Another steelhead...(pic) NEW, UPDATED STORY.

[mandinga]

Skipped work(shhhhhhh) and got this buck.


ok, since you all are so intrigued by a fish I thought I would give you the lowdown...

I was at a conference yesterday in northern california, I attended 2 meetings in the morning and then snuck out telling my boss I wanted to drive slow on the way home... I would need a couple extra hours for the drive, that way he wouldnt have to get me another hotel. So I lied to my boss...so what.

I stopped at the american river to drift some nymphs and eggs and some bright and some beat up fish.

Was this fish caught in oregon..NO, did I say it was....NO.


So I got back and actually fished almost all of today and landed at least 7 fish...none very big though. See other post for pics and story(unless someone else catching fish annoys you)



http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/7071steelhead2nofaceCROPPED.jpg

[mandinga]

Took a caddis.

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/images/poopah/poopah10.jpg

for tying instructions check link below.
http://stevenojai.tripod.com/instpoopah.htm


This is an awesome caddis pattern, you can tie it in many effective colors including red, tan, black, olive and others.

[tbird]

Nice fish, looks to be 10 or 11 lbs. Really tough call looking at a pic. Way to go looks like you had some sunshine,went fishing and didnt have to work. Congrats. :yay:

[Riverkeeper]

No fair entering summer steelhead in the competition!

Nice fish. :applause:

[mandinga]

No fair entering summer steelhead in the competition!

Nice fish. :applause:



:shrug: :dance:

[Two Fister]

So what's the deal with the plastic tackle box in the background? Are you sure that fish didn't take a caddis colored wiggle wart? :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
I'd guess somewhere around 10 pounds. Been in the river a while. Is that on the Deschutes?

[mandinga]

That tackle box was just sittin there..nothin inside but an old rusty pair of pliers.


I wish there was a purple wiggle wart...although that may be hard to cast with a fly rod....chuck and duck method would probably work..


Deschutes...NO.

Location-I could tell you, but I would have to kill you.

[Blue Tip Spinner]

No fair entering summer steelhead in the competition!

Nice fish. :applause:



:shrug: :dance:



i was thinking the same thing!!!!! i would have already registered a fish if it wasn't for that rule!!!!!

[Airborne]

Looks like the same fish I caught on the Crooked trip, I guess it at 2 lbs

[lilnorthfork]

Looks like the Winter Steelhead Flameathon is in full swing. Who is in the lead... you be the judge...

No fair entering summer steelhead in the competition!


So what's the deal with the plastic tackle box in the background? Are you sure that fish didn't take a caddis colored wiggle wart?


I guess it at 2 lbs


:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Fish Eater]

Skipped work(shhhhhhh) and got this buck.


Over 10lbs, but i didnt get an exact weight...when I get a big boy that I think may win the competition I will weigh it, but otherwise I will just eyeball it.


any guesses on the weight



Maybe pushing 8 lbs, but no more!.......

[AndyK]

Deschutes...NO.

Location-I could tell you, but I would have to kill you.



Dead grass, clear water; it sure wasn't on the westside! The location and the spawning colors definitely makes it a summer run.

Took a day off work? Can't be too far: either the Deschutes or the John Day (unless it was in Washington).

[Airborne]

Hey Chrome, ya know the first on the board has to be the first to get all the fun comments, mostly because none of the rest of us has any fish, summer or winters on the board.... way to go and take it in stride :jester:

[Two Fister]

Location-I could tell you, but I would have to kill you.



Hmmm. Would you wait to kill me until after I had a chance to go fish your zipperlip spot? With as little fishing time as I've had this year it might be worth it.

And just for the record, you can cast a mini wart with a spey rod and a heavy shooting head. My advice is to replace the treble hook with a siwash and wear appropriate body armor. I think Airborne probably has access the kind of gear necessary to do this on a more than drunken...I mean occassional...basis. :cheers:
TF

[R Jackson]

Looks like it would go 10-12lbs to me. Its a pretty deep fish. He said he skipped work to catch it but didn't say what year. Looks like it could be late winter or early spring to me.

[KillerDave]

Nice fish, but it's a summer run.

I read Stew's rules, and it appears the contest is for the longest winter run, not the heaviest summer run. Just sayin'


Winter steelhead Fly Challenge - Starts 12/3/04

2.Longest fish wins



Guess on weight? Looks like 10lbs. Nice job.

[Abalone]

Do we need a lawyer here ?

