Fly Fishing

kory_k · Location: New York, NY

Being steelhead season, there is a lot of "chatter" across my network of friends and fellow steelhead fanatics. I get emails, texts, facebook messages, calls etc every few days from one of my buddies that is either going steelhead fishing, wants to go steelhead fishing or has just got back from steelhead fishing. This is both east and west coast...great lakes tribs, west coast rivers and British Columbia. Tis the season! Over the past week and a half two of those friends were in BC (not together, they don't know each other), and both of them were texting me over the course of their trip. One of them had never been there and has limited experience swinging flies for steelhead (which is what he went there for) and he was going with another guy with zero experience steelhead fishing and zero experience in BC. They are both fly fishing guides in Montana, so they are experienced with fly fishing. The other friend is a good fishing buddy of mine from Utah who is also a fly fishing guide and is very experienced both steelhead fishing and fishing in BC after I invited him on a trip to BC about 5 or so years ago. He was with two other guys who both are also fly fishing guides and also are fairly experienced. The reason I mention their background is so you can see the cross section of guys that were on the trip.

The friend who was on his first trip was very psyched and I actually talked him into going to BC when he told me he had two weeks off and was going to spend it in Washington. Nothing against Washington, but if you can go to BC where all the fish are wild and native (no hatcheries), the runs of fish are pretty sizeable by west coast standards, and the potential for trophy fish over 20 and 30 lbs is fairly high. Anyway, we had extensive discussions about fly selection, what spey rod to buy, what lines to use, where to go etc. After he was there for a few days I heard that he had caught a steelhead (a small one, but still a steelhead) and he texted me about how psyched he was. The friend he was with had not caught one yet, but all was good and they were still enthusiastic. As the trip progressed I would get updates by text from him. He ended up getting another small steelhead, but his friend was still fishless. Toward the end of the trip, his texts told me that his friend was getting pretty frustrated and by the last few days he essentially quit fishing and ultimately went home without catching a steelhead.

The other friend that is quite experienced was also texting me updates and he was catching fish despite lower water conditions. Again, he has a lot of experience both in BC and steelheading in general so he had that advantage. He had a few days where he hooked at least 3 steelhead (good numbers for swinging on west coast rivers) including a 36 inch fish. However, the two other experienced guys with him were not having the same success. I don't know them as well and am not sure how much time they have spent there but do know they have fished steelhead a fair amount. From my buddy's messages I was informed that they were not enjoying themselves and were expressing that the river was "stale" and that they were ready to bail out and head back to the states to fish rivers they were more comfortable with despite the good success of my friend. Their attitudes also deteriorated and they were quitting early and fished less and less each day eventually persuading my friend that they should head home.

Both of these stories are examples of what my brother and i originally coined "steelhead funk". We came up with it after many trips of watching various friend's (and ourselves) mental state deteriorate to the point of being very negative, fishing with little or zero confidence and basically just quitting. In some extreme cases, I have even had friends threatening to throw all their gear off of a bridge into the river. Now looking back, there is a lot of humor in these scenarios, but at the time it wasn't that funny and in fact made for very difficult situations for everybody not just the guy who wasn't catching as many fish. It isn't fun for anyone on the trip when one or more guys is super negative, has no confidence and eventually starts bringing the whole group down. Eventually everyone doesn't fish as hard and it can actually end a trip early (like in the examples above). The steelhead funk is an ugly thing and it exists in all difficult forms of fly fishing, not just steelhead. I have watched it and experienced it myself. It starts with not catching fish when others are, which at first is ok, then if it keeps happening the fishless guy starts to question what he is doing wrong, then he starts trying different things and experimenting (worst thing to do), then continues to catch nothing, changes flies, lines etc. decreasing fishing time...continues to catch nothing...watches other guy hook and land fish...gets frustrated...starts to doubt that he will catch anything at all and starts quitting early and talking about how the fishing is slow or sucks...even decreasing chances of catching further until the guy is basically fishing so fast, changing flies and techniques so frequently and quitting early that he has basically created a scenario where he will never catch fish. It is a vicious cycle, but it can be avoided and overcome. The key is to remain confident no matter what, fish the way you know works without experimentation and fish harder. If you stick with it, eventually you will hook fish and you will appreciate them all the more. If you let the steelhead funk takeover, the opposite will happen and you will go home frustrated.

Steelheading is often an exercise of mental control more than anything else...another element of what makes it so difficult yet so rewarding! Anyway, this was just something that I thought I would mention being steelhead season. Any of you guys ever experience the steelhead funk?

joey · Location: Colorado

This time of year I am in the Steelhead funk everyday. Not being able to pick up and drive 7 hours to get any sort of fix really bums me out. I get a couple trips in a year but it is always a toss of the dice. Before I moved out west I could drive to the Great Lakes and fish for a couple days then come home now I have to fly to find my steelhead....not nearly as easy as hoping in the truck. With reports all over the web, followed by pictures and video it only deepens my funk.

I know of the funk that Kory talks about and I used to get it...get it bad when I first started Steelhead Fly Fishing. Doing excatly what kory stated. changing my flies, leader lenghts, weight, losing confidence...then when i did finally hook a fish i was so nervous i would loose it and be totally bummed. Now, everytime I am able to be on the water fishing for chrome I just relax, of course I am naturally amped up to be there, but I find a mellow mood works better for me. When things are slow I take five, look around and appreciate that I am fishing and not working. I have started saying this, "look how amazing it is here, catching a fish is a bonus." kinda korny i know but I think that sometimes we all get so wrapped up in catching "big moe" that we forget to take in our surroundings and appreciate where we are. So next time the funk sets in. wheather you are Steelheading, trout fishing or anything for that matter. Stay confident, take five and re-group.....the Steelhead will come.

kory_k · Location: New York, NY

Joey,
Definitely hear you on that...it is difficult when you have to go through so much travel to be able to fish. Funny thing for me is that I actually have a shorter travel time (4.5 hrs) now living in New York City than I did when I lived in Utah (6 hrs) to get to steelhead fish. Tough situation for you now though when it is realistically out of range for a weekend driving trip. Funny how it works though, it seems that the grass is always greener. You have killer trout fishing right out your back door, but by this time of the year you get burned out by it and want something different and so steelhead fill that void. Used to be the same for me and friends in Utah. I lived 5 minutes from the Green River when I guided out there and we would drive 12 plus hours to steelhead fish at the end of the season even though the fishing on the Green was on fire because we were burned out on that. I was on a trip to the Olympic Peninsula in washington a few years ago (which takes me 6 hours of plane time plus airport logistics plus 4 hours of car time for a total of about 12 hours of travel time each direction) and I ran into some guys on the ferry that had fly gear as well so I asked them if they were heading steelhead fishing. They told me "hell no" we live here and have spent all winter fishing in miserable, gray, wet, cold conditions for one fish every few days...we are going to Montana to trout fish (which for them was about 6 plus hours of road time). I do get where you are coming from though, when you read all the reports, see all the pics and your friends are constantly telling you about the killer steelhead trip they just had it makes you crazy feeling like you should just quit your job sell everything and move to a steelhead river...

morphius · Posted: Thu 11/05/09 2:22 pm Post subject:

yep, I hear that all the time. It mainly came from me. You see, I didnt catch a steelhead in 5 years and my mind was warbled and completley in shambles. I threw massive attitudes b/c I couldnt hook one. I stunk of that steelhead funk. I got rid of it by catching one and I see it everywhere.