Wild summer run on the Wilson

[Wild Chrome]

I caught (and released) a wild steelhead about 4 pounds flyfishing the upper Wilson this morning. I didn't think the Wilson had a wild run of summer steelhead. Anyone know?

[TheRogue]

Wild....or just unmarked.

I prefer to believe that mother nature will fill in the blanks anywhere there's room to do so. If there's enough water in the summer for hatchery fish, it's doubly so for a wild one.

That's mighty small for your standard wild summer fish....sounds more like a Rogue 1/2 lb'er

[First Bite]

Over the past several years in September I've landed at least one steelie on the Wilson that had all its fins. I've asked the Tillamook district biologists about this and they confirm that there are no native summer steelhead on the Wilson. The summer run is 99%+ hatchery fish. They believe the fish I caught was an un-marked hatchery fish that slipped by.

With that being said, I would swear that some of these fish were wild. I hooked one fish on September 1st a few years back that tore up the hole with several powerful hard runs. When I finally got the fish in, I noticed that every fin was perfect and straight out. Was it wild? I'll never know. I revived it and let it go.

Mark

[Stew]

Same thing happened to me! Mark (First Cast) and I were fishing early fall and sure enough I hooked an unclipped steelhead. Of course the fish was released but I'm wondering if these fish are strays what river would they be strayed from? Does the Nestucca have native summer steelhead?

[Paddlefish]

Sounds about the same size as many of the historical Siletz native summer runs.

And straying is Mother Nature's way of re-stocking a watershed which may have suffered some sort of catastrophic extinction of its natural fish runs. (Like Mt. St. Helens' effects on the Toutle system?) :rolleyes: