Steelhead

[mattklara]

Bernd, Bull Trout also have a sea run form. As do cutthroat trout. But neither migrate far from the river estuaries and therefore rarely attain sizes that people equate with sea run fish.

Pete, my experience is that every single steelhead is different. I have caught big, strong fish in the Great Lakes and very small, unimpressive sea run steelhead. Most of the unimpressive fish were of hatchery origin.

So, my suggestion to you, if you want the big strong fish, is to either consider the Skeena system as Bernd recommends, or try the Dean River, BC, which is actually quite widely considered to have the strongest steelhead on earth. They are not as large as some of the Skeena giants, but the river has a massive, class 6+ whitewater rapids canyon that seems to select only for extremely strong fish. Many anglers who have fished the world over (including Simon Gawesworth) have heralded the Dean fish as strongest.

[Nick]

I believe that the original strains of O.mykiss that were introduced to the great lakes were steelhead (i.e. sea run fish), and so the GL steelhead are descended from those, and easily adapted to being lake run. There are certainly places that claim to have "Skamania" steelhead. These are descended from Washougal and Klickitat River summer steelhead cultured in the late 1950s at the Skamania Hatchery, Washington.

There is a vast range in steelhead characteristics depending on the river system, though it's probably only a fraction of what it was because of widespread planting of only a few hatchery strains. The Rogue gets a run of what are called "half pounders". They are sea run fish, but maybe not what most people would think of as steelhead. For the big, strong fish, BC or perhaps the Olympic peninsula of Washington are good bets.

[mattklara]

Don't get me started on Skamania fish Nick. Probably the worst thing that ever happened to steelhead, at least in WA. By mixing all those unique strains and genetics, the WDFW basically created a crappy, mal-adapted steelhead and then planted them in every river, diluting the master genetics evolved to each stream since the last glaciation.

Did I also mention that they don't eat flies on or near the surface nearly as well as the wild fish?

Grrr.

[Nick]

I think we'd need a whole new thread on "how hatcheries f****d up the genetics of steelhead".

Oh, and hatchery steelhead will eat a fly on the surface. As long as it's a floating fish pellet fly!

[Paul Arden]

I don't think the next generation of anglers will have much left. There's nothing sustainable about fish.

[Rich Knoles]

Pete, I think you would prefer one of the better lodges on the Dean during one of the prime weeks, based on your past travels. Or you're welcome to come to Detroit smoke joints and drink beer for 4 hours in the truck to fish on the Big Manistee from a drift boat. Fun either way!

I quite enjoy Skamania, its the only summer game for Steelhead

Paul, you're fucking wrong, the next generation is out there fishing and wondering why we let it get this fucked up.

[Haggisboy]

Or you're welcome to come to Detroit smoke joints and drink beer for 4 hours in the truck to fish on the Big Manistee from a drift boat. Fun either way!


Sounds like the Bahamas except for the Steelhead and Detroit part.