By centerpin you mean those guys use mono, not a flyline right? And they use lead to get down right? There is a huge advantage using that method. What they can do, is get down easily as the mono produces far less drag, and the lead takes the bait/lure right down. Most importantly, they can PAUSE the bait in front of the fish rather than the fly passing by at the speed of the current. This creates more of an intrusion into the fishes lie zone. But there are many, many factors to consider...the type of water fished. The fly guy needs to choose fly water, not all the water that bait guys can fish. I use to catch lots, and lots of steelhead fishing for them virtually everyday using a dryline, and a wet fly swinging just on, or near the surface. I chose to fish in the Fall when the water was low, and the depth that I swung the fly was 2ft deep to 6 ft deep. The water was the temperature where steelhead would act like the trout that they are, and rise to my fly. I used trout size fly rods, 6 wts. and flies size #8, or #10's not big at all. The bait guy would get hung up in the water I caught lots of steelhead on the fly. My fly line would swing the fly through the run where their wt'd lures/lead would get hung up. All depends on the conditions, but there is no more fun than to swing a fly on the surface, and witness the explosion of water, as the steelhead takes your fly...absolutely no need for drugs. The swing's the thing, and the tug's the drug.

Matching a fly to represent a bait fisherman's bait doesn't really work very well, as the steelhead is not only reacting to something that as invaded its space, but reacts to the smell. If you want an easy egg fly, and the strongest knot you can tie, snell the hook, and only have several wraps before the loop, and then wraps behind to finish the snell. Now take a "stack" of glow bug yarn, or Holiday Ribbon Yarn for that matter, and create a stack of 1" pieces of pink, orange, red. Place the middle of your stack in the snell, and tighten it up...bingo, a glow bug egg! Tie them the tippet length you would use, and to a small swivel at the end of your leader...a split shot could then be attached above the swivel. I've witnessed lots of steelhead caught on this simple setup by one guy. He fished a run above where I would put in my guide boat, and he'd hold up how many steelhead he'd caught on this setup while I was getting my clients ready.

Part that I've grown to dislike about bait fishing streams, and I was one of them there at 0-dark 30 for a number of years. I intensely liked it. It was a cultural thing meeting in the restaurant prior to hitting the river. Elbow to elbow didn't bother me. You wanted to be around these guys and the conversations. Now, I choose fly water, and not the crowds, and I had that in the Fall for a number of years. As a general rule, the more pressure in an area go smaller with your lure/bait, whatever you are using. Can get down to just a colored small bead works best.

Bouncing baits is lots of fun. It takes, and creates good concentration. It is an art form that I really liked to use. The detection of the subtle bites, and then setting the hook was an exciting time. Swinging flies near the surface takes the right water conditions. I had a lengthy time frame on my rivers on the coast in the Fall...day after day of the right water temps, and low water conditions that turned steelhead into taking like trout, and they are rainbows. Swinging flies can also be lazy. A small box of flies is about all you need. I seldom broke off snagging up like I did bouncing baits on the bottom. And when surface flies worked, or flies fished near the surface worked, it was not like you were handicapping yourself doing it. It was very effective, and you often could out fish the bait guy because he had a difficult time getting a good drift while your flyline would swing the fly down and across the drift. But it does depend on where you are at, and the conditions.

