Like Montana’s Blackfoot River ran through Norman McLean’s life in the novel and movie, “A River Runs Through It, “the Great Lakes and its majestic waters has baptized by blood and soul in a mesmerizing way from my childhood to this very day. Growing up on the mighty and thunderous Niagara Falls was exciting and dangerous – a mystical feeling always permeated the air and its waters. There was an aura surrounding you every time you were near it. The native Indians worshiped the Falls as a God, giving up human sacrifices to it. When starring at the narrow channels that carry millions of gallons of water per minute, you realize that this is a true wonder of the world.
My Polish father made me into a fly fisher at the ripe age of seven. Himself an accomplished caster who learned the Hardy British Tradition while serving in their army after World War II, we pursued trout in the Southern New York’s Tier of Allegheny Mountains. But our special quest was “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” or as my Dad said in Polish “Duze Srebo Pstrog.”
For all practical purposes, in my youth I had “ground zero advantage” to chase these elusive rainbow phantoms. My uncle lived near Cattaraugus Creek, along what is today’s “Steelhead Alley.” I spent countless days and hours pursuing trout along those gorgeous mint green waters. Summering at our cottage in Ontario’s Georgian Bay district of Lake Huron, we chased “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” on the spring fed Beaver and Bighead wild trout waters. I remember the cool crisp nights around the campfire and hunting wild mushrooms in the beautiful northern pine forests more than anything. All the while thinking of “those big rainbows – the silver ones!”
As the 70’s came and high school turned into college years, my days visiting my parents back home saw me and my friends cruising the lower Niagara Gorge all the way to the Salmon River on eastern Lake Ontario in a beat-up, rusted out Buick. This was the era of the great Pacific salmon explosion. Big dark salmon ascended the gorge and the Ontario tribs. But, we looked behind them for “those big rainbows – the silver ones!”
Back in those days, it was cool to date good looking Canadian girls, so my courting trips to Toronto usually found me waste deep in the lovely waters of it Credit River looking for the chrome silver phantoms. There never was an agenda – whether it be girls, mischief, sports, - you name it, that didn’t have an ulterior motive behind it and waters close by that had “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” to be had somewhere in the mix.
The life giving waters of the Great Lakes was just that and played a powerful role in everyone that came in touch with them. They provided power for the mills and factories that built hard working ethnic communities – where life revolved around family and the church. They gave me waters where I could play “river daredevil” as a child on wooden rafts, and later waters to ply with fly rod and sanctuaries for the duck I hunted. And most of us had our first taste of the “forbidden hops” (beer) on a blanket along the lakes shore’s warm sands in pursuit of romance as we came into our adolescence. The waters breathed life into our daily existence, but forever in back of mind were “those big rainbows – the silver ones!”
My Polish father made me into a fly fisher at the ripe age of seven. Himself an accomplished caster who learned the Hardy British Tradition while serving in their army after World War II, we pursued trout in the Southern New York’s Tier of Allegheny Mountains. But our special quest was “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” or as my Dad said in Polish “Duze Srebo Pstrog.”
For all practical purposes, in my youth I had “ground zero advantage” to chase these elusive rainbow phantoms. My uncle lived near Cattaraugus Creek, along what is today’s “Steelhead Alley.” I spent countless days and hours pursuing trout along those gorgeous mint green waters. Summering at our cottage in Ontario’s Georgian Bay district of Lake Huron, we chased “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” on the spring fed Beaver and Bighead wild trout waters. I remember the cool crisp nights around the campfire and hunting wild mushrooms in the beautiful northern pine forests more than anything. All the while thinking of “those big rainbows – the silver ones!”
As the 70’s came and high school turned into college years, my days visiting my parents back home saw me and my friends cruising the lower Niagara Gorge all the way to the Salmon River on eastern Lake Ontario in a beat-up, rusted out Buick. This was the era of the great Pacific salmon explosion. Big dark salmon ascended the gorge and the Ontario tribs. But, we looked behind them for “those big rainbows – the silver ones!”
Back in those days, it was cool to date good looking Canadian girls, so my courting trips to Toronto usually found me waste deep in the lovely waters of it Credit River looking for the chrome silver phantoms. There never was an agenda – whether it be girls, mischief, sports, - you name it, that didn’t have an ulterior motive behind it and waters close by that had “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” to be had somewhere in the mix.
The life giving waters of the Great Lakes was just that and played a powerful role in everyone that came in touch with them. They provided power for the mills and factories that built hard working ethnic communities – where life revolved around family and the church. They gave me waters where I could play “river daredevil” as a child on wooden rafts, and later waters to ply with fly rod and sanctuaries for the duck I hunted. And most of us had our first taste of the “forbidden hops” (beer) on a blanket along the lakes shore’s warm sands in pursuit of romance as we came into our adolescence. The waters breathed life into our daily existence, but forever in back of mind were “those big rainbows – the silver ones!”
Now I am blessed to be able to guide along the magnificent Lake Michigan “Century Circle” of historically fabled tributaries. The rivers names bring up hallowed waters like the Muskegon, Pere Marquette and Manistee – to name a few. Here I can guide 365 days a year for “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” - now known as steelhead. With both winter and summer-run steelhead, wild and wild origin ones raised in massive Great Lakes hatcheries, I live in steelhead nirvana! I’ve seen the poetic evolution of the story of steelhead in the Great Lakes unfold, from my youth in the Niagara corridor to today’s modern steelhead fisheries.
But precious in my memories was the first Fenwick fiberglass fly rod, the Medalist reel and the K-Mart floating fly line that never floated. I drove my mother crazy asking her to drive me around to all the sewing and craft shops so I could buy different colored yarn for my glo-bugs from newly attained funds from my neighborhood paper route – that’s way before Glo-Bug material came along.
Then came the real “smack” West Coast steelhead flies like the Kispiox Special, the Thor and the Double-Sperm Egg Fly – that was cool stuff. I was all over my local bait shop – which had a dusty bin of old trout, to get the “sparkly like a holiday” (a.k.a. Dustin Hoffman in Rain man!) flies. The same time the Richey brothers from Northern Michigan’s pristine hallowed wild steelhead rivers came out with a series of muted “sparklies” that appealed to the freshwater appetite of Great Lakes Steelhead. More and more – as if in a revelation – the word “steelhead” was more commonly being used. It was getting very exciting.
