Latest Trend in Steelhead Fishing

[AKSkim]

I have been saying it for years; Steelhead fishing is and never has been about numbers. Let me just repeat myself, Steelhead fishing is and never has been about numbers. Period.

Now that I have that out of the way. For years I’ve fished for steelies with a fly rod, last couple I have taken up the two handed rod, which is a lot more enjoyable swinging a fly with far less stress and strain on my shoulder. I can while away the hours roll casting; double spey, and of course my favorite the Snap-T without a care in the world.

Until recently however, I have begun to notice the encroachment of my fishing spots in a form of bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species homosapiens. Yes lads, I am talking about center pinners.

It is becoming increasing difficult to be fishing for hours without a single tug on your fly line, and a quick glance up stream to those other primates and seeing them hauling in steelhead after steelhead. I have closed my eyes and mind to it long enough, but the thought of fresh, feisty, chrome steelheads leaping and running amuck on the river is too much to bare, that scene which keeps creeping in to delve deep into my psyche. When will it all end… I wake up in a cold sweat thinking I am on the <ST1Salmon River </ST1with a center pin reel in my hand… the horror of it all.

For those of you considering on going over to the dark side, just wait, give it more than a second thought, look at what your giving up in return, the feeling of casting a fly dozens of feet across the river and stuff like that, if that won’t do it, I beg you to consider your vise. Yes, your vise, to just toss away those thousands of hour sitting behind it tying salmon or steelhead flies will now become a thing of the pass.

Don’t be foolish and give it all up for a few hundred steelies leaping at the end of your line every weekend. No I beg you to hold on; your soul will be saved if you remain as one of the veracious FLY FISHERMAN!

As always, trying to keep the faith in dark times.

 

[CR]

What an interesting dilemma you present here. IF fishing is not about catching a lot of fish, then what is it about fly fishing, exclusively, that makes it okay not to catch a lot of fish?

 

[frogge]

Hey,
Very philosophical problem. Certainly I've come to the unobvious conclusion that although fishing is not just about catching fish, it does in some way have to involve some catching. It also occurs to me that the more centerpinning is talked about, the more popular it is likely to become. This board is the only place I've come into contact with the term. Maybe a time will come when fly fishing will be an entry drug to the centerpinning drug. Have to admit if I invest six hours on the road, at least a whole day of free time and am splashing around in a river without even the solitude I love. The consulation of catching a fish would be a sore temptation. Better to put the fly rod away. Take up the kayak and cruise till the ice comes. Toodles,Frogge.

 

[AKSkim]

Very philosophical problem. Toodles,Frogge.

Is that like having a Corona without a lime?

 

[DoubleHaul]

Point of order: When talking steelhead fishing in the Midwestern New York area all beer analogies should hail to the Genesee</ST1
AK-</ST1 I feel the same way about two handed rods that you do about center pinning. Basically, I tolerate it because I have no right to change it.
Kay-sarra sarra (sp)
DH

 

[AKSkim]

When talking steelhead fishing in the Midwestern New York area all beer analogies should hail to the Genesee</ST1
Kay-sarra sarra (sp)
DH

DH,

I thought about sending you a PM pointing out just how far off base you truly are. Then again... I can't help myself.

Glad to hear you like Genesee... I can deal with that.

What I can't deal with is your stupity. See Corona is brewed in Mexico. That is only 12 miles south of Pulaski (Salmon River is located there you know) off of Rt. 81!

I have passed the exit to Mexico going up, and coming back. I can't tell you how many times I felt like taking the exit and see just when my favorite brew is... .... brewed.

As always, good to know what I am talking about.

AK Skim
Sr. Board Member
New Jersey Chapter
National Geographical Society

 

[Future Fanatic]

Glad to hear you like Genesee... I can deal with that.

What I can't deal with is your stupity. See Corona is brewed in Mexico. That is only 12 miles south of Pulaski (Salmon River is located there you know) off of Rt. 81!

I have passed the exit to Mexico going up, and coming back. I can't tell you how many times I felt like taking the exit and see just when my favorite brew is... .... brewed.
AK Skim
Sr. Board Member
New Jersey Chapter
National Geographical Society

I'm a bit disappointed in this resident of the Red Sox Nation.
Everyone knows that the "official" beer of ANY MLB team is Bud (or in your case, Bud Lite). Shouldn't a fan of your stature be partaking of these?

"Mexico!" I hear. Well put down the Corona oh graspers of MLB's premio magnífico... You should be hoisting a Cerveza Pacifico to stay within the bounds of the treaties that the Red Sox were a party to.

Limes are for Gin, traitors.