Rather simple really, It is the wet fly swing. And there is nothing in all of flyfishing, freshwater anyway, that is more exciting if it is swinging a fly "damp", and dragging near, or on the surface. When you tweek it, you can use a dryfly that rides high on the surface, or a wet fly that rides right near the surface. Timing is everything, and water temp is critical for that method. Temps have to be in the good trout range..45 at the coldest, and around 55 to 60 degrees the best. Low water, Fall conditions before the rain brings up rivers is ideal. I had a good month of it on the WestCoast...mid-Sept. to the end of Oct. many years..summer-run fish that would react like trout to flies dragged near the surface when the water was low and clear before the rains came. The Summer warm water would be cooling off, and would get steelhead active, and very suseptible to that method. CASTS....Across, and slightly down so the fly lands just farther down river than the leader, and the line. Then an easy mend is made not placing the flyline upriver, and BEHIND the fly, but upriver, and to your side of the fly somewhat not moving the last portion of flyline and leader so that there is a "J" hook in the end of the line to the fly. The "J" would be upside down as I posted it, and angled out to the right if you were standing on the left bank let's say..understand what I am saying? That way the fly is presented broadside to fish below the fly, and the fly swings across in front of them. A steelhead in 3-5 ft. of clear water sees the fly swinging at them first at an angle "/" and the fly appears closer to them than what it is. It is coming into their territory, and they react to it. You have to be efficient with your casting, and methodical. The faster the flow you cast into the more you angle the cast down and across, as it will slow down the speed of the swing doing so. So water you cast virtually straight across, and the flyline swings, leads the fly through the slower water. Starting at the top, and on the inside of a riffle you cover the inside seam first with shorter casts, and then when you extend out to your maximum length you maintain that length throughout the run basically. It is cast, swing the fly through its arc, and the swing speed is critical. You may make another mend, then another to maintain the good swing speed. You don't want the fly swinging fast..they won't react to it. It has to spend a little time in their zone. And it can't stall out either, and not move. You may have to mend TOWARDS your bank if the fly quits swinging to keep the fly moving according to how the current flows. When it does straighten out at the end, pause it there, maybe a short strip, as if the fly was getting away because a fish can follow your fly, and will take it if it pauses there for a second or two, but it you start stripping it in game over. You can get a false rise, a big swirl that is heart stopping, but the fish didn't take it, just reacted to the intrusion of the fly in its lie area. If that happens, you have to let the fish settle back down in its lie, and make the same cast with the same amount of line..do not cast again right away. You have to NEVER set the hook on what you visibly SEE...always the big tug. This is very hard to do, and an instinctive reaction, and you always seldom ever hook the fish. Their mouth is too big, and too full of water along with your fly. They have to turn and dive with it..you feel the line tighten, and the rod bend, THEN you set the hook, usually best to set it with the rod low to the water, and back rather than straight up works best. Given colder water, and fish not reacting to the surface presentation..probably more color in the water, and less visibility, you fish with a sink-tip, shorter leader, and do the same thing, getting the fly deeper. But again the fly does not have to be on the bottom. Steelhead lie just off the bottom, and a presentation above them, but not too far above them, they see better, and will react to it. You are "swimming" the fly, and should use "swimmer" type flies, and that means flies with action hackles. The speed has to be maintained, and the fly not going downriver past the fish, but is "tethered" let's say and swinging across, and down coming across, and in front of the fish. That is the method I use on our rivers. Cold water fish are now being taken a lot using the strike indicater fishing method, and a jigging fly being presented just above the fish. A lot depends on the size of the river, and the temp. of the river which method produces the best. More of our guys out here on our big Salmon River will use the strike indicator method fished through boulder strewn water come March-Apr. in our very cold water than the swinging method used in the Fall. Hope this helps. I have never had as much exciting days on the river than I have fly fishing for steelhead! Nothing has come close. Much of my Fall fishing on a big Western River, that was reduced in volume in the Fall was using a 9ft. graphite rod, and smaller flies, size # 8's, and even #10's tied on Mustad trout, nymph hooks...fun stuff. Tip.. As the fly swings down and across you gradually lower your rod tip not holding a high tip with the fly now near the end of its swing, and moving across the river. And no need to apply toooo much pressure, just a bend in your rod. They will stop near the end of their run, and head back up into the hole. Too much pressure just results in a breakoff, or a lost fish. There chance at getting free depends on you applying too much pressure. A few runs, and the fish is turning on its side ready to be landed.

Stripping isn't the best presentation. You want it slower than the speed of the current. The wet fly swing pauses, slows the fly down, and provides movement in the fishes zone. The strike indicator fishing is more the speed of the current, and upriver casts can be made and slack picked up as the indicator comes back down. And my swinging method also can be cast somewhat upstream, and then a big mend using a sinking line, or sink-tip. This allows the fly to get deeper if need be, but it is harder, more work than the slightly down, mend, and the mend is easily made when the fly is cast slightly below, and across. YOu want a steady even speed, not the strip that irradically speeds up the fly. Steelhead will generally flee if this type of movement is imparted to the fly. And false rises to the waking fly on top, if that would work in your area at the right time of year? I've had steelhead come to the fly, and the big swirl 3-4 times, and not take the fly. Generally if you will then, or let's say after a 2nd refusal, or even after a first refusal, you drop down your fly one size smaller, and the steelhead will take it. Not swinging for steelhead now in Spring Creeks right? It needs to be fairly good flowing tailout water, or freestone flowing river water right? Doesn't have to be that patient a method either. I often knew where steelhead were laying...maybe 6-10 of them is a tailout (where the run tails out, the bottom starts to come up before heading into another set of rapids.) I expected to get one on the first swing. If I positioned myself up river, and made the right cast, they would move to the fly. Maybe not in the middle of the day, but when the sun angled down off the water they would. Swinging the fly covers a lot of water. Starting at the head, cast, swing the fly, step down one or two steps, do it again, you can go through a run very efficiently, and not take that much time to cover a lot of water. And then when I know where they are, and it has been that way for a week, or so, I go right to the good spot. Can be wrong from day to day, but we could often stand on a high bank, and spot them. For sure, you do not want to swing below them. And an angler can do that by pulling out more line when a steelhead false rises, or it could be you get a tug on a sink-tip. You do not want to extend line, and swing below where you got the take.

