Learning is Fun! (pic)

[lilnorthfork]

Been tossing flies for as long as I can remember, so I decided to learn something new this year. Thanks to some great ‘Iposts’ and help from ‘Ifriends’, here is an overview of my learning experience:
1. Casting a bobber and jig without extra weight is an exercise in futility when you've never used a casting rod.
2. Drift fishing itself is easy. What is hard, aside from maybe catching, is reconciling oneself to the fact you are going to litter a beautiful river with lead and corkies.
3. When something tugs on your rod, tug back... hard.

C&R'd this fish yesterday. Not much of a fight but fun all the same. lnf

[FallRiverGuy]

I wish I as out learning too! Nice fish BTW.

[blacktail519]

Great pic! Congrats [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[Rakkasan]

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

The funny part is looking back at this pick several years down the road and laughing at it because of all the chrome you have gotten since. Oh trust me.....I have some of those pics Good deal!

[lilnorthfork]

DS - No question I was hoping it would be grill-worthy, yet the fish struck me as pretty all the same. I guess the difference is 'pretty' vs. 'blindingly beautiful'.
BTW, did I mention this was my first time out drifting? Hooked it after about 20 minutes. If it is anything like my experience flyfishing for steel, it will be a year or two before I get another.

[ 01-13-2004, 05:36 PM: Message edited by: lilnorthfork ]

[Dakotan]

I kept a hatchery steelhead that was about that color and it's meat was that perfect red color and nice and firm and boy was it tasty. Something I've learned is not to discount a fish based on its color. That fish fought and jumped like crazy so maybe that would be a good sign to tell if the meat would be okay to keep. Anyways, congrats on the fish. It only gets better with more time on the water.

[Rakkasan]

I will not talk about some of the fish I kept on my first go around :blush:

If I remember correctly there was a thread on dark fish caught. It was fun to look at. Maybe I should start another.

[lilnorthfork]

Here is a closer look at the fish. Whattaya think... anybody 'know somebody' who has eaten a sh that looked like this? How was it?

[MarlinMark]

LNF--So in your humble oppinion there is nothing wrong with "jumping over the fence" now and again? Me too. I've been jumping over that fence for years. It's funny to talk with my buddies that live on the other side of the fence. They think they are not missing anything....denial is a strong, dark force....


Mark

[Fish Hawg]

Congrats on you fish [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] , Looks like he was Hungary for pink yarn. ....Ross

[lilnorthfork]

Thanks FishHawg!
MM - good fences may make good neighbors, but they can sure get in the way of good fishing fun (or fun in a stranger's hottub in the younger days) :shocked:
So does anybody have experience cutting into one of these not-so-chrome pink-yarn-lovin fish... and have the gumption to own up to it? :grin:

[Mrdorkfish]

The very first fish i caught on the Wilson was a 12lb buck that was colored up a bit...but you know what, I was so proud i showed pics to everyone i knew...and not a bite of that fish was wasted. Don't get me wrong...Bright fish are the rule...but the beauty of a steelie with red cheeks makes them drool.

MrDorkfish [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

Louis

[lucky strike]

Good job LNF I've caught a couple fish that have been colored up in the last month and you know, they may not be the prettiest fish but they are steelhead no less. Some people haven't even been that lucky. Good job again and keep on pounding the river, chromers will come!
Matt

[ORoutdoorsman]

The very first fish I ever caught salmon steelhead fishing was a very colorful, just shy of 3 foot hatchery steelhead caught on the upper clackamas river, that I caught all by myself, ona rig I devised myself. Some may argue whether the fish should have been kept(it had good, bright color, but was not chrome) but all I know is that was one of the most delicious fish I will ever eat. :grin:

[Grant Scheele]

Lilnorthfork, you did the right thing by letting that fish go. That fish was very beautiful in it's spawning colors but probably wouldn't have cut very good.
There are some people out there that would tell you to whack a hatchery fish now and ask questions later , and I don't have much of an argument for them, but I, like you, couldn't kill a beautiful Steelhead like that knowing that it probably wouldn't eat very good.

Great job on your first drifting steelhead. Your next on one take so long, I promise.

[ 01-14-2004, 08:23 AM: Message edited by: Grant Scheele ]

[Paddlefish]

Though I've caught steelhead which would put a chrome bumper to shame, I think the truly most beautiful steelhead I've ever seen was a 12-pound (plus or minus) native buck, taken on a spoon in the lower Wilson River in mid-April.

He was just showing the lustrous, iridescent beginnings of his spawning colors; had full, tall, perfect fins; was an absolute hardbody; and seemed as thick as a fall chinook.

I never removed him from the water and, unfortunately, we didn't have a camera at the moment. :depressed:

Hope he's got lots of great grandkids out there.

[lilnorthfork]

Great to see a bunch of differing opinions without criticism or 'absolutes' (absolutely only one way or the other is right). To all of you...
Siwash - I wondered if the water temp. was a factor. Sure felt cold on my feet.
BTW, the fish was on the snow for a quick sec while Ansel Riverkeeper Adams shot the pic, it swam away nicely. lnf

[Riverkeeper]

Aw, shucks :blush:

Nice fish buddy.

[spinner53]

Good On Yu !

Nice Fish too ...

[Sublime]

whew, by the looks of that guy's belly :shocked: (the fish), glad you practice C'n'R :grin:

[Siwash]

Not much of a fight but fun all the same

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Besides the color/condition of the fish, the snow in the background suggests pretty cold water temps, too. I've had some super bright, great-looking fish that fought awfully sluggishly when it's really cold.

[Beerbelly]

Next time you get that fish it will be alot bigger If the gillnets don't get it. :shocked:

[TillamookChinook]

LNL,
Nicely done! Sometimes the magic works.

TC

I would have kept the fish and released that reel
Seriously though cousin you should have seen my first steelhead....spitting singles

[lilnorthfork]

released that reel

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">
Never look a gift reel in the spool, right? BTW, it was a gift from my bro, not my wife... are you listening Greenbutt?
I think I understand the basics of drifting. Now if I could just figure out a way to hook a fish and transfer it to the flyrod.

[greenbuttskunk]

LNF,
You've come far grasshopper! When I was showing you how to cast a conventional reel in the street the other day, it got kinda ugly but you learn fast. Bet it did'nt fight as well as the SUV I almost snagged driving by. Those babies will burn out the drag for sure.
Nice fish, I personally prefer the red cheeked fish like that. Glad you let him go back to swim.

[lilnorthfork]

Greenbutt - I tried to cast just like you showed me but, try as I did, I couldn't find a single power line to get hung up on.
That SUV would have spooled you for sure. Not sure what, or if, I ever learn from you, but the entertainment factor rates a 10!
lnf

[greenbuttskunk]

the best part of that day was hanging out in the street cast when it was about 15 degrees out side.
I thought my ears would fall off.
So you're fishing during the pats game, sorry I can't join ya.