Summer Steelhead Challenge Entries - 2005

[AndyK]

This is the thread for posting the 2005 Summer Steelhead Challenge entries.

Please don't post your pictures here unless you are an entrant in the contest. The moderator will remove replies or photos that are not part of the contest.

Rules

Entrants



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Winners or Current Leaders:

May Monthly Winner: No entries
June Monthly Winner: AndyK - 29 inches
July Monthly Winner: Lilnorthfork - 29 inches
August Monthly Winner: Silverfly – 26.5 inches
September Monthly Winner: Mugs – 30 inches

Columbia River and Tributaries: Mugs – 30 inches
Oregon Coast: clacksteel39 – 16 inches
East Side (October 1 to 30 November 2005):
Dry Fly: Mugs – 28.5 inches


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This is the only entry to date:

29-inch hatchery Steelhead caught in Columbia River tributary on 23 June by AndyK:



This entry will not be eligible for monthly prize.

[Mugs]

Prolly not a winner but...



27-1/4" hatchery hen from Columbia River tributary, 7/9/05.
Took a #4 Purple Skunk.

Go get 'em!

Ed

ps: Having re-read the rules, I should add that this fish qualifies as an "East Sider."

pps: Uh, having re-re-read the rules, I'll have to retract the "East Sider" qualification, as it is not yet October. (duh)

[AndyK]

Another Columbia River/Tributary steelhead:



This native steelhead was only 26 inches long. Caught her at 7:40 this morning on a Purple Bugger.

[SilverFly]

Post deleted by SilverFly

[SilverFly]

Caught a 25" "native" (unclipped hatchery) and a 28" hatchery steelhead today on a Columbia river tributary. Pictures soon.

Update 7/26:

OK, here they are. First fish was an unclipped hatchery so I didn't feel too bad about lifting it for a quick snapshot. Second fish is the 28" hatchery. I had to do some clean up with photoshop to remove the blood (and crop the grinning doofus). This fish ATE the krill fly and was hooked in the gill rakers :depressed:. Guess I'll have to go back to tying it on circle hooks again before I kill a native, - go figure .





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[SilverFly]

Caught a 24.5" hatchery steelhead today.

[SilverFly]

Got outfished by Lilnorthfork today. It was really slow fishing but he stuck with it and landed a beautiful 29" native steelhead.

[SilverFly]

Here's one for August. Please forgive the tasteless "dead fish on a plank" pic. This was literally a last cast fish and we were pressed for time as our "kitchen passes" were rapidly expiring. Nice little 26.5" hatchery fish:

Dead fish on a plank

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[Gizmo Man]

Post deleted by Gizmo Man

[clacksteel]

Well since there are no entries for a coastal river:
16" Hatchery Half-pound steelhead caught on the Rogue River on a swung Prince Nymph

[frankenfish]

See post. 23" steelhead on a Willamette river tributary commonly known as the Clackamas.

[Mugs]

A couple entries:

30" wild buck from Columbia River tributary, 9/6/05.


28.5" hatchery hen from same river, taken on skated fly, 9/7/05:


Skater pattern, size 2 thingamajingy:


It was a good week.

Ed

[AndyK]

The competition for the first two categories is now closed. Entrants have until 14 September to post any photos of fish caught 30 September or earlier for these categories.

As of this time, Mugs is the winner of the largest steelhead in category one and clacksteel39 has the only steelhead posted for category two.

If there are no other photos posted, they will be the winners.

Remember, for categories three and four, the competition ends 30 November.

[Mugs]

An eastsider, 28" hatchery hen, caught 10/3 on a #6 Steelhead Caddis sort of fly fished wet with a floating line in bright sun. I'd been skunked for 2 1/2 days straight, fishing mostly under clouds and rain with big, dark flies. The sun came out, so I went small and drab, figured I couldn't screw things up any worse than they were. Spooked a fish as I stepped around a rock, then two casts later this one took.


Sorry for the blur, there was water on the lens.

I know there are lots bigger fish than this on the eastside now. Let's see 'em!

[clacksteel]

Caught this 31" eastside hatchery buck on Friday night swinging a tube fly I designed. Put up an awesome fight!

[D3smartie]

caught this nice wild fish at last light on the G.R. Came to a skated fly with the best dry fly take of the season. Big slurping pop and then fish on

[AndyK]

In a PM, D3smartie said he measured the steelhead at 30 5/8 inches. At 30.5 inches, that makes him the leader in the "dry fly" competition .

[AndyK]

The Summer Steelhead Challenge ended on 30 November. The leaders for longest eastside steelhead is Clacksteel with a 31 inch steelhead from the Deschutes. D3smartie leads the dry fly competiton with a 30 ½ inch steelhead from the Grande Ronde River.

I will declare them the winners if I do not hear from any other entrants. Entrants have until 14 December to post a photo (to allow time to get their film developed and scanned into digital format).

[AndyK]

The Summer Steelhead Challenge for 2005 is over!

Winners:

Largest Steelhead through 30 September: Mugs
Largest Steelhead from Oregon Coastal Waters: Clacksteel
Largest Steelhead - Eastside: Clacksteel
Largest Steelhead on a dry fly: D3smartie

Certificates for Cortland fly lines were mailed to Clacksteel and Mugs in October for the first two categories.

I have sent a PM to D3smartie to arrange how he will collect his prize. Clacksteel will need to arrange with Blue Tip Spinner how he will "collect" his prize for largest eastside steelhead.

Congratulations to the winners !

I was a little disappointed on the small number of entries.

There were no entries for May at all and I had the only entry for June.

While the coastal category was open for five months, there was only one entry! If Frankenfish and I sponsor a competition next year, that category will be combined with the "main" competition.

Any (reasonable) ideas how to increase the entries for next year would be appreciated.

[clacksteel]

Thanks for running this challenge Andy! It has been fun!