Right on the bottom ?????

Borrowed this idea and thread topic from Westfly. So what is your opinion guys? Do you need to be right on the bottom to be successful? Who catches fish with a floating line in the winter?
What is the optimal temperature to move a fish to a fly? When is it too cold?
I'm relatively new at fly fishing for winter runs so I cannot add much sage advice.
I know there are guys on here who can though so how about it?

[Steelie Mike]

From what I have learned and read over the last few years, if the water temp is <45 degrees then you should opt to get down and dirty. If it is above that then you can get away with not tapping the bottom. I can not tell you about when to use a dry line because I cannot seem to catch/hook many this way. I was also told by an old timer last year that 47 degrees is the key number of when the fish will move to a fly.
The only winter I got last year I got right on the bottom. It was probably <40 degrees out and who knows what the water temp was. I was using a 30ft section of 350 grain line. I was constantly snagging the bottom, when the bottom started to move. Lucky me!
I am still trying to figure it out though. I would love to hear what other people think.

[SilverFly]

It is a good topic and was worth the read on Westfly. I can't say I'm real experienced with winters on the fly either, but I used to have some stellar days slinging bait. I don't know the "majic" temp when steelhead get sluggish and sink to the bottom, but they do. As the water gets colder they seek progressively deeper and slower water.

Forgive me if I "wax nostalgic" about my bait fishing days but it may shed some light on serious coldwater steelheading, fly or otherwise:

I used to look forward to the cold, clear weather periods we would get in January and Febuary. The east wind would blast down the canyon so frigid and dry, it drove virtually all fishermen off the river. Leaving the only a handful of true winter steelhead lunatics! The river would be low, rimmed in ice, and not only gin-clear, but "Bombay Sapphire" gin-clear, with the slightest hint of blue. I would bypass all my favorite drifts, riffles, slots, and runs, to head for one of several deep, slow pools. My weapon of choice was my old Fenwick HMG driftrod (may it rest in peace). It was rigged with 8# Ande, a 4 foot leader, 18" lead dropper (no swivel), and a #4 octopus hook tipped with a single salad shrimp and a wisp of orange yarn. I would position myself just upstream of the deepest part of the hole, - what I thought of as the "bowl-of-the-hole" (corny I know, but that is where the fish always collected in those conditions). Using just enough lead to cast slightly upstream and mostly across the river. I would high-stick the rod to reduce line contact with the water, and freespool allowing the light weight so sink quickly. Engaging the reel at the right time was tricky. Too soon and the bait would sweep across without ticking bottom. Too late and you might be hung up, or miss a take without even knowing it. Get it right, and you would feel your lead touch down ever so gently on the bottom. This was not "normal" drift-fishing. This was actually controlled "bottom dragging". Ideally the lead was in contact with the bottom most of the time, but was kept from hanging up by maintaining some slight, but constant upwards pressure from the rod. The lead would be lifted slowly across each boulder on the river bed, releasing line or reeling in as necessary between "lifts". When done properly, the entire hole could be "scanned" in a downstream sweeping pattern. The takes were always slow, VERY SLOW, but deliberate. None of the transient pauses characteristic of true drift fishing. These were amplified trout bites in slow motion. Setting the hook was the part that made you forget the east side of your face was freezer-burned. Reeling down gently to avoid pulling the hook away, then a gentle lift until the weight of the fish could be felt, finishing with a slight tug to set the small hook. The steelhead would awake slowly with a few sluggish head-shakes. Bright fish always gave themselves away instantly with a series of blue flashes in the deep water. Once fully "awake" they would usually put on a good show, but not with the same intensity of fish in more favorable conditions. The best part was fighting the fish in water so clear it looked like they were floating in air.

FWIW.

[Chas]

Great subject. I am fanatic about monitoring water temperature and have been successful and seen fish boil at 38f up in BC but have yet to duplicate the feat with winter fish in the NW. My understanding has always been that as you drop below 41f your success rate drops substantialy and that the correlation between water temperature and water debth is a critical component in raising fish in cold water. I have spent considerable time skating fly's over spotted fish to no avail then after switching to a sink tip immediately hook up.
I watched a fish boil on a corky several years ago at the red barn on the Kalama which leeds me remain confident that it can be done.

[stoneflyguy]

I use a floating line with a sink tip and I get right on the bottom. Below 42 deg. is the key, at least that's what everything I have read says. I know it is tacky but I carry a thermometer in my pack and test the water in the fall and spring. I don't go on this alone but it does help. I find that if I am tapping bottom I am catching fish. It makes it very hard to fish the slow deep holes and for this I use to use bobber and jig. I have threatened to bring that gear out but can't get myself to do it. I don't like to use weighted flies, thats the reason i use a sink tip. Some fly slingers would say this isn't fly fishing but it is fish catching. My

[AndyK]

Trout look up! So putting your fly under a steelhead means the fish will probably not see the fly. However, winter steelhead seem to hug the bottom more then summer fish. The cold water temperatures makes them sluggish and they won’t move very far (most of the time) to take a fly. That means you will need to put the fly at or just above the level of the fish. I have had winter steelhead chase flies, but they are usually the exception.

You can catch winter steelhead with a floating line, but that means nymphing (with or without an indicator). The steelhead I posted on Monday was caught with a floating line and indicator.

Winter steelhead will need to be in shallow (or in small water) for you to be successful swinging a fly with a floating line. Generally this is an unproductive technique in very cold water without a sink tip line.

I have been keeping a detailed fishing log for the last two years. I don’t think that is long enough to draw any conclusions from the statistics. However, water temperatures for winter season (Dec thru March) have always been in the 40s (or colder). In both years I have not recorded a temperature above 49 until May. I have caught few fish (but I have caught fish) when the water temperature was below 40. Most fish have been with a water temperature of 42 and up.