Winter Steelhead Flies

February 15, 2004, Sunday, 1:00pm - 5:00pm Fly Tier's Round Table "The Guide's Deadly Half Dozen Winter Steelhead Flies"
	The Pacific Northwest has a myriad of winter steelhead rivers. Some are barely above the classification of creeks. Others are huge. Little creeks swell with rain and big rivers get smaller when the temperature drops. Most situations offer opportunities for the fly angler. Having a selection of flies that you can rely on to produce fish under a wide variety of water conditions is a huge advantage. A selection of smaller flies for low clear water and a selection of larger flies for big water might both be needed on the same outing. How do you sort it all out so you don't have to carry a wheel barrow full of flies? You probably need to carry no more than six patterns.
The programs and instructions are free. So are the coffee and snacks. Bring snacks to share if you want to. Bring your own tools, and materials and tie along. Beginners are welcome. Group Leaders: Mark Bachmann & Brian Silvey

Jacks Or Better To Open
Fly fishing is like gambling. Your success is partly luck and partly skill. In stud poker it's jacks or better to open and in tropical saltwater fly fishing the opening hand can be the same. Mike Senatra, my wife Patty and I watched off the sea wall at Barra De Navidad. Deep beneath the schools of Needle Fish several hefty Jack Crevelle made

slashing drives through the dark masses of bottom hugging sardines. A Jack would appear from the deep water and a corridor of light sandy bottom would open through the dark mass of bait as they ran for their lives. "I coming back this evening and put a hurt on those Jacks", said Mike. We watched for a while longer and then went back to the hotel for our rods. Later as the sun was leaving the water Mike hooked his first Jack on his first cast. It was about 5-pounds. I grinned. We were right in the middle

of the highest beach traffic area. In Mexico they call these fish Toro for their bullish hard fight. Jacks aren't usually listed in the brochures from any of your fancy fly fishing resorts, but as far as we're concerned they are plenty sporty. A couple of mornings after the beach incident Patty and I were fishing with our Panga Captain Armando along the rocks at Ampoyo. It was early; barely light enough to see where I was casting and the Ocean was so rough that I couldn't stand on the rolling fore- deck of the panga, so I was casting from a kneeling position with a DeepSea 400 and a small gray-green Clouser Minnow. There was a tap-tap and then a solid grab. Next thing I knew the line was melting from my number 12 Abel.

My palm was applied to the rim to keep the fish from cutting me off in the rocks. For a while I used so much force that I was afraid the 20-pound tippet would break. After a ten minute tug of war that left my fore arms throbbing, a beautiful blue colored Jack was horsed to the surface. Armando called it a Verdecillo. I landed another and Patty

hooked two before they disappeared for the day. Another great sport fish that hangs around the rocks on the Mexican Pacific coast is the Green Jack. These streamlined brawlers average around 3-4 pounds, but may run as high as 7 or 8. They seem to like the surge and crashing waves around shear rock walls the best. All members of the Jack family are edible, but few are prized for their meat. That doesn't concern us as we're mostly into "catch-and-release ". What we like is the

hard fight. Jacks are school fish. Schools can range from a half dozen to several hundred fish. On the average larger Jacks travel in smaller schools. Individuals of many different sizes can be encountered in some schools. We have seen schools with specimens ranging from 5-25 pounds. We have also seen schools with Jack Craval and Green Jacks mixed together. When you encounter a school of Jacks it's best to

gear for the largest fish in the school. Rarely to you have to down-size your tackle to make these fish sporty. My favorite two outfits for medium and large size Jacks is a 400 grain DeepSea line on an old Winston 12-weight BL5 rod and a 300 grain DeepSea line on our new Sage 1090-4 Xi2 rod. Both rods are equipped with Abel Super reels and when I'm fishing I like to set the drag pressure at about 10-pounds of pull. Even with this seeming excessive drag pressure you will on occasion have to palm the reel. We usually fish 20-pound test tippet. Jacks have small sharp teeth, but rarely chew your leader. When encountering schools of smaller Jacks we usually use our 8-weight gear. However 2-3 pound Jacks are a hoot on 6-weight outfits (until some 4-5 pound Jacks show up). We have encountered some very large Jacks on the surface and have even caught a few on poppers. These few fish have been taken at night. It seems that most large Jacks are at least semi-nocturnal and even in the low light times its better to get the fly down to their level. We prefer fast sinking lines such as the Jim Teeny "T" Series and Rio's DeepSea Series. When it comes to flies, Jacks can sometimes be very selective feeders. Try to match the bait they are feeding on. If you can't see what they are eating, start out on the small side. Clouser Minnow style flies are usually hard to beat. So are epoxy head baitfish type flies. Flies about 2.5" to 3" long have worked best for us. Eyes seem to be one of the key components of any successful fly pattern. On our last trip we experimented a lot and flies that had eyes out performed flies without eyes by a large margin.

