JoeW
08-28-2010, 10:12 AM
I posted a pic under "Freshwater Reports" showing how low and pitiful my favorite Steelhead creek (18-mile Creek in Western NY) is at this time of year. But I scout the creeks now when they're low because you can find "hidden" hotspots that you won't see when the water is 3 feet deeper in the Fall!
This is a view looking downstream. You can see the start of a long stretch of rapid fast water. The Steelhead will run the rapids in dim light situations (morning, evening, night time, cloudy days). After struggling through the fast water, the fish will look for the first deeper water they can find in order to rest! That's any water that is deeper than what's around it-- in this pic, the "deeper water" will be about 4-5 feet deep, with the surrounding water just 2-3 feet. You can see in the pic how this water is just a bit "darker" than the water surrounding it! This is not a deep "hole" just a depression in the stream bed, but the newly arrived Steelies will hold there for a time, sometimes all day long, until they run up through the shallower water. Even a small depression such as this can hold several big fish, especially in the morning if there's been a good run up the fast water the night before!
Last year, I hiked along this same creek to a favorite spot of mine, only to find two other fishermen already fishing the "deep hole" at the head of the stretch. I walked 50 yards to the tail of the water, just before it broke into fast water. I found a depression similar to the one in the pic, and took three Steelies (all big fat 8-10 pounders) standing in the same spot, in about a half an hour, and all three on one of my "BOO flies"! Fishing anywhere else except this hotspot produced nothing, the fish were all holding in this little depression.
HOT SPOT #1: the first deeper water above a rapid, fast water stretch!
Try it! Best---- JoeW ;)
This is a view looking downstream. You can see the start of a long stretch of rapid fast water. The Steelhead will run the rapids in dim light situations (morning, evening, night time, cloudy days). After struggling through the fast water, the fish will look for the first deeper water they can find in order to rest! That's any water that is deeper than what's around it-- in this pic, the "deeper water" will be about 4-5 feet deep, with the surrounding water just 2-3 feet. You can see in the pic how this water is just a bit "darker" than the water surrounding it! This is not a deep "hole" just a depression in the stream bed, but the newly arrived Steelies will hold there for a time, sometimes all day long, until they run up through the shallower water. Even a small depression such as this can hold several big fish, especially in the morning if there's been a good run up the fast water the night before!
Last year, I hiked along this same creek to a favorite spot of mine, only to find two other fishermen already fishing the "deep hole" at the head of the stretch. I walked 50 yards to the tail of the water, just before it broke into fast water. I found a depression similar to the one in the pic, and took three Steelies (all big fat 8-10 pounders) standing in the same spot, in about a half an hour, and all three on one of my "BOO flies"! Fishing anywhere else except this hotspot produced nothing, the fish were all holding in this little depression.
HOT SPOT #1: the first deeper water above a rapid, fast water stretch!
Try it! Best---- JoeW ;)