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One of my earliest big steelhead came on a #12 Partridge and Orange that was dead drifted under a big willow tree on the Credit River, that has since been washed away. I lost the fish just as I was beginning to land it and I always remember the amazement that such a large fish would take such a small fly.
Since then I've caught quite a few steelhead on small wets and soft hackles, but I rarely use them for any length of time.
Small flies were de rigueur in my neck of the woods when I first started and I was constantly told that my big streamers would not catch a steelhead. What a difference from the "go big or go home" mentality of today. I spent Saturday with MarkyZ fishing the Credit using hairwing wets on a slow sink 40+ Expert and PRO 4X switch rod. Even though neither of us hooked up, just the fishing of smaller flies on a smaller rod and a finesse line got me thinking of what I had been missing. I have to do more . . .
So I thought it might be cool to spend a bit of time talking about our favourite small fly methods and get away from chucking T14 and dead chickens for a while.
Here's a few of the fish taken on small wets and a couple of the small flies that have done the job. The small stocker was taken on NY's Cattaraugus using a little pink hairwing, while the two larger Grand River streambred fish were taken on small wets supplied to me by GR8LAKES FLYER.
Since then I've caught quite a few steelhead on small wets and soft hackles, but I rarely use them for any length of time.
Small flies were de rigueur in my neck of the woods when I first started and I was constantly told that my big streamers would not catch a steelhead. What a difference from the "go big or go home" mentality of today. I spent Saturday with MarkyZ fishing the Credit using hairwing wets on a slow sink 40+ Expert and PRO 4X switch rod. Even though neither of us hooked up, just the fishing of smaller flies on a smaller rod and a finesse line got me thinking of what I had been missing. I have to do more . . .
So I thought it might be cool to spend a bit of time talking about our favourite small fly methods and get away from chucking T14 and dead chickens for a while.
Here's a few of the fish taken on small wets and a couple of the small flies that have done the job. The small stocker was taken on NY's Cattaraugus using a little pink hairwing, while the two larger Grand River streambred fish were taken on small wets supplied to me by GR8LAKES FLYER.
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