“Gary, would you like a bowl of soup right now?” the fishing guide asked.

Would I like a bowl of soup? We had been swinging flies on a little river on the North Coast. After two hours, the rain had soaked through my felt hat and ran in rivulets down my face. My rain gear had soaked through, and we were fishing until dark. Would I like a bowl of soup? Cheese with my whine?

I took the proffered bowl of tomato soup, and when I looked down into it all the rain on top of my hat poured in. I ate it anyway.

In the afternoon I had one grab. Travis Huisman had one take on a swung fly. The only steelhead we saw was a fish that elevated and surfaced in a pool. It rained all day.

As I write this, I am at the Pacific Northwest Sportsman’s Show in Portland, surrounded by some of the best steelhead fishermen in the world. And some of them are in slumps right now, and some of them are at the top of their game. The Umpqua has been turning out good numbers of fish lately, and some other rivers have been slow, waiting for rain.

I took the opportunity to consult a few steelhead fishermen in the room on what they think is the easiest technique for the beginner steelhead fisherman to learn. Todd Saylor, of the Oregon Fishing Club, surprised me when he said drift fishing with yarnies might be the best way for an angler to learn.

“Even though it’s frustrating, you learn the river bottom,” Saylor said.

That helps the angler visualize the habitat.

“You are going to get snagged up a lot, but when you lose the rig, you’re only out 25 cents for the hook and swivel, not $4 like with a spinner,” Saylor added. “A guy can tie up rigs at home and experiment with colors.”

A lot of people learned to drift fish with salmon eggs or cork bobbers, which are easily expelled from a fish’s mouth. The good thing about a yarn ball is that it can get stuck in a fish’s teeth and gives the angler a split second more of reaction time.

“I think the easiest way to catch a steelhead is with the swung fly strategy in summer or fall,” said Rob Crandall, owner of Water Time Outfitters and the editor of “Flyfishing & Tying Journal.” “That’s when it is the easiest casting, with a floating line.”

The Clackamas is Crandall’s home river.

“You’re fishing with a straight line,” Crandall said. “You make one mend and swing across the current to entice a bite.”

Water temperature is the key, Crandall explained. When the water is warmer, 50 degrees or higher, fish will move farther to take the fly.

Jerry Haugen believes the best technique for the first-timer is to use a jig and float or bait and float. Haugen, who makes his home in Walterville, east of Springfield, has spent a lot of time on the McKenzie and Umpqua rivers where he taught his son, the noted outdoor writer and TV host Scott Haugen to fish.

“The hard thing is to get the angle of the float right, to set the depth of the jig,” Jerry Haugen said. “But it’s an easy technique, and if you’re in a boat, you can fish two hundred yards of river.”

Mike Codino agreed with Haugen: “The best way to catch steelhead if you don’t have any experience is to use a bobber and jig with a spinning rod and reel.”

Codino is the manager of the Fisherman’s Marine & Outdoor store in Tigard, and answers this question at least once a week.

“He or she has to learn to read the water,” Codino continued. “It should be 4- to 6-feet deep, about walking speed. If there are some rocks, big boulders, that’s perfect.”

Start with an 8½- to 9-foot rod with an 8- to 12-pound rating and a 2500- or 3000-size reel capable of holding 100 to 150 yards of 10- or 12-pound line. It’s important to stay on the move to find where fish are holding. Codino recommended three basic color combos for winter steelhead.

“You need a 1/8-ounce jig in pink and white, cerise or black and red,” Codino said. “Make two to three casts — one far, one middle and one short — and keep moving.”

February and March are the best months for a new steelheader to take a shot at the ocean-going rainbow. Timing the trip is as important as anything else. We happened to hit the aforementioned nameless river on the North Coast in the midst of a low-pressure system. If we had fished the next day, on a rising barometer, we probably would have seen more action. That’s how a lot of successful steelheaders do it. They watch the weather, watch the flows and the pressure, and try to catch the river and the fish when the water is going down and the barometer is on the rise.

Want some more input on steelhead technique? Mark your calendar for the Central Oregon Sportsman’s Show to be held March 6-9.

— Gary Lewis is the host of “Adventure Journal” and author of “John Nosler — Going Ballistic,” “Black Bear Hunting,” “Hunting Oregon” and other titles. Contact Lewis at GaryLewisOutdoors.com.