# Swinging for Steely Dan



## FurBurger (May 27, 2014)

Nothing wrong with freshwater fish that pull harder than redfish... Got these this week...


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## Bravo87 (Jun 19, 2014)

Gorgeous trout!


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## Kenton (Nov 16, 2007)

Man those are pretty. Nice flies too.


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Beautiful Steelhead. What river is that?


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## scott44 (Aug 17, 2013)

What's the difference between a steel head and a rainbow trout that lives in a lake and spawns in a tributary? Lake Fontana and Nantahala has those but locally they are not known as steel head.


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

A true Steelhead is a Rainbow Trout that has been to sea, spent a year or more out there and returned to the river of it's birth.

Some biologist can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think they die after they spawn, as salmon do. It turns into a much, much stronger version of a Rainbow. One of the most highly coveted, freshwater sport fish in the world. Notice his photos. All the hooks are 'barbless'. It's the law on lots of rivers in the Pacific Northwest and lots of these rivers are 'catch and release' only.


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## scott44 (Aug 17, 2013)

panhandleslim said:


> A true Steelhead is a Rainbow Trout that has been to sea, spent a year or more out there and returned to the river of it's birth.
> 
> Some biologist can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think they die after they spawn, as salmon do. It turns into a much, much stronger version of a Rainbow. One of the most highly coveted, freshwater sport fish in the world. Notice his photos. All the hooks are 'barbless'. It's the law on lots of rivers in the Pacific Northwest and lots of these rivers are 'catch and release' only.


The ocean is the difference,I didn't think of that..


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## wtbfishin (Dec 2, 2011)

Now that is some good lookin' CHROME :thumbsup:. What is the wt of the rod you were using?


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## Mike Moore (Feb 10, 2010)

Beautiful fish. Thanks for the info Slim. Didn't know that myself.


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## FurBurger (May 27, 2014)

panhandleslim said:


> Beautiful Steelhead. What river is that?


Klickitat


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## FurBurger (May 27, 2014)

panhandleslim said:


> A true Steelhead is a Rainbow Trout that has been to sea, spent a year or more out there and returned to the river of it's birth.
> 
> Some biologist can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think they die after they spawn, as salmon do. It turns into a much, much stronger version of a Rainbow. One of the most highly coveted, freshwater sport fish in the world. Notice his photos. All the hooks are 'barbless'. It's the law on lots of rivers in the Pacific Northwest and lots of these rivers are 'catch and release' only.


Correct. Both Steelhead and Rainbow Trout are genus/species Oncorhynchus Mykiss. The popular scientific theory up here is that they all used to be born in freshwater, migrate to saltwater, spend their lives there, then migrate back in to fresh water to spawn, but some got landlocked over time, hence lake and stream trout. And like Slim said, they don't all die after spawning. Most of them do, but a few stick around for another 2-3 years and get BIG. Those are typically the ones that keep their freshwater/spawning colors and turn bright red and green. These fish pictured are wild steelhead (notice the adipose fin) and they are about average fish for this river. Hatcheries clip the fin off of smolts. Those are the ones we keep and smoke. Yummm. It's funny that some of the guys up here hate catching wild fish because they have to be released. They are the ones that really put the bow in the fairy wand. I'll take hooking into wild fish all day over hatchery fish for the grill, granted I kill every hatchery fish I catch and eat the heck out of them. Same goes for Chinook and Coho. In Oregon, barbless hooks aren't required, but they are much easier to pull out of your head when your Spey casting stinks that day and you inevitably bