How to fly fish deep pools?

[Jim Elie]

I fish the Niagara River here in Canada year round for a variety of salmon, steelhead, and trout. The river above the Falls is shallow and offers great water for “Far and Fine Off” spey fishing with traditional 16 to 18 footers. The water below the Falls is a little different due to the erosion of the Falls on the limestone rock of the Niagara escarpment. This has formed the Niagara Gorge which the river flows through to Lake Ontario. Deep pools are relative and fishing this river offers some unique challenges to spey anglers as some runs and pools are up to 300 feet deep. The currents here can be very fast and vary due to upstream hydroelectric generation and or strong westerly winds pushing water into the river from Lake Erie.

As previously mentioned, salmon and steelhead frequently hold along the steep banks of deep pools, and in the seams out of the strong currents. The drop off angles of the river banks here are often 30 to 60 degrees and the salmon and steelhead are holding along the edges in depths of 20 to 40 feet. I use my long spey rods with a 4 1/2 inch wide spool vintage 1914 era Hardy Silex fly/spinning reel loaded with a Rio Scandi In Touch, or a Guideline 3D+ or a Scott MacKenzie Phased 5 System. The Silex may seem to be an unusual choice for a fly reel but this handsome reel (which resembles the rare Salmon St George) offers versatility that most fly reels do not. The free spool lever can be activated to allow the CD sinking head to reach the desired depth by aerial mending upstream and reduces the drag of the current as it sinks. You can also use this feature to feed out line as your fly makes a linear, more broadside profile, on a downstream drift along the edge of a current seam. This presentation can allow an angler to cover inaccessible deeper water along the banks as wading and casting here is difficult with the steep slopping bottom and shoreline vegetation.

Rather than casting 50 yards downstream into couple of hundred feet of water, I switch cast these Controlled Density 32 foot Scandi lines at 50 to 20 degree angles 50 or 60 feet down stream. I use the rods length to make aerial mends and at a 50 degree angle to keep the 50 lb OPST Lazer hi vis pink oval mono shooting line above the water with just the tip of the Scandi CD head above the surface as a drift indicator. This prevents the rod guides and your hands from freezing while winter steelheading. I lead the line with my elevated rod tip and this allows the CD lines remarkable “In Touch” sensitivity to work its magic as you maintain a taunt straight line connection with your fly and can feel a fish inhale it 15 to 40 feet deep, even on the dangle. The longer length of the rod compensates for not being able to wade more than three feet from the shore and when held at this elevated angle, permits an angler to lead the fly and hover it down stream in the sweet spots. I always work the fly on the dangle for a least a minute before switch casting it to the surface prior to the next cast.

The running line is knotted to 300 plus yards of backing on the reel as you often can’t follow or keep up with a Chromer running down stream with the heavy current here. The free spool can then be activated to slow or stop a running salmon as it responds and holds up when the check and pawl are disengaged and you stop palming the spool. I’ve had numerous salmon then swim back upstream to their lie where I hooked them after the check has been disengaged. The fish seem to calm down when the don’t feel the drag and the vibration and hear the loud buzz of the pawl when running. While keeping the Silex in free spool, I can wind in the salmon silentlyand without any vibration transmitted, and “walk the dog”, leading it back upstream and hopefully avoid being spooled. This ploy works with Atlantic’s, Lakers and Steelies, but not always with Coho or Chinooks, which also frequent the Niagara. This is an exciting river to spey fish as you can catch a variety of salmonoids here. You may hook your PB Atlantic here..... as these sturgeon can get well over a 100 lbs.

I use a range of sinking densities as these fish can be holding in shallower water along the banks in the low light conditions of dawn or dusk or when the water is shaded in the gorge. These periods can call for a shallow presentation just under the surface with a F/H/I or F/H/S2. The usual morning to afternoon deeper fishing is conducted using mid to deeper sinking heads ranging from S1/S3/S5, I/S4/S6, S2/S4/S6 and for heavy currents adjacent to deeper holding water S3/S5/S8. I carry these various heads in a wallet and switch them with a loop to loop connection with the
Lazer shooting mono. This is an effective easy to learn technique for difficult water which is usually bypassed by most anglers.

Regards from the Restigouche....Jim

 

[marty31]

Plenty flow, 25 foot at least

Aye I have ,and to say the beats Nigel mentioned are just one big pool I
Would definitely disagree with that , you missed out Stobhall/ Taymount btw they are anything but they have great character and plenty of necks and tails of pools


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But even with the lines and methods described, what type of flee would be used? Lengh, weight, etc? I would imagine it would be drawn back slow and with stops?

