by Richard Post
[back to G.Loomis Chronicles, Part 1: Factory Tour]
[back to G.Loomis Chronicles, Part 2: Steelhead Country]
Steelhead are trout, but they aren’t. Yes, they are genetically identical to a rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, but that special something within the steelhead that drives them to the ocean and beckons their return years later, makes for a different animal. Steelhead are oceanic creatures. They grow and mature at sea, and when they return to the rivers to spawn, they are only visitors. They do not act like trout that reside in a river year-round. Trout have lies and holding water, steelhead have resting and waiting water. These fish are travelers working towards that spot in their mind they wholly own and uniquely know, the place where they were spawned. There is no interest in anything aside from maintaining energy for the journey and hopefully your fly when the two paths cross.
Fly selection is remarkably unimportant for the most part. The best fly notions I came across on the trip had more to do with personal superstition and philosophy than environmental considerations. Confidence flies for the individual angler are important. You need and want to feel like they’re going to grab it on every swing. I fished darker flies at first and last light and generally fished something brighter mid-day. Dark seemed to be the consensus for the morning. Everybody fished something different during the day, and at last light the seasoned steelhead anglers went to their confidence flies. There was a little bit of, “What are you throwing?” and attempts to make selections that were complementary or contrasting. Black and blue hung one at first light, pink got one mid-day and red stuck one at last light. None of the flies were particularly large, all about 3” long. Same day, same river, three different anglers.
We fished only Skagit lines on the Olympic Peninsula rivers. This is the standard method up there and the way most anglers are going to swing flies for winter steelhead. Summer steelhead are usually more Scandi first and a Skagit line when it’s bright or the water is up, cold or off color. Our tips were almost exclusively T-11 Medium Mow tips. I stayed with this tip both days, but some went up to T-14 Heavy Mow tips. I did play around with the Rio 3D Mow tips which feature a graduated density and turn over cleanly but don’t stay quite as deep as the full 10’ T-11, which has no taper or graduation. My running line was 50# Rio Slickshooter mono. I am mostly using mono running line on all my 2 handed rods and I use the same 50# for most of my trout Spey setups as well. There is a little more to hold onto with the 50# mono, and fewer headaches and tangles than the lighter mono. The 50# pound seems to shoot just as far with my 4-wt trout Spey. In addition to the ease of shooting mono, picking it up off the water to mend is a dream. It breaks the surface tension instantly and doesn’t have enough weight to pull the head out of the swing by simply lifting the rod. You must stretch it out before you fish and ought to be doing that with your coated running lines as well.
The 13’ 7-weight is the standard issue rod for the OP and I fished the Asquith 7130 for 95% of the trip. It is a remarkable Spey rod possessing a light tip with all the substance in the world behind it. This rod flexes through all stages of the cast and holds the D Loop high and ready for the forward stroke. I liked the 23’ head of the Rio Elite Skagit Launch and ultimately found that 550 grains was ideal for this fishing. I preferred the heavier of my two reels. Having a reel that balanced in the middle of the cork, rather than closer to the top, kept my bottom hand lower through the cast and the tip of the rod upright with more room to form the D-Loop and drive the cast off the tip. I would not prefer a reel this heavy for Scandi casting but enjoyed the extra counterweight for Skagit casting. The Asquith rods all have this supernatural ability to flex and recover while being unbelievably light in the hand and responsive. I will dream about the next time I have a chance to fish it, right up until the moment I’m stretching my running line.
The second day we booked guides to float the Bogachiel. We’re rigging up and I’m shaking with anticipation and hot blooded to get my fly swinging. I make a couple of swings, get the cursory compliment on my casting, a “That’ll work” meaning he feels like he has something to work with, as opposed to a “Let’s try this” meaning there’s some work to do before we’re dangerous. My first swing caught no comment, my second swing swung up a “Let’s try this.” I didn’t handle it well, I was too worked up already, and I hope I was able to hide my internal dialogue, but my presumed expert ass ran into an actual 
expert, and it took me a second to clear my head and pay attention to what the guy who knows what he’s doing is trying to teach me. I am admittedly a bad client, (great guide, I believe) but a bad client. I have always wanted to figure everything out on my own and could not interpret what he was telling me. Then I asked him to do what I often do for my clients: show me what you want it to look like. Seeing the mechanics of his swing with the line on the water made his explanation of what’s happening make sense to me. Mark watched a swing with the newly learned style, let me work the swing without suggestion, then faded up the bank to check in with the others. Not fifteen minutes later I was tight to a steelhead. That was the only true instruction Mark gave me that day and I did not want it, but definitely needed it. I will do my best to describe the swing technique below, but consider booking a Trout Spey trip on the Gunnison and I’ll show you.
How to get your sink tips deep, keep them deep and SWIM your flies through likely water: Make your cast and do your best to straighten out your tip and leader. Shorter and straight is better than long and piled, but a piled-up cast will work itself out too. When your head lands, drop your rod tip to the water for at least a second or two. Resist the urge to mend immediately by raising the rod and pulling the line. When you raise the rod tip to reposition your line by pulling the head, you are interrupting the tip from sinking. If your cast didn’t straighten out your line, I promise the current will do it for you automatically. The water is working to do this with your tip the moment it touches the water. Let the water do the work for you. Now our running line is on surface of the water and our rod is low to the surface of the water as well. The line is out and away from our position and moving downstream.
Point your rod perpendicular to the current. You are going to feel tension build into the rod as the river carries the line downstream and the tip digs in. If you attempt to hold this rod position, I promise the river will pull you off your stance with a T-11 10’ tip. Do that the first time, try to hold the rod against the current until the tip comes back up. The beginning of that tension sensation is your starting point for your swing. When you feel this tension, begin your swing by following the line with the rod.
To steer the line, begin with your rod tip directly in line with your swinging head. To slow it down and make it dig a little more, move your rod tip towards the middle of the river. To speed up the fly and bring it up a little, move your rod tip towards the bank. A good swing will have you moving the rod tip slightly to either side as your fly moves through different current speeds or structure.
This is the specific swing technique I use for Skagit head and tip systems. I do not swing dry lines in this manner, but the next time I find myself with a Scandi head and a Type 6 Versileader I plan on giving this method a try.
Most importantly, get out there and practice with your equipment and become proficient with casting and swinging, both of which are far less complicated than nearly all forms of trout fishing. There is just a little learning curve, like any new technique. Trout Spey gear is a tremendous way to get your swings in and stay sharp on your two-handed casting throughout the year. The fishing tactics are a little different for trout and steelhead, but the casting translates perfectly. In fly fishing, there is no more rewarding way to exercise hope than swinging a two-handed rod. The casting is always good and that’s what you spend most of your time doing, watching loops lay out and guiding your little fly 
of hope down and across likely water. I promise it will be good for you.
[back to G.Loomis Chronicles, Part 1: Factory Tour]
[back to G.Loomis Chronicles, Part 2: Steelhead Country]
[G.Loomis fly rod pages]