I have always been curious as to how many steelies some of you guys are catching in a given season. For us east side guys, a season is defined by "when the steelies first arrive til they spawn". So around here that is about September through May of the following year. It becomes quite a competive thing amongst me and several of my close fishing partners. Now a "catch includes all steelies, wild or hatchery, hooked AND either retained or released". It does not include fish that others hooked and you landed or fish you hooked and then lost before landing. I have caught a total of 42 steelhead thus far this year, hoping to hit 75 or so before it's all over. How many do you have? Be honest, he who lies will be jinxed for the remainder of the season!! Come on fess up!

RM

About 35 so far, I have till march till I quit till next fall.

Side note to that topic: How many people actually tell the truth? :p

I have landed 6 this season so far. I got my first nate on New Year's Day. I am doing better than last year, and I have a 3 or 4 day weekend in the Forks area coming up. I have yet to be very successful with a float (Jigs and/or bait) or spoons/spinners. I have learned that the Pink Worm is you friend (3" to 7" worms have worked well this year). I have recently started to flyfish for these chrome beauties, without any luck... I would like to have a double digit day catching Steelhead. The most I have hooked into in one day was 8 (I went 2 for 8). I feel I have been doing well since I only started Steelhead fishing last winter season. I am happy with my meager start. I have learned a lot recently. I am finally listening to instinct and not my fishing buddies repeated suggestions and "this is how I would do it".

-Stephen

So far I am 3 for 5 on steelies this season out of 8 trips. I have only taken my driftboat out 3 times this winter. I plan to take it out around 10 times this winter. I am going to live in my boat during spring break which starts on march 15. Damn that is too far away.

[ 01-08-2002: Message edited by: plug puller ]

2/7 so far.
tyler

My favorite river has had a start thus far (I've seen 1 fish caught in the last 9 trips and it wasn't me who caught it) so I've had to adjust and find new places. So far I'm 3 for 5, all were hatchery fish and all on hand tied jigs. I usually fish alot more but school (UW) has made it hard.

I've got 7 on my card and another 11 released so far. 4 of them on drift gear(no bait), 12 on jigs and 1 on a fly, 1 on a spinner.

Riverman, you should have no trouble reaching your goal of 75 if your now at 42. March has always been the month for these eastside rivers, and that is when one really stacks them up. Not going to give you any numbers, too many people who read this board know where I fish.

I am only a bank fisher and I have landed 3 out of 5

Im 8 for 12, All off the bank, and all in the smaller OP systems Good numbers but the truth is i have gone approx 12 times so the numbers are not so great after all. Did hit good numbers on nice nates feb-mar last year. Again all on the smaller systems all NON BONKERS..PRACTICE CNR

17 steelies boated on 5 trips.
12 hatchery fish 5 wild fish.
Not all on my tag, but in my boat.. dad and son have accounted for most of them I just row! I did get a nice 13#ish wild hen last week.



She was released unharmed.

TH

www.thcustomrods.com

TH

Wow, what a fish! I have never caught a steelie that chrome in my life! Congrats!

Lets see, since here in Oregon I fish for steelhead every month of the year My season just started and I havent been able to fish at all. So a big fat 0. I usually dont get too excited about winter steelhead until mid febuary, From then until mid april Im chasing them every day I can get out.
I did get 4 in november and 9 in december. those were winter run steelhead.
My best winter run season ever was 7 years ago when I was laid off from december through march, I landed 87 steelhead that winter. I was on the water almost every day though.
In the last few years Ive traded quantity for quality. I would rather fish all day for 1 or 2 hookups, and have the river pretty much to myself than fight the crowds all day and know I will get multiple hook ups.

12 punched and 28 released since the end of Oct.

Five days of fishing and was 8 for 15, thats my year, since im back at school now.

What counts when fishing in a drift boat? Does the guy on the oars get the plugged fish, or do the two drones up front get credit?

Personally, I don't think hatchery fish should count!

I've rowed The Kid in to one nate so far this year.

It's not always about catching fish or I would have given up long ago. Just being there is enough (sometimes!)

This year I have put two complete rookies on fish. Smurf's girl got Her first one ever drift fishing the Calawah on 29 December. The next day we got a double on the 'Duc. I fished with another buddy and his 10 year old daughter the rest of the weekend. Put her on to a couple.

Being the one to row the boat, I generally think of it as a team effort. Very often I don't get the cast I want because I am trying to keep us from crashing into rocks, trees, other boats etc.

This has been the best winter in quite a while for me (us).

12 natives

So far this year 2 hooked 1 landed wild fish. have fished 4 days so far. WOuld have been out the last 2 but all the rivers are blown. This is fly fishing by the way.

I'll just say that this year so far has been above average.

Dec. was good, landed 24 brats and 1 chinook(2 wild, 5 from the bank and the rest with my partners in my boat). Only two skunk days in Dec.
Skunked on both Jan. trips so far this year.

So far this winter season I've gone three day's
and have hooked 9 landed seven.I wish I could fish mid week instead of the weekend's.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

1 for 7 out of six trips between the Sky and Snoqualmie off of the bank. Better to hook and lost, then never to hooked at all?

BD

If you are counting "this year" as being from October or November on, I have 4 fish to the bank, three nates and one hatch, and I have lost three, in three trips to the riverbank.

Andy

Ditto what 4S said. I'm not telling numbers because I've found that the best way to end your good luck is to talk about it.

This has been a great year.To date I have 37 Steelies, although 23 came on two days of fishing east of the mountains in early November. The rest came from the Cowlitz and Snoqualmie. Great year so far, let's hope all of the rivers stay in shape!

Thankfully, I make an effort to NOT catch fish. The rumours that I catch fish are just that; rumours.

Anyone who knows me and thinks they may have seen me with a fish this winter are mistaken. I've heard there's a guy out there who looks like me, even has a black lab that looks like mine, who can be seen carrying fish around fairly regularly.

He even posts pictures on the various boards claiming to be me. I think he's trying to ruin my reputation.

It's not me.

Anyone who sees my car parked along a river anywhere, I'd recommend that you keep on driving. Besides getting skunked myself, I've been known to ruin entire runs for other fisherfolk who mistake me for the guy who knows how to catch fish.

I repeat: You will have more luck if you don't fish anywhere near me. If you see me, my dog, or my car, start running. If you don't, the bad luck may carry over into the next day, perhaps even the next week.

How about I start posting where I'm going to be fishing? That way all of you will know where to NOT go?

Whattaya think?

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. The very, very few suicidal steelhead I have caught in my life (all more than five years ago) were ALL caught at either Reiter, Fortson, or the Ponds on the Calawah. Come to think of it, that makes sense. Those are the only places I ever fish, except Blue Creek. Even I can catch fish there.

[ 01-09-2002: Message edited by: Todd ]

4 for 10 so far this winter season. 2 on float n' jig, 2 on corkie/eggs. All hatchery. Too many long distance releases.

Between work and school its tough finding time and open water on weekends... oh well, almost February... =)

As for this year it's been good, real good... I really hope this doesn't turn out to be a freak year, It needs to be like this every year.. As for nates, haven't seen one yet although I haven't fished many rivers that have large populations.. That's going to start when the water comes back into shape..
Keith

Eight for nine so far. One chrome native. Three on flies, five on drift gear. Only spent six days on the water. Three of those days I was rowing, and didn't even touch a rod. Don't mind that as much as watching the front-seaters miss!!! Didn't include the missed fish while plugging in the count. Who does get to count the plug fish anyway? Guess it doesn't matter when they never make it to the boat!

[ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: Bubzilla ]