Alsea today.....

steel_beaver · 12-11-2003, 09:32 PM

i went for a few hours in the afternoon.... there was lots of people but i only saw one fish at the hatchery.... i talked to the checker and she said she has seen a few today.... not really hot though... water was clear and looked great.

just before dark i was drifting a red corkie and yarn and i hooked a little fish (about 3-4 lb) but i'm not sure if it was a steelhead. it was native (it had a fin

) and it had some color to it, and also the jaws were starting to get deformed (that's why i thought it might not be a steelhead....) does anyone know if what this was? is it a searun or just a strange looking rainbow? [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]
tanks guys

SB

sparkleboy · 12-11-2003, 09:33 PM

My guess is that is was a Cutthroat...are there any real "rainbows" on the Alsea? I don't think so...but I could be wrong. Too bad you didn't get it in to get a good look at it. A 4 pound Cutthroat! That's a great fish!

steel_beaver · 12-11-2003, 09:43 PM

it was native so i tried to let it go as quickly as possible..... it looked a lot like a steelhead, but i thought it had a lot more dark spots on the back(and they were closer together.... ) also it was the same pinkish color on its back like the steelhead.... the jaws were weird...

FrogPond · 12-11-2003, 09:49 PM

I too was on the Alsea this afternoon. I fished Clemens Park. I caught & released a Chinook which was pretty dark, about 20lbs. It still put up a great fight on my light bobber spin rod.

Just a note to Mark of First Cast Jigs: It took me TWO casts to nail that nook on a pink & purple 1/4 oz. It's too bad that I lost that one on the NEXT cast to another strike. Not bad three casts...two strikes. I know now to check my entire leader for nicks after each fish. Oh yeah, today was my first day of jig & float fishing.

sparkleboy · 12-11-2003, 10:44 PM

A few of the fish I looked at in the trap when the NF opened up looked kinda dark and beat up (they were steelies)... It was probably a male with an overly enlongated jaw. I caught a couple summers like that. Almost look like coho when they're spwaning.

willierower · 12-11-2003, 11:04 PM

It was most likley a Coho. The North Fork gets quite a few late returning Cohos. I have hooked many this time of year.

Salmonator · 12-12-2003, 06:28 AM

They way you described the dark spots and elongated jaw makes me think cutthroat. I have caught a few spawned out searuns as late as January.

buckgtr · 12-12-2003, 06:41 AM

We have caught a few of those every year. I believe they are brood rainbows/cutts that escape from the hatchery. They are not really smart, caught the same one in the same hole 4 different times. At one point we kept one on the line in some calm water and had a hatchery worker came down and look at it. He pretty much dodged the question of whether it was an escapee or not. To me it is pretty obvious that they are trout(Brooders) that have escaped from the hatchery. Large head, short squatty body and non-clipped. Later in the season you catch them the skinnier they are, not many pellets floating by.

My 2 cents,

Buckgtr

Twitchs_Tackle · 12-12-2003, 07:47 AM

Steel_beaver, If I had to bet, I'd go with either a escaped brood fish from the hatchery, or a small coho. I caught (and released) a LOT of coho down lower this year and have seen several in the NF trap at the hatchery, we also caught/released a nice (big but dark) coho only about 100 yards below the hatchery about 4 days ago.

Fished the NF yesterday morning, a TON of people. 16 in the popular hole below the hatchery! :shocked: Haven't seenm the kinds of fish numbers that I would justify those kinds of crowds for, I am not looking forward to what it might look like when the fish really show up thick.

Hope they hurry up and get the tree cleared out of the Mill Creek-Campbell Creek stretch, cause I'm floating from here out... :smile:

Lefty · 12-12-2003, 08:19 AM

Steel,
I believe that tree has been removed from the Mill run. See the other post about danger on Alsea Mill run. Looks like its OK to fish

FishSniffer · 12-12-2003, 08:33 AM

Josh, did we meet briefly?

