Catching a steelhead on a dry fly in the East is rare enough that many anglers probably think we are losing our minds having a section for it. It certainly isn’t common and in many streams that have steelhead, it’s probably very rare. During the Summer, steelhead sometimes hold in pools during periods of low water. During this time, not only can they be taken by swinging traditional wet flies, they sometimes will hit a dry fly that’s passes over their lie. Some of these flies are half wet and half dry, and by that I mean a dry fly that’s allowed o sink just under or flush with the surface. These flies are usually tied using deer hair for their heads and/or wings, such that they ride just under the surface or in the surface skim. Examples of these are Muddler Minnows and the Grease Liner. Surface, or dry flies, should be fished when the river holding steelhead is very low and clear. This puts the fish in the pools where they will sometimes ambush flies coming near them. It’s thought that the steelhead attack the flies as an instinctive reaction type of strike, rather than to feed. The flies should be fished down and across, on the swing just like you fish a wet fly. Keep in mind that steelhead holding in deep water will usually not rise to these flies. The best situation is where they are holding in the tail outs of the pools near or behind a boulder in shallow water.