Rule # 2 ".Longest fish wins and there must be a picture posted on this board. "

Rule #2 don't say nothing about Winter vs. Summer besides that's just a little one. We have months to go yet before I enter my 20 # + Steelhead.
When that fish will be a faint memory in Chrome Mandigas head.

Think about it... If someone can catch a Summer Run Steelhead somewhere that is longer then the longest Winter run fish then he would be entitled to win.

I

[Stew]

Do we need a lawyer here ?

Rule # 2 ".Longest fish wins and there must be a picture posted on this board. "

Rule #2 don't say nothing about Winter vs. Summer besides that's just a little one. We have months to go yet before I enter my 20 # + Steelhead.
When that fish will be a faint memory in Chrome Mandigas head.

Think about it... If someone can catch a Summer Run Steelhead somewhere that is longer then the longest Winter run fish then he would be entitled to win.





No lawyer needed! This challenge is for winter fish only not summer fish caught in the winter :shrug:

[mandinga]

WOOHOOOOOOO...


While you guys were all debating where, how, when , summer or winter I was out CATCHIN FISH!!!



see new post for my first winter entries.

I better start working otherwise I will have to start fishing for a living cuz I wont have a job!

[Riverkeeper]

While I agree that it is sad that all of us are here arguing about your fish while you go out and Git R Done, the pics you uploaded LOOK LIKE SUMMER FISH AS WELL! I think you just used the flash on the one of them.

BUSTED! :grin:

I wish I was doing so well. Hopefully my new spey rod will be here this week.

[mandinga]

well....the new ones are winters...and i did use a flash.oops.

[Riverkeeper]

The ones in the gallery? Make a post already!

I don't know why I'm enjoying harrasing you about this. I don't even know you and I'm really not an [potty mouth]. :flowered:

[mandinga]

I am having issues with my browser...

Maybe you are taking your anger about something else out on me...oh well. :shrug:



Its all in good fun!

[lilnorthfork]

C.M. - when you meet riverkeeper in person you will see right off he is one of the baddest, angriest, most likely to go postal guys you'll ever meet... aren't all bluegrass musicians? :grin:

[Mark Vickers]

Its easy to think that Riverkeeper is a mean looking person. Afterall, most 6'5" 350 lb guys are pretty intimidating. But I think after he let up on the steriods, he's calmed down quite a bit.

By the way, those are summer fish. :laugh:

Maybe at some point, someone will tell you the simple secret to telling the winters and summers apart. :smile:

[Abalone]

Something tells me C.M. won't have any trouble posting pictures of Winters..... :bowdown:

[mandinga]

I have been searching high and low for some info on the difference between summer and winter fish. Far as I can tell the only difference is timing. Timing....a bright fish in mid december...seems like a "winter " to me.


If someone has more info an the difference please enlighten us all.

Here is a link on what I have found.
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/publishers/foghorn/fish_was.htm

[Otolith]

You are probably right about timing being a big determinant. But on some rivers there are different clips to indicate summer or winter, so I think you will have to divulge your secret spot to us for a proper analysis to be made. :grin:

And I think I read somewhere that summers get some kind of obvious white parasite on their gills from being in the river for so long.


As for Riverkeeper's mean streak - I once insisted to him that a summer I caught was a winter, and he promptly grabbed the fish out of my hands and beat me over the head with it :smash:. So as far as I'm concerned, whatever he says is the correct answer.

[lilnorthfork]

Otolith - thank goodness he hit you with the fish and not with his beltbuckle, or your home river would be at a much higher altitude. :flowered:

[Riverkeeper]

Bill don't make me come over there and http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/darian/Smiles/kickass.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/darian/Smiles/kickass.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/darian/Smiles/kickass.gif again!

Summer steelhead enter our rivers in the spring and early summer and stay there until they spawn the following winter. When they arrive in the rivers, they are sexually immature and if cut open they have very undeveloped eggs and sperm. All (I think) of our west-of cascade rivers like clack, sandy, santiams, willamette, lewis, cowlitz, kalama do not naturally have summer steelhead. All of the summer fish in these rivers are planted or are decendents of hatchery fish. Most of these rivers get planted heavily, and the last couple of years they have had bumper runs. I would guess that the fish you got were from one of these rivers, and are this years summer fish that have already spawned or will soon and have used up their fat reserves, hence the distended pooper on the hens and the skinny snakey appearance. Some may go back to the ocean, but most will die.

