Winter Steelhead

I've been hearing a lot about the lack of steelhead in the Southeastern Wisconsin area due to the lack of stocking. There's no doubt that the returning numbers are down but there are still steelhead around. No one ever said winter steelheading is easy, keep that in mind. First off, expect to only have one or two strikes in a day on the river. Sure one day you can go knock the snot out of the steelhead but then go the rest of the week without a hit, it's just the nature of the beast. But there are a few things you can do to put the odds in your favor. 1. Keep moving; typically I only spend around 20mins in a strech of water I think should hold fish. Once I feel that I've fished that hole with every combination of colors and depths, it's on to the next spot. 2. Switch it up; if you look at my bag of spawn sacs you would think your looking at a bag of Skittles due to the amount of different colors and sizes. If one color doesn't get hit in a dozen drifts I'm switching colors. If there's no doubt in my mind that there is a fish in a hole I will even switch from spawn sacs to a jig and wax worms. 3. Smaller and lighter; this is very important when it comes to the Milwaukee River and any other river that is gin clear. I will scale down to a long lead of 6lb Berkley Flourocarbon and a size 10 Gamakastu hook with a spawn sac that only has 3-6 eggs in it. 4. Stay out of the water; for some reason everyone thinks they need to get in the water while fishing a river, stand back on the bank and cast to the fish. In gin clear water the steelhead can see you coming a mile away and odds are you'll spook that fish the second you step in the water. I use three different lengths of rods depending on the size of river I'm on. For smaller rivers I prefer my Shimano Convergence 10'6 rod, medium rivers such as the Root River I'll have my 12'6 Shimano Convergence and for the larger rivers such as the Milwaukee I'll have my 13' Rapala North Coast Float Rod in my hands. The reason for these long rods is to keep your line off the water to make a correct drift. If you are fishing a strech of river that prevents you from keeping your line off the water, these long rods allow you to mend your line with ease. Also in addition to line control, using longer rods allows you to cast light weight bobbers further than rods under 9'. Hopefully this will help you in putting more steelhead in the net and I will be writing more "tip" articles throughout the winter. If you have any questions about winter steelheading feel free to send me a message.