Comments on: My First Steelhead

By: Hugh

Hugh — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:39:41 +0000

Hank,
Sorry to hear that you were disappointed with your steelhead experience. I fish the Lewis and Kalama Rivers in SW Washington – primarily for Winter Steelhead. I suspect the lack of flavor, the lackluster color and the poor texture mean that you had gotten into spawning or spawned-out summer hens (snakes, we call them).

I think you would find winter fish, and fishing much more to your liking – if you don’t mind the cold (the oarsman in a drift boat is the only warm one onboard). The winter fish don’t usually show up until December. When I take friends, we’ll often anchor at the upper end of a hole and let the plugs work while I fry up bacon and eggs for breakfast or heat up some jambalya to wash down with red wine at lunch. And who knows – “Fish on!” – like you said, when you aren’t paying any attention. But good god man…the meat of a fresh winter fish has no peer

By: hank

hank — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:07:42 +0000

Thomas: As for catch-and-release, obviously I catch and release illegal fish! You can’t keep any wild steelhead in California, to the best of my knowledge, so if we’d landed one, it might not even have seen the inside of the boat. What I don’t like about catch-and-release is the constant harassment of perfectly legal, edible fish, especially “nervous” ones like trout, which die easy.

And the swap-out thing is something I’ve not done since I lived in Virginia, where it works well with river-run white bass, catfish, etc — none of these are nervous species that seem overly affected by being in a cooler full of river water for a few hours…

By: thomas cappiello

thomas cappiello — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:14:12 +0000

In a way its too bad this experience was somewhat anti-climatic for you. There are so many factors that influence fighting qualities of fish, even at the same species level, hatchery vs wild the least really but because hatcheries tend to raise different strains to avoid competing genetically with wild production therein does lie a hatchery related difference. But I agree, nothing salmon-wise beats an ocean or near ocean king salmon. I understand the unwilingness to “catch & release” but there is no reason to release hatchery fish, and every reason to release wild fish, (where they are marked so you know the difference) hence the conundrum where both exist together. By the the way, the “swap out” thing you mention is usually an illegal act just about anywhere, so you shouldn’t do it regardless.

By: hank

hank — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:13:05 +0000

Diana: Thanks for the kind words. You might be right, as I almost NEVER fish for trout. Dunno exactly why, as I like the flavor. Mostly because they tend to be smallish in the Sierra streams. And don’t get me wrong, it was fun to catch steelhead, just not THAT fun.

By: Diana

Diana — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:30:42 +0000

WOW! First time to visit your blog, must say the site is very impressive.
About Steelhead; my husband is a stream fishing guide (trout) in the Lassen Mountain area but he lusts to catch the all might Steelhead. I think your issue may be you don’t fish for stream trout “ALL THE TIME”, therefore you can’t compare other fishing (ocean, lake, etc.) to catching a Steelhead. Just a thought! Keep up the wonderful work, will visit again.

By: hank

hank — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:53:29 +0000

Piscator: You are correct, it was a hatchery fish. My issue with fishing wild ones is the catch-and-release aspect: I’m not overly fond of the practice, as there is an inherent mortality rate even with this. So my question to you is whether a wild steelie tastes better than a hatchery fish? If that is the case, I would be happy to give it another go. Love me or hate me, but I am at the core a meat fisherman – I fish to eat; the thrill of fighting the fish is great, but secondary.

By: Piscator

Piscator — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:49:27 +0000

As a bone-fide steelhead junkie, fly-tier & designer, and fellow hunter/food aficianado, I must assume that the steelhead you caught were of hatchery origin (especially since they wound up in your kitchen!) and therefore can understand how they could leave you wondering what all the mystery and reverence around steelhead is all about. I recommend you give them another shot – perhaps spring-run wild fish on a swung wet fly (no “bobber” or “indicator”), will chage your mind. Perhaps not, but consider the possibilities!

Excellent blog – I can see that many hours of my life will become consumed by perusing these posts…

By: Jack Dixon

Jack Dixon — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:42:14 +0000

Here's some info on "No Cheese With No Fish". Some of his info is a little sketchy. My Catholic wife knows of no restriction on dairy for Fridays: "We grew-up eating Mac & Cheese with our fish sticks on Friday". She's 58 this year.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:20:48 +0000

Beautiful fish! The colors are amazing. It’s hard for me to imagine a 7-8 pound trout. Whoa!