I just received a call from a friend who said he talked to a very credible fisherman he knows and that this guy claims to have caught a 51 inch, 36 pound nate on the Snake this weekend. Having never seen a steelie even close to this size, I was wondering if any one could tell me whether the guy is lying through his teeth or if in fact a fish of this length could weigh 36 pounds..

Thanks for any input.

A 51 inch steelie could easily be 36#.

A 51 inch steelie could easily be 36#.

You can say that again!

A picture's worth a thousand words-In this case maybe a whole lot more.

Bardo posted a pix of a 36# steely taken out of the Quinault last winter. Looked like a big chrome bumper off of a '53 GMC

if its true thats where it would come from

the 37 pound steelhead that i have is only 44" long. ( it has a very large girth ) you can see the photo in bulletin board storage 2/15/02. if there is no picture, it is most likely a fish tale. it is possible, but unlikely.

Last year a 37lber returned to the lyons ferry hatchery. The gamies recycled it three times, all three times it returned. would have been a WA record if someone had caught him.

the snake and clearwater nates used to get huge, but do to native and commercial netting, occurances like the one mentioned are few and far between, if the tribes and commercials would quit there greedy ways and jus not fish for 4 seasons straight for steelies, why do they need to fish for mere cents a pound to jus fill there quota and bycatch native steelies jus give it up allready, then those runs would be huge for nates, i caught a 20+ nate on the mainstem of the clearwater about 10 years ago, and the conditions havent improved one bit for them..

I've never fished Idaho, but I was under the impression that loss of access to spawning habitat (can you say dams?) was the main reason for the decline of the large natives. Not that the Corps or BPA would admit it. Seem to remember reading that fish ladders weren't even installed on the upper Clearwater dams? I'm sure the 4 lower Snake River dams don't help either. If they had anywhere near the number of large natives in Idaho that they used to, I'b be out there in the fall. Too bad.

Dworshak, the only dam remaining on the Clearwater -- ones just above Lewiston and near Harpster on the South Fork were removed 30-plus years ago -- does not have a fish-passage system. The Corps of Engineers' answer for blocking off the North Fork of the Clearwater was construction of the hatchery at Ahsahka, which it still calls the largest steelhead hatchery in the world. While it does provide a healthy run of sizable fish, few people consider that adequate compensation for the loss of what was considered some of the finest steelhead spawning habitat in the northwest.

Word of big fish -- natives included -- in the Snake system is widespread this fall. That, however, hasn't been substantiated by results so far in the annual Thanksgiving-week derby being held in Lewiston. Three days in, the leader is 19.9 pounds (the winner is usually well into the 20s). But since derby entries must be weighed in and there is no retention of natives in these parts, it is possible that a huge native was caught and released sometime in the past few days -- fishing pressure on the Snake and Clearwater is just about to combat level -- and that word is spreading slowly.

But a 51-incher? I'd say that's highly unlikely.

I fished the clearwater two years ago around thankgiving. We fished at night from a boat just above the confluence with the Snake. The potlatch mill was dumping so much pulp in the river that our plugs wouldn't last 1 minute without being caked with gobs of toilet paper type material. it's amazing there are any wild fish at all!

wooly, that might explain all the silt down jus below the mill?? before dworshak was built, it had alot of steelies showing up, guys i talked to said they caught natives to like 10#'s not much bigger, anyone know if the natives that are coming up have mixed with the b run steelies? i will be over in ahsahka like the first or 3rd week in december fishing steelies, gonna try the pink worm on em since there isnt many people using them over there..anyone got any reports? btw, does anyone know if the native steelies of way back made it to the upper north fork of the clearwater by aquairius campgrounds? or what about to the upper locksaw river?