Streamer fishing for lake run steelhead requires a little effort but it can be very exciting and rewarding. A six to twenty pound fish that leaps and runs long and fast doesn’t compare with hooking one on a nymph or egg fly. From about April until mid May is usually the hot Springtime season for streamers. From about the middle of October until the middle of November, Fall steelhead will take the streamers aggressively. The key is water temperature. It’s best when it’s in the high forties to low fifties. Stream levels are usually also very critical, depending on the particular stream your fishing. Water color is an important consideration when selecting flies. These lake run steelhead eat baitfish most of their life. The best opportunity to fool them into thinking your streamer is a baitfish is when they first arrive in the rivers but they will also attack the streamers when they are actively spawning. The females protect their nest and the males are just mean, usually wanting to kill whatever gets near them. Large, bright streamers will sometimes make them display their anger. Steelhead will also eat the streamers at times when they are headed back to the lakes after the spawn. These fish are called drop backs. You’ll usually need a sink-tip line and lots of energy to strip these large streamers. Don’t work the fly too fast. You want to keep the fly in the strike zone long enough to aggravate the fish into taking it.