 

[Saint Andrews]

Do Fish even lie that deep, especially at 30'.
I never even seen a pool 30' deep let alone fish one, genuine question?

Yes they do, if seen scuba diver footage from the bottom of Cragg House pool on the River Irt Cumbria, confirmed to be over 25foot deep in the middle and seen Salmon lieing alongside and behind the rocks in the deepest part. Camera caught them well before they were disturbed so we naturally holding at that depth.

 

[AwesomeOrchy]

Name of the pool on the Awe, Barrage pool, possibly

Its called the Hole

 

[Nigel Passmore]

Aye I have ,and to say the beats Nigel mentioned are just one big pool I
Would definitely disagree with that , you missed out Stobhall/ Taymount btw they are anything but they have great character and plenty of necks and tails of pools


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I missed out Stobhall/Taymount deliberately. The upper beat is half one giant pool and the lower is the bottom of that plus Linn Pool. The fact that these giant pools are sub divided in to areas doesn’t mean they are not one big pool. Most fishermen I know would define a pool that has some form of faster water at the head followed by a deeper central glide followed by a thinning and typically narrowing at the tail to a V as it goes into another rush of faster bouldery water. That is what happens fundementally on every single one of the Tay beats I mention. Typically most new rods I meet on these big pools have no idea what the bit they are fishing is called because to them it is simply one great mass of water. It’s neither a bad or wrong thing. Same principles apply to much of the Lower Tweed and Dee but much less so the Spey were lower river pools are discrete and distinct.

Regards

NHP

 

[Loxie]

Yes they do, if seen scuba diver footage from the bottom of Cragg House pool on the River Irt Cumbria, confirmed to be over 25foot deep in the middle and seen Salmon lieing alongside and behind the rocks in the deepest part. Camera caught them well before they were disturbed so we naturally holding at that depth.

The house pool on the Etive is probably 25 to 30' deep in parts. Many years ago the Etive had huge runs of salmon and gin clear water you could look over the footbridge and the bottom of the pool was a black blob in the depths. One day my cousin and I, aged about 13, carried a huge, to us, boulder up to the bridge and shoved it in. As the spray subsided the golden gravel on the bottom was briefly revealed as the carpet of salmon parted!

 

[charlieH]

...but much less so the Spey were lower river pools are discrete and distinct.

I broadly agree, though there are some examples of Spey pools with multiple names. At Arndilly, the Long Pool is just called the Long Pool from top to bottom - and the gillies will tell you that every yard of it will produce fish. But if you're on the Rothes bank, the same piece of water has three if not four names. Also at Arndilly, Back of the Bog and Bulwark would in many people's book be reckoned to be a single pool; in this case I think the twin names reflect the fact that, before the great reorganisation, not only did the left bank not belong to Arndilly, but its ownership was also divided between Rothes and Easter Elchies. A little further upstream at Carron & Laggan, many people would consider Millionaire's Corner, Midcast and Delmunach to be a single pool - indeed, some people would add in The Stream, too.

Sometimes I think the practice of subdividing pools and giving them different names may be a ploy to make it appear to tenants or purchasers that there is more fishing (and thus sometimes to jack up the number of rods for which a beat is let). Take the Beauly, for example; in the pre-timeshare days there were many fewer names for bits of water, and the Ferry and the Stones on the Falls beat used to be considered a single pool.

On the other hand, it can be useful to give names to sections of pools to help identify more precisely where fish are caught. When I was working on the Vosso in Norway, a large proportion of the fish we caught came from quite specific lies within a pool, and in many instances there were quite large sections of more or less unproductive water in between the small good bits. So a big pool like Rongen was divided into Torgestein, Kjellar, Rieset and Parking Lot, and each of these areas was approached differently. In fact, you could argue that giving names to individual areas of a large pool is reflecting the fish's-eye view. Looking from above we may see it as a single sheet of water, but the favoured lies will often be quite specific, and will often vary depending on water height. People sometimes talk of looking for 'the river within the river' when confronted with a big Tay or Tweed pool, and I think that subdividing pools and giving names to those divisions is really the same thing.

