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10 Mind Blowing Giant Steelhead

November 21, 2014 By JD 28 Comments

Okay steelhead junkies, hang onto your hats… here are 10 massive steelhead that will make your heads spin!

37-pound steelhead
Nick English with his massive, jaw-dropping and and well-publicized 37-pound beast caught on the Kispiox River in British Columbia.

MOBY
Andrew Fairclouth, right, with guide Gill McKean, hooked “Moby” on a fly in BC’s Kitimat River. While Moby was not weighed prior to release, he was very likely in the mid 30’s. Using Sturdy’s Weight Formula (length x girth squared x .00133), which was developed for Dean River steelhead, you get an amazing 35.8 pounds. The Skeena/Kispiox Formula (length x girth squared divided by 775) designed to estimate the weight of the extra girthy fish those drainages are prone to produce, gives you 34.8 pounds.

In either case, Fairclouth’s steelhead would eclipse the fish long accepted as the world fly rod record of 33 pounds, set by Karl Mauser in 1963. Read the incredible story of “Moby” HERE.

My Favorite Steelhead Fishing Gear

IGFA-WORLD-RECORD-STEELHEAD
The current IGFA All-Tackle World Record Steelhead was caught while salmon trolling in the salt!

36-pound-steelhead
Chuck Etwart caught his 36-pound steelhead onOctober 5, 1954 in the Kispiox River.

35 pound steelhead
This massive dark buck was caught and released by Jeff Wissing (left) on the upper Quinault River with guide George Rose (right) in 2004. It measured 46 inches, with a 24 inch girth and weighed approx. 35 pounds!

Photo from Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies, by Trey Combs (one of the all-time great reads, by the way!)
Photo from Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies, by Trey Combs (one of the all-time great reads, by the way!)

On October 8, 1962, Karl Massuer listened to his beloved San Francisco Giants defeat the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the World Series on the radio and then went out and caught this 33-pound World Record Fly-Caught steelhead on the Kispiox River. A pretty dang good day!

By the way, the starting pitchers that game were Juan Marichal and Whitey Ford, respectively… neither of whom got a decision. The winning pitcher that game? None other than Don Larsen…who had thrown the only Perfect Game in World Series history as a member of the Yankees on October 8, 1956!

32 pound steelhead
All I know about this leviathan is that it  measured 44 inches by 24 inches, which using the steelhead weight formula, comes out at 32 freaking pounds! WOW!

29.5-pound-steelhead
Peter Harrison of Port Hadlock, WA shows off the enormous 44-inch, 29.5-pound wild steelhead buck he caught in Washington’s Hoh River on a spey rod. The mammoth steelie created quite a fuss in angling circles for a couple reasons… First off, it’s huge (duh!). It was weighed almost 24 hours after it was caught, so it was most likely a 30 plus pounder alive. Secondly it was a wild fish that was killed…

Read more about it HERE.

Huge British Columbia steelhead
This obese chunkier of a steelhead got released by a client of guide Gill McKean of West Coast Fishing Adventures (left)while fishing a yarn ball under a float in BC’s Kitimat River. Estimated weight: 30 pounds!

Photo:: www.pioneersaloon.com
Photo:: www.pioneersaloon.com

On October 1st, 1985, Clay Carter beached an enormous steelhead at lower Patch on the Kispiox River in BC. He quickly measured the fish and let it go (So awesome!). Using length and girth measurements, the fish was estimated to weigh 37 pounds!

A fiberglass replica of Clay’s prize catch is on display just inside the Pioneer Saloon dining room. in Ketchum. A photo of the memorable moment hangs just outside the grill. Clay’s close friends and the Pioneer Saloon are proud to keep alive the memory of this gracious sportsman.

For more info, check out my steelhead techniques section

Filed Under: Angling Records, Cool Photos, Trophy Room Tagged With: alaska, babine river, british columbia steelhead, fly fishing, IGFA world record, kispiox river, kitimat river, record

79-lb. White Sea Bass is a pending California State Record!

October 21, 2011 By JD 4 Comments

Wow!


Barbecue at Justin Barry’s house! While fishing Monterey Bay with Kevin Seeger last week, Barry hoked and landed this 79-pound, 4-ounce white sea bass near Pajaro, which should be the next California State Record for the species.

Barry’s catch was weighed on a certified scale and bested the current mark, a 78 pounder caught by David Sternberg in Monterey in 2002.The paperwork is already in to the Department of Fish and Game and Barry should be in the record books soon!

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: monterey, record, santa cruz, white sea bass

Mikey Does it Again: A new Lake Tahoe record Brown Trout!

April 26, 2011 By JD 5 Comments

Marvin Child with his record brown!

Mike Nielsen of Tahoe Topliners is a very dangerous man…if you’re a brown trout, that is. This morning, he guided client Marvin Child to a new Lake Tahoe record brown trout. The fish weighed 15 pounds, 15 ounces and beats the previous mark of 15 pounds, 2 ounces, which was a fish that Nielsen guided a client to in 2008, which beat the previous record fish that…yep, you guessed it he guided yet another client to. Like I said, he’s a bad, bad man!

The latest record catch (which measured 36 inches), sucked down an F11 silver and black Rapala doused in Pautzke’s Liquid Krill.

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: brown trout, lake tahoe, mike nielsen, record, tahoe topliners

Giant Lake Shasta Spotted Bass not far off World Record!

April 4, 2011 By JD 9 Comments

A new Lake Shasta record for spotts!


Our old friend Scott Green is one of the top bass anglers in all of California. If you ever see his name in a tournament you’re fishing at places like Clear Lake, Berryessa or Shasta, start thinking about second place! To prove my point, check out these massive spotted bass from Lake Shasta he just caught, including a new lake record 8.85 pounder, which is a pound and change off the World Record!

Nice work, dude!

Filed Under: Trophy Room Tagged With: lake shasta, record, scott green, spotted bass

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