I fished dawn to dusk, 4 steelhead for 6 hooked, I was out fished by the tall showoff boat guy (5 for 6 at least in only half a day), Another guy who got 3 late while I got 2 late, everybody else there got a fish. All my landed steelhead were on the 1/32 oz #6 Nuke Minnow Jig. Running a trailer fly behind a jig was mostly a waste of time to deal with the extra tangles.
These are young fish with small heads that are fat and have grown quickly. Expect some big fish this season and many very big fish next year.
The Male and the last Hen were both 29.5 inches. The last hen fought long and hard with 3 high leaps.
For several years now various Pearl, White, & Silver jig patterns have been a good pattern to try for steelhead in cold water. This Nuke Minnow tied on a #6 Glow Silver Lead Jig Head is I think the best for steelhead and good for the brown trout also. I haven't tried a bead head version of this jig pattern yet.
I am not counting one steelhead hit on a 10mm Yellow bead behind the jig, the bobber went down I set the hook to a steelhead that was not head shaking but instantaneously surging away. Frequently that signals a foul hooked fish. The pegged bead was partly slid down toward the hook as if the bead was held in his mouth. He may have been spooked by being tangled up with the heavy jig 30 inches up the dropper leader ahead of the bead. The 5th fish hooked started to fell like he was wrapped up or hooked in the tail pretty early in the fight. there was no dropper lure as a possible cause for that issue.
Any Pearl, White, Silver Bead Head Jig will catch lots of these Brown Trout in the winter. The Bead head Bucktail Opal Minnow jig is the best yet and I like this #6 VooDoo hook with a 4.0mm slotted Tungsten bead version best for these Browns.