40 inches of coastal chrome

[Amerman]

This has definitley been a large fish year. We have landed a number of big nates this winter already and there's only going to be more to come :grin: Here's yesterday's latest. It still had sea lice and measured just over 40 inches and 20 inches of girth. Probably the longest fight I have ever had from a steelhead. It fought like a large salmon and just went where it wanted. It jumped a couple times and didn't look that big until it finally got close to the boat. After it decided to make a 150 yard run up river from the back of the hole to the top, I had to ask the guys could it be snagged. Nope, just had that much spunk. Was glad to have the electric motor on my new North River driftboat to chase it everywhere. Never would have landed this fish off the bank or stuck on anchor. Ended up being one of 10 for the day.

[GOT2FISH]

Holly Smokes thats sweet.

[5-Cents]

:shocked: Holly Cow :shocked:

A true trophy [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[ 02-17-2004, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: 5-Cents ]

[El-Kabong]

awesome fish!!!

[Ty]

WOOOOWWWWEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Nice Meetalhead!!! Guess

I should be spending more time at that other river......

[ 02-17-2004, 04:12 PM: Message edited by: Ty ]

[tag-a-long]

Yeah, what they said!!!

What a pig!! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[ReelBeauty]

:shocked: Geezee I heard you were good! Nice fish! :smile:

[ 02-17-2004, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: ReelBeauty ]

[Bobby Ray]

Lordy lordy !!
[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
What a beast.....Where you fishin

[Siwash]

Yeeeee-Haaahh!!

[Fishin Magician]

Awesome fish man..........

[T-Jet]

Thats not funny! :shocked:

[h20dog]

That is one big steelie!!!! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[blacktail519]

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] WOOOWEEE!!! Awesome fish dude [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[All IN]

I dream of fish like that! :shocked:

[Akuracy503]

:shocked: Mr Amerman do you always exclusively use your cured roe to catch all your steelhead? just wondering if your bait is the go to method for you..

by the way I use nothing but your cure for fall nooks, just too consistent and ourperforms other presentations.

[justasillyolgirl]

MY LORD!!!!!!! :shocked:

Beautiful fish. Nice job [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[Twitchs_Tackle]

Wow! :shocked: Nice fish Scott... Nice jacket too ( thought I had the only one )!

[Billy Tillamook]

Throw a saddle on that one!

[RichH]

I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy

[blacktail]

Beautiful fish, great photo. You should frame that one.

Mike

[steelheadslayer]

Beautiful fish Scott. Keep the pics coming and I may have to break down and book a trip. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[high_arc]

Fantastic Fish!

[Cowlitz Kidd]

Nice fish Scott got to get same of those egg's

[SKP]

I'm speechless! Here's a standing ovation!

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

SKP

[KingFisher85]

Very nice hog!!!! :shocked:

[ZaQ]

Wow Scott, I am green with envy.

[Chris Nordling]

:shocked: :shocked: WOW !! :shocked: :shocked:

Who let you hold their fish? :tongue:

Let me guess, it bit some eggs?

Chris

[ 02-17-2004, 09:10 PM: Message edited by: FWF1 ]

[Fishrite]

Nice fish Scott.. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] ..I'm always impressed with the fins on a native fish. :shocked: That is one beautiful steelie. Job well done...my boy. .....there are going to be some big fish in a couple of weeks..

[RichH]

Dork?

I guess the name says it all? :whazzup:

[fishnxtc]

Kinda makes me feel like this so happy

[RichH]

xtc


thats hideous. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img] :grin:

[cutt plug]

What a porker!!

Thanks for sharing.

[ZaQ]

Dorkfish

XTC, that was some funny Sntuff.

[little hunter]

what a great day

[willametteriveroutlaw]

Nice fish Scott.. Don't worry there is always one in every crowd with some sort of little man better than me syndrome .

Man what a fish! :shocked: Can you say replica mount?

[fishnpray]

Scott-

Great looking fish! Dorker...

[RiverDogg]

That's one hell of a beaut.
I Salute You

[First Bite]

That is one beautiful fish. Very nice Scott.

Mark

[Danderson]

Nice Fish Scott...See ya on the river

Derek

[10 more minutes]

Holy Moly thats big! :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

[ 02-20-2004, 07:41 PM: Message edited by: Pete ]

[skrimmy]

Scott, that's a GREAT fish and even better pic.

[ 02-20-2004, 07:44 PM: Message edited by: Pete ]

[jokester]

HOLY BATFLAPS!!!!!! :shocked: Nice fish Scott!

