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CATCHING THE StEELHEAD Big Trout of Par Western Waters Furnish Magnificent Sport Relative anil Associate of tlie Rain ¬ bow ami Requires Special Tools to La ml Them There is in the far west a fish which until re ¬ cently was considered a species of salmon and is still so considered by many people who are not well informed as to fishes writes P R Steel in Sports Afield AfieldThis This is the steelhead trout which runs up the rivers of the west to spawn and then after about six months goes back again to the sea They grow to a weight of thirty pounds and probably average about ten pounds although most of the fish taken on the fly do not run much over five The steelhead looks exactly like a large sized edition of the regular rainbow trout Salnio irideus so much so that it has long been an angling belief that rainbow and steelhead are both hatched from the same spawn the ones which stay in the fresh water being rainbows while those going to sea come back steelheads The habits and fighting qualities of the two fish fit excellently this theory and indeed I have recently heard that Dr David Starr Jordan the greatest authority on western trout has now decided that the two fish are of the same species i e that the steelheal are simply anadromous rainbow in the same way that the sea trout of the east are simply anadromous brook trout Salvclinus foutinalis In any case the steelhead is the grandest representative of the trout family which comes to the fly fisherman anywhere in the world worldFIGHTING FIGHTING STEELHEAD AVERAGE HEAVY HEAVYHere Here is a trout averaging five pounds a fish which takes the fly and which fights jumping even on a slack line as the rainbow does better than any other known species of trout The only other fishing which at all compares with taking the steelhead on a fly is the catching of ouananiche at tho Grand Descharge of Lake St John in Quebec QuebecIn In Oregon rivers the steelheads begin running about the middle of August and continue through September and October September usually being the best month for fishing They run up coastwise streams of all kinds but chiefly up fairly large rivers These they follow almost to the headwaters often for a distance of over GOO miles before spawn ¬ ing During this time they stay in firstclass condition not getting all banged lit as the western salmon do in their ascent of the streams After spawning the steelheads work their way slowly down stream and back into the ocean They arc usually in fresh water about five or six months The flesh of the steelhead like that of the rain ¬ bow is good but not as good as that of the eastern brook trout troutSteelheads Steelheads as would naturally be supposed lie in much the same kind of water as do the rainbows except that it is bigger water deeyer and swifter and almost always in the main current of the river Steelheads seem to prefer rock bottom and are not found in any numbers either on the shallow gravelly bars sucli as the rainbow likes or in the still pools where the big cutthroat stays staysHABITS HABITS AND HABITATIONS OF FISH FISHThe The swift current usually found just below white water is the most likely spot in which to find steelheads Usually these places are pratty well out into the stream and unless you fisli from a boat or canoe necessitate botli hard wading and long casting You should be able to rise and hook fish with seventy feet of line out Steelheads seem to take flies best when they are moving down stream not when moving up stream as is often good for rainbow or directly down stream which works well with cutthroat You can get fish out of some places impossible to reach witli a fly by putting a small spoon and letting the line out down stream in a swift straight current When you see a rise to your flies strike quick and fairly hard but dont yank as if you were hauling rocks out of the river In playing steellreads you have to watch out for their jumps and also be ready to follow a large fish down stream if he gets into the rapids which you will find is quite an ordinary occurrence Steelheads can either be gaffed or netted the net lcing best if you are alone or the fish run small the gaff is best for large fish when someone else is along to do the gaffing gaffingThe The fly rods now used for steelheads vary from a fouronce nine foot split bamboo to a fourteen foot doublehanded salmon rod Neither of these extremes is of much use For best work a tenfoot rod weighing about eight ounces is most satisfac ¬ tory because with it you can cast the maximum distance within reach of a singlehanded rod and still not find yourself all tired out at the end of the days fishing from casting a heavy or long rod A doublehanded rod is not necessary for these big trout and therefore should not be used Agate tips and first guides give you a little extra distance in casting by enabling you to shoot the line out through the guides better betterTOOLS TOOLS FOR THE STOUT STEELHEAD STEELHEADThe The best line for steelheads is a thirty yard doubletapered enamel silk fly line spliced onto about an equal length of number twelve twisted linen This gives you a line which casts a fly well and of sufficient length to take care of the long runs of a large fish without taking up the extra reel space which would be required if the en ¬ tire line were of enamel silk The two lines must be spliced together not tied together because if they are simply tied the knot will be likely to catch in going through the guides and this too at a time when you are playing the fish you most want to land the big ones The reels should bo a single action click just large enough to hold the line and not built too heavy An automatic handle drag is good but not necessary Practically all multiplying reels are unsuitable for fly fishing be ¬ cause they have outstanding handles on which the line is likely to foul I have given two different automatic reels a thorough trial lasting over several months At the end of that time I threw them both into the river They are too heavy not strong enough get out of order easily and cant be re ¬ paired in the field besides all this when you are working with a short line they are at almost any moment liable to jerk the leader knot into the tip and smash the rod rodleaders leaders should be about nine feet long and are best tapered the thinnest strands being about heavy trout weight Flies should be on numbers two four six and eight hooks number six being the most generally useful size I think Flies witli the snells tied onto eyed hooks last about three times as long as the whipped on variety because when the gut near the fly becomes worn you can put on a new snell I think brown and gray flies for the daytime and white for evening are generally the best as to color A little red in any of these improves its catching qualities although pure or nearly pure red fies are no good A two or two and onehalf inch gaff is about the right size If you use a laiidging net get one with a thirty or thirty six inch square bottomed net The creel should be of the long low tytm so that fairly large trout can lie carried in it The really big ones you cant get into a creel at all
