Interestin tidbit from Trey Combs' book,

Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies:

(Paraphrased)
Peninsula's largest winter runs are males on their first and final spawning run. Life history compositions of those studied indicate 2/3, 2/4, 3/3, and 3/4.

Three years in the river, four years in the salt. Any question about how rare and valuable a creature these fish are should truly be erased.


GS

So the fish stayed in the river ~ 3 years before going back! Is that normal?

Just read something that I had read and forgot It says they rear for one to four years depending on the productivity of the stream. In WA most wild steelhead rear for 2 years. They wait in the eddies behind large rocks, allowing the river to bring them food in the form of insects, salmon eggs, and small fish.

I guess we should be able to figure out behind which rock they caught this fish

First number refers to the years in initial freshwater (smolt years) prior to migrating to salt.

And that's part of where genetics comes into play. The Skeena watershed, renowned for large steelhead sees a large percentage of the fish spending three years in the fresh before heading out.

Salt years can do it too, and just for steelhead. The reason Kenai kings can get so large is that they usually spend one more year at sea than most chinook strains

Bob is right in that the fish from the Skeena system are mostly 3 year smolts (freshwater). The length of time that steelhead smolts spend in freshwater is largely a function of the growing conditions in the freshwater environment. For steelhead to successfully make the transition from freshwater to salt water they need to reach a certain size threshold (generally 6 or 7 inches). Consequencely as one moves North from California to Alaska older smolts are found.

The growing conditions in the southern part of steelhead's range allow more fish to reach that size after only a year in freshwater, in the mid-portion of their range (Washington) two year smolts dominate (some one year and 3 year smolts) and further North 3 year smolts become the common age of smolting.

In regard to chinook those larger fish are indeed older fish (longer marine feeding). Large chinook (thus in excess of 50#) were much commoner in Washington waters 50 or more years ago. Those older fish have become much rarer in our chinook population primarily due to the continuous fishing on the immature fish on their feeding grounds. The result is our chinook populations have become on the average young at maturity thus smaller.

Tight lines
Smalma

Somewhere, I remember reading that the reason Skeena fish are,
on average, larger in size is due to their growing faster in the
salt water environment than their more southern cousins
in Washington or Oregon.

I wonder if it is true that a 3-salt Skeena fish tends to be larger
than a 3-salt fish from a river in Washington?

If so... Is the greater growth due to genetic growth factors or
do the Skeena grow faster due to migration and feeding habits?

Anyone... ???

You gotta love the look in both of those guys eyes. It's like they just got shot at in a drive by shooting and narrowly escaped with their lives. That's what its all about. Sheer physical and mental exhaustion. Congrats Boys.

Many years ago, there was a dark buck steelie in the Jones Hole of the Betsie. Over the course of a week, that fish was hooked well over a dozen times. Sometimes he bit, sometimes he was fouled. He kicked everyones rump. He was fondly named IGOR by those of us fishing that hole. My buddy lost him when he sawed him off in some wood on a sweeeper. At the end of our trip, a guy landed him. This fish had hooks in its jaw, and hanging off a few fins. He looked like a frickin Christmas tree with fins. He ended up being about 18 pouinds. The guy that finally landed him, let him go to a standing ovation from about 10 of us that fished that run for the week.

I'm sure IGOR died after that springs spawning run, but I can still picture that mean old b*sta*d kicking everyones a**. One of which happened to be mine. Hopefully, one of his kids weill head up to the Jones Hole this spring. If so, I'll be ready.

What a great thread you guys! It's not every day that everyone can learn so much about the fish we love to pursue. Aggressive wild Salmonids are such a treasure that we should all respect. My own experience with such a fish came several years ago on the mighty Kenai. We were bouncing the middle stretch when my rod was almost ripped out of my hands. After a 15 minute battle a chrome King of forty pounds was along side the boat. We reached over to release him and noticed a Sockeye fly stuck in his jaw, next to that was a huge Kwickfish and next to that was my bobber!! That's what I call an aggressive fish.

Tight lines all(well, when the flooding stops!)

I agree thanks for the info!

This thread was a real learning experience. Very good info. Thanks

A friend & I probably caught the same big fish about 2 weeks apart in the same drift. I never knew how much it weighed but think it was my 1st 20 pounder at about 39". The big buck had a cool greenish tint with a red stripe to it & was a little darker when he caught it. That was a sweet day as I caught another slab that day too. I'll try to post the pix of those brutes soon.

Here is a story about a fish caught more than once.
Back in Minnesota, over 30 years ago, I was fishing a tributary to Lake Superior and had landed a nice hen of about 5 lbs or so. I was just about to release it, when another fisherman approached me, and asked if he could have the fish, as he wanted the eggs. I explained that if I gave him the fish, I then would have to count it in my limit, and then wouldn’t be able to continue to fish any longer. He accepted that, and noticed that I had on of the new Fenwick rods that came out recently, and asked if he could make a few drifts with it. I gave him the rod, and wandered off to a call of nature, and immediately heard a whoop and a holler. Upon returning to the fellow with my rod, here he had just landed the fish that I had returned only minutes before. It was recognizable by a lamprey scar in a certain spot on the body. He made the comment; “It’s more fun to catch it, than to have it given to me”. He kept the fish, for the eggs, of course.
Catarafter

Very interesting topic! I like to think of those big males that get caught again and again as being the most territorial. Protecting their spot as it were.
I dont think of them as dumb. Not after having survived for that long.
Seeing fish that large does send shivers down my spine.

Plunk ... sorry, I missed you question. To the best of my knowledge, early salt growth rate is very dependant upon size of the smolt at salt entry. Bigger smolts usually mean bigger adults within the same life cycle ...

Perhaps Smalma or ??? can verify / shoot down this info that I have ...

Thanks for the reply Bob.

I've had a facination for those remarkable Skeena fish since the late 50's and early 60's when Gordy Frear, a friend who sometimes fished up there, told stories of their average size and also of the number of huge ones.

Most of my knowledge of these fish comes from the writing of Trey Combs in his books from the early 70's and although these books are quite informative it would seem that a much better understanding of these fish might be available today.

In keeping with the theme of this thread I'll note that nearly every angler on that river system released all of their steelhead voluntarily even before the limit was reduced to one fish kept.

out of all the salmonids, why do the four pacific salmon die after spawning, but the alantic salmon return to sea after spawning? are they more like a steelie than a traditional salmon, ive seen pics and they seem a bit more like the coloring of a brown trout/steelie mix...