Aiptasia

What a fantastic term. Thank you for this, as I have never come across it.

Well, if it was a female it should be spey. Unless you wanted to breed her. I guess if it's a male and you neuter him you could call him barbless. But actually: Pike Fly Bow Snag Leader Rise I think ultimately "San Juan" would be a good Schnauzer name. Okay, maybe not good. But I will try and think of more.

Really having fun playing with articulated flies. Slowly, ever so slowly, they are improving.

Had a tonne of fun chucking this streamer this weekend, worked really well.

She is getting there, I don't know if she will ever go crazy like me - but it is definitely nice to have her as a potential fishing partner. Also is nice because now she is probably more willing to go out on the boat and I have an extra person able to row!

Not really sure where to post this, but I figure I should share as it was a pretty special experience for me. So, this weekend I went out to my favourite spot on the Oldman and I convinced my fiancé to join me on the river. She isn't overly interested in fishing, but she wanted to go for a hike and bring her book and maybe try fishing for a little bit. After a decent first few hours where I was fishing and she was reading/snoozing she wakes up and decides she wants to try. Now, I was fishing with a orange stimi with a dropper and catching everything under the surface with not a sniff to my overly fluffy strike indicator. Most of the fish were fairly small, besides the whitefish which were actually pretty decent sized. Point is, I had no action on the surface so had very little expectation for this when I pass her my rod and give her a few casting instructions on where she should put the fly. So, maybe her 10th cast she puts it behind this rock right besides the bank which was more or less right under her feet -- I place I would have never thought to place a fly. Sure enough, a respectably size bull trout comes up and has a savage take on that stimulator. Her very first fish is a bull trout on the surface, on a day when more or less everything was under the water - I have never had a bull trout come up on the surface for me in my life. She didn't want to lift the fish out of the water even for a second because she wanted it to stay wet and happy. This was the only photo where you can even tell she had a fish as she was repositioning her grip on the net. What a champ, I was very proud and it was a special day for me to see her be so excited afterwards. I think it will be easier to convince her to go fishing the next time.

Ahh too bad! I would have bought it. I'm sure you will find someone - thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I ended up going with the pyramid anchor from fish tales. At the end of the day, I would much rather support them than Bass pro anyways. See y'all on the water!

Quick question to those experienced with drift boats on the bow. I'm in need of an anchor, and am considering two options: Option 1: 30lb pyramid anchor from fish tales. I know it will work just fine. $130 Option 2: 30lb "river anchor" http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-River-Anchor/product/45253/# it is $55 Option 2 is clearly cheaper, but I am leery to spend the money on something that wont really work only to then have to buy the anchor I know will work. Is option 2 an option at all? Thanks!

All good information. Appreciated! Cool thanks! Also, to respond to everyone who say it's a bad addiction. I guess it's a good thing I don't have an addictive personality! Oh wait. I just started planning for an additional steelhead trip and I haven't even got one yet. Guess I'm probably screwed.

Thanks for the great info! It's much appreciated. Unfortunately I'm one of those stubborn types who likes to try first and fail before I go into guides. Or maybe that's what I tell myself because I can't really afford a guide. Ahh the grad school life. I never would have thought to look at scientific reports on run data. Thanks for this, makes a lot of sense and I will definitely look into it. Also, interesting that hatchery fish are less aggressive, I wonder why this is. Again, great info - it's appreciated. Thanks for the book, I'll check it out. I do like youtube videos but often find it's consuming to sift through the garbage before you find the gems. But, there are always gems. This is definitely true, and has been the difference for me on the Bow. Good guides are worth every penny. Unfortunately, I just need to save my pennies.

I'm looking for recommendations on books or good online resources to get me started with winter steelhead on the west coast. I'm starting to plan a trip, and I want to know what I'm getting into. Any help is appreciated!

So, as an update: I went out again to the highwood, determined to catch more fish with streamers and armed with everyones wonderful tips. I'm happy to say that they worked! I hooked into some great fish and even landed a couple bull trout (which I have never before encountered). All in all, it was a lot of fun and got me into some high quality fish. Thanks again!

Good call! Being less of a dick is one of my life goals.

Makes sense, I will try mixing it up. Would you try changing to a fresh fly right away? I know with dries if I get a miss, I often will swap flies right away. I feel like often if I throw the same fly right back I am more likely to put them down whereas I often get a second look on similar (but slightly different) fly. Ultimately, I do like your idea of just waiting that minute, I think they figure it out pretty quick when the same fly swings past their nose ten seconds later. Also, I tried tying a two hook streamer. I've never done this before, and am pretty new to tying in general - basically I tied the back hook with some flashy material and then used mono to secure the back fly by tying it from the eye up to the front hook. Any feedback on this?

Thanks everyone. I do really like the stinger hook idea, I was chucking some big streamers with rabbit strips that extend fairly far past the hook. I think they might have been biting the tail (I could definitely feel them when they did) and not bite the hook. Also, need to learn how to tie some articulated streamers as they look fancy. New goal for the summer is to get good at streamer fishing. Thanks again for the tips! You guys are rockstars.

I rarely chuck streamers. I think maybe I haven't had as much success in the past and I normally stick to my bread and butter which produces well and I have a good time. Well, yesterday I made a concerted effort to switch things up and focus on streamers on the Highwood. It was a real blast, as I could normally see the streamer in the water and it was pretty exciting to watch big fish come out and chase that sucker down. I found it interesting that many would just follow it and then turn away last second. More frustratingly I found that many fish would smack (and really hard too!) my streamer and I wouldn't really get a set. I tried not to yank the fly away, and more attempted to set the hook with a strip rather than pulling the rod (admittedly I may have gotten excited and pulled away from a couple before they chomped). All in all, I didn't have problems attracting fish - but I did have problems hooking them. Is there a "trick" to setting the hook properly when streamer fishing?

Hmmm, this is a really good idea that I never would have considered. Thanks for the input!

Hi everyone, I mostly lurk around this forum, which I appreciate because there is some great information (thank you!). This said, I was wondering if anyone knows where I would be able to rent a drift boat from? I saw some adds on Kijiji but they never returned my e-mails. I'm thinking about buying maybe next season and in the meantime want to get out without hiring a guide.