Holy crap! Get a look at this: Ray Fairfax sent in this photo of a giant Chinook salmon carcass he ran across earlier this winter while steelhead fishing on the Smith River in Northern California.
“We were fishing the Bailey Riffle and found a salmon carcass of amazing length,” says Fairfax. “All that was left was the jaws and backbone, but what a fish it must have been! I straightened the backbone out the best I could and laid my STR1025C Loomis down next to it. It measured 59 inches…minus, of course, the tail!!”
Fairfax says that the jaws looked almost as if the fish was a female, which is even more mind-blowing!
“If you add a conservative few inches for the tail, how big was this beast?” he asks.
Well, just for comparison’s sake: Les Anderson’s 97.3-pound All Tackle World Record Chinook was 58.5 inches long!! Of course, we’ll never know how big the King of the Smith was in his prime…but let’s just hope he spread a bunch of his genetic material around!
And here’s another one: The 50.7 incher found dead in a tributary of the Sacramento River a couple seasons back: GIANT SALMON CARCASS FOUND
Smith River
Extreme Fish Porn: 30-Pound Steelhead Edition!
Well, sometimes you just need a little fish porn. And man, what a week it’s been for that! I probably should have saved this fish for last because it dwarfs the 20 pounders below, but holy giant rainbow trout, Batman…that is one amazing specimen is it not?
All I know about this leviathan is that it was caught last weekend and measured 44 inches by 24 inches, which using the steelhead weight formula, comes out at 32 freaking pounds! WOW!!!!! My jaw just hit the floor!
And, just for kicks, here are a couple other 20 plus pounders…
This one was taken by Paul LeFebvre of Brookings, OR. He caught and released the fish Feb. 1 on the Chetco River while fishing with guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. The steelhead hit a cluster of roe and took a half hour to subdue!
Our pal Greg McElroy sent in this pic of Tim Obert who fished just south of the Chetco, on California’s Smith River with Mad River Eggs for this low 20’s buck.
Damn, raise your hand if you work day just got totally screwed…
Big Salmon Run Helps Northern California Economies
Read all about how the Smith River’s epic king run last fall provided the a good boost to several downtrodden economies of Northern California in the WALL STREET JOURNAL Also, check out the cameo from our pal John Klar.
And for every one of you who benefited from the Smith’s kings (guides, tackle shops, gas stations, hotels and restaurants), it’s time to bust open the wallet and give a donation to the non-profit Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery…Without it, you’re probably out of a job!
A good start to 2011: A 20-pound steelhead!
Klar, via “boat phone,” said that they hooked the beast at the top of Jed Smith Park. “It was an epic fight,” say Klar. The fish jumped several times and just tore holes in the water.” You can tell what Klar was talking about when he called the fish “flawless.”
Moore hooked the big daddy on a peach Fish Pill, some orange yarn and a small cluster of eggs. Nice work!