First Spey fish of 2007

[Steelie Mike]

Trying to get back into the spey thing, today I tried out a friend's new Airflo 8/9 Skagit on one of his extra reels a basic drag system not suited for large fish. After following someone down the run I was greeted by this bright fishy. I guess it goes to show you that fancy drag systems are not always needed. She took a three inch purple ESMOAL.


I am guessing she was about 30inches and near 7pounds or so. Darn skinny Skamania fish.

[SSPey]

kelt (?)

[Slow and Low]

Nice. I been trying.

[Steelie Mike]

Originally Posted by SSPey

kelt (?)

I was kinda thinking the same thing but the fish was as clean as could be. I also do not know anything about what tiime of year the winters spawn. The summer fish in this river are just starting to do the humpty dance and would find it odd that they would or could be spawning at the sametime.

What do you guys think?

[Super Fluke]

Nice job

[SSPey]

Hen kelts really brighten up, and it can be kind of deceiving. They can be so bright that they're often misidentified by people working Columbia River dams as upstream bound fish. A recent study found that something like 85% of steelhead caught on the upstream side of dams were kelts, but dam personnel identified only 20% of them as kelts, and returned the rest to the upstream side of the dam expecting them to continue upstream.

The bright snakey look and the sunken rear body cavity is pretty characteristic - these fish are normally thick. I don't know your river, but OR coastal rivers with winters have fish on redds as early as December. Yes, the peak spawning activity is often late March / early April, but there seems to be a general misconception that the winter steelhead spawning window is only 1 month, when it is closer to 4 months.

[Uglygreen]

Yeah, its a snake... the one sure indicator other than the body cavity size is the fins change color and take on a whiteish or yellowish hue after spawning. Prespawn fish have clear / grey fins.

[AlseaAssassin]

Nice work!!