 

[phil.b]

The Tay is my river and I was thinking about your comment about one big pool and I was thinking about what most of your fishing pals would think a pool is , ie fast water ,deeper water then a V ,so I came up with these sandyford (islamouth) I thought of the castle pool but that goes into the long head , then I dropped down to cargil/Ballathie bridge stream , cradle then Stobhall/Taymount cubby hole ,stankend ,four grilse point ,twin-stones .Linn pool Green bank albeit in a big water above 4.5ft then Burnmouth the gutters then into catholes big water pools the Slap , littlehead,Woodside and Geoffs,Backdam and Eric’s Low water Gene tree and Catholes Stream , then into Pitlochry pool beat corner pool then into Pitlochry pool it’s self massive pool with a top middle and tail with a V then Horsie .Benchil ,aitkinhead ,long shot and littleshot then waulkmill stream,Hummel hole,coldcastle stream
I could add a lot more when the river is big . You have to remember the Tay is no like a burn with small perfect pools that are easily read it’s a mans river with big pools with necks deep water a V’s . You need to come with me to these beats mind though your paying


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[Loxie]

The Tay is my river and I was thinking about your comment about one big pool and I was thinking about what most of your fishing pals would think a pool is , ie fast water ,deeper water then a V ,so I came up with these sandyford (islamouth) I thought of the castle pool but that goes into the long head , then I dropped down to cargil/Ballathie bridge stream , cradle then Stobhall/Taymount cubby hole ,stankend ,four grilse point ,twin-stones .Linn pool Green bank albeit in a big water above 4.5ft then Burnmouth the gutters then into catholes big water pools the Slap , littlehead,Woodside and Geoffs,Backdam and Eric’s Low water Gene tree and Catholes Stream , then into Pitlochry pool beat corner pool then into Pitlochry pool it’s self massive pool with a top middle and tail with a V then Horsie .Benchil ,aitkinhead ,long shot and littleshot then waulkmill stream,Hummel hole,coldcastle stream
I could add a lot more when the river is big . You have to remember the Tay is no like a burn with small perfect pools that are easily read it’s a mans river with big pools with necks deep water a V’s . You need to come with me to these beats mind though your paying


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And for anyone with the ability to watch and learn it would be money very well spent, regardless of the cost!

 

[Nigel Passmore]

The Tay is my river and I was thinking about your comment about one big pool and I was thinking about what most of your fishing pals would think a pool is , ie fast water ,deeper water then a V ,so I came up with these sandyford (islamouth) I thought of the castle pool but that goes into the long head , then I dropped down to cargil/Ballathie bridge stream , cradle then Stobhall/Taymount cubby hole ,stankend ,four grilse point ,twin-stones .Linn pool Green bank albeit in a big water above 4.5ft then Burnmouth the gutters then into catholes big water pools the Slap , littlehead,Woodside and Geoffs,Backdam and Eric’s Low water Gene tree and Catholes Stream , then into Pitlochry pool beat corner pool then into Pitlochry pool it’s self massive pool with a top middle and tail with a V then Horsie .Benchil ,aitkinhead ,long shot and littleshot then waulkmill stream,Hummel hole,coldcastle stream
I could add a lot more when the river is big . You have to remember the Tay is no like a burn with small perfect pools that are easily read it’s a mans river with big pools with necks deep water a V’s . You need to come with me to these beats mind though your paying


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Thank you for your most excellent post. Over 30 years I’ve actually fished all of these beats and every single ‘cast’ you refer to (except Burnmouth which is easy to observe looking down from the tail of the Linn or up from the weir at Catholes) albeit some more than others and always with the benefit of many excellent boatman. One could easily read your post as suggesting you have more to offer than they do but I’m sure that’s not the intention.

I don’t for one second doubt the Tay is your river. I don’t doubt my own eyesight either. I’m also not sure why you are so concerned? Loch Leven is one big amorphous sheet of water sub divided in to a multitude of drifts. When fishers talk of Leven they are drift specific but ultimately you are on the same loch.

On the beats you mention I’ve fished them from bellow summer level to 10’ above. By and large once above 4’ many (but not all) of them are featureless flats. Once below that they start to display all sorts of interesting definition caused by the naturally ledgy nature and croys found on the Lower Tay. It’s no odds to me if people want to call that definition a pool although if you read Malloch they were casts not pools.

One of the joys of salmon fishing over Scotland is experiencing the vaguries and outlooks of the various fishing communities. Your expressed view is classic Tayside but very different from Tweedside which is confident in a different way. Deeside has its own style and Speyside a more conservative one still. Ness ghillies have their modus operandi and view. The same is true for the other rivers that ultimately flow under Bonar Bridge or in to Crommarty Firth. The North Coast style changes quite markedly as you move from East to West, and as for the Isles I’ll have the Roagster on my case if I say anything!

