Well winter steelheading is definitely challenging. Dry line or greased line fishing is certainly not a numbers game.…but the planets can aline and the pleasure of Dry line Spey angling, especially with a cane wand and a modern floating or greased silk line with a classic steelhead or salmon pattern, is always worth the effort. This is also the best medication for speyers suffering from the winter doldrums or cabin fever.

I find my odds of success increase when water temps rise by a couple of degrees during these midday warm spells. This is frequently apparent on midsize streams and smaller river during these Chinook thaws with minimal bank side snow melt. Too intense a thaw can raise the water flow but not the water temps. Moderate rising waters can also spur aggressive activity. A thermometer can register these incidental 2 or 3 degree rises which occur between 10 AM and 4 PM.
I recommend precise shorter casts to control and enhance the effectiveness of your presentation and the sensitivity to increase the odds of a solid hook set of a follower subtle take on the downstream dangle. Let the steelie turn towards midstream and hook itself off the reel.

Regards from the Restigouche….Jim

 

In the 80’s and 90’s it was normal behavior for me to fish one of the big Fraser River tributaries right the way through March back in the days when they left it open until then

We’re talking cold, like diamond plug ice in every guide after just a few casts cold, like freeze your spool so it doesn’t turn any more cold… like snap a wing off your fly cold…and throughout that crazy weather I never felt hob-knobbed or handicapped … the hits just kept on coming ——full floating line and a normal pattern
The only difference was you needed lots of patience… as in doing the Scottish worm crawl through the frog water pools because ambient Zero will push many of the steelhead
out of the faster water you’d fish in October

I never changed my normal approach other then bird-dogging the slower moving water … just used a bit shorter rod so I could clear the guides without wading to shore
Oh, and to combat the spool freezing on a fish—- the water was warmer then the air so I held my reel under water when I had to. The Lord blessed me with good circulation in those days… in these days, not quite so much…

I really miss those days—just me on a glorious piece of real estate….most people had long since hung it up thinking it was too cold…

 

I can only give a thumbs up in admiration that you would battle the elements to this degree. You're a better man than I am! But I'm sure persevering under these conditions and actually catching a fish now and then must have been exhilarating. From a lazy Atlantic salmon fisherman to all winter steelheaders--BRAVO! 💪

 

Personally - when the visibility goes, like after a landslide or substantial run-off from heavy rain but still feasible. At least in Western WA were temps are more moderate. That's when I use sink tips and more contemporary patterns come to play.
We occasionally freeze, almost every winter, and streams clear, drop back into shape, then floating lines and traditional patterns tied on hook sizes 1, 1/0, 2/0 get the nod once again.

Nothing new under the sun - though.