I truly enjoy when I de-bunk my own theories and opinions, and although some of you may say, “Duh, I coulda told you that.” It has taken me this long to get here.

2023 was an extremely low water year from start to finish. I've seen low before, but not usually the whole year. The low water caused the fish to behave a little differently, and it caused us to search for fish in different places and in different ways. The prolonged exposure to Low water made a few things stick out for me this year.

Some years, you can count on the fish being in shallower, faster, bumpier water for the first few weeks of steelhead season on the upper tribs of the Skeena. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but it's a good place to start. Moving lies or lanes where the fish will rest while they move throughout the system. This year was also an extremely large pink and coho salmon run. The Pink redds were so large and plentiful that they changed the bottom of the river. The Steelies were favouring the outside of the pink redds in a lot of our good runs; This had the fish in the slot, trough, trench, upslope or whatever you may call it. Previously, I had not been a massive fan of weighted flies. This year, I changed my tune a little and have put it to word in my simplest words possible.

When I think the fish are on "my side" of the river, I will use unweighted flies. When I think the fish are on the "Other side" of the river, I will fish a weighted fly and a slightly longer leader.

When fishing "my side" of the river, a sink tip can be the primary means to get the fly down. When I am fishing "my side," I am expecting the grab on the second half of the swing.

When fishing the "other side" of the river, I think the weighted fly on a longer leader will plummet quicker and be at the depth you desire sooner after the cast lands. When fishing the "Other side" of the river I expecting the grab further out in the swing or in the first half of the swing.

I will expand on this further in my next post.