Personally, I find all this interesting and all part of the experience. It is neither good nor bad, right nor wrong but it is what is. I will say the overall experience has changed quite a lot over the last 40 years and universally for the better.

For various reasons of location, time and other goals, my long tryst with Tayside is probably done now. So I probably can’t take you up on your kind offer to show me a new perspective on beats I’ve fished over many years. However, perhaps you may allow me to reciprocate. If the Krankie hasn’t turned Scotland in to Airstrip 2 by then I’ll be host on a Highland River in May. If you should like to come and teach me the error of my pool viewing ways for a day as my guest you should be more than welcome, or you could just fish if you should prefer.....

Regards

NHP

 

[phil.b]

I was concerned that you seen the beats you wrote about as being one big pool and was letting you and others know my opinion.As fishing the river since the age of 6 and working with Tay salmon fisheries in the late 80s and 90s I ghillied a lot of these beats you mentioned and if not ghillieing ,helping the ghillies or fishing the beats myself.As having more to offer than they do I’d like to think we were/are all equal although I was lucky because cthere were a lot more salmon about when I done it .If you let me know when and where I’ll take your invite in May to fish with you ,as they wee highland burns are easier to read than the mighty Tay and as long as it’s not on dates that I’m fishing elsewhere


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[Nigel Passmore]

.If you let me know when and where I’ll take your invite in May to fish with you ,as they wee highland burns are easier to read than the mighty Tay and as long as it’s not on dates that I’m fishing elsewhere


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Good. I shall be in touch. Easy to read? Ok you said it. Just as well I’ve the perfect test for that later fella.

 

[keirstream]

Good. I shall be in touch. Easy to read? Ok you said it. Just as well I’ve the perfect test for that later fella.

I'm backing Phil by the way.

 

[Cyclops]

I’m backing NHP if he’s dishing out the invites

 

[keirstream]

I’m backing NHP if he’s dishing out the invites

Its just dawned on me.
You are a lot smarter than I am.

 

[nore fly]

Very deep slow moving pool with clear water ... may to september ..full floating line ...15ft /14ftrod(especially if fishing from a high bank over the river)..12ft leader .mono..and salmon flies of varied sizes right down to single trout flies.( I prefer very small salmon flies .the kind you buy for low summer rivers but never dare use ...).start casting upstream all the way to down stream in a fan shape ...the fly is pulled to create a wake on the surface (I learned this pre wake flies) and the fish will come up from the depths and take the fly ....you have to hold your nerve and not strike the fly like dry fly trout fishing .if you have a high bank and can observe them rise.....its exciting stuff ...its well suited to holding pools ..the kind of pool that salmon circle around in are hold in the ranks when the main flows reduce...and if fish rise in the pool near dusk or dawn ..keep casting over that spot and it can induce a strike ...I use this method on pools I used to fish a weighted worm in and big heavy lures down deep ..and now catch fish on the surface with confidence in these pools I used to dredge...the speed of the fly is important .that is it must create a nice ripple on the surface ...its very active fly fishing .and not a method you would use for long periods of time .as its intensive ...I am a lazy fly man .but I love this method and it is a very satisfying way to hook a fish ,as sometimes they move for the fly and turn away several times and you can see them doing this ..you can see them get excited by the fly .and all sorts of stuff ... ..polarized glasses are important for spotting fish in there deep lies ...I use longer rods as the pools I fish are usually more overgrown and only have spots cleared here and there my lure fishermen and it aids you from getting snagged up on branches etc ...

 

[Cookie-boy]

I think you'd be surprised how many rivers in Scotland, even small ones have deep pools like that.
There is one pool on the A'an that the ghillie used to refer to as his "larder"! I used to fish it with a heavy brass tube on the point with one of those Falkus blue tandem sea trout flies about 4" long on a dropper. Never caught a ******* thing but had some heart stopping follows as fish regularly followed the dropper up from the depths, often with their noses seemingly glued to the tail of it.

