That's why most of the new steelhead flyfishers go the easy route and just bobber fish for them. They don't have the patience to learn a more difficult method. To each his own.
the guys who make statements like that are the guys who get butthurt watching guides row clients down the river who have never
seen a steelhead river and put fish after fish on the bank that you didnt even know where there. nymphing may be simple in concept (wait , doesnt a wet fly swing seem simple enough?) but it still comes down to reading water correctly, presentation, rigging, flies, technique and luck just like every other method in the book from skating dries to plunking sandshrimp. guys who know the water, the fish, the technique and the conditions get fish.
steelhead love dead drift presentations.
period. and will take it over a swung fly/spoon/spinner and sometimes it seems the only way they'll eat.
there is no
easy way to catch steelhead, just ways that are more effective. every fish i take on the swing is special because of that unmistakable grab and the effort paid into it. that instant connection to the fish after hours, days, weeks, hell months of nothingness is absolutely priceless.
but just the same, every fish taken nymphing is special because of the effort, time and technique it took to find and hook that fish. those first headshakes and the flash of chrome after the bobber down is magic and you don't have a pulse if you disagree!
all methods have their place, and i get tired of dudes who couldnt nymph up a whitefish rag on nymph fishermen or call it easy.
guess anything can look easy when you know what you're doing.
tapered leaders suck. build your own from maxima or p-line. you'll be happier, save money, and land more fish.
Sean
the guy who nymphs.... and swung a fish yesterday.