-jokester

[SHOUGALNITE]

[Cool Texan]

Nice fish! :shocked:

[Amerman]

Thanks everyone. For all the postive feedback.

Akuracy503

I use my salmon eggs almost exclusively, but do throw Jigs and bobbers and sandshrimp at times. I would say it has been 90% salmon eggs 5% sandshrimp and 5% jigs on the fish I have landed this year.


I agree that many people mishandle natives but don't think we can blanket every handeling as bad. ( as you seem to want to) We need to educate people as to how to do it the right way. Many people have many different views on what is right and wrong.

For me this is what is important. Keep the battle as short as possible to avoid the fish getting too fatigued. Remove the hook only if your 100% sure you will not do damage, other wise cut the line and leave the hook. For me the biggest thing is making sure to revive the fish after the battle. That means handeling the fish and if possible being in the water with it. Holding it up stream head first into the current. This is hard to do from in a boat but should be done if you can't get to shore. The other thing I find important is hold the fish until it is ready to go. Many people will hold the fish intil it first twitches ( a lot of times this is just a muscle spasm) and release it or until they are tired. I see many people let a fish go early only to have it kick once and then float up. Hold the fish so it can rest and revive as long as it takes (sometimes as much as 15 minutes). I hold the fish not until its first kick but until it gets really hard to hold. Only when I am 100% sure it will swim away do I let it go.

Personally me and many other coast guides transport a lot of the natives we catch to create the broodstock programs on the coast rivers, like the Siletz Wilson and Nestucca. There is nothing like handling a native for 6 hours to teach you exactly how to do it and how not to.

Here are a couple pics of how we transport them


This native was just landed as it is being placed in the open cooler ( live well) in the boat.



Here are a couple nates in the live well.

These fish are not handeled under ideal conditions, because first the are hooked and landed, we net the fish to put it in our live well, then it sits in the live well for 15 minutes to 6 hours, then it is netted out of the live well and taken to the holding tank, from the holding tank they are netted out and put in a truck, driven to the hatchery in the truck, netted out of the truck and put in a holding tank there until ready to spawn then netted again to spawn. But because each step is done right and the people who handling these fish know how to do it, we rarely ever have a fish die. I don't think we even had one die last year.

[ 02-20-2004, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: Pete ]

[Crayfin]

Awesome job Scott. "IKE IS IN THE HOUSE"

Tell me you let that one go so I can catch him again

Fishin Magician--well said fella--"no one is perfect".....man I have fished with you enough times to know that is true :grin:

Todd

[Reel Premier]

Scott.

Awesome fish, I love the hint of rosy hue the fish has on it's gill plate, and down the lateral line. Just dang beautyrific! :grin: Also, pretty cool little tutorial on the handling of fish for the broodstock program.

[Bank of Duvall]

If there is a "no native steelhead out of the water" rule, Scott should get an exemption stamp. From the looks of it he could probably catch, measure, tailor and fit a native in a 3 piece suit releasing it with less stress than many steelhead fisherman put nates through just catching and unhooking.

Scott - I use the tailoring reference to make a point, not to infer that you sew...Not that there's anything wrong with that

[Fisherfield]

Good job Scott....Can't wait....I'm hitting that river this weekend!! with Ammerman cured eggs..I hope to get me a trophy too!

[Dragfreedrift]

Nice one Scott! Keep those kind of pics coming.

HC

[Danderson]

Mr. Amerman not Mr. Ammerman

[ 02-20-2004, 08:04 PM: Message edited by: Pete ]

[SKP]

Here's a quote I've read somewhere recently:

Silence is Golden.

Again, nice fish Scott! Hope to fish with you in the fall.

SKP

[ZaQ]

:shocked: [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]

[Bobby Ray]

[img]graemlins/program.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img]

Aint no thang but uh chicken wing [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]

[ 02-18-2004, 10:20 PM: Message edited by: big n bright ]

[Metal Manipulator]

Nice Nice Fish [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[bait-n-wait]

Holy Cow... Has been many many years since I have seen on that big. Is 23lb still a record in Rainier?

[fishguy]

Scott,
That's a nice fish.
Fishguy

[ 02-20-2004, 07:54 PM: Message edited by: Pete ]

[Firedog]

Nice fish Scott, good Job!

[salmonidstalker]

BEEEEEAUUUUUUUTIIIIIIIFUUULL!!!