What do you all think of killing oversized or larger fish? I would like to relate a story that changed the way I fished forever. About 2 years ago I was fishing on the Sol Duc river with my father in law. We had started on the Bogachiel and had no luck that morning, so we decided to try the Duc before calling it quits. I was fishing heavy rapids and just fishing the small seams of slower moving water that I knew would hold a fish. Years of reading water paid off when my rod was just about ripped from my hand. I had been using a huge pink Spin N' Glow all by its lonesome and knew that when I did get a strike it was going to be a savage one. After a 15 min. battle and some quarter mile downstream I slid a beautiful rosy cheeked but still bright steelhead onto the bank. My father in law looked at me sideways as he said " You gonna keep it?" He knew I had seen the huge adipose fin on the fish and we both know it was illegal to keep it. "Not in a million years" I replied in awe. He smiled "Good answer" "I would'nt of said a word if you had wanted to" I couldnt even fathom keeping such a beautiful fish. We stared in awe. The only mark that I ever purposely put on my rod was that day when i set that rod next to that fish, and until I catch and release a bigger one it will stay the only mark. My father has caught many a oversized fish pushing 20 and better and he said " Sometimes the best part is not the thrill of catching the fish, but releasing it."

So what stories do you guys have of releasing "the Beast"? What are your opinions of killing or retaining oversized Steelhead or Salmon?

I haven't got a clue, haven't caught one that was oversized yet.




herm

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The Babine is all c&r for steelhead. That's why there's so damn many big ones!!!! In a long weekend, my partner and I landed 35 ironheads, with 4 being over 20lbs!!! We also lost at least that many. The water is BIG and so are the fish. I've got no problem letting the big ones go, but if it's legal, I can't condemn someone who keeps one?!

Oversized....?

I have an ol' 50 gallon barrel for a bbq, so not too many things are oversized for me !
Just kiddin' :p I always let the bigger ones go, got to have a strong breeding stock.

Ken

I released the two biggest steelhead I caught, both would have been legal to keep but The thought never occurred to me. One was a hen in the Elk river in Oregon that was 37" long - I didn't know the fish formula then but likely that one was well over twenty as it was huge in girth. The other was a buck on the upper Quinault that I subdued with a fly rod and measured with the cloth tailors tape I now carry, that one was 21 pounds by the formula. Both of those fish gave me the battle of my life and deserved to be let go. And both days I limited on smaller fish after releasing them anyway - good karma from the fish gods I guess

I had the opportunity to release a 65# king on the Kenia last year. I really got a kick out of all the slack jaws.

when i got my 38 pound chinook native, i was little upset i had to let it go, but at the same time NO CAMERA , It feels good after a while though