No, not yet, and may never for steelhead. I use a switch rod, and am improving my skills at spey casting. New for me, and added fun, but I don't see the great value, necessity for doing so. I can make a few strips, place the line/fly on the water, pick it up, and back out it goes without spey casting, and I see no time saved by spey casting. I can even be more accurate in where I cast the fly than I can spey casting. When you anchor your fly,and form your "D" loop, you had better cast a 180 degrees from the "D' loop through the flies anchor point, or you have problems. Doesn't really matter when making an air backcast. You can be accurate in a much bigger degree range. Really big, steelhead water, and the need to mend the line far out in the river with the very long rod maybe a decided advantage, and less fatiguiing, but I have never run into that. I seldom even run into the bushes directly behind me thing as well. On the inside of the current, the shallow side of the river, I am always able to wade out, and don't have backcast problems. My 9.5 fter covers steelhead water fine, and a lot of my fishing I am floating in a driftboat, and can get out, or anchor up where it is advantageous. But on the WestCoast, where I did alot of catching close to home on my Snoqualmie River, a lot of it was early morning, or evening fishing especially, and walk in wade fishing. Like I stated, I didn't want to stack mend, or mend way out in the river. I wanter to form that "J" hook in the line, and use the line to swing the fly, and present it broadside.
This coming trout season, I will swing a lot of wet flies and soft hackle wets, just as I would for steehead, and I play around with spey casting these wets using one handed rods,...9 fters., and one old Loomis, 9.5 fter. Medium action rods that flex more work best for this, and I do have one bigger, 12 ft switch rod, I will call it, that allows me to spey cast streamers, and bigger flies with it.

Sayfu, just trying to get the proper visual here. That "J hook" you're putting in your line actually make your fly swim away from you, at first, as it's swinging across the current. It eventually points upstream briefly and then heads back toward you before you pull your line to start the process all over again?

Appreciate the clarification. Thanks.

Great story. The rivers I fish locally are rarely more than a double haul cast wide. When I fish for steelhead here, it's on the Brule (out of Lake Superior) or nearby. On the Brule, more often than not, I use that method you mentioned above where we use mono line (I use Amnesia) as your main line attached to a leader and a semi-splitshot system. The Brule may not be wide but it runs fast and deep and that mono setup gets your yarn and flies deeper faster and doesn't drag on the current nearly as much as flyline.

The reason I was asking more about your swinging method was I was trying to see if I can apply it to wet fly fishing to brookies and browns here. I often get the "take" when i know the wet fly is rising in the water (emergers?) or at the end of the swing. I don't know if presenting a wet fly slower than the current is be a big factor to most- though I think it will. That is what intrigued me about your method - that and maybe triggering an instinctive/territorial strike swinging the fly cross current and again at a slower speed.

Where are some good places to start fishing the great lakes? I'm going to try and make it up there this fall for the first time and I'd like some direction of where to go. I want to take fish home, so wild steelhead fishing isn't what I'm after. I'd like a combination of salmon and steelhead, but it really doesn't matter. In order for me to justify buying the gear and making the trip, I need to bring some fish (as much as I can) home.

From what I've read so far, a lot of the steelhead/salmon in the lakes are from hatchery fish and not natural reproduction. On some of the streams there is natural reproduction and I obviously wouldn't want to take those fish.

I'm with Sayfu, there is a time for every style of fishing. With pressured Steelies I like to go with smaller, realistic Dark Stone Fly Nymphs dead drift under an indicator. Sure I use other flies on fresh and underpressued fish that aren't as fussy, but smallish, realistic and dark flies don't spook hard fished Steelies.
I've watched them from above dodge and avoid gawdy presentations in high pressure areas. Yet they'll let a well placed classic nymph come right in their feeding lane.
I say get away, take a 10' fly rod or a slighly taller switch rod and FISH to one or two fish that aren't being harrassed with the standard nymph patterns in your trout box. Works for me.

I fish the ERIE TRIBS WHENEVER i GET A CHANCE. I've had the best sucess with sucker spawn flys in different colors AND different sizes.