the water.\u00a0 This is the MOST important thing, it is the swing (how your fly moves in the water) that gets the fish to eat it.\u00a0 Think about your swing, analyze it and focus on it.<\/p>\n

Tip #7<\/p>\n

When you get the grab don\u2019t mess it up! This is such a precious moment in time and Lord knows these times don\u2019t come easy.\u00a0 A couple things to remember about the steelhead grab.\u00a0 You\u2019ll get all kinds of different types of grabs from steelhead.\u00a0 Some are serious yanks that just about rip the rod out of your hands some are light taps you\u2019d swear were 6\u201d cutthroat.\u00a0 The most common is a soft tug, followed by a harder tug, followed by the line coming tight and a solid steady pull.\u00a0 The most important thing to remember here is to remain patient.\u00a0 Most often anglers ruin this opportunity by setting the hook too early in the exchange.\u00a0 Wait until you feel the heaviness of the fish solidly on the line before carefully putting a bend in the rod to seal the deal.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to fish with more confidence and stop wondering if you are doing the “Winter Steelhead thing” right get your new Ebook, “5 Steps to Winter Spey Success.”\u00a0 We teach you how to build an arsenal of fishing options that you can utilize through the varied water conditions you’ll encounter during winter.\u00a0 Check out the FREE PREVIEW<\/a> and see if this book is for you.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Our new E-book shows you how to find Winter steelhead fly fishing success.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are our 7 Top Tips for Winter Steelhead Success on the Swung Fly Tips for Winter Steelhead Success # 1 How deep is my fly?\u00a0 Am I even in the game? One of the most important aspects for winter steelhead-spey success is to get your fly down at least half the depth of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,67,68,78,104,257,98,82,200],"tags":[1125],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16998,"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16996\/revisions\/16998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watertimeoutfitters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}