sky rockets in flight....

.............

works 100% of the time 80%  of the time.

Was that a bead in it's belly?????

Mostly egg patterns.   Yarn eggs, beads, egg sacs (brown eggs), estaz ect.
I have been surprised that no hits on the brown egg sacs as of yet.  I think I will get some Ho eggs out and time some of those.

Charlie it is very interesting... as a kid my father always cut open the bellies of trout to see what was in them so ive always carried that one with me... i killed my first steelhead ever in feb. 92.... didnt kill another trout til 97 which was a tlelve # brown that i mounted... it then wasnt until 06 when i killed my next... maybe ive killed ten since then... cutting to the chase now...... i know how you feel when it comes to CnR... i used to pretty much swear by it. Let me know if you ever want to keep one though. If im around i'll process it for ya...

Regarding eating habits; the tube nelow this fish's stomach was filled with digested bait fish... it also had a grub as well... i ve seen centipedes helgramites... caddis shucks... basically they eat everything!!! Gutted one once we got from the mouth pf oswego and it was packed with whole baiit fish fully intact...skin still silver

UG, eggs naturally bounce and roll  along the bottom, so a good dead drift, very low in the column is the best presentation. I highsticked without an indicator most of the time, but that resulted in some extremely  unwanted foul hooks. Indicators will help eliminate that. The more straight up and down presentation helps in eliminating bad hook-ups.  I usually get very few fouls, but did this trip for various reasons. The good hooks I had were on small egg patterns, or something that had one incorporated in.  A blood dot or clown egg seems to work better than a plain one. A fellow that absolutely put on a clinic last week was using a blood dot. They worked for others and myself to. HT came up with a pattern that incorporated a small bead in a unique way  that rocked. I used a nymph with a reddish orange glass bead head until I ran out of them!!!!!
HT ran out of his too, but they did some major  damage while they lasted.  Hope this helps a little.  It's hard to find aggressive fish around the crowds.

Here is my take.
It was a combo of presentation / change offering often.
The deal with fishing amoungst a crowded section that held plenty of fish you really had to keep on top of the game .
If one was hanging up often with little control of the drift it became a hail mary attempt at hooking fish.
If one kept control of their fly amoungst all the other fishermen it became a match what they would take. Not as many hooked but the take was felt.

Things happened in this fall steelhead game we played.
Older more resident fish were always there. That's when a constant change of fly was required to find what they will take assuming your presentation is correct.
Every so often a new pod of fresh fish ( transition) mostly chrome would come through . That's when anything you threw in their sight would work.

Soon it will become a winter fishery and repetitive presentation with control not just dredging , along with finding what will trigger a take will happen . Dredging without control of the line will only result in hook ups not takes.

Rt.
This time of year you really don't need to bounce. Close but not dredge.
You should feel free to let the rope out if you can.
Maybe you mis understood what I ment.
If you intend to fish a high concentration area of fish and people then yes, you should keep a tight line and in control of your drift.

If you are fishing an area where fish are less pressured then this is when it's time to stretch it out in the mid column .
The water temp is only going down and so are the fish.
My point was to keep in contact with your fly not lift the rod only to find a fish hooked 25' upstream. That only ends up wondering , where is the hook

uglyfish

Looks like a big egg diet. I threw alot of colors like those with no luck this past weekend. I wasn't bottom bouncing but was probably 3/4 of the way down are you guys having luck at the top or bouncing? Please share in a pm or on a the board your choice and advise will be greatly appreciated thanks

UG.. its all about finding what they want... ive sporadically been an egg **** for the past few years... in the past few weeks ive had fish hit almost instantly after casting...mid drift while deep and completely vertical, and tail out of drift while feathering my float so my bait is swung up in the upper/mid water column...its not always the same.... with flies, definitely try to avoid dragging/dredging... strike indies can help but ive also seen folks abuse them as well and line the crap out pdf em... its all a game... find what works today.... then find what works tomorrow... presentation and technique is probably equally /sometimes more important than patterns or baits of choice... tight lines brother

  Thanks again guys-
     That shorter and straighter  line is where I feel I must go. All too often even after a mend or two I have an S in my line. Feel am gettin tooo far out in moving water to have proper control. Find myself watching the line closest to the offering for any movement as opposed to 'feeling' it.
  Spending way too much time gettn the offering to where I want it and acting the way I want it but not enough attention to being able to tell if it gets hit.  Am 'self taught' and the info here is what I try and take to the waters and am not really sure all the time my interpretations are spot on.
      Get the slammers out there but may very well be missing lots of more subtle pickups. My system works well real early and again in the Spring but apparently has its 'issues' in the Fall transition. Also got no issues in slower Winter holds.
    Am still happy cause I dont need to catch all the fish in the River lol- but   few more takes would be appreciated on slower days.
    Thats why the mention of going back to the Noodle for a bit this time of year- a much straighter line to the offering  ( generally a blue sac) and much faster 'feel'.
 Guess just gotta put the time into gettin it right with the fly rod.

Dime- that is exactly what I see happening.  Thanks.

Aerial mends work well. The reach cast is one. Just lay the rod over to the upstream side as the line is straightening over the water. Helps your presentation from being ripped downstream by the line. If your using an indicator, throwing a tight roll cast in the same direction as your cast immediately after the bobber hits the water, pins the bobber in place for a moment , allowing your fly to swing below it and gain depth from the beginning of the drift.  I use small snake rolls to make mid-drift correction mends. Describe a small circle with the rod  tip to flip line up or downstream. Doesn't disturb the leader/ tip of the flyline, just the length of line laying on the water. I also extend drifts by throwing small loops of line downstream using small flips of the rod tip  as the indie moves past me.  When you're planted on a rock in a bad drift  with 3 guys casting across from you,  and people above and below,  not much you can do.      
 

fichy

Aerial mends work well. The reach cast is one. Just lay the rod over to the upstream side as the line is straightening over the water. Helps your presentation from being ripped downstream by the line. If your using an indicator, throwing a tight roll cast in the same direction as your cast immediately after the bobber hits the water, pins the bobber in place for a moment , allowing your fly to swing below it and gain depth from the beginning of the drift.  I use small snake rolls to make mid-drift correction mends. Describe a small circle with the rod  tip to flip line up or downstream. Doesn't disturb the leader/ tip of the flyline, just the length of line laying on the water. I also extend drifts by throwing small loops of line downstream using small flips of the rod tip  as the indie moves past me.  When you're planted on a rock in a bad drift  with 3 guys casting across from you,  and people above and below,  not much you can do.      

what he said.
i love me some reach curve with a hard stackmend.
 

   Might have to photocopy all this stuff- or carve it on a rock- and carry it with me on the river- Great info.
 Now- on my next trip up if some idiot isnt standing behind my favorite slightly submerged mid river rock-aka- 'secret Steel spot' perhaps I can put some of this to work and make IT happen. lol
 Have suggested to a dozen guys to stand back and FISH behind that rock instead of using it as a breakwater for a place to stand - they look at me like Im nutty and just stay there.
 Cant wait for lousy weather and another Deer on the pole.