Today, it has now come full circle we have embraced. West Coast techniques and flies from swinging two-handed techniques, to skating dries. Masters such as Waller, Combs, McMillan – have all shared their beautiful West Coast classic rivers with us and their mastery. British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon and the classic waters of California are more familiar to us than ever.
But we have our own bigger legacy born out of 143 years since the first steelhead was introduced on Michigan’s Au Sable. Both wild and hatchery, they have thrived in our tremendous inland seas. We have unique fly patterns, unique methods – like “deep water Great Lakes nymphing” (a.k.a. chuck-and-duck!) and “indy” (indicator nymphing), yet have blended the traditional West Coast and United Kingdom methods with our own to make our passion an art form.
But precious in my memories was the first Fenwick fiberglass fly rod, the Medalist reel and the K-Mart floating fly line that never floated. I drove my mother crazy asking her to drive me around to all the sewing and craft shops so I could buy different colored yarn for my glo-bugs from newly attained funds from my neighborhood paper route – that’s way before Glo-Bug material came along.
Then came the real “smack” West Coast steelhead flies like the Kispiox Special, the Thor and the Double-Sperm Egg Fly – that was cool stuff. I was all over my local bait shop – which had a dusty bin of old trout, to get the “sparkly like a holiday” (a.k.a. Dustin Hoffman in Rain man!) flies. The same time the Richey brothers from Northern Michigan’s pristine hallowed wild steelhead rivers came out with a series of muted “sparklies” that appealed to the freshwater appetite of Great Lakes Steelhead. More and more – as if in a revelation – the word “steelhead” was more commonly being used. It was getting very exciting.
Today, it has now come full circle we have embraced. West Coast techniques and flies from swinging two-handed techniques, to skating dries. Masters such as Waller, Combs, McMillan – have all shared their beautiful West Coast classic rivers with us and their mastery. British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon and the classic waters of California are more familiar to us than ever.
But we have our own bigger legacy born out of 143 years since the first steelhead was introduced on Michigan’s Au Sable. Both wild and hatchery, they have thrived in our tremendous inland seas. We have unique fly patterns, unique methods – like “deep water Great Lakes nymphing” (a.k.a. chuck-and-duck!) and “indy” (indicator nymphing), yet have blended the traditional West Coast and United Kingdom methods with our own to make our passion an art form.
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Exotic Ecosystem Fish Bowls.
The Great Lakes is a story of exotic invaders, exotic transplants and how oncorhynchus mykiss (steelhead) have been able to survive the past and present soupy mix. Indigenous fish species formed from the time The Laurentide Glacier broke up and formed the five lakes 20,000 years ago. They were the chars, lake trout and brook trout, pike of various types, sturgeon and other warm-water species. The pelagic bait fish population in the upper lakes (Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie) held rainbow smelt, herring, shiners, and the various perches, sculpins etc. Lake Ontario – located below the upstream impassible barrier o f Niagara Falls, had an ecosystem that could intersect and intermingle with the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence Seaway. Atlantic salmon had heavy populations in the 1700 and 1800’s in this lake. Also, alewives, herring and other ocean going aquatic vertebrate provided outstanding food sources. After the Welland Canal was opened to allow freighter shipping up to Lake Superior, the “exotic freeway” was opened for business. In came the alewives and lamprey – a double edge sword. The lamprey (a blood sucking eel) attacked Lake trout and char apex predators and wiped them out. The alewife bait fish rampaged Lake Michigan, Erie and Huron, causing massive pile ups of dead stinking fish rotting the beaches To solve this problem, “the Great Pacific salmon experiment” came to pass truly ingenious thinking by the Michigan DNR biologists. Stocking Lake Michigan’s Platte Bay with Coho and Chinook salmon from California would hopefully put an end to the nasty die-offs on the beaches by putting the apex salmon and alewife feeding predators to clean up the mess – it worked! Along with the thrust of salmon, steelhead – all sorts of Pacific strains, brown trout, lake trout etc. were stocked. Although “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” have survived the entire ecosystem revolution, it now had a renewed interest by fish and game biologists - also a new trendy name. How the noble fierce chrome steelhead warrior, survived all the ecosystem chaos and developed wild strains, is a testimonial to its life style. Once they are hatched from their yolk-sac eggs, the tiny fingerling and parrs in the rivers become selective feeders to the vast amounts of aquatic vertebrate and invertebrate food forms the fertile Great Lakes rivers contain. When in the wild, steelhead parr and smolts develop finely tuned discretionary feeding skills that will help them later in life. Once smolting takes place and the ten inchers hit the big lake, they disperse in a phantom like style. They cover thousands of miles on their feeding hunt and will feed at all potential grazing grounds. They can surface feed along thermo-clime demarcation sites where insects and baitfish accumulate 20 miles off shore – the “scum line,” or can hunt down to 250 feet. Unlike salmon, whose diets are almost 90 percent alewife baitfish, steelhead will feed on just about any food from – pelagic baitfish, mayfly insects, round gobies, sculpins, crustacean and even terrestrial insects. These extreme warriors make them often elude charter commercial fleets that harvest fish. Being the last to spawn in spring, they have the best capacity to take over riverine ecosystem riches, since salmon and brown trout are fall and late-winter spawners. The exotic fish bowl of the Great Lakes saw major changes in the 80’s and 90’s due to the transporting and dumping of ballast water by cargo ships from all over the world. With ships originating in the Mediterranean and Caspian Seas, invasive and ecosystem damaging invaders clinging to the ships hull were let out when ballast water was dumped. Zebra and Quagga mussels were the first damaging invaders that sucked plankton out of the food chain and deprived the essential nutrients necessary to maintain the pelagic bait fish, which in-turn supply the salmon populations. Then came round gobies, spiny water fleas, killer red shrimp from the Aegean – it was an alien invasion of eco-wrecking pests! They displaced indigenous perch and smelt populations, destroyed the one healthy Great Lakes myssis and dioporia shrimp and dept biologists heads spinning. The introduced salmon and indigenous species were to take the biggest hit. Not so for the steelhead. Due to their pervasive feeding adaptability, they found the gobies, water fleas, killer shrimp much to their appetite and started devouring them. Adaptability in a species is the key to long term evolutionary survival and the steelhead has proven that it has the genetic diversity and behavior to accomplish this. The last thirty years has seen dramatic “up-and-down” shifts in each lake’s forage base mix. Most can be attributed to natural survival cycles. Some of it is due to the exotic invasive species disruption. The USGS (United States Geological Survey) yearly does trawl net sampling data on all the Great Lakes. After some serious decline years in alewife bait fish, some lakes have reported resurgence – others a complete decline, while others have held stable. What is perhaps most exciting for steelhead is the tremendous implosion of the slow-moving round goby and sculpin populations. Due to a steelhead’s slower attack speed versus a Pacific salmon, these bottom dwelling prey fish are ideal for the hunting and poking steelhead. There is probably nothing that a veracious hungry predatory steelhead doesn’t eat – and that’s a great thing for their continued success in the constantly changing ecosystem mix of the Great Lakes. Whatever prey becomes the dominant food form, you can bet that the aggressive steelhead will capitalize on it. This is what makes the steelhead the ideal target for the fly fisher which can present various flies and streamers, which cover the whole spectrum of the fish’s prey spectrum. discretionary eating has not been the steelhead’s better part of valor! |
