Precipitation and runoff in most the Great Lakes region is unpredictable from remnants of hurricanes in August, to snowmelt throughout the winter and spring, high water conditions are a fact of life for the region’s seasoned steelheader.  Many anglers have schedules that aren’t flexible.  Although everyone would love to fish green water on every outing this is wishful thinking—nothing more, nothing less.

Learning to fish on both water level extremes will allow anglers much more choice when deciding on the stretch to hit next morning.  Expanding potential fishing locations will not only let anglers avoid crowds on prime rivers or in popular spots, but may also make the difference between staying at home and hitting the stream.

This article will focus on fly fishing in higher water conditions with an emphasis on where to fish, what to fish, and how to go about fishing it.

Where to fish:  Know the stretch of river you're fishing. A lot of area steelheaders talk about reading water and how if you can read water you'll be able to find every spot in the stream...BUZZ...that's just plain wrong. There’s no doubt that reading water comes in handy, but there is simply no substitute for knowing the river you fish.

In high water fish will hang tighter to structure (ledges, boulders, trees, stumps, etc.) and at times in higher flows the telltale signs of these pieces of structure won't be visible on the surface--there's no way you'd know that they're there unless you saw it in lower and clearer water conditions.  Inside seams are always a good bet in high water conditions—these areas that are often a slower speed than the main current provide resting and holding places for weary steelhead.  Fish are looking to get out of the heavy flow so sharp corners or bends that have a well defined inside seam (often times these places will have an eddy circling back around as well) are great places to find steelhead under these conditions.  Drop-offs that go from shallow-to-deep are also locations anglers should commit to memory and target during these times.  Situations with these characteristics will create eddies along the stream bottom which can also serve as resting places for steelhead in less than ideal flows.  Searching out tributary mouths and confluences with the main river can be well worth the time in these conditions.  Seeps or sources of clearer and cleaner water can provide steelhead the opportunity to get out of the high and dirty water (which irritates their gills, among other things) and in to a more comfortable setting.

Another great habit to get in to is keeping a journal of your outings. Steelhead aren't very smart--nor are they original; they follow trends that an in-touch and diligent angler can notice and capitalize on. For some reason fish like to sit in particular lies when flows are up and not others despite many similarities between the two. Keeping track of these tendencies can cut down on the time an angler would spend fishing spots that simply don't hold fish under those conditions.

A good fisherman will always be able to tell you the depth of a place he or she is fishing. I personally like to take notice of certain specific reference points--boulders, trees, banks, etc. so I can tell exactly how high up the water is, and then adjust accordingly when fishing. If a boulder on the bank is two feet out of the water in the summer, and I know that the slot I'm trying to fish is three feet deep at that time, then I can come back during steelhead season and know exactly what the depth of the stream is at that particular steelhead lie.

What to fish: In most of the Great Lakes region, higher water is accompanied by a loss in clarity.  Since most steelhead responses to flies are triggered visually, this presents a significant problem for the tributary fly fisherman.  There are two main schools of thought when it comes to combating this problem—the first says “go brighter” while the second says “go darker” in your color choices.  Both approaches have their merits and their followers but share one important belief—generally subscribers to both views will tend to fish larger presentations via either larger hook sizes or more “substance” to the fly patterns themselves during high and stained conditions.

The brighter approach lends itself to fluorescent colors—chartreuse, pink, and orange being steelheader favorites.  These flashy colors can often make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful outing during high and off-color conditions. 

The darker approach, which I personally tend to gravitate towards, is more oriented on creating a silhouette that will stand out in stained water.  To do this, a fly fisherman will look for flies in darker colors such as purples, deep reds, black, brown, and shades of olive. Streamers can also be effective in high and dirty water—particularly ones that create a disturbance in the water.  These streamers that “push” water can be felt by steelhead as they swing through the strike zone, which can certainly help trigger strikes.  Often these types of flies are large in size (size 4 or larger), are tied with a lot of flash and movement, and lastly, have large heads that are not hydrodynamic and therefore, cause a disturbance when moving through the water.

How to fish it:  Fishing high water requires a high degree of persistence—much more so than prime conditions.  Anglers should keep in mind two main things when fishing during these times—keeping the flies down in the strike zone, and having them stay there as long as possible. 

In order to attain these two goals anglers will have to add weight to their presentation.  Additional weight will bring the larger presentation down in to the strike zone of the steelhead, and keep it there despite heavy current.  If using an indicator, use one of larger size that will support the weight of the presentation while still staying afloat.  When swinging flies, consider using a slightly longer sink-tip or more heavily weighted flies in order to prolong the time the fly will stay swinging through the strike zone.  Do your best to swing the flies slow and deep—giving the steelhead more time to “feel” the fly move past it can often make the difference between a strike and the fish ignoring the pass.

Perhaps the most important thing for the angler to remember when fishing under these conditions is to remain persistent.  Make drifts along the same lie multiple time varying different subtleties in your presentation after making a few drifts with each one.  Don’t give up, keep at it, and best of luck when you get out.

Any questions on this subject can be directed to local steelhead and smallmouth bass fly-fishing guide Brett McCrae via email at brett@flyandfloatfishing.com or posted on F&F’s forum.

-Brett McCrae

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