I hear there are Steelhead around, but I can’t seem to catch a fish to save my damn life. I caught one fish on July 3rd and haven’t touched one since. I’ve been hitting the Rogue and the North Umpqua primarily, have heard of decent numbers of fish being caught on both rivers, but not me! Nope! Last weekend I was looking forward to finally having some lower temps on the North, we get there and there’s a wildfire just across the bank! Spending almost 3 days in heavy smoke wasn’t that bad, it was spending almost 3 days without touching a fish that really got to me. I’ve had weekends without fish, that’s no big deal.. It’s really just the long streak I’ve been on without a fish, and when I spend more time fishing and not catching anything, the pressure builds and builds until you're manically depressed and frustrated.
I call it ‘No Steelhead Syndrome’ or ‘NSS’.
Dry spells happen to everyone, at least that’s what I like to say, it makes me feel better when I can’t catch a fish. It almost feels like a temporary curse, you know it’s bad when when you think to yourself “it is possible that I might never catch another Steelhead for the rest of my life”. About the same time my dry streak began, I started dating my girlfriend, could be coincidence... Or she could just be bad fishing juju. I brought this up with her the other day, I don’t think she fully understands what this might mean for us... If I go another month without a fish I might just have to put an egg in her shoe and tell her to beat it so I can start catching Steelhead again!
The only thing really keeping me sane is how much I love casting my
Pieroway Renegade 11' 7wt. I've been fishing that rod all summer with a
SA Spey Lite 330 grain. It's a match made in heaven, if you get a chance to cast any of those rods you'll be in for a treat.
Although the fishing hasn’t been great for me, don’t let my lack of fish discourage you. The Rogue is in great shape and we’re seeing good numbers of fish showing up at the hatchery. Get out whenever you can, that’s my plan, this dry streak has to either end soon or I'll just find a dark hole to crawl into and disappear.
