Fly Fishing - Ramblings of a Great Lakes Spey Addict Cast and Step

waterwhippa · Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 5:58 pm Post subject: To Cold To Swing Spey Flies?

I have heard guys say that the water is to cold to swing spey flies. They eat the egg if you put it in front of them all winter. Would it be any different than a big popsicle? Don't they swing flies in the Pacific NW all winter long with solid results? Curious.

Shaq · Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:13 pm Post subject:

Hey whip...this is my goal this winter. To swing flies on the salmon at least for 1/2 the day every day I fish. I want to find out the same thing. I have heard that the magic temperature is 40 degrees. The Temp this weekend was 40 degrees however we lost about 6 degrees of water temp in 2 days so that may have been the reason the fish would not chase a swung fly. Or, the water hit 40 and that was it. Now the factors that I have heard, NOT TO START A WHOLE EAST COAST WEST COAST---2PAC BIGGIE THING, Is that our winters are a bit harsher. More snow, more biting cold and colder water temps for longer periods of time than the pacific NW. Even SW Alaska stays a bit temperate because of the ocean, not so with the lakes. They make the winters a bit worse. This is just what I have heard. So even though the water temps will drop down into the 33 degree range in the PAc NW, they do not stay there for very long and in the Great Lakes the temp could stay like that for weeks. Will they take? MAybe. I have heard theories on barometric pressure, sunlight, winter thaws ect. I think that maybe they would take a swung fly if the conditions improve, maybe the water temp comes up a half of a degree or the pressure stays consistant for 2 days ect. It will be fun to find out. I did not take a fish Sun or Mon on a swung fly in 40 degree water running at 2000+cfs in Pineville....WHen they drop the water next Tues. to 750? Well it's on baby!! Please post your findings so I can keep my journal up to date. MAybe we can start a Fish Porn type post in the spey forum where we can post the fish and the fly it was caught on...On the swing, and the conditions it was caught...

waterwhippa · Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:23 pm Post subject:

The theory is a good one and needs to be put to the test. I will do the same thing this season. From here on out I will nymph in the morning and swing the spey in the afternoon. I like the idea about putting the pics in the forum with the fly they took.

jason-c · Newbie Joined: Apr 02, 2004 Posts: 101

When it comes to temperatures I think that temperature changes are the real factor. When it drops fast the fish go on lock down. When it goes up-look out! Obviously fish are more sluggish when it is cold but wouldn't you rather get one on the swing rather than 5 on, well, any other method?

jeremy · Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 7:19 pm Post subject: swing

hey --- getting steelhead on streamers/spey flies on the swing is something that i have personally been trying to do for a few years ... last spring kranefly dialed into the steelies in the tribs with streamers ... and caught a few .. whippa did too ... i did not try long enough and stuck with the dead drift egg and wooly bugger method ... here is what i observed though ..... the steelies were infact hammering the streamer pattern (i think kranefly and whippa were using a black ghost) .. the were standing upstream .. swinging the fly downstream and at the end of the drift giving it sufficient hang time ... (whip correct me if i am wrong) ... so, i saw it with my own two eyes ... steelehead pouncing on the streamers ... and i came to the personal conclusion that it was more so out of agression than hunger ..... so then i thought about drift boats and plugging ... i have seen them in the dead of winter go by me and light up a steelhead run even at first lightish .... granted they are using rattle plugs or whatever but the fundamental premise is the same ... they get the lure to have enough hangtime infront of the steelheads face to entice an aggressive orientated strike ..... so, it only makes sense that a spey guy or even a single handed guy could infact swing streamers and instead of interpreting the end of the drift as when the swing ends ... give the streamer/spey fly sufficient hang time directly downstream ... and logically it only makes sense that the same results could be achieved .... so, i guess my question is this ... at the end of the day ... would it make sense to fish the streamer/spey fly with less of a big sweeping swing and more of a downstream smaller swing in order to achieve the effect of giving the fly tons of "hang time" and possibly pissing a steelhead off enough to pounce on the fly .... with that said, big attractor noisy colored patterns would seem like the best spey or streamer flies to use...??????

year after year i want to try this .. but i always get sucked into the things i know and it sounds like a good plan online .. but on the water when there is ice in my guides and i am jonesing for a hook-up its tought to excercise self discipline and try something that i don't feel nearly as confident as i do with the indicator/very little weight/dead drift egg pattern in the tailouts/slow water methods ...

jason-c · Newbie Joined: Apr 02, 2004 Posts: 101

How you swing is important. You don't want that fly ripping diagonally accross the current for several reason. It will pull off the bottom for one reason. Under most conditions the swing should be more like a sweep so that the fly is pointed up river rather than accross the current and it should swing slowly. Accurate casting and mending is what helps accomplishes that effect that the guys pulling plugs get easily.

SS-280 · Newbie Joined: Nov 09, 2006 Posts: 24 Location: New Jersey

I have been swinging flys this season primarily with fair success. I plan on continuing swinging flys throughout the winter. I will be changing pattern that I do use though. I will be switching from un weighted tubes to weighted tubes. I also plan on tying a lot of dumbbell eyed flys like the Skagit minnow. I will also work on casting 45 degrees upstream instead of across. By getting that extra angle upstream I hope to give my fly more time to drop into the zone. Once I get the fly where I want it I will work on either slowing the swing down or speeding it up till I achieve the desired results.

I am sure between the entire FF group we will take many steel on the swing this winter.

waterwhippa · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:13 pm Post subject: Kustich doesn't think so

Rick Kustich wrote:

"Great Lakes steelhead take a swinging fly even in the winter, but when the water is cold they don't move too far. Fishing the fly slow and near the bottom is the best bet. Most fish take at the start of the swing as the fly drifts with the current on a tight line or at the end of the swing".