The Purple Unicorn

A couple buddies of mine were trolling big plugs at 8 mph for albacore this week 20 miles off the Northern California coast when something strange happened…they caught a steelhead.

When the 8-pound hatchery hen hit, it started going bananas, jumping all over the place behind the boat. The thought that it was steelhead never entered their minds. At first the guys figured they had a dorado on. Then they thought it might be a yellowtail. As it got closer, the steelie looked like a coho.

But when they got her boatside, the fish was obviously a steelhead — and a gorgeous one at that.

After a few quick photos, they let her go, knowing that they had just seen something that few anglers ever witness — a steelhead in saltwater.

While ocean anglers catch hundreds of thousands of salmon every season off the West Coast, steelhead are encountered about as often as purple unicorns.

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