Steelhead season in California's Central Valley begins January 1st. We'll be fishing on the Merced and Tuolumne rivers. The Merced has fished very well the last couple of years, while the Tuolumne has suffered from low flows, and therefore receives smaller runs of fish. I secured private property access last year and now have another 4 miles of river to fish. We fish this private property section from our one man pontoon boats. The public access section upstream is both walk-in and drift fishing. I like to use the "high-stick" technique when fishing these rivers. For this we will be using very short casts with a 2-fly combination rig. I like to use enough weight to get the flies down deep to the bottom of the riffles and pools. (No long casts necessary here.)