Winter fish, although they are starting to show up on the coast, don't usually reach most of these rivers until later iike jan-feb-march although a few do come in this early. Winter steelhead (like fall chinook) come into fresh water ready to spawn and do so within days or weeks of entering their home rivers. This early in the season, I would expect most of the winter fish to be absolute mint chromers, with not much in the way of pink sides like the summer fish have. Also, I think many fewer hatchery winters are planted in these rivers than summers, but they do have native runs, which occur even later in the season. Right now since they are relatively few, I would imagine the winter fish are spread out, where as the summers this time of year tend to stack up in the upper reaches of rivers (below hatcheries, dams, etc) enabling the industrious fisherman to hook a lot of them if they find the right spot. Anyone know any different?

Regardless of all that, it is sweet that you seemed to have it dialed, please take me soon. :cool:

[Riverkeeper]

Here's what a winter should look like about now (oh baby). Dave K posted this photo on the main board:

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL81/623942/4088098/22232041.jpg

[3riversBob]

CM.......You might remember Riverkeeper from a movie he did. He was sitting on a porch pickin a banjo when some city boys came by and they started a pickin an playin.... :cheers: Love that movie Darian! :wink:

Nice fishies!

Bob

[Blue Tip Spinner]

Here's what a winter should look like about now (oh baby). Dave K posted this photo on the main board:

http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL81/623942/4088098/22232041.jpg



don't you mean Dave J?

(please don't hurt me for possibly correcting you on the board- yes i do have a death wish!!!!)

[mandinga]

RiverK.

Thanks for the info. Your assumptions are right as to where the fish were caught...And you are also right saying the fish tend to stack up...There were piles of fish where I was fishing. I am so mad at myself for not bringing extra batteries because a couple small fish I caught were almost clear they were so chrome. I would have been interested to see what you thought those fish were.

River, I was under the impression that summers and winters spawned at almost the same time. :whazzup:



This thread is very encouraging to me. I have heard many differing opinions on wether steelhead feed when they are in the rivers. This thread tells me that summers must feed otherwise how could they last in the systen for so long without wasting away to nothing. So that's the good thing.


The bad thing about these summer fish is that most of the summers i caught the other day had almost no fight left in them, so this tells me that they are not going to last much longer...which IMO means that I should not be trying to catch these fish because they are at a weakened physical state of being. Do you guys think that catching a summer this late will kill the fish, or does it have as good of a chance as a winter fish just arriving from the ocean to survive?


I must say that even though these fish were very weak fighters they were attacking flies on the first drift by them...some were even moving up or sideways 2-3 feet to take a fly.

[mandinga]

watch your back blue tip!

[KillerDave]

It's a picture I took of Dave Johnson two seasons ago. That fish was so bright it gave me a sunburn!

CM, they were hen summer runs. The hens stay bright(er) while the bucks get colored up. The info on your Community Board post is good too.

[Riverkeeper]

Robert, watch out or you'll end up in a carpet roll filled with cement in the bottom of the garbage hole :eek:

CM, if the fish you are catching are all hatchery fish, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Gizmo Man]

Mod note here: When Stew asked me if it would be ok to have a contest we discussed what he wanted.

The fish he is asking to be entered into the contest are what are referred to as a "winter fish". These are bright fish, like the one in the picture with Dave, and fight like all get out and usually start entering the local streams around Thanksgiving.

Summers, this time of year, are usually darker and usually have color in the gill plates and normally do not put up quite the fight that the winters do this late in the season. When the summers first come in in May, June, July they too are bright and are kick butt fighters.

Winters are usually harder to catch as they do not readily rise to flies that are skated, whereas summers will usually travel to chase the fly.

Hope this helps.

But remember, this is for fun and anytime we can catch either a summer or winter fish on a fly it is an accomplishment.

Have fun posting pictures and remember that unless the fish is entered in Stews post pinned to the top it does not matter whether it is a summer or winter.

And from now on, anyone catching a fish must take me with them so I can independently verify that they are fly fishing... :smile: :smile: ..Now back to the bantering... :cool:

CM that fish is a ...... :smile: :smile:

Giz, the moderator. :wave: :cool:

[mandinga]

Giz...thanks bud...look forward to fishin with ya.

[Blue Tip Spinner]

Robert, watch out or you'll end up in a carpet roll filled with cement in the bottom of the garbage hole :eek:




not again!!!!!!! :hoboy: