Steelheading Tips From 3 of Ontario’s Best
John Valk was born in Burlington and grew up in Waterdown. He started fly fishing when he was 11 and in 1993, at the age of 34, started Grindstone Anglers, the well known fly fishing shop in Waterdown. Valk guides 200 days a year, primarily in Ontario, but has also guided in Alberta and British Columbia. He introduced the first drift boat to Ontario in 1996 and now, together with the other staff at Grindstone Anglers, has three drift boats. About half of Valk’s guiding is for steelhead and he guides on all the well known steelhead rivers such as the Saugeen, the Maitland, the Niagara, and the Grand.
Valk does most of his steelhead fishing with a 10 foot, 7 weight, single handed rod, but also uses a two handed rod or Spey rod for larger water. He likes to use floating lines with sinking leaders, as opposed to sink tip lines, because he finds the former rig to be more sensitive. He keeps his tippets fairly strong so that he can land and release the fish quickly.
While acknowledging that steelheading with float rods is more efficient than with fly rods, Valk says that the challenge for fly fishing has always been, how to get your fly down to the fish. With the development of sink tip lines, sinking leaders and beadhead flies, Valk says the gap between float fishing and fly fishing is narrowing and he has observed that now fly tackle sometimes out-fishes float tackle.
“The fish see a lot of roe”, says Valk, “but fewer flies, and that’s another important reason why fly anglers are meeting with success more often”.
Valk likes to use a downstream mend when steelheading, where the fly line laying on the water is flipped downstream several times as the fly also drifts downstream. This results in a longer dead drift before the current causes the fly to swing. But he also says that you should stay with the drift even when the fly swings and that you should lift the fly at the end of a drift. The lift often trigger big hits. Valk’s favourite flies include egg flies, a variety of beadhead nymphs, Woolly Worms and big streamers like Rabbit Strip Leeches with bullet heads.
For those just getting started Valk’s advice is to set your expectations low. He says you have to put your time in and a lot of learning comes from trial and error.
John Burkhardt has lived in the Kitchener Waterloo area most of his life, although he did spend some time in Lindsay at Sir Sanford Fleming College studying cartography. Now he manages Natural Sports, a tackle store in Kitchener. Burkhardt loves fishing for steelhead and guides by special appointment. His favourite river is the Maitland because there’s lots of water and, therefore, lots of room for the fish to fight. But, he says that when you’re facing big water, the key is to break it down and fish it systematically.
Burkhardt has done the bulk of his steelheading with a single handed rod and, as was the case with John Valk, Burkhardt’s preference is for a 10 foot, 7 weight rod. However, in the last few years he has increasingly fishing with a two handed rod, not only because it’s a great way to cover bigger water like the Maitland, but also because he enjoys tying the Spey flies that go hand-in-glove with the two handed rods.
A weight forward fly line with a steelhead taper (a line that has a longer mid section or belly) is Burkhardt’s favourite because it’s easier to cast. He says that you have to keep your leader hanging down below your fly line so that your fly is drifting naturally in a dead drift.
“Your fly also has to be bumping on the bottom, says Burkhardt, “and you can’t be afraid to lose a few flies”.
Burkhardt fishes either sink tips or sinking leaders, and in both cases is also a strong advocate for the use of swtrike indicators. He says the advantage of a sinking leader is that sometimes the sink tips are too long. While you can cut the sink tips shorter, in the alternative and for less money, you can invest in a sinking leader and, in effect, convert your floating line to a sink tip.
“Much of your steelheading success”, Burkhardt says, “is going to depend on understanding the connection between the weather, how various rivers react to the weather and how, in turn, the fish react to the condition of the rivers. The best time to catch steelhead tends to be after a rain storm because the higher water in the river will trigger a steelhead run. But the trick is knowing how long it will be after the rain has blown out a river (water levels too high and muddy to fish) that the river will return to a fishable condition. Burkhardt says that the rivers of Southern Ontario can be grouped into four categories. Big rivers, like the Grand, the Saugeen, the Maitland and the Nottawasaga, tend to take a minimum of 4 days and as much as 10 days to bounce back depending on how much rain has fallen. Medium sized streams like, the Sauble, the Ganaraska, the Beaver, and the Credit, take as little as 2 days and as many as 5. Smaller streams like Nine Mile, the Bighead, the Syndeham and Bronte Creek take as little as a day and as many as 3. Still smaller tributaries like Bowmanville Creek, Wilmot Creek and Oshawa Creek take 1 to 2 days to become fishable again. You have to plan your fishing with these considerations in mind”.
Stonefly nymph
Burkhardt’s favourite flies are small and medium sized black stonefly nymphs with some flash added by ribbing the fly or tying the wing case or butt (or all three) with bluish or greenish reflective material. He is also a fan of egg flies, including tandem egg flies, and says that you should change egg fly colours based on water clarity. In clearer water use white or peach coloured egg flies and in dirtier water go with orange or chartreuse.
Ken Collins grew up in Kitchener and was taught how to fly fish by his Grade 7 teacher, the late William Hooks. Collins studied forestry at Algonquin College before he started Troutfitters in Fergus twelve years ago. He does a lot of guiding—between 150 and 200 days each year, and a little less than half of that is guiding for steelhead. He has two drift boats which he operates together with his staff, but does a lot of guiding that involves wading too.
Collins’ message for anglers is encouraging. “I’ve never met a smart steelhead”, he says. “If they’re in the river a good presentation will get them”.
His advice for beginners is to move around and cover the water and learn as you go. He also says that a minimum degree of water clarity is necessary and that if you are standing knee deep in the water and you can’t see the toe of your boot, than you might as well go home.
According to Collins, you should be able to land 80 to 90 percent of the fish that you hook, and if you’re not achieving that percentage that you need to work on your fish fighting abilities. One way of practicing is to tie your tippets to a fence and stress them until they break. Knowing how much pressure you can put on your tippet is important because landing success also depends on keeping the fight closer to you.
Although he sometimes uses a two handed rod for steelhead, Collins’ usual rod is single handed and he teaches and coaches the clients he guides using a single handed rod. Reels for steelheading, says Collins, require a good drag, because if you have to move in difficult conditions with a wading staff, you’ll need to have the reel fight the fish for you for the duration of the move. Large arbour reels are particularly good when the fish is running at you, and those occasions occur frequently.
Collins says that you can’t deny the effectiveness of egg flies, but he also likes to fish big, weighted stonefly nymph patterns and flies like the Burlap.
Collins is an enthusiastic fan of steelheading, partly, he says, because there are no fewer than 27 quality streams in southern Ontario. But also simply because of the excitement. He says steelhead fight better than anything else in Ontario.
