The Steelhead that ate Cleveland!
March 21, 2008
Okay, so maybe this fish didn’t actually eat Cleveland, but it’s damn near big enough to do so. Jimmy Davis caught it, as he says, “Somewhere along the West Coast,” on a pink and chartreuse Action Tail Steelhead Worm dangled under a float. After the quick grip-n-grin, the big beast was left to go about his business.
The behemoth wasn’t the only toad from the trip….
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Another 20-lb. steelhead!
March 12, 2008
Here’s yet another 20-pound steelhead taken this week… by yet another couple guys I used to guide with in Alaska (if you’ll recall, we had a picture of a 20 pounder taken on the Olympic Peninsula a few days back that was hooked by a guy from that same lodge).
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20-pound steelhead!
March 4, 2008
Jake “The Giant” Martinson is a cool kid I used to work with in Alaska who’s turned into quite the steelhead angler. Here’s a photo of a 20-pounder he caught and released last weekend near Forks, WA on the Olympic Peninsula.
I’ll step aside here and let the kid tell how it all went down…
Icy Rainbow!
February 18, 2008
I’ve long been a subscriber to a couple basic principles regarding winter fishing that go something like this:
1) If you have to chop a hole in a river to fish, it’s too cold to fish… And 2) If you can drive your truck out onto a lake, well, again, perhaps there are better options to be considered.
Catching a couple ‘bows like this one, however, could make a guy like me change his tune. I mean, that thing is bigger than some the fish we call “steelhead” here in the Central Valley. Kenton Nichols of Eagle River, Alaska, sent in the pic and says that while he’d rather be fishing open water, ice fishing seems to make the long northern winters pass more quickly. Plus, he catches a bunch of really nice fish through the ice each season.
Hmmm, I suppose I could get into it, especially if you threw in a couple of warm adult beverages and a pimped out ice shack…
20-pound steelie on a dry, eh!
February 9, 2008
Catching a 20 pound steelhead on anything is an amazing feat…getting one on a floating wad of feathers and glue…now, that’s tha shanizzle!
This fish was caught in British Columbia’s Skeena River last fall with West Coast Fishing Adventures out of Terrace, B.C.
Too bad it was such a dark, spent fish!
The Beast that ate Winnipeg, eh!
January 19, 2008
Check out this freaking huge 56-inch Northern Pike from the Winnipeg River!!
Now, the really amazing part of the story is this the fact that angler Seven Sisters was cranking in a 36-inch pike when Jaws here ate it! Sweet Mother of all Hitchhikers!
The strange lovechild of a rainbow trout & a football
January 16, 2008
To celebrate the fact that it’s football season, our man on the scene in the Nimbus Basin of the American River, RH, sent in this photo of himself with this trippy-looking rainbow-steelie-football-broostocker-thingie.
The obese creature was taken about 1/2-mile above the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, which raises both steelies and stocker rainbows and, judging by the eroded dorsal, it’s spent its share of time in a concrete raceway. Methinks it’s not a hatchery steelhead because of the fully-intact adipose fin. I’m with RH, this thing is probably an escaped broodstocker rainbow.
Thanks, RH, and keep those fish pix coming!
Now, that’s a Steelie!
January 14, 2008
“Lucky” Dave Mueller of Brookings, OR had a hell of a day last week
on the Chetco River when he caught this 21-pound hatchery steelhead.
While a 20+ pound steelhead is quite a feat by itself, Dave made
it look all the more impressive by doing it while the river was
extremely high. he caught the fish at the Gate Hole while plunking
with a Spin-N-Glo and eggs.
Now, tell me again who says hatcheries are a bad thing??
New Idaho State Record Brown Trout
December 10, 2007
Well, it seems as if the big trout of Idaho have been on the snap lately. Just take a look at these two bruisers:
First off, feast your eyes on this salmon-sized hook jaw, which is the new ID state record, 27.3-pound brown trout taken by Wes Case of Ashton in Ashton Reservoir.
I’m not sure who was happier about the catch, Wes…or the kokanee population of Ashton Reservoir!
Then, in the Boise River earlier this month:
A potential Idaho state record rainbow (estimated at 23 pounds) was gutted before it was weighed.
DOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The beast was 30 inches long with a 25-inch girth…and could still weigh more than the current record of 19 pounds.
It was hooked by a 16-year old kid drifting a crawler in the Boise River below Lucky Peak Dam.
But enough of my yappin’ — let’s let Ol’ Eagle Eyes, who runs the Idaho Fishin Times blog, tell you the whole story.
You can get the full skinny at his blog on these two fish and a bunch of other cool information on the entire Idaho fishing scene. Check it out!
Dave and his Fat Chicks!
December 4, 2007
You’d have to go to the Kenai or Skeena rivers to find bigger hen Chinook salmon than these two caught by David Pitts of www.salmonandsteelhead.com on the Chetco River last week.
The upper fish is a massive, 45-pound hatchery hen (note the missing adipose fin) Pitts caught in the Willow Run on a chartreuse/green Sledge Hammer by Mack’s Lures, tipped with a red label plug-cut herring.
The big native girl on the bottom weighed a “mere” 40.7 pounds and was taken on a chrome body/chartreuse head No. 15 Pro Troll StingFish in an area known as Tamba. The really cool thing about it is, Dave released ‘em both. Way to go!