 

[Andrew B]

Very deep slow moving pool with clear water ... may to september ..full floating line ...15ft /14ftrod(especially if fishing from a high bank over the river)..12ft leader .mono..and salmon flies of varied sizes right down to single trout flies.( I prefer very small salmon flies .the kind you buy for low summer rivers but never dare use ...).start casting upstream all the way to down stream in a fan shape ...the fly is pulled to create a wake on the surface (I learned this pre wake flies) and the fish will come up from the depths and take the fly ....you have to hold your nerve and not strike the fly like dry fly trout fishing .if you have a high bank and can observe them rise.....its exciting stuff ...its well suited to holding pools ..the kind of pool that salmon circle around in are hold in the ranks when the main flows reduce...and if fish rise in the pool near dusk or dawn ..keep casting over that spot and it can induce a strike ...I use this method on pools I used to fish a weighted worm in and big heavy lures down deep ..and now catch fish on the surface with confidence in these pools I used to dredge...the speed of the fly is important .that is it must create a nice ripple on the surface ...its very active fly fishing .and not a method you would use for long periods of time .as its intensive ...I am a lazy fly man .but I love this method and it is a very satisfying way to hook a fish ,as sometimes they move for the fly and turn away several times and you can see them doing this ..you can see them get excited by the fly .and all sorts of stuff ... ..polarized glasses are important for spotting fish in there deep lies ...I use longer rods as the pools I fish are usually more overgrown and only have spots cleared here and there my lure fishermen and it aids you from getting snagged up on branches etc ...

I’ve come across pools like this where you would swear there was nothing there, then in the evening the salmon would suddenly become active and come to the surface. Each time I witnessed this was in low water in a pool so deep you couldn’t see the bottom.

 

[Rrrr]

I think you'd be surprised how many rivers in Scotland, even small ones have deep pools like that.
There is one pool on the A'an that the ghillie used to refer to as his "larder"! I used to fish it with a heavy brass tube on the point with one of those Falkus blue tandem sea trout flies about 4" long on a dropper. Never caught a ******* thing but had some heart stopping follows as fish regularly followed the dropper up from the depths, often with their noses seemingly glued to the tail of it.

I fish a couple of pools that can be like that at times. Not really suited to the fly.
They can look empty untill you flick a small mepp in and then the fish come up and nose it with no intention of taking. Last season i had a few heartstopping moments where mid double seatrout came tearing in after the mepp. Its a high bank so you can see the action clearly too.

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[nore fly]

I’ve come across pools like this where you would swear there was nothing there, then in the evening the salmon would suddenly become active and come to the surface. Each time I witnessed this was in low water in a pool so deep you couldn’t see the bottom.

Yes the fish start to circle the pools and become very active at dawn and dusk ..often they follow the same track around and in groups in pools well stocked with fish .I find the fish tend to rise in the same spot over and over and repeating a cast into the same spot will pay off ...these pools are often ignored on fly only rivers and because of if they are well rested for the adventurous angler...

..on a slightly different note .in the good old days ...my grandfather used to
Fish such pools from a Boat with a gaff on a long hazel branch tied to a spare oar and be in wait for such salmon along the pools edge and would gaff the salmon and throw the oar and all in ,till the fish gave up ...

 

[marty31]

Yes the fish start to circle the pools and become very active at dawn and dusk ..often they follow the same track around and in groups in pools well stocked with fish .I find the fish tend to rise in the same spot over and over and repeating a cast into the same spot will pay off ...these pools are often ignored on fly only rivers and because of if they are well rested for the adventurous angler...

..on a slightly different note .in the good old days ...my grandfather used to
Fish such pools from a Boat with a gaff on a long hazel branch tied to a spare oar and be in wait for such salmon along the pools edge and would gaff the salmon and throw the oar and all in ,till the fish gave up ...

I agree 100% with the first paragraph its exactly what has been observed on our deep pool getting them to take is a different game! They will but only occasionally, for what reason? Only the fish could tell us that!
The 2nd paragraph???

 

[nore fly]

I agree 100% with the first paragraph its exactly what has been observed on our deep pool getting them to take is a different game! They will but only occasionally, for what reason? Only the fish could tell us that!
The 2nd paragraph???

The second paragraph was around the 1950s .different times ..

 

[007]

The second paragraph was around the 1950s .different times ..

I, troot fishers knew their place then. Employed by a Lordy you got a turnip for X‘maS. 007

 

[marty31]

The second paragraph was around the 1950s .different times ..