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Sustaining The Fishery – Wild and Hatchery
For many years - and even to some extent to this day – the true West Coast steelheading purists still “pooh-pooh” the Great Lakes steelhead fishery as being nothing but a hatchery generated, lake-run rainbow program. One famous West Coast magazine editor once said “we can never run stories about the Great Lakes steelhead – they are really nothing more than hatchery mutt rainbows!” It was funny how this editor spent the last dying days of that magazine prowling the haunts and bars of Pulaski, New York, on Lake Ontario’s famous Salmon River!
We are all attached to our opinions in the wide-open sport of steelhead fly fishing – this is what creates dialogue and challenges, exchanges of ideas and tactics – it’s all good stuff! But, to falsely accuse a noble genetic warrior like the steelhead, which has evolved for tens of thousands of years on the Pacific corridor, and now has found a new home much to its liking for a mere 143 years, doesn’t take the “steelhead” out of Great Lakes steelhead. Yes they don’t see the salt, drip sea lice, run away from Japanese commercial fleets, sea lions, orcas and all the ocean predators. In a way that is kind of good for them! Here they have found our cold, clear freshwater seas full of food. Our spring-fed rivers gravel laden for spawning and full of aquatic invertebrate and vertebrate prey. And besides, they don’t have to do the renal system shuffle to balance the salinaty to freshwater transitions. This is the key factor we believe that makes our Great Lakes steelhead more willing to take the fly readily and repeatedly – even on spawning migrations and redd building activity. The Washington, Oregon and California transplants we have here in our inland oceans, haven’t evolved much when comparing 100 years to tens of thousands. They grow big and silver, look, fight and act the same and can reach the upper 20 pound range. Their only predator is an occasional lamprey eel that can suck the life fluid out of them, a cormorant or an occasional commercial charter boat captain dangling dodgers and spoons in front of them. For all practical purposes, they are living in a “Ritz Carlton” setting as compared to the savagery of predators the Pacific Ocean will unleash on them. Sorry, but I had to get this subject off my back – excuse me and I’m sure I’ll get many letters to the editor on that note – peace!
The incredible adaptability of a steelhead’s genetics have allowed them to dominate and fine tune a particular Great Lakes river ecosystem and develop unique genetic strains on rivers from Lake Superior to Ontario. In Superior, the Brois Brule, the Thuderbay area on the Canadian side, Minnesota’s Knife River – not to mention the hundreds of miles of wild run tributaries of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, have all produced magnificent wild steelhead. Michigan’s Pere Marquette, Manistee, Platte and Betsie all have unique wild genetics along with Lake Erie Cattaraugus and Ontario’s Ganaraska. Lake Huron’s Canadian coast has spring fed wild steelhead fisheries like the Bighead and Beaver that allow spring creek style steelheading. These strains look unique, behave like – wise, and have been evolving for almost a century and a half. Michigan’s unique approach to harvesting 100% wild steelhead at their Little Manistee weir for eggs and milt taking for the hatchery, in essence allows them the ability to “stock wild fish” regardless. Where “wild doesn’t exist” massive state funded hatcheries like the Altmar facility on the Salmon River, the Fairview hatchery along Pennsylvania’s “steelhead alley” pumps millions of steelhead into the fish bowls for 2/3 of America’s population to enjoy.
Today, Great Lakes fisheries managers are employing modern techniques born out of the 70’s and 80’s decline the West Coast steelhead fishery saw happen tragically. Lowering harvest limits, understanding populations and strain genetics, figuring out maximum sustainable spawning runs necessary to establish a sustainable yield of wild fish and elaborate micro-tagging and creel surveys are all now being employed. Since the ecosystem is changing dramatically and drastically due to global climatic condition, exotic invasive species – most recently a threat by Asian Carp to infiltrate the Great Lakes – biologists are in a “watch dog” status. Yearly reports give biologists a good barometer to form models and predict trends – in change devise fish stocking and maximum saturation points for steelhead populations. We are yet to go to a “tag harvest” system which occurs in some parts of the West Coast, but time will only tell. For the most part laws pertaining to steelhead harvest have been “very liberal” – almost too liberal in this writer’s opinion. Due to the massive amounts of fish in the system dictating those rules sometimes fisheries personnel have reacted slowly and only “fix the problem once it is broken.” Case studies have existed on the wild population Knife River in Minnesota, where historical runs in the 50’s to early 90’s measured in the thousands. With very liberal “kill” limits, the runs were over-harvested till a mere 98 fish returned in the early 90’s – “no kill” was quickly instituted. Wisconsin’s Bois Brule wild steelhead saw similar declines which prompted them to a “one fish over 26 inches” harvest conservative limit. Finally, the world famous Salmon River of New York’s Lake Ontario had ridiculous returns of steelhead din the late 70’s – 80’s, only to see dismal returns in the early 2000 period. Lake bio-genetics of forage and heavy harvest by commercial charter fleets and river anglers – in addition to new tailwater flow management regimes – saw the runs down to a trickle. By the New York DEC going to a “one steelhead limit”, the returns have been massive and comparable to the “old days.” Perhaps the most impressive program to get an accurate, reliable fish tracking model to use on a month to month basis, has been the million dollar counting weir installed on the Knife River in Minnesota. In order to save its wild steelhead run, which was to the point of decimation, this upstream and downstream fish counting passage device built in the late 90’s, can give accurate counts of sustainable yield necessary for the wild populations to flourish and also count downstream smolt migrations. “What’s coming in – and going out,” is the most accurate way to study the steelhead’s yearly variations and year class survival trends.
