Steelheading... Which Day?

[SouthForkSam]

If you could go steelheading Tuesday when it supposed to be 47 and mostly sunny at Shoup or Wednesday when it supposed to be 44 with 30% chance of rain or snow, which day would you go and why?


Thanks!
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[AverysAdventure]

OK since no one else is jumping in I'll give you my 2 cents. But remember I haven't chased slime rockets for 20 yrs. and never on the Salmon River so take it for what it is worth. On moving water and for Anadromous species I will always choose a cloudy, rainy day over a bright and sunny day. Just my preference! I think I catch more fish when it is overcast and a little drizzle is a plus. Days like that also deter a lot of people so that is a plus. I would also guess that a nice spring day will move fish up river and populate holes that have been fished out. The following day you can take advantage of that movement.

Just my opinion but it may spur some of the experts to chime in!

Tight lines!
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[chrome_junky]

i would go both days thats how good the fishing is right now everybody is nailing metal heads right now in every water system that has them.
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[jigs]

i would also go both days.... but i guesse if i had to choose i would choose the overcast day with the rain. now i dont mean a downpour just a shower. sometimes the showers dirty the water a bit. which i like it a little dirty. i dont think the fish are as spooky as on a bright sunny day with crystal clear water.
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[SouthForkSam]

I would go both days if I could...... but I can't. The only thing that worries me about Wednesday is water color. If it rains Tuesday evening (which it could) will the water become off color and slow down the bite?
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Supposed to be 60 today at Shoup according to nws.noaa.gov
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[fishley]

I have had my best luck on the overcast rainy day's[]but if possible i would fish as many days as i could .........
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[chrome_junky]

you want the water to be a little dirty. the best water color you can have for steelhead is when it has that green silt in it i have my best days fishing for steelhead when the water has this green tinge or has just a splash of murky to it.
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[SouthForkSam]

Report:
We went Wed (yesterday). The weather was great. Near 60 and sunny most of the day with some light rain for about an hour.

We went all the way down to Corn Creek and then from there up a bit. That slow deep water below the MF was very difficult for me to cover with a fly rod. I couldn't get down deep enough, quick enough and so my tally for the day was 1 smolt, 1 cutthroat of about 14 inches and 1 sucker. I heard that there were tons of fish being caught from the MF down and saw a couple caught, but for me that water was a lot more difficult to fish effectively on the fly than some of the other runs I have fished further upstream.

Hoping to go up again in a couple of weeks above Challis if the fish have moved up that far.

The river is totally free of ice from at least Salmon down (which is all that I saw so I can't attest to upstream).
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[prvrt]

The river from Challis up was still froze solid last weekend. It may bust loose during these warms temps tho.
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