 

[Corndog]

AK, this is your father...come over to the dark side.

I'll be leaving in the weeeee hours of the mornin to head north to the sacred steelie lies to CP the heck out of em.

Numbers don't matter, not a bit, but I'll PM you tomorrow with the vast multitudes that hammered what was hangin under my sheffield.

You want a real Corona you gotta go to the Philippines and drink it warm.
Mexico Corona is for woosies.
Cdog

 

[McAwful]

Centerpinning is about as sporting as fishing with Dynamite. So effective that any fat kid can be a pro in an hour. You all have lousey taste in beer. Guiness or PBR.

p00ned by

McA

 

[eddavidson9]

You all have lousey taste in beer. Guiness or PBR.

PBR? Are you serious? I love the stuff...but it is far from quality

Point of order: When talking steelhead fishing in the Midwestern New York area all beer analogies should hail to the Genesee

ahhhh, sweet sweet Genny Cream Ale

Sorry for taking this off-topic, but going with the beer theme, anyone fishing the (NY) Battenkill would do well to make a detour to Davidson Bro's in Glens Falls...sure, I may be a bit biased, but they have both the best IPA and Brown Ale I've had. (no, i don't see any revenues associated with shameless promotion of this establishment...but maybe I should)

 

[flyman23]

AK,
One of the reasons I took up flyfishing years ago is because I find it to be much more challenging then any other method. If your looking for numbers I think fishing with bait would be the way to go. Fishing egg sacks on a pin under a float is very effective. I have no problem with that as long as one is fishing ethically. I however, get more satisfaction catching one or two fish on a fly then catching a bunch of fish any other way. That said it can be frustrating watching someone pull in a bunch of fish when your not catching anything. Just think about when there is a hatch on your have the right fly and the bait boys are catching nothing.

 

[frogge]

Hey,
Don't want to stir the centerpinning pot any more, but couldn't resist weighing in on beer. I spent a good deal of time in Rochester and have even swam in Hemlock Lake, the source of gennie beer's water. Nobody, not even the down and outer's drink gennie in Rochester. If you don't have the coin for Stella Artois, then at least get Gennie Cream ale. Unfortunately the most dinkable of the central NY brews in my opinion was Utica Club. I've never gotten the point of Corona, insipid stuff. Toodles,Frogge.

 

[Green Highlander]

Corona is the Genessee of Mexico and the reason you need to put a lime in it is because the beer tastes so fowl. Dos Equiis is the premium beer of Mexico hands down. The most overrated beer on the planet is Coors (Rocky Mtn. piss) Unfortunately, I "took the pledge" half my life ago and missed out on all of the micro brews so I cannot comment on them but when I was in my "Otis from Mayberry" mode in Lake George (head bartender for 7 years at DJ's Night Club) I was partial to Molson Red, Michelob, "basic" Bud and Heineken. When I was in college I drank PBR's almost exclusively because it tastes like Bud but was half the price...

Green Highlander

 

[Shaq]

I like my beer dark, my liquor hard and Double Haul...Chicks dig the 2-hander

 

[JeffK]

Beer and fishing - where to start.

As a multi species, multi tackle kind of guy I look at fly purists with an odd look. If the centerpinners are killing them with spawn sacks, then it is time to take off the wet fly and put on a sucker spawn or some other egg fly under an indicator. Fly tackle can do a nice dead drift too. If the fish are more aggressive and the pluggers are killing them on yellow lures, then a yellow streamer goes on. What size, color, depth, and action works for spinning guys? It will probably work with a fly. Fly guys watch the birds, the bugs, and the water - but watching how the non-fly guys are doing is another sign of what they are taking.

I love to swing a Jock Scott or Blue Charm on a bamboo rod for traditions sake - and many days it is effective. Other days you got to go with the flow to catch fish. If you want to stick with one style regardless of what the fish want, then you better get used to not being the high hook all the time.

In my central NYS days I drank Genny Cream Ale fairly regularly, but I also observed that plain old Gennessee was a rare sight. If you wanted to drink cheap beer Topper was cheaper and just as nasty. For Canadian beer, I sure liked Moosehead - it was good and way cheaper in NYS than in NJ. The microbrew scene has improved life, but some days they go just too far. My kids drink all these weird Belgian style beers which I can take one of once in a while, and I just say no to beers flavored with chocolate or raspberry.

 

[BIGBOW]

What an interesting dilemma you present here. IF fishing is not about catching a lot of fish, then what is it about fly fishing, exclusively, that makes it okay not to catch a lot of fish?

