Warning!!!! If viewing a dead steelhead offends you, ignore this post and hit your back button.

However, if you want to see a 30 pound (45in.) steelhead that came off the Quinault last week, check this pic out! http://www.geocities.com/lettyrene/

Impressive. Since I've yet to land a thirty, I'm entitled to ask a stupid question. F&H news did a special series last year on guides that have landed thirty plussers. I was wondering if you make any tackle modifications to target the huge natives on the lower river?

[This message has been edited by Hohwaiian (edited 03-28-2000).]

WOW!!!! NICE FISH!!


That is one time catch. few people will ever see a steelhead that big much less catch one.

dcrzfitter

If you want to see a bigger one. http://www.streamside.com/club/images/photos/steeley1.jpg

Swami... That kills me... thats the crap picture from the H&F news last year. The photo is from the clearwater river in Idaho and its a salmon... Duh!!!! In fact, that whole news paper is crap.. Its always funny to read their headliners ( Boise boys bop big bunnies at bogus basin !!!) ( testy trout taste terrific) etc etc etc...

If you want to see a bigger one, look at the first page on the Kispiox river in B.C in Fly fishing for steelhead by Trey Combs... That fish is a true hog.

B-Run good call. Looks like a king to me.

Letty
Very nice fish! I do have a couple of questions though. Was it weighed on a official state certified scale? If it was... what was the exact measurements around girth and length. And the exact weight on the scale. Compiling stats for those that want to release the big ones. Thanks

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Marty
www.steelheader.net
marty@steelheader.net

Potter, I don't doubt that the fish is 45" long, but it just doesn't look thick enough to be 30lbs. I tailed a 40" fish last week on the Hoh and it had to be in the upper 20's. It was much thicker than the fish in your picture. It was bigger that the fish on the cover of advanced fly fishing for steelhead and that was in the mid 20's. Once you get over 40" the girth is where the critical measurement is.

Sorry, no girth measurment taken. It was weighed twice at the fish house scale which is a digital scale and weighs to the nearest pound. It could be 29.9oz to 30.7oz. Two 27 pounders also came off the Quinault that week!

Spike, pictures rarely do big fish justice, been my experience anyway.

Amen, AKKings. I've caught several 20-30lb fish that come out in the pics looking like low teeners and even smaller!

Bruce

BRUN,

What kind of salmon? Just curious.....

Hey-
I'm not B-Run but I can gaurentee you that that is a chinook. The coloration is totally bass-akwards to be a steelhead, there are not enough spots, and the head is shaped wrong (notice the small beady eyes). Too bad that you can't see the tail as that is the easiest way to identify them as a chinook has a slightly forked tail unlike the ol' square tailed steely. Hope this helps.

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"Walk softly, but carry a big steelhead"

Correct, its a king. That fish was a freak. They caught it pulling plugs in the clearwater river. It had to be lost is the best guess. So then the FISHING AND HUNTING news runs a article about it being a potential world record steelhead??? Those guys have have their heads in their ass. So they go on to describe all the things that made them pretty sure it was a steelhead.

Kinda like the story you hear every year about a guy who shot a moose and claimed it was an elk.. or a horse or a cow or whatever.

I believe this fish is a Steelhead, because of the spots. Another reason is I have a friend that lives over by the Clearwater and he told me the hatchery received two fish over 40lb's this year,the biggest they have ever seen. I wish I could see the tail, it would answer my doubt. Just my opinion.

Swami, What are those hatchery guys smoking over there, 40lb. hatchery steelhead, come on.

I agree, I don't believe everthing I hear or read. It seem's crazy to me too.

You know, looking at what little gumline is visible in the pic, it doesn't look black to me, it appears to be white. Now, it may be big and funny-colored, but if that's a white gumline, it ain't no king. And the spots don't look big enouhg to be a king either. Not that I really have any idea about this fish in particular, but the 42 lb. steelhead pictured in STS a couple months ago looks alot like a king, too.

Sure is a big bastard, though. But that fish fell out of the ugly tree and hit EVERY friggin' branch on the way down.


Fish on..........

Hailing grom the "East Side", we get a good look at fish like this (unfortunately) and it is definately a king in my opinion (fall dragon or upriver dark). I've caught many a dark steelhead with black or red on the side but this fish has typical chinook long-run river spawning colors to it. To bad they killed it, the meat was probably white as a sheet (from experience). The quinalt steelhead is a fantastic fish, just hope that "crowbar" can put us into some fish half that size next weekend. snit

sorry swami and dan s. but that isn't a steelhead the coloration is all wrong,it's a male king,as far as the gum line look at the lower jaw the gum line's black!!!!

FISH ON!!!

hey swami, just get a close look at the scales on the back of that bid fish. if you look real good you will notice diffinent large scale swirls, ie: king salmon!!!!!
look close at a large steelhead and it will look just like a rainbow with small scales. don't hardly need to scale out a steelhead, just a hard rinse under the hose works.

thanks elmtree

Curt,

Very well might be a king, but the only visible gum line is on the upper right side. You can't even see the lower gumline because the angle at which the fish is being held. As in, both silvers and kings have black around their mnouths, but only silvers have that white line along their gums.