One particular note worth mentioning and gaining extreme popularity throughout the Great Lakes is the highly practiced rule of “catch-and-release.” Seen to be more frequent of practices versus twenty years ago, anglers of all kinds: bait, hardware, fly etc., are realizing the potential this has to grow bigger and better year classes of steelhead. This is a welcomed and encouraging sign give the dark past of snagging and harvesting stringer by stringer of steelhead the Great Lakes has been infamous for in the past.
For many years - and even to some extent to this day – the true West Coast steelheading purists still “pooh-pooh” the Great Lakes steelhead fishery as being nothing but a hatchery generated, lake-run rainbow program. One famous West Coast magazine editor once said “we can never run stories about the Great Lakes steelhead – they are really nothing more than hatchery mutt rainbows!” It was funny how this editor spent the last dying days of that magazine prowling the haunts and bars of Pulaski, New York, on Lake Ontario’s famous Salmon River!
We are all attached to our opinions in the wide-open sport of steelhead fly fishing – this is what creates dialogue and challenges, exchanges of ideas and tactics – it’s all good stuff! But, to falsely accuse a noble genetic warrior like the steelhead, which has evolved for tens of thousands of years on the Pacific corridor, and now has found a new home much to its liking for a mere 143 years, doesn’t take the “steelhead” out of Great Lakes steelhead. Yes they don’t see the salt, drip sea lice, run away from Japanese commercial fleets, sea lions, orcas and all the ocean predators. In a way that is kind of good for them! Here they have found our cold, clear freshwater seas full of food. Our spring-fed rivers gravel laden for spawning and full of aquatic invertebrate and vertebrate prey. And besides, they don’t have to do the renal system shuffle to balance the salinaty to freshwater transitions. This is the key factor we believe that makes our Great Lakes steelhead more willing to take the fly readily and repeatedly – even on spawning migrations and redd building activity. The Washington, Oregon and California transplants we have here in our inland oceans, haven’t evolved much when comparing 100 years to tens of thousands. They grow big and silver, look, fight and act the same and can reach the upper 20 pound range. Their only predator is an occasional lamprey eel that can suck the life fluid out of them, a cormorant or an occasional commercial charter boat captain dangling dodgers and spoons in front of them. For all practical purposes, they are living in a “Ritz Carlton” setting as compared to the savagery of predators the Pacific Ocean will unleash on them. Sorry, but I had to get this subject off my back – excuse me and I’m sure I’ll get many letters to the editor on that note – peace!
The incredible adaptability of a steelhead’s genetics have allowed them to dominate and fine tune a particular Great Lakes river ecosystem and develop unique genetic strains on rivers from Lake Superior to Ontario. In Superior, the Brois Brule, the Thuderbay area on the Canadian side, Minnesota’s Knife River – not to mention the hundreds of miles of wild run tributaries of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, have all produced magnificent wild steelhead. Michigan’s Pere Marquette, Manistee, Platte and Betsie all have unique wild genetics along with Lake Erie Cattaraugus and Ontario’s Ganaraska. Lake Huron’s Canadian coast has spring fed wild steelhead fisheries like the Bighead and Beaver that allow spring creek style steelheading. These strains look unique, behave like – wise, and have been evolving for almost a century and a half. Michigan’s unique approach to harvesting 100% wild steelhead at their Little Manistee weir for eggs and milt taking for the hatchery, in essence allows them the ability to “stock wild fish” regardless. Where “wild doesn’t exist” massive state funded hatcheries like the Altmar facility on the Salmon River, the Fairview hatchery along Pennsylvania’s “steelhead alley” pumps millions of steelhead into the fish bowls for 2/3 of America’s population to enjoy.
Today, Great Lakes fisheries managers are employing modern techniques born out of the 70’s and 80’s decline the West Coast steelhead fishery saw happen tragically. Lowering harvest limits, understanding populations and strain genetics, figuring out maximum sustainable spawning runs necessary to establish a sustainable yield of wild fish and elaborate micro-tagging and creel surveys are all now being employed. Since the ecosystem is changing dramatically and drastically due to global climatic condition, exotic invasive species – most recently a threat by Asian Carp to infiltrate the Great Lakes – biologists are in a “watch dog” status. Yearly reports give biologists a good barometer to form models and predict trends – in change devise fish stocking and maximum saturation points for steelhead populations. We are yet to go to a “tag harvest” system which occurs in some parts of the West Coast, but time will only tell. For the most part laws pertaining to steelhead harvest have been “very liberal” – almost too liberal in this writer’s opinion. Due to the massive amounts of fish in the system dictating those rules sometimes fisheries personnel have reacted slowly and only “fix the problem once it is broken.” Case studies have existed on the wild population Knife River in Minnesota, where historical runs in the 50’s to early 90’s measured in the thousands. With very liberal “kill” limits, the runs were over-harvested till a mere 98 fish returned in the early 90’s – “no kill” was quickly instituted. Wisconsin’s Bois Brule wild steelhead saw similar declines which prompted them to a “one fish over 26 inches” harvest conservative limit. Finally, the world famous Salmon River of New York’s Lake Ontario had ridiculous returns of steelhead din the late 70’s – 80’s, only to see dismal returns in the early 2000 period. Lake bio-genetics of forage and heavy harvest by commercial charter fleets and river anglers – in addition to new tailwater flow management regimes – saw the runs down to a trickle. By the New York DEC going to a “one steelhead limit”, the returns have been massive and comparable to the “old days.” Perhaps the most impressive program to get an accurate, reliable fish tracking model to use on a month to month basis, has been the million dollar counting weir installed on the Knife River in Minnesota. In order to save its wild steelhead run, which was to the point of decimation, this upstream and downstream fish counting passage device built in the late 90’s, can give accurate counts of sustainable yield necessary for the wild populations to flourish and also count downstream smolt migrations. “What’s coming in – and going out,” is the most accurate way to study the steelhead’s yearly variations and year class survival trends.
