Chrome At Home

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We have hit our 100 degree days in Northwest Indiana and the Skamania have been making their way up the local waterways. In such small creeks, the Steelhead can be hard to accurately target, especially after rains when the water becomes cloudy. Coming from the cool waters of Lake Michigan, I always look to the deep holes and overhangs first because they will generally maintain a cooler water temp in the heat of the summer.

I began my day not far from home in a small crease of water in the salt creek watershed.  Sure enough I immediately spotted a nice fish sucked up to the grass line. Still fresh up from the lake, this chromed out Steely had yet to see me so I stayed low and kneeled my way up to try and make a cast. Low stealthy approaches are a must in these small creek environments. Precisely roll casting under an overhang, I let my line drift my showgirl fly (pictured to the left) downstream before I started stripping my lure past the fish. Tight quarter casting can be a challenge in these small wooded areas and only practice makes perfect.

Slowly stripping my fly past the fish I saw a quick flash but he missed; now I got his attention. One roll cast and retrieve later, FISH ON, I hooked up. The fish quickly turned and made a swift run downstream and headed under a root-line over hang. I stepped into the water and followed the fish downstream keeping steady tension on my line. Steelies are notorious for getting in deep cover and breaking you off, you don’t want to over stress your line. Lead your fish and stay aware of your surroundings to keep them away from treacherous cover. After 2 ferocious runs, she was finally tired enough to land with my hands. I took hold of the chrome beauty, snapped a few shots and got her back in the water. Revived in only a few minutes, the fish swam upstream into a deeper pool to recoup. It’s nice to see a fish like this in a small stretch of water not spooked.

The Skamania are an acrobatic fierce fighting gamefish, and are highly sought after all over the world. In Northwest Indiana, these fish can enter the watershed as early as May and stay around throughout the summer until they spawn in the late winter and sometimes in the early spring. When the fish are on the gravel, an egg pattern fly in the seam behind their bed can produce numbers of fish; especially in winter months when other varieties of fish enter the watershed. An Egg Sucking Leach is one of my favorite patterns and produces well when dead drifted through log jams. Northwest Indiana is a great trout fishery and with a little help from DNR and Local Organizations it can reach national recognition. With recognition will come education and awareness of this fun and productive fishery. Hopefully we will not see garbage littered in our back door fisheries and see less uneducated snagging and netting of our beautiful fish, the Steelhead.

- Scot Hinkel

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