Fishing Fanatic Jerry Gillette Shares Tips for Catching Steelhead
By Dianna Troyer
Jerry Gillette has never had a bad day steelhead fishing—even during winter.
“I’ve caught steelhead from September through April—many times on the first cast,” he says.
The retired farmer, who lives north of Paul, has been fishing on the Salmon and Clearwater rivers so long that he knows which of the 150 holes the fish are in at what time and what depth they’re at.
“I get such a kick out of taking others out and teaching them how to catch a fish on their first cast, too,” Jerry says. “If someone asks for advice, I’ll share. I’m not competitive or secretive.”
From August 1 to April 30, Jerry is consumed with fishing for steelhead, the iconic large, powerful, and ocean-going rainbow trout native to the Northwest. After adults leave the ocean, they swim back to Idaho to tantalize and taunt anglers like Jerry.
His success rates are remarkable, considering surveys of anglers from Idaho Fish & Game report it takes 3 to 20 hours to catch 1 steelhead, depending on location.
“I’m a happy addict for sure,” Jerry says.
His twin, Perry, who goes with his brother when he can get away from farming along Baseline Road, says Jerry is humble.
“He is 1 of the best in the world at fishing,” Perry says. “He has tied thousands of flies and jigs. What makes him so special is that he shares everything he has learned and shows anyone where to cast in 100 different holes. He has probably killed fewer than 10 fish, and that was only because my wife likes their flavor.”
In 1999, Jerry began keeping a journal to track the number of steelhead and salmon he caught and the fishing conditions.
“Since then, I’ve caught more than 2,600 steelhead and have photos of more than 100 different friends with steelhead or salmon,” he says. “I can document that I’ve caught fish every month of the season. Some years, I’ve caught steelhead for 8 months. I’ve probably caught more like 3,000 because I didn’t start my journal until I’d been fishing for 18 years.”
Jerry says he got hooked on the sport when his father-in-law, Bud Rich, took him steelhead fishing for the first time in 1981, when he was 28.
“I loved everything about it—the beautiful pearlescent appearance of wild steelhead, reeling them in, the strategy with all the tackle,” Jerry says. “I tell people it was a good thing I didn’t start until I was 28, or I wouldn’t have amounted to anything.”
When Jerry was raising sugar beets and potatoes, there were times when he couldn’t get away and might have fished only 2 or 3 days a year, or could only go from mid-November to February. Since fully retiring in 2023, he is making up for that time.
Jerry is grateful to have made lifelong friends on the rivers.
“Some people are secretive about what they’re using, but not me,” he says. “On the river, people have come up to me and reminded me of advice I gave to help them catch a fish. I’m blessed to have made so many friends while fishing. I correspond with 10-score and have phone numbers of about 100 people who live near rivers, so sometimes I’ll give them a call to ask what conditions are like.”
Before deciding to drive about 300 miles to the Salmon or 450 miles to the Clearwater rivers, he also checks websites chronicling waterflows before inviting a regular fishing partner, Don Schow.
“You have to know their habits, too,” Jerry says. “When water is let out of Dworshak Reservoir, steelhead might swim 40 miles in a day. In some places, they’re about 5 inches off the bottom, so you set up your gear to reach that depth.”
He opens a thick journal with meticulous notes of his fishing trips. He writes down the date, number of fish caught, cubic feet per second of water flow, water temperature, locations, what fish are biting at various times of day, and the depths at which they’re caught.
“Some jigs show up better in the morning or afternoon,” he says.
Turning pages of his journal, Jerry recounts his days.
“Here’s a day I caught 8, another day 30,” he says. “From 2009 to 2010, I caught and released 614. I even had 20 days when I caught more than 20 fish each day.”
He thinks of impressive feats he and some friends achieved.
“1 day on the Lower Salmon, we caught 11 fish on an 11-mile-long section of the river,” he says.
When a steelhead is hooked, he estimates it will take about 20 minutes to land it.
“They’re extremely powerful, so you can’t push it and be impatient, or your line will break,” Jerry says. “You just hold on.”
Sometimes, the water temperature and weather are unsuitable for fishing.
“The weather and water flows tell me when to go,” he says. “If it’s too cold, the fish won’t move around.”
When the weather keeps him indoors, he has plenty to do at home, tying new flies and organizing his tackle. Even out of season, Jerry’s head is on the water.
“If I’m not fishing, I’m thinking about fishing and reading my journal and planning for the new season to start,” Jerry says. “I still have such a passion for it, even though decades have passed since I started. I can’t wait to see what will happen this winter.”