One particular note worth mentioning and gaining extreme popularity throughout the Great Lakes is the highly practiced rule of “catch-and-release.” Seen to be more frequent of practices versus twenty years ago, anglers of all kinds: bait, hardware, fly etc., are realizing the potential this has to grow bigger and better year classes of steelhead. This is a welcomed and encouraging sign give the dark past of snagging and harvesting stringer by stringer of steelhead the Great Lakes has been infamous for in the past.
How We Fish Presentation and Fly Renaissance
The Great Lakes steelhead, depending on how long they have been around, has seen the whole gamut of techniques and practices thrown at these mighty mykiss warriors. From the crude days of dousing orange yarn in petroleum jelly and then drifting it on a fiberglass fly rod, to today’s new growing school of two handers swinging big West Coast “road kill” flies, it is coming full circle.
Foremost we can’t forget, our “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” growing pains. In the formative years – and even today Great Lakes steelhead fishers started out using trout nymphing and streamer tactics. “Troutsmen,” they were called, had a magnetic touch for pulling out those big silver rainbows. The nymphers were the most effective and still are today. Using mostly hare’s ears, brindle bugs (otherwise knows as the Spring’s wiggler from Michigan) and British style soft hackles, they used tight-line, old fashioned tactics without strike indicators. Streamer fisherman using the old standby high water patterns like the Mickey Finn, Grey Ghost, Black Nosed Dace and the mighty Muddler, all took their share of the early steelhead. Modern sink-tip lines were yet to be invented so wrapped lead and so wrapped lead and split shot served its purpose. The egg revolution came when Glo Bug of Anderson, California put out its dazzling colors which appealed to the fish and the fisherman. Imitating salmon and steelhead roe was the concept for those that didn’t want to chuck fresh spawn bags. Color preference, size and time of year became extremely important in matching the egg hatch.
Why nymphing took on a greater role in Great Lakes steelheading versus the West Coast was a matter of ecosystems and literally “matching the hatch.” Since as mentioned the Great Lakes fish forgo the saltwater to freshwater transitions and have more of an extended window to ingest food the “stream trout predator behavior” is much more prolonged and maintained year-round. Since the tributaries are choked with aquatic insects like mayflies and stoneflies, nymphs had great success. If you look at a Great Lakes nympher from Lake Erie’s Steelhead Alley “or New York’s Salmon River, you’ll notice tiny stones, hare’s ears, caddis and copper johns in #16 through #20’s – tiny stuff for “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” They also use 4x-5x tippets in the shallow, skinny water of these tribs. Many will elude to the fact that the fish are being “lined” – or the tippets will floss the mouth – thus, the hook threading the needle! When hundreds of steelhead are crammed into pools 8 feet by 10 feet, a lot of this occurs. But, in defense of the technique, I have found stomach samples of steelhead crammed with #16 black and olive stone fly nymphs, midge and caddis larvae Down to size #22 and other minutiae. So yes! – even the big fish will take tiny stuff on a regular basis – especially in very shallow water environments.
Today’s nymphs have taken on a whole new look. When the late great Carl Richards of Michigan wrote “Selective Trout” and “Emergers” in the 70’s and 80’s he incorporated “articulation” or a jointed, wiggling tail in his Hexagenia patterns. Premier Great Lakes tiers of today like Steelhead Alley Outfitters Greg Senyo, has come up with a wiggle in everything – wiggle stones, caddis, mayfly nymphs – you name it! They look live and realistic and steelhead can’t refuse them. Also the various new translucent and body ribbing materials have given Great Lakes nymphing a whole new look!
Nymphing techniques are now employed through three methods. “Indy” or strike indicator 90-degree angle nymphing, with single-handed or two-handed switch rods, using floating lines and the new buoyant indicators is the ticket for small to medium sized rivers. For big waters with 3 to 5 thousand CFS flows and deep waters, (i.e. Niagara, Muskegon, Salmon Rivers) the old style Deep Great Lakes Nymphing (aka chuck and duck) is a very effective way to get down fast, stay on the bottom and have 60-80 feet drifts using running/shooting line. Long 10 to 11 ½ foot single and two handed ultra light switch rods like Orvis’s Helios are ideal for this technique. Since I am a year round steelhead guide on big waters, I have incorporated Polish and Czech nymphing techniques using multi-fly rigs (note: make sure you read the particular slate and provinces fishing regulators – same states only allow one-fly rigs!) By positioning the rod at various angles during the drift (upstream, downstream and high or low hanging angles), the nymphs or egg patterns can be manipulated for greater contact.
Swinging traditional Spey and Dee style wet flies have been the mainstay of the Atlantic Salmon fly fisher’s arsenal for several hundred years. The revolution came to the U.S. in the late 1800 on the West Coast steelhead rivers and really saw an explosion by the early 1900’s. Pioneering steelhead fly tiers like Syd Glasses and Clarence Gordon were developing new steelhead designs based on traditional spey designs. Then came the technical modern school of tiers to the like of LeMaire, Schaadt, McMillan, Jackson and many others that brought new life into the patterns by the mid 1900’s. Today’s deans like Waller, Combs, Hogan and Larison have documented and explored every venue of steelheading including the waking dry fly and articulated designs.
Great Lakes anglers watched all these developments and were fondly adapting swinging techniques which really took off in the 1900’s. Perhaps one of the strongest influences for Great Lakes “swinging” was the work done by Bob Hull on the Dean in British Columbia with his string leech rabbit strip flies. Another big influence was the incorporation of lots of flash in the “road kill” series of modern two -handed steelheads fly box with Ed Ward’s Intruder series. These MWM (motion-without-movement) style flies really piqued the curiosity of the Great Lakes tiers and soon they were incorporated into sculpins, string leeches and all sorts of flashy “chickens” as one Great Lakes fly tier Kevin Feenstra calls them.
