Joined: 05 May 2012 Posts: 851 Location: Meriden, CT
Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 10:46 pm Post subject: Why? Winter Steelhead
Friends and family often ask me why the heck I drive 5 hours to upstate NY in the dead of winter to stand all day in waist deep water in sub-freezing temperatures. Even the guys I drag up there, like my brother, are pretty skeptical when I assure them that it will be into the double digits and quite balmy by lunchtime. My friend and guide Scott Glazier sent me a photo two days before my last trip showing a morning low of 22 BELOW! It's cold enough that waders can stand on their own.
If you had proposed this to me when I lived in Virginia, I would have thought it nuts as well. After all, in well less than five hours I could be standing in the surf at Hatteras. What it boiled down to was my cabin fever reached a point where I would give just about anything (other than staring at a 6" hole in the ice) a go. What upstate NY holds is a truly wonderful winter fishery, full of big, angry steelhead who will strip your reels and get your adrenaline pumping. The meek have called it quits for the winter, leaving the hardy to enjoy a lot of space in this productive fishery.
Want to know why I do it? Here's why! (Updated video)
Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 392 Location: Berlin, CT
Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 11:16 pm Post subject:
Great video! You are right about those Steelhead. There is nothing like hooking into one of them, hearing your drag scream and watching them go insane.
If you look to the right of the screen nine seconds into the video you'll see Melinda's fly shop. That's where I used to stay for 20 dollars a night until she stopped doing it for people.
What do you guys use for weight and line up there?
Joined: 05 May 2012 Posts: 851 Location: Meriden, CT
Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:58 pm Post subject:
Melinda's is still there. I'm not sure if she is open year round or only during salmon season. This time of year I'm using a 4-6lb. leader on either my fly or spinning depending on how finicky the fish are. Either flouro or the Maxim brown. I'll use 6-8wt. rods, or my noodle rods. The other weekend, the single soft plastic eggs were my best producers. Hope to get back up in the next week or two, and have a weekend set up with some friends in March. _________________ RNA - It's in my blood.
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Joined: 19 Jun 2011 Posts: 1672 Location: Naugatuck, Ct.
Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:00 pm Post subject:
Dear God I wish I had the money to do this right now. Finally just bought a new boiler and had it installed and that set me back $5000! Plus a cord of wood delivered the day before that but next year for sure. Would you be interested in guiding me next year? Im no wimp to the weather, if the river wasnt frozen over Id be fishing every day still!!! _________________ There's a fine line between fishing....
Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 392 Location: Berlin, CT
Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:02 pm Post subject:
I use the Maxim brown line also. Last year a local, who I fish with up there, brought his friend who turned out to be one of the best fisherman I've seen. He saw that I was using the brown line and wasn't hooking up at all. He told me the fish see it in the water so he set me up with the clear fluorocarbon. I definitely hooked up more but the line broke so easily. Needless to say I'm stuck in a bind now. I don't know if I'd rather hook up with more fish and lose them or hook up with less fish but land them.
When I asked you about weight I was referring to lead on your line. I've noticed more people are going weightless and fishing with floats. Just curious on how you rig up.
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