Consistency

The better we get at casting and the more consistent we become at fishing a steelhead run the better our odds of yielding some results. The path to success comes from opportunity and any flaws in four fishing takes away from our good odds.

Let us imagine, if you will, that it takes 100 casts to cover juicy and proven spot. What if you accomplish a reasonably proper angle of casts with a nice presentation, and are able to turnover a nice loop that starts fishing right away? What if you could do that 100 percent of the time? No doubt, you will find out if a player exists in that run! Even a 90% rate of good casting success will yield higher results than 50% of your casts that make the cut. In fact I believe that the fifty percent of bad casts can result in putting all the fish in a run off the bite. Therefore, resulting in a much lower than 50% opportunity. Probably closer to 10-15% chance if there actually was a willing dance partner of a steelhead.

My pro tip? Do not fish bad casts! Re-do them until they turn over nicely. This will up your odds! If a cast lands in a pile? Strip it in a re-do! If a cast has a big funny layout? Re-do! If it booms out and bounces back? Make the correction! The last thing I want to see as a guide is to let a bad cast ride though that nice steelhead spot.

Hey beginners: It’s not just you I am talking to! Many seasoned and long casters suffer from overcasting at times. Over shooting the seam is a cardinal sin. Talk about a crappy presentation! Also: In many cases If you have to mend the line then it is not fully a fishable cast from the get go. A truly good cast will start fishing from the time it hits the water. The better you get, the less you need to mend. As you get more consistent the more you rely on good angles.

I’ll be covering these angles, how to determine them, and much more in my presentation “The 12 habits of successful steelheaders” at the Royal Treatment on March 21st!