It would be called catching and not fishing if it was all about the catch. I think it's more about being in the outdoors, either alone or with close friends or family. I also enjoy the the places fly fishing for trout takes us. Both trout and most insects they feed off of live in environments that call for clear, clean, and cool water, which nine times out of ten happens to be in some of the most tranquil destinations available to us fly fishermen. And then... there's the satisfying enjoyment in knowing there's a cooler close by and some beers with my name on them (if I'm in NY I always look for Coopers Cave Ales). Tight lines yall.

 

[DoubleHaul]

Off brand beer so bad it would make a pumpkin puke :rofl:

 

[DoubleHaul]

I like my beer dark, my liquor hard and Double Haul...Chicks dig the 2-hander

Sorry guys, My first & most lasting experience with the 2 handed crowd was RUDE CANADIANS on the Saranac- Never forgot it- hog the hole, throw their cig butts in the water & trying to hook the guy upstream with that big circle cast. Get a bamboo rod & roll cast like a champ!

 

[smittin]

for me the answer is simple, catching any fish on anything other than a fly brings some fun but no satisfaction what so ever. You ever cheat your way to win it's just ruins everything. The whole point of fishing to me is more about experience, work, knowledge, and pleasure with end resulting in learning how to catch fish in a sporting manner. You saw my post about my fist trip to salmon river, my guide wanted me to drift egg sacks, ha ha ha, wouldn't do it but the pics say it all. You can still have a good day on the water and the guy's fishing other way's may catch more fish more day's but are missing the best fishing day they ever had pure on a fly!!!

 

[rford]

what's a steelhead?

 

[Corndog]

what's a steelhead?

It's a genetically altered breed of rainbow trout that grows a chunk of metal in it's head, so it can be caught on a magnet fly or magnetic egg imitation. The magnetic fly pattern I use is steel hook that I rub against a magnet to polarize the molecules and then glue a piece of red sponge to it. You can get the red sponge at any local fly shop up at the Salmon River.

Some of you come down pretty hard on guys that fish with something other than a fly rod. I would bet that most of us started out with a spinning reel or closed faced reel (Zebco 202) and used a worm for bait, then when we had kids we started them out the same way and now they have kids and ... I know a lot of bait dunkers that are great guys and fishermen. I say to each his own and leave it at that.

And we all know, sometimes it is about numbers. Usually not, but sometimes I just wanna catch fish after fish after fish. It must be the caveman in me.

Cdog

 

[AKSkim]

Sir Corn Dog,

A quote from James Leisenring himself,
"We all fish for our own enjoyment - me for mine and you for yours."

What does it mean...? There is no right or wrong way how each of us fish.

As always, quote someone when you don't have a clue.

AK Skim

 

[Corndog]

Sir Corn Dog,

A quote from James Leisenring himself,
"We all fish for our own enjoyment - me for mine and you for yours."

What does it mean...? There is no right or wrong way how each of us fish.

As always, quote someone when you don't have a clue.

AK Skim

I'll key in on your quoted word "enjoyment".
Well...when we were kids, back on the farm, we didn't use our hands to remove a bluegill from the hook. We had an easier and enjoyable fun way. First we would swing them around over our heads, on the end of our line, like a helicopter. If they didn't fly off, rendering them lipless, we would then slam to the ground, rendering them senseless. Sometimes one of the cats would grab the fish, then we would do the same with it until it came off the hook. If this makes you uneasy, it's okay. We were within our rights as landowners.

Cdog

 

[AKSkim]

I'll key in on your quoted word "enjoyment".
Well...when we were kids, back on the farm, we didn't use our hands to remove a bluegill from the hook. We had an easier and enjoyable fun way. First we would swing them around over our heads, on the end of our line, like a helicopter. If they didn't fly off, rendering them lipless, we would then slam to the ground, rendering them senseless. Sometimes one of the cats would grab the fish, then we would do the same with it until it came off the hook. If this makes you uneasy, it's okay. We were within our rights as landowners.

Cdog

Your begining to scare ... ME !

 

[dcabarle]

I'll key in on your quoted word "enjoyment".
Well...when we were kids, back on the farm, we didn't use our hands to remove a bluegill from the hook. We had an easier and enjoyable fun way. First we would swing them around over our heads, on the end of our line, like a helicopter. If they didn't fly off, rendering them lipless, we would then slam to the ground, rendering them senseless. Sometimes one of the cats would grab the fish, then we would do the same with it until it came off the hook. If this makes you uneasy, it's okay. We were within our rights as landowners.

Cdog

You were easy with the bluegill's. Can you say FIRECRACKER!

