Was fishing the deschutes yesterday. Brought my 5wt for redsides and my Spey to try and catch my first steelhead. I was indicator nymphing a rubber legs with a little bead head underneath with the 5wt right off the bank and hooked the biggest steelhead I’ve seen in my life. It jumped twice and came up to me, after almost landing it it took off to the center of the river and it felt like it glued itself to the bottom. It sat in the same place for almost 15 minutes and nothing I could do to the point of almost snapping my rod could get it to budge. Eventually it snapped off after trying to play with the rod to get it to move. Obviously I was undergunned for such a fish but is there any way to humanely land such a large fish on a 5wt? I’m bummed I didn’t land it but am stoked I finally got to feel the power of such a massive fish. Spent the rest of the day and all morning today working the Spey and finally feel confident in getting some distance in my cast so hopefully I can hook a steelhead again this year.
Posted by louiekr
2 Comments
If you’re really outgunned, just break the fish off if you’re fishing catch and release.
Yes you can land a steelhead on a 5 but you need decent tippet and to know what you are doing. The single biggest factor in the fight is the person holding the rod, then your tippet strength. The fish has a say as well.
Steer. Get it out of the current and keep turning it. Don’t fight it with your rod straight up, use lateral pressure.
Don’t try to pull it upstream, let it run when it wants, and don’t ever let up on the pressure.
I wouldn’t try it on big water, tho.
I suspect your 15 minutes on the bottom wasn’t the fish but the rock he broke you off on.