The European use of tube flies and specialty Arctic and red fox hairs have produced the temple dog, along with Eumer’s tube fly European revolution.
Since these modern West Coast flies were tied to emulate large squid, crustacean and eels of the Pacific, Great Lakes swingers developed this style and applied them more towards indigenous and invasive Great Lakes ecosystem food forms like alewives, smelt, sculpins, lamprey, gobies and emerald shiners. Today it is just as common to see a two-handed swinging flies right next to an effected nymph expert – we have choices now!
Traditional spey casting techniques are still commonly performed and are the basis of all the other styles. But since Great Lakes steelheading is predominantly getting down to winter strain fish in cold water conditions, depth-change systems were necessary. The Skagit line method and the Scandinavian shooting head under –hand cast were best adapted and employed in the Great Lakes Tribs. The thick, Healy Head Skagit method, with its quick and efficient casting style necessary to often pick up 18-20 feet of T- extra – fast sinking heads, is the effective technique. Scandinavian shooting head/14 running line methods get down quick and are also employed. It all depends on the size of the tributaries waters you’ll be dealing with and the depth and water temperature steelhead are holding at.
The “switch rod” revolution has been the greatest invention for the G.L. steelheader. With these Ultra-light and fast 11-12 foot rods, one can indicator nymph, deep running line nymph, or swing short 20 foot Skagit lines with heavy heads – all on the same stick! This is the perfect way to go and it has applications on all the Great Lakes tributaries.
Though dry fly steelheading is not a major force in the Great Lakes agenda, it does have some selective applications base on conditions. The Lake Erie tribs often run low and clear in the fall, yet thousands of steelhead pack into pools and tail-outs. In these skinny water situations, the curious aggressive nature of steelhead – already crammed for space – will give them the urge and strike response necessary to attack a skating or dead drift dry fly. Countless stories emerge every year of dry fly steelhead along the “Steelhead Alley” corridor of Lake Erie.
On my home waters of the St. Joseph River along Lake Michigan’s shoreline, the “Joe” receives one of the largest summer steelhead runs in the country. The Skamania strain steelhead are notiroius observers of the surface in the June through September period. It all started by having or orange and chartreuse strike indicators attacked by the aggressive summer runs. We finally figured it out and are now using larger foam indicators with black, orange and chartreuse period themes with hooks attacked to them – it has worked! Each year will pick up a half dozen fish or so, but it is by no means the staple style we choose to fish with. It is for all practical purposes a novelty experience.
In retrospect, the Great Lakes modern steelheader has been blessed with all the art forms the sport has had to offer. It has been a splendid fusion of West Coast, Great Lakes and European salmonid techniques and flies all coming together. These times can never be more exiting especially when coupled with a healthy steelhead future.
Since these modern West Coast flies were tied to emulate large squid, crustacean and eels of the Pacific, Great Lakes swingers developed this style and applied them more towards indigenous and invasive Great Lakes ecosystem food forms like alewives, smelt, sculpins, lamprey, gobies and emerald shiners. Today it is just as common to see a two-handed swinging flies right next to an effected nymph expert – we have choices now!
Traditional spey casting techniques are still commonly performed and are the basis of all the other styles. But since Great Lakes steelheading is predominantly getting down to winter strain fish in cold water conditions, depth-change systems were necessary. The Skagit line method and the Scandinavian shooting head under –hand cast were best adapted and employed in the Great Lakes Tribs. The thick, Healy Head Skagit method, with its quick and efficient casting style necessary to often pick up 18-20 feet of T- extra – fast sinking heads, is the effective technique. Scandinavian shooting head/14 running line methods get down quick and are also employed. It all depends on the size of the tributaries waters you’ll be dealing with and the depth and water temperature steelhead are holding at.
The “switch rod” revolution has been the greatest invention for the G.L. steelheader. With these Ultra-light and fast 11-12 foot rods, one can indicator nymph, deep running line nymph, or swing short 20 foot Skagit lines with heavy heads – all on the same stick! This is the perfect way to go and it has applications on all the Great Lakes tributaries.
Though dry fly steelheading is not a major force in the Great Lakes agenda, it does have some selective applications base on conditions. The Lake Erie tribs often run low and clear in the fall, yet thousands of steelhead pack into pools and tail-outs. In these skinny water situations, the curious aggressive nature of steelhead – already crammed for space – will give them the urge and strike response necessary to attack a skating or dead drift dry fly. Countless stories emerge every year of dry fly steelhead along the “Steelhead Alley” corridor of Lake Erie.
On my home waters of the St. Joseph River along Lake Michigan’s shoreline, the “Joe” receives one of the largest summer steelhead runs in the country. The Skamania strain steelhead are notiroius observers of the surface in the June through September period. It all started by having or orange and chartreuse strike indicators attacked by the aggressive summer runs. We finally figured it out and are now using larger foam indicators with black, orange and chartreuse period themes with hooks attacked to them – it has worked! Each year will pick up a half dozen fish or so, but it is by no means the staple style we choose to fish with. It is for all practical purposes a novelty experience.
In retrospect, the Great Lakes modern steelheader has been blessed with all the art forms the sport has had to offer. It has been a splendid fusion of West Coast, Great Lakes and European salmonid techniques and flies all coming together. These times can never be more exiting especially when coupled with a healthy steelhead future.
The Future of Constant Change
Since their arrival to the Great Lakes in 1876, the Pacific steelhead has done remarkably well transplants have established themselves in an astonishing fashioning. The Great Lakes can seriously be called “The Greatest Steelhead fishery in the world!” The inland seas have provided vast hunting grounds for the nomadic silver warrior and its cool, gravel and stone laden was the ideal for developing their future progeny. They have survived the ecological chaos of the 1900’s industrial revolution and the onslaught of the invading lamprey eel. They have seen some of the most devastating pollution the U.S. has ever witnessed when the Cuyahoga River off of Lake Erie caught on fire from all the toxins in it in the 60’s. And yes! – they survived the total snagging butchery and slaughter that was legal in the Great Lakes tributaries form the 1970’ to as late as the early 90’s. When the “Pacific salmon invasion” hit all the rivers, fishery biologists, outdoor writers and the general public thought that “salmon would not eat” upon their return to spawn. Thus since they would eventually die, the only way an angler could harvest their limit would be to “snag” with weighted treble hooks as big as a meat cleaver, their daily catch. This is a “skeleton in the closet” the Great Lakes will never live down. With steel poles and 50 pound test, salmon anglers would “rip” into the flesh of the fish in a barbaric way - steelhead and browns were not immune to this practice and suffered casualties. Once the “brain trust” biologists heard stories of salmon attacking bait, lures, flies etc., they called a halt to this practice!