My buddy and I went over and fished Clemens Park from about noon till dark. There were lots of cars at the bridge on the Hwy. and lots of fishermen scrambling for the holes below it so we went further down.

Saw a silver rolling in Clemens and heard of a couple guys getting fish on but didn't see any landed or carried out. Lost a pink & white FCJig and if ya see it....

steel_beaver · 12-12-2003, 10:55 AM

hahahahahaha
i found the jig this morning in the parking lot.... i then proceeded to use it and its currently waiting for you on one of the trees about 1/4 mile down from the bridge..... [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]

sorry... [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

SB

[ 12-12-2003, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: steel_beaver ]

FishSniffer · 12-12-2003, 12:44 PM

Yep, found it in that tree. You must have lost it B4 I got there and grabbed it! :grin:

Greg

FrogPond · 12-12-2003, 01:18 PM

FishSniffer-

Yeah, I was there last night. Camo waders, grey jacket, & Mustad hat (thanks Jennie!). Were you fishing the 5 hole with the guy who has fished Steelhead for 15 years without taking one home?

I would love to walk that river at low summer flow just to get the gear!

FishSniffer · 12-12-2003, 02:28 PM

Josh,

That was us. Poor Frank. He wants so badly to catch one and someday he will. Hope it's on my watch. I'd love to see the smile on his face when he does. Course he hasn't just fished for metalheads the entire 15 years. He mostly flyfishes for trout with his son till I started dragging him out. Kinda surprised I got him out on the river twice this week. We'll see how long that lasts. We're planning on going back on Tuesday if you're there.

I'll do that walk with ya. I got a handful of stuff yesterday as it was. Might not need to buy corkies the rest of the year!

FrogPond · 12-12-2003, 09:29 PM

Well, I went back this afternoon and came home with a buck that went about 13lbs. I was kinda surprised to see that it was a shade less than chrome, this early in the season.

I think I am still on the donating side of the great gear find, if you know what I mean! Although I did catch a nice #4 blue fox spinner with my first cast jig to day.

If the water is ok & I can skate from work a little early, I may see you Tuesday! Good luck if I don't!

Twitchs_Tackle · 12-13-2003, 08:40 AM

I think the water will be far from ok, its expected to go nearly 3 feet over FLOOD stage, thats a rise of nearly 16 feet! :shocked: . It could be a while before it is in good shape.

As for the fish, a lot fo the fish up in the north fork will have color, even this early. I release more than I take home. If the bucks look snake-ish or the hens squirt eggs when they get drug up on the bank, send'em back! I was disappointed more than once last year thinking I had a good fish, only to find out it was pale/white. The bucks with a little color are better than hens with color though, more energy goes into egg production than sperm, so the condition of the hen's meat goes down quickly.

Look for color on the opercle (cheek) of the fish first. This will begin turning pink before the rest of the body shows color. Also, look at the side of the fish, if when laid on its side you can see ribs, or the belly looks sunk in, chances are its past prime.

FrogPond · 12-13-2003, 09:16 AM

Twitch-

WOW, I just looked at the hydrograph, you are right. This looks like it will be one heck of a storm! I hope everyone living along the river is prepared.

The fish I caught yesterday wasn't to dark, it just wasn't the chrome I have gotten used to. I haven't fished the N. Fork for about 10yrs. I have been fishing bays, or rivers much closer to the ocean. I guess it is just common sense they would be darker up there. He was by no means to dark, just not chrome & wearing sea-lice.

Twitchs_Tackle · 12-13-2003, 01:34 PM

I've gotten a couple with lice that far up, but that was after some high water, and the hatchery workers were saying the fish were making the trip in two days. They're not near as prevalent as in the lower river.

These ones weren't too bad :grin:

PayDay · 12-14-2003, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sparkleboy:
...are there any real "rainbows" on the Alsea? I don't think so...but I could be wrong.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">I caught a nice rainbow about 15" last year while tossing spoons on the main Alsea. I'm not very familiar with the river, so I don't know how common they are, maybe it was a hatchery escapee, but it was a bright little fish which I promptly released.