October 18, 2018 - Chrome Arrival
Steelhead have officially started to show up in good numbers. Unlike last week, most rivers in the state have fishable numbers now. The rains brought in a fresh batch of fish, and with the dropping water, things are setting up nicely.
Yes, there are still kings around, but they are basically done. The ones remaining are spawning, and will continue to do so for a couple weeks. Watch for the trout bite to improve as salmon spawning decreases, as each individual egg suddenly becomes more valuable when compared to 3 three weeks ago, when a trout could engorge itself daily on the never ending stream of eggs. Same goes for steelhead. They haven't quite settled into the holes yet, and can be found in more "trouty" water this time of year.
Steelhead move around much more than we think, especially this time of year. Water level dictates everything. A spot can have a group of steelhead one day, then over night, that pod is either up or down river.
There are tons of options this time of year, and it can almost be overwhelming. Not only ways to approach steelhead, but trout, bass, and warmwater stuff are also great this time of year too. For steelhead, indicator fishing is always a good route to take, but swinging, chuck and duck, and pulling streamers are all in play as well.
Here's a quick tying video we did on Senyo's A.I. It's durable, swims good, and very reliable. A great pattern!
Should be good this week. See you out there.
-Erich