Just got back from steelhead fishing. My son and I fished below Stanley and we did pretty good. Thursday we landed 5 and Friday we landed 7. The biggest was a 30 inch male. There is still alot of snow up there and alot of the campgrounds are closed.
SteelFisher
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Nice fish. Where you fishing at night? Sounds like we should have waited and fished this weekend instead of last.
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We only fished at night. All the good holes are packed with people during the day. I am not into the combat fishing. Fishing at night is tough you can't see very good even with headlamps and it is much colder. Today at 3:30 AM when we quit it was down to 14 degrees. It seems like we are wasting the day when we don't even wet a line during daylight hours. I guess we need to explore some of the less popular holes and fish them during the day.
The combat fishing works, we heard of one guy that landed 27 fish Friday morning.
SteelFisher
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Don't mind me adding to your report? I fished down lower towards Challis today for my first time steelheading! I landed 7 and lost one in 8 hours. the rest of our group landed 6 combined! It was an awesome day! I caught 4 native fish and 3 clipped! I'm tyin' up leaders and flies now and gettin' ready for another cold morning! I'm ADDICTED! I'll get some pics added later!
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You had a great day. Were you flyfishing? That is my next goal to land a steelhead on the flyrod. It looks like the water that is good for flyfishing is not as packed with fishermen so that would be a solution to the combat fishing.
SteelFisher
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sure sounds like stanley. I have been up there in july and august and had it snow on us. Thanks for the report i havnt heard from anyone any further than challis.
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That's one hell of buck up that high! Nice fish! When I first started steelheadin' I used to fight the crowds to. Just so you know, there are fish all over that river and you CAN sleep at night. Just take your time and look at the river, you will find holding water all over. It doesn't hurt to check the IDFG website and find out where they released smolts 2 years ago either! You would also be surprised at how easy it is to catch a steelhead on your flyrod, just use your same nymphing techniques as you do for trout and you will do just fine, probably better near Stanley than you did with your drift gear. Good to see another "addicted" steelhead fisherman TMAS!
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No, I'm gonna try with my flyrod tomorrow though! I've only got a 6 wt so it might be a good fight! Anybody know what some good flies are, i've got some big black and purple wooly buggers with eggheads, or maybe some medium size stoneflys?
Here's a couple pics, we are staying in Stanley at Jerry's tonight, so i'm gonna try fishing up here higher tomorrow, the river looked awesome coming up here!
DAY TWO:
I didn't notice you said you were fishing at night! that's pretty hardcore! I just found empty holes with our group and got into some pretty hot catching!
Sunday was an awesome day for me! I started fishing at 730 and we left at 2, I landed 11 steelies! They were all about the same size...right around 25inches. I was hoping for some more fatties like yesterday but they were still nice fish! Most weren't clipped, I managed three decent hatchery fish. I switched up my gear a lot and that's what seemed to keep the bite on, they were hangin' in the area and wanted to see something new is my most educated guess...the rest of our group only landed 3 fish.
All in all for my first trip I am way happy. I landed 18 steelhead in about 16 hours of fishing! Addicted....for life!
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I prefer a little roe bug or something on that line. Man I wish I could come back up it looks 90% better than a week ago when I was up there. Good catch'n fella's.
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RB1 is right, go small especially up there. I think he meant "glo bug" not roe bug though. If you're nymphin' and indicatorin' you might even go as small as a salmon egg.
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I have not tried steelhead fishing in the fall yet. Are there areas where a guy could land one on a flyrod in the fall? I am probably done steelhead fishing this spring.
Thanks,
SteelFisher
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Yeah anywhere around shoup area I've seen them caught, even right out of the same holes you drift fish, they run along the bank to.
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Thanks for the tips. I will have to try the flyrod this fall.
SteelFisher
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Wow! Great fish. I just got back from Sportsmans in Pocatello stocked up on flies and bass fishing soft plastics. They had some pretty good sales since they are going out of business. I would have rather been with you guys.
Windriver
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I have heard they have some great sales going on. My grandpa bought about 1k jig hooks thinking they were fly hooks, so he gave them to me. Was there much left I would like to get a bunch of fly hooks.
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We shouldn't highjack the steelfishers report, but the flyfishing stuff was only 10% off.
Windriver
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Nice fish, Stanley sounds like a quicker trip than Clearwater area, are they still hot up there and are you fishing south of Stanley or above it? I realy want to try some bead heads or wieghted nyphes flys and get one of these Steelys on.
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We fished downstream from Stanley. I have never fished the Clearwater but I really want to and I have heard the average size of steelhead is larger over there.
SteelFisher
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Thats One nice fish! Night or Day! Caught and Landed! Great Job!
Peace[fishin]
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