I've been steelhead fishing literally all winter. Easily over 40 days on the water, with most of them being from sunrise to sunset, and I haven't landed a real steelhead yet. I've hooked 3 but lost them all due to various reasons. I finally landed a tiny but really beautiful one but it's really not what I'm looking for. Fishing around Portland btw. Any advice would be appreciated but I'm mostly just venting because this is ridiculous. At what point am I supposed to just quit. I've spent so much time and money and this lil guy is all I have to show for it.
Posted by silvancr
6 Comments
Mind if I send you a message? I fly fish around Portland as well. Maybe we can help each other out.
This is how I feel every time I go for wild fish instead of stocked. Pretty sure they don’t exist in western NC anymore.
I’m having the same fun problem up on BC. I actually haven’t been fly fishing this year, but not even a nibble. It’s the most infuriating thing in the world. Any good places near there? I’m down in a couple of weeks for the tail end of the season
You still hooked 3 unicorns on the fly…
The reality is you’re fishing for ghosts….they are around but sparse (depending on where you go) and hard to land. That is what steelhead fishing is. It could take years swinging flies to hook and land one. It could take a day. That’s fishing…but especially west coast steelhead fishing. If you’ve had a few solid fish you’ve gotten to fight, I think you’re on the right track with the program you’re running now.
I had the same experience when I lived in the Portland area.