Yeah some of my grandas tales about the coquet in and about that time or maybe a bit earlier would make your hair curl (even if your bald) and my mother can well rember the coquet having a fully commercial netting station at the grandstand, different times! More fish! No conservation! Maybe more primitive methods, saved the day and less rods due to less time off for workers

 

[007]

I fish the Niagara River here in Canada year round for a variety of salmon, steelhead, and trout. The river above the Falls is shallow and offers great water for “Far and Fine Off” spey fishing with traditional 16 to 18 footers. The water below the Falls is a little different due to the erosion of the Falls on the limestone rock of the Niagara escarpment. This has formed the Niagara Gorge which the river flows through to Lake Ontario. Deep pools are relative and fishing this river offers some unique challenges to spey anglers as some runs and pools are up to 300 feet deep. The currents here can be very fast and vary due to upstream hydroelectric generation and or strong westerly winds pushing water into the river from Lake Erie.

As previously mentioned, salmon and steelhead frequently hold along the steep banks of deep pools, and in the seams out of the strong currents. The drop off angles of the river banks here are often 30 to 60 degrees and the salmon and steelhead are holding along the edges in depths of 20 to 40 feet. I use my long spey rods with a 4 1/2 inch wide spool vintage 1914 era Hardy Silex fly/spinning reel loaded with a Rio Scandi In Touch, or a Guideline 3D+ or a Scott MacKenzie Phased 5 System. The Silex may seem to be an unusual choice for a fly reel but this handsome reel (which resembles the rare Salmon St George) offers versatility that most fly reels do not. The free spool lever can be activated to allow the CD sinking head to reach the desired depth by aerial mending upstream and reduces the drag of the current as it sinks. You can also use this feature to feed out line as your fly makes a linear, more broadside profile, on a downstream drift along the edge of a current seam. This presentation can allow an angler to cover inaccessible deeper water along the banks as wading and casting here is difficult with the steep slopping bottom and shoreline vegetation.

Rather than casting 50 yards downstream into couple of hundred feet of water, I switch cast these Controlled Density 32 foot Scandi lines at 50 to 20 degree angles 50 or 60 feet down stream. I use the rods length to make aerial mends and at a 50 degree angle to keep the 50 lb OPST Lazer hi vis pink oval mono shooting line above the water with just the tip of the Scandi CD head above the surface as a drift indicator. This prevents the rod guides and your hands from freezing while winter steelheading. I lead the line with my elevated rod tip and this allows the CD lines remarkable “In Touch” sensitivity to work its magic as you maintain a taunt straight line connection with your fly and can feel a fish inhale it 15 to 40 feet deep, even on the dangle. The longer length of the rod compensates for not being able to wade more than three feet from the shore and when held at this elevated angle, permits an angler to lead the fly and hover it down stream in the sweet spots. I always work the fly on the dangle for a least a minute before switch casting it to the surface prior to the next cast.

The running line is knotted to 300 plus yards of backing on the reel as you often can’t follow or keep up with a Chromer running down stream with the heavy current here. The free spool can then be activated to slow or stop a running salmon as it responds and holds up when the check and pawl are disengaged and you stop palming the spool. I’ve had numerous salmon then swim back upstream to their lie where I hooked them after the check has been disengaged. The fish seem to calm down when the don’t feel the drag and the vibration and hear the loud buzz of the pawl when running. While keeping the Silex in free spool, I can wind in the salmon silentlyand without any vibration transmitted, and “walk the dog”, leading it back upstream and hopefully avoid being spooled. This ploy works with Atlantic’s, Lakers and Steelies, but not always with Coho or Chinooks, which also frequent the Niagara. This is an exciting river to spey fish as you can catch a variety of salmonoids here. You may hook your PB Atlantic here..... as these sturgeon can get well over a 100 lbs.

I use a range of sinking densities as these fish can be holding in shallower water along the banks in the low light conditions of dawn or dusk or when the water is shaded in the gorge. These periods can call for a shallow presentation just under the surface with a F/H/I or F/H/S2. The usual morning to afternoon deeper fishing is conducted using mid to deeper sinking heads ranging from S1/S3/S5, I/S4/S6, S2/S4/S6 and for heavy currents adjacent to deeper holding water S3/S5/S8. I carry these various heads in a wallet and switch them with a loop to loop connection with the
Lazer shooting mono. This is an effective easy to learn technique for difficult water which is usually bypassed by most anglers.

Regards from the Restigouche....Jim

Apologies Jim, but wondered about these steelhead and salmon. I assume they’re tremendous leapers or are potadromous.

Are these salmon Pinks or Atlantic ? I read stocking with both occurred in Lake Ontario.

Hope it’s not been too cold to enjoy your X‘maS.

ps Did any steelhead turn up after rainbow trout stocking on your East Coast?

Also, sea-trout after brown trout stocking ? 007