Great Lakes steelhead have also survived another practice – being fished to while spawning. It is a common tradition here. But if done with high ethical standards and careful catch-and-release practices, it can be executed with minimal harmful effects. One only needs to go to the hallowed historic waters of Michigan’s Pere Marquette “flies only” waters in March and watch thousands of fly rod nymphers plying their trade. If hooked females and males are not squeezed of their eggs and milt and handled gently, the runs return year after year due to the perfect hatching and nursery waters this cold spring fed trout stream. But what is really perplexing and extremely damaging to these magnificent fish is that they are allowed to be harvested during spawning – in both wild and hatchery returns. That is the true enigmatic dilemma that baffles all true lovers and protectors of steelhead. Bass, pike, trout all have closed season where they are protected from harvest during spawning – not “those big rainbows” It is heart wrenching to watch an angler walk away with three wild “dead steelhead” on a stringer who were just that day trying to propagate the species future and progeny. This will eventually come to haunt the Great Lakes and its future until this ethical dilemma is resolved. Allow the careful opportunity to still fish, but stop the killing – catch-and-release should be mandated to all Great Lakes rivers from March through May – especially on all wild fisheries. Purely stocked systems with no natural reproduction should be allowed more liberal management policies so all anglers could enjoy the resource.
Another issue rearing its ugly head in the Great Lakes is the “numbers game.” We have been accused by our West Coast compatriots of being “fish pigs” – “hooked 41 landed 37” stuff. Yeah, that is definitely true when you stock 200,000 steelhead in a tiny Lake Erie tributary and get tens of thousands of fish retiring to a few pools, its gonna be a “numbers game fiasco.” Does it distort the true spirit “thousand cast fish” which steelhead have been known to be on the West Coast - absolutely! Does it destroy the respect and homage each noble fish should receive – exactly!
Steelheading is all about the meditation of the big pull, the uncertainty when it will come and the electrifying magnificence when it does come. It is casting Karma, a method that is poetic and beautiful in its own right. Numbers mocks the fish and dehumanizes the angler and turns him or her into an insatiable monster armed with a fly rod.
Constant change of the Great Lakes inland seas is what brought “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” here and what will hopefully allow them to stay. An unfortunate current scenario is the ongoing economic recession and how partisan politics and administration focusing on creating jobs for their constituency is overshadowing protecting these great inland seas and their steelhead/salmon fisheries. Just as thousands of salmon and steelhead were allowed to die in California due to politics and water wars, the same is going on in the Great Lakes today. Asian Carp threaten to take over the whole Great Lakes system by breaching the Chicago Barge canal and fish barrier which has kept them in check for years from breaking out of the Mississippi Basin. If they enter the Great Lakes, they could destroy a multi-billion dollar steelhead and salmon tourist and recreational industry due to the destructive ecological niche they would invade. Our President, in order to save his voting consistency in Illinois 8 million dollars of working revenue on the barge Canal, has not allowed or condoned for its closure. This might sacrifice the billions of dollars by all Great Lakes states and Canadian Tourism and Fisheries and potentially destroy a proud and wild magnificent steelhead fishery. Our chrome warrior has already proven it could fend for it own, but not if the destructive gavel and political bill signing pen deal the fish a blow.
Our steelhead have survived “combat fishing” – elbow-to-elbow, jet boats buzzing other jet boats, anglers brawls and a non-stop tackle barrage being thrown at them the moment they enter the river. This is both an East and West Coast scenarios when the run is on! Bait anglers on New York’s Cattaraugus Creek in the hunt for spawn (steelhead eggs for bait) know to catch female steelhead, slit their bellies and leave the dead carcasses on the banks so they can fill up plastic gallon jugs – a true heinous crime!
Yet through all of this literally lies a silver lining. If politics and Federal and state budgets which are curtailing fisheries programs every day can be kept to a minimum, I believe the future for steelhead in the Great Lakes is bright. I believe and see a new generation of steelheader in the Great Lakes. One filled with pride, responsibility and a sense of artistic and sporting purpose. Those of us who are good in judgment and decent enough to see the crimes and practices of the past, are starting to spread the gospel of a higher level of the sport. Appreciation for the rivers, its ecosystems and its health are first and foremost. Practice of catch-and-release (mandated or not) is the prevailing angling method. Fly anglers are practicing spey fishing, nymphing, dries, and are willing to have fun with all the methods The equipment has come state of the art. The fly patterns the best ever created. The rivers are protected and loved more than ever in history. Quality steelhead books and literature is everywhere. Anglers give each other room on the river – say hello, share flies and stories, a micro-brew and a cigar. We are now a fraternity of the majority, and others who don’t fit that bill are learning there is a better way. We now have choices. We have been educated and have left the soiled past of Great Lakes salmonid ignorance behind us. Only you, me, the politicians and mother nature’s exotic predators can destroy these magnificent chrome warriors. However, we can keep all these demons at bay with proper management.
So let us honor the steelhead in this new age of enlightenment. Let’s give them their space and allow them to do what they do best – survive, prosper and please the soul and spirit of the thousands in the endless pursuit of the chrome steelhead fascination.
At the end of the day, you can’t help but love “those big rainbows – the silver ones!”