RIO Grand™ Fly Line
The RIO Grand® is state-of-the-art in fly line technology with distinctive benefits for the trout fly fisher. The tip floats extremely high due to RIO’s proprietary manufacturing process, yet gives a smooth light delivery of even the smallest dry fly. The weight forward taper features a slightly heavier load to activate the faster modern fly rod, yet the rear taper is long enough for roll casting. The line is the product of RIO’s SlickShooter™ Process and incorporates a supple coldwater, super slick, self-lubricating, dirt-resistant coating on a nylon multifilament core. This is the

perfect line for wet or dry fly fishing. RIO has included a welded loop on the front end of the fly line to facilitate changing leaders. In all our tests we have found excellent turnover and presentation with this loop. When landing fish, it slides through the rod guides more easily than the customary nail knot. Traditionalists can cut this loop off and not compromise the taper. 100' long.

Western Filament
TUF LINE XP - Braided Fly Line Backing
NEW LOWER PRICE!

Possibly the most advanced braided fly line backing available for most applications. TUF LINE is braided from super strong "Gel-Spun" Spectra fibers, TUF LINE XP is incredibly smaller in diameter than equal strength backing braided from Dacron yet is supple and without stretch. XP is braided with a new aerospace technology called "Tension Lock" for even smaller diameter, smoothness and abrasion resistance. Thirty pound test XP is .011 in diameter. That is the same about the same diameter as 8-pound test Maxima Chameleon tippet material. Add another .001 and the strength nearly doubles to 50-pound test. That is the approximate diameter of 10-pound test Maxima. This small diameter increases the backing capacity of every fly reel and reduces backing drag in the water. XP lays down very smooth. There doesn't seem to be any tendency for XP to cut down into itself or case reel spool breakage even when 500 yards are loaded onto a spool. Thirty pound XP is half the diameter of 30-pound Micron. Fifty pound XP is about 2/3 the diameter of 30-pound Micron.

You can get more TUF LINE XP on your reel spool. TUF LINE XP is very abrasion resistant, U.V. resistant and has very low stretch. Bright yellow color.

Item	Description	Price	To Top
SC302500Y	TUF LINE XP Fly Line Backing, 30 pound test, Yellow, per 2,500 yard spool 5.6 cents per yard.	$139.95
SC30300Y	TUF LINE XP Fly Line Backing, 30 pound test, Yellow, per 300 yard spool 6.7 cents per yard.	$19.95
SC30100Y	TUF LINE XP Fly Line Backing, 30 pound test, Yellow, per 100 yards installed on your reel. 9 cents per yard.	$8.95
SC502500Y	TUF LINE XP Fly Line Backing, 50 pound test, Yellow, per 2,500 yard spool 7.5 cents per yard.	$186.95
SC50300Y	TUF LINE XP Fly Line Backing, 50 pound test, Yellow, per 300 yard spool 8 cents per yard.	$23.95
SC50100Y	TUF LINE XP Fly Line Backing, 50 pound test, Yellow, per 100 yards installed on your reel. 10 cents per yard.	$9.95

Patty Barnes plays a bright coastal steelhead
as guide Scott O'Donnell looks on.

Patty and I fished the Wilson River 02/03/04 with Scott O'Donnell and had a great time. The river was high and rising. The visibility changed repeatedly throughout the day, varying from one to three feet....borderline conditions. A few very bright fish were moving upriver fast. We had our chances. All the bites were very soft. Actually one was the softest take I may have ever had. Of three known takers, none made it to the bank. Yet we had a thoroughly enjoyable day. I guess that is the mark of a professional guide: one who can turn a tough day of fishing into a great day. We got a unique look at coastal river. Thanks Scott, MB.

Visit his web site: Scott O'Donnell and hire him as a guide.

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Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
21200	Rio Grand Fly Line, Pale Green color	WF3F	$54.00
21201	Rio Grand Fly Line, Pale Green color	WF4F	$54.00
21202	Rio Grand Fly Line, Pale Green color	WF5F	$54.00
21203	Rio Grand Fly Line, Pale Green color	WF6F	$54.00