While I realize there has most likely been larger sport caught in-river steelhead landed. I thought I would put these pictures up if not for anything else but that it was interesting. I always heard the stories of Chuck Ewarts large steelhead but didn't realize it was hanging in a glass case in a hardware store out in the boondocks. 36 pounds was it's official weight.

I know of a larger mount.

I think your fish looks bigger Danny.

Hmmmm.......I don't know. I realize it was "probably" officially weighed and all but that fish in the photo against the yardstick doesn't spell 36 lbs to me. End of stick to tail, maybe add 6" so your looking at, perhaps, a 42" fish?? That put's it in the mid-high 20's. Certainly nice but not 36lbs. Fish would need more girth IMO.

Then to, my vision is going to hell so maybe I'm just out of focus!

Thank God photography and fish reproductions have come a long way!

theres more than 6 inches past the end of that stick... plus the fish is bent awkwardly and not laying flat, so add a few more inches on top of that...

not a world record tho, could have been in 54 i suppose... record is 41 or 42 pounds if i remember correctly...

HOLY S

that looks alot like a RVRFSTR 75/25 in that brutes face.

RagNSteel tell us the story of the chick in your avatar please.

Great Photo, Dave! Brute of a fish, but the grin is where it's at for me.

I agree a great grin on a great guy who has fished hard all his life for that fish.

Next step is teaching Greg how to hold a damn fish right!

Fish on...

Todd

I thought the same thing by the photo but the mount is definitely huge even if it is smoked looking.

For reference, there is a few skin mounted (commercially caught) fish that were both 45", one was a bit bigger and weighed 40 and 41 pounds. They were heading to the same river that Chuck's fish was caught.

Thats very kind of you doc.

Sorta funny, I always see people holding fish and claiming 24+ inch girths and think seriously?

Greg Nylander's fish in Dave's photo was 44" x 23.5 and did not look real!

That fish would measure a yard stick if it was bent a little.

While I realize that steelhead are built like tubafors (literally 2 x 4 proportions), as the bucks get beyond 40 inches, they do start to slab up more like a big king salmon, but never quite to 3 x 5.

Being the chinook junky I am, my whole world revolves around 3 x 5 proportions. Anything with a 2 ft girth or better is gonna be at least in the 40" range (give or take) which means it's up in the 30+ class. That's chinook proportions.

24" girth on a steelhead is gonna be a little closer to 4ft long! Holy Moses that would be one BIG A$$ steel. Does that fish exist? Usually only in someone's dreams.

That photo really captures a special moment. Greg has been fishing that area for over 30 years and has landed countless trophy steelhead. To see a genuine smile that big and that deep really speaks to a special experience. I can manage to crack one half that good after having been at it for as long as he has.

I think Danny is referencing the fish on display in the Smithers airport. Pretty impressive...all but the caught and killed in commercial net parts that is. Can't remember the dimensions, but something like 43" and 44" with live weight near 40lbs.

david white has the world record steelhead does he not? caught on a rod and reel? in the saltwater. it even won a "king salmon" derby because it was so big that the checker never thought that it was anything other than a king salmon. 42 pounds, 3 ounces, Bell Island by David White, 1970 it was missing one eye that was healed over. the fish was thought ot have a damaged pituatary gland that made it never go up into fresh water.

http://noelgyger.ca/photos-pages/alberto-skeena-flyfishing-steelhead-large.JPG

this fish was taped out at 46.45 inches in length, 26.8 in girth thats like....44lbs...wow

Dave, that slab looks like it could kick [Bleeeeep!] on a gator! Its head is bigger than a bear! I might have been nervous to step in the water with that slab swimming around!

uh...no way.