The End
MS
Since their arrival to the Great Lakes in 1876, the Pacific steelhead has done remarkably well transplants have established themselves in an astonishing fashioning. The Great Lakes can seriously be called “The Greatest Steelhead fishery in the world!” The inland seas have provided vast hunting grounds for the nomadic silver warrior and its cool, gravel and stone laden was the ideal for developing their future progeny. They have survived the ecological chaos of the 1900’s industrial revolution and the onslaught of the invading lamprey eel. They have seen some of the most devastating pollution the U.S. has ever witnessed when the Cuyahoga River off of Lake Erie caught on fire from all the toxins in it in the 60’s. And yes! – they survived the total snagging butchery and slaughter that was legal in the Great Lakes tributaries form the 1970’ to as late as the early 90’s. When the “Pacific salmon invasion” hit all the rivers, fishery biologists, outdoor writers and the general public thought that “salmon would not eat” upon their return to spawn. Thus since they would eventually die, the only way an angler could harvest their limit would be to “snag” with weighted treble hooks as big as a meat cleaver, their daily catch. This is a “skeleton in the closet” the Great Lakes will never live down. With steel poles and 50 pound test, salmon anglers would “rip” into the flesh of the fish in a barbaric way - steelhead and browns were not immune to this practice and suffered casualties. Once the “brain trust” biologists heard stories of salmon attacking bait, lures, flies etc., they called a halt to this practice!
Great Lakes steelhead have also survived another practice – being fished to while spawning. It is a common tradition here. But if done with high ethical standards and careful catch-and-release practices, it can be executed with minimal harmful effects. One only needs to go to the hallowed historic waters of Michigan’s Pere Marquette “flies only” waters in March and watch thousands of fly rod nymphers plying their trade. If hooked females and males are not squeezed of their eggs and milt and handled gently, the runs return year after year due to the perfect hatching and nursery waters this cold spring fed trout stream. But what is really perplexing and extremely damaging to these magnificent fish is that they are allowed to be harvested during spawning – in both wild and hatchery returns. That is the true enigmatic dilemma that baffles all true lovers and protectors of steelhead. Bass, pike, trout all have closed season where they are protected from harvest during spawning – not “those big rainbows” It is heart wrenching to watch an angler walk away with three wild “dead steelhead” on a stringer who were just that day trying to propagate the species future and progeny. This will eventually come to haunt the Great Lakes and its future until this ethical dilemma is resolved. Allow the careful opportunity to still fish, but stop the killing – catch-and-release should be mandated to all Great Lakes rivers from March through May – especially on all wild fisheries. Purely stocked systems with no natural reproduction should be allowed more liberal management policies so all anglers could enjoy the resource.
Another issue rearing its ugly head in the Great Lakes is the “numbers game.” We have been accused by our West Coast compatriots of being “fish pigs” – “hooked 41 landed 37” stuff. Yeah, that is definitely true when you stock 200,000 steelhead in a tiny Lake Erie tributary and get tens of thousands of fish retiring to a few pools, its gonna be a “numbers game fiasco.” Does it distort the true spirit “thousand cast fish” which steelhead have been known to be on the West Coast - absolutely! Does it destroy the respect and homage each noble fish should receive – exactly!
Steelheading is all about the meditation of the big pull, the uncertainty when it will come and the electrifying magnificence when it does come. It is casting Karma, a method that is poetic and beautiful in its own right. Numbers mocks the fish and dehumanizes the angler and turns him or her into an insatiable monster armed with a fly rod.
Constant change of the Great Lakes inland seas is what brought “those big rainbows – the silver ones!” here and what will hopefully allow them to stay. An unfortunate current scenario is the ongoing economic recession and how partisan politics and administration focusing on creating jobs for their constituency is overshadowing protecting these great inland seas and their steelhead/salmon fisheries. Just as thousands of salmon and steelhead were allowed to die in California due to politics and water wars, the same is going on in the Great Lakes today. Asian Carp threaten to take over the whole Great Lakes system by breaching the Chicago Barge canal and fish barrier which has kept them in check for years from breaking out of the Mississippi Basin. If they enter the Great Lakes, they could destroy a multi-billion dollar steelhead and salmon tourist and recreational industry due to the destructive ecological niche they would invade. Our President, in order to save his voting consistency in Illinois 8 million dollars of working revenue on the barge Canal, has not allowed or condoned for its closure. This might sacrifice the billions of dollars by all Great Lakes states and Canadian Tourism and Fisheries and potentially destroy a proud and wild magnificent steelhead fishery. Our chrome warrior has already proven it could fend for it own, but not if the destructive gavel and political bill signing pen deal the fish a blow.
Our steelhead have survived “combat fishing” – elbow-to-elbow, jet boats buzzing other jet boats, anglers brawls and a non-stop tackle barrage being thrown at them the moment they enter the river. This is both an East and West Coast scenarios when the run is on! Bait anglers on New York’s Cattaraugus Creek in the hunt for spawn (steelhead eggs for bait) know to catch female steelhead, slit their bellies and leave the dead carcasses on the banks so they can fill up plastic gallon jugs – a true heinous crime!
Yet through all of this literally lies a silver lining. If politics and Federal and state budgets which are curtailing fisheries programs every day can be kept to a minimum, I believe the future for steelhead in the Great Lakes is bright. I believe and see a new generation of steelheader in the Great Lakes. One filled with pride, responsibility and a sense of artistic and sporting purpose. Those of us who are good in judgment and decent enough to see the crimes and practices of the past, are starting to spread the gospel of a higher level of the sport. Appreciation for the rivers, its ecosystems and its health are first and foremost. Practice of catch-and-release (mandated or not) is the prevailing angling method. Fly anglers are practicing spey fishing, nymphing, dries, and are willing to have fun with all the methods The equipment has come state of the art. The fly patterns the best ever created. The rivers are protected and loved more than ever in history. Quality steelhead books and literature is everywhere. Anglers give each other room on the river – say hello, share flies and stories, a micro-brew and a cigar. We are now a fraternity of the majority, and others who don’t fit that bill are learning there is a better way. We now have choices. We have been educated and have left the soiled past of Great Lakes salmonid ignorance behind us. Only you, me, the politicians and mother nature’s exotic predators can destroy these magnificent chrome warriors. However, we can keep all these demons at bay with proper management.
So let us honor the steelhead in this new age of enlightenment. Let’s give them their space and allow them to do what they do best – survive, prosper and please the soul and spirit of the thousands in the endless pursuit of the chrome steelhead fascination.
At the end of the day, you can’t help but love “those big rainbows – the silver ones!”
The End
MS