 

[Corndog]

LOL DC,

...and cherry bombs.

Cdog

 

[Future Fanatic]

... but sometimes I just wanna catch fish after fish after fish.

Let us not forget the lesson that Mr. Serling taught us in "A Nice Place to Visit". Dead, Rocky Valentine finds himself in heaven. Every time he rolls the dice, he wins; pulls the arm of the slot machine, he wins; three women...well you get the picture. It ends with him talking to his supposed "Guardian Angel", Pip...

"ROCKY: Come on. Sit down, Fats. Sit down. Now, look, I don't know how to explain this but it just ain't the same thing. I mean, what's the kick knocking off a bank if everybody knows about it, huh. And the dames! I never thought I would get bored with beautiful dames but...look, look, I wouldn't expect an angel to understand this, see, but, but, being a big guy with a chick - it don't mean anything if it's all set up in advance. And, I mean, everything is great here, you see, really great. It's just the way I always imagined it except that, that, just between you and me, Fats, I don't think I belong here. I don't think I fit in.

PIP: Oh, nonsense. Of course you do!

ROCKY: No, no, I mean it. I mean it. Somebody must have goofed. If I gotta stay here another day I'm gonna go nuts! Look, look, I don't belong in heaven, see. I want to go to the other place.

PIP: Heaven? Whatever gave you the idea you were in heaven, Mr. Valentine? This is the other place!! Hahahahaha!!! Hahahahahaha!!! Hohohohohoho!!"

I bet Rod would have been a fly fisher.

 

[Scott]

Someone told me some ago that the river the Corona brewery gets its water from has a tannery just upstream of it. The river is diverted through a concrete trough which runs through the middle of the tannery where they soak the hides.

AK - I thought you knew Mexico is in Maine?

Guinness gives you strength!

And you can keep your Stella Artois, I'd rather have a Duvel, or Hoegaarden Grand Cru...

 

[artist]

I suspect few know or remember when the gypsy moth decaying bodies and dung polluted hemlock lake making the water undrinkable for Rochester.... perhaps that has some explanation for the local beer flavor.

And Mr AK.... you have to wait just a little longer i fear for the illegals to receive the driver's licences here in NYS... then there will be a case of Corona in every trunk... truly a marvelous time to be a New Yorker.

Like you Mr AK... pointing out how progressive the thinking in NYS is.... BTW... with the new policy and a few illicit documents we all can have a secondary driving licence for those times being an honest and legal US citizen just isn't enough. .... or when our health care policy just doesn't measure up to the free services we afford illegals.

As for the original topic... center pinning is a pursuit like any other that should have an ethical enthusiast... unfortunately many that practice the sport feel they can 'own' a pool or run... and take exception to any that may already be in place w a fly rod... or wish to participate in any of the expanse of river or stream that the center pinning fisherman can possibly reach. It is all about individuals... and how they view their personal ethics.

 

[AKSkim]

I suspect few know or remember when the gypsy moth decaying bodies and dung polluted hemlock lake making the water undrinkable for Rochester.... perhaps that has some explanation for the local beer flavor.



And Mr AK.... you have to wait just a little longer i fear for the illegals to receive the driver's licences here in NYS... then there will be a case of Corona in every trunk... truly a marvelous time to be a New Yorker.

Now I can't be blamed for that. YOU Empire people voted to elect THAT WOMAN... ummm Ms. Clinton, she and her husband at the time brought that NAFTA legislation in.

Like you Mr AK... pointing out how progressive the thinking in NYS is.... BTW... with the new policy and a few illicit documents we all can have a secondary driving licence for those times being an honest and legal US citizen just isn't enough. .... or when our health care policy just doesn't measure up to the free services we afford illegals.

Showz me your papers please...

As for the original topic... center pinning is a pursuit like any other that should have an ethical enthusiast... unfortunately many that practice the sport feel they can 'own' a pool or run... and take exception to any that may already be in place w a fly rod... or wish to participate in any of the expanse of river or stream that the center pinning fisherman can possibly reach. It is all about individuals... and how they view their personal ethics.

Better yet, get your own bazooka toting chipmunk.. that will keep them at bay.

[/quote]

On my up here this week I got off Rt. 81 and headed on over to Mexico to locate the brewery of Corona's. After driving around and not finding it, I finally came upon a scruffy looking gent standing at an intersection.

I lowered my window and politely asked where the Corona Brewery was located?

Judging by his accent, he was without a doubt from the Empire State.

He looked at me with dirty windshield washer in hand... "Yo- I look like Rand F-N McNally to you!!!???"

Maybe Scott is correct. It is in Maine afterall.