I'm sure B-RUN and the other guys from the eastside know an eastside king from a steelhead, so I'll just take their word for it.

Fish on..........

The Dworshak hatchery gets its share of 40ish steelhead -- inches, not pounds. Guys do pull the occasional chinook out of the Clearwater, and that fish is assuredly one of them. Incidentally, it looks as if Idaho Fish and Game is going to OK a spring Chinook season on the Clearwater(hatchery run of course), probably for a couple weeks in June. Decision is due when F&G Commission meets in early April.

It's a king and fall kings are off limits in the Clearwater. I wonder if the gamies know about that one?

You want to see another dead 30lb steelhead go to http://www.northwestangling.com/ what a tail, what a shame.

One point to be made, they let that fish go!! Poor fish handling I know but they claim it swam off. The thing that makes it a freak is this. There are a very few fall chinook that come up the clearwater. These fish are on the small side ( 10 lbs or so) The spring run is larger and so are the fish. This fish was caught in november or december if I remember correctly. All spring fish would have been dead months ago. So where did it come from??? I think it was a totally screwed up spring fish that had its time clock way out of wack. I also belive that it was from the Hanford area in the columbia and somehow got lost. It would weigh well over 40 pounds which in itself would be a freak for an Idaho fish. As for 40 pounders in the hatchery.. I doubt that very much. I know they have had some 30's and back in the day of north fork clearwater natives 30 was not common but happened. The Idaho and Washington state record steelhead where both caught the same day in like 1974 or 1973 and both were clearwater B-run bucks. Both were in the mid 30's but I don't recall the actual weights.

I agree. It looks like a lost upriver bright.

Look at the head on this fish. Damn near the same, including the white coloration on the jaws.
http://staff.washington.edu/parker/salmon05.html

Parker

Potter,

That's a huge steelhead. Something most of us will never catch in a lifetime. I do have one question though. Why do many of the guides on the quinault choose to kill these magnificent fish? I can see killing a limit of 8 to 12 pounders provided there's a good return of fish, however, these larger fish are so few and far between. It would make more sense to me to release them and let them pass on their genes to the next generation of steelies. Nowadays a very good mount can be made from a picture and the fish can be release to fight another day. If everyone bonks a 25 to 30 pound steelhead eventually these size fish aren't going to be around very long. I can tell you there are alot of people that are more willing to pay big money for a legitamate shot at a 25lb to 30lb steelhead - more so than sheer numbers of fish. Just a thought. Tight lines!

B-Run:

Your last post on this topic got me wondering, so I did some research. Washington state record (summer run) is 35 pounds, 1 ounce and was caught on lower Snake. Idaho record is 30.2 from the Clearwater. Both were caught in 1973; records didn't specify exact dates, but I've also heard that they were caught on same day (in the confluence, I presume). Think Idaho record fish was on display at now defunct Dave's Husky Sport Shop in Lewiston Orchards. It was a brute.

[This message has been edited by JEB (edited 03-31-2000).]

Hey Swami you suck, both pictures you posted are KING SALMON, not steelhead. You need to attend some sort of fish identification class. Think before you post!

Bottomfeeder
The last one Swami posted from Northwestangling was no salmon. That sir is one big ass steelhead in full spawning colors!!!! Picture doesn't do it justice

My point is that its dead, not on the bottom of the river.So it can feed its kids. The last one is a big steely for sure.

Funny, image ID of that picture on Northwestangling says it's a 46-pound salmon. I'm hardly an ichthyologist, but if the computer geek who constructed that web site simply misidentified the species, then that truly is one "big-ass" steelie.

One more interesting fact about those 30 lb state record B-run bucks.....they were only 2 years old!

TK

JEB, you are correct and Smilesforu should join Swami for a fish identification class. The second post of Swami's is a KING! Smileforu, can you not tell the difference between a fork tailed beedy-eyed king and a rainbow trout that went to sea? THAT LAST POST OF SWAMI'S IS NOT A STEELHEAD, YOU LOOK WORSE THAN HE DOES, THAT IS A CHINOOK SALMON!

Bottom feeder we are talking about the fish on the daily pictures page Not the front salmon picture. Here is the full link so you can see what tail we are talking about.
http://www.northwestangling.com/photogal/index.html

what do all of these photos have in common?

They are terrible pictures of UGLY fish.

out, salmontackelr

About the 30 lb steelhead, I think you guys are looking at the wrong picture. The first picture you see on the posting about the 30 pounder is a chinook, just scroll down to the third picture and you will see a hog of a steelhead and there is no question that this is a steelhead. Hopefully this will clear up some of the debate about chinook vs steelhead, If I am wrong ..........nevermind. Have a nice day. LMT

[This message has been edited by LMT (edited 04-03-2000).]