Fly problem

[Fishaholic]

so I went out and tryed to catch some trout on my fly pole. No luck. I was thinking maybe it was the flys i was using. I have some adult caddis flys and they work well during the summer but not in the winter. Should I switch the fly to a larva? Also would a 5/6 weight fly rod work for steelhead? I have used it with a regular spinning reel and have caught a few 5 to 8 pound  fish with it out on the jetty.

[snowpack]

probably heard the saying 'match the hatch'.  Right now I would think an egg pattern would do alright, or egg with larvae.

[nwwanderer]

It is cold out there, no hatch just slow moving fish and slower fish food.  Fish nymph stuff low and slow, if you are not hanging up you are not deep enough.  You will catch them just in slow motion

[7mmfan]

When all else fails for winter trout, use a wooly bugger. Get it deep and move it slow as mentioned before.

Your 5/6 weight rod will land a winter steelhead, but it might not be "fun". The other thing to think about is the fact that you are going to completely wear any fish that you hook out trying to land it. If its a hatchery fish, no biggy, its going home anyway. As you get later into the winter though and more wild fish start showing up, you run a very high risk of killing those fish that you have to let go due to exhaustion. My  would be to gear up a little so you can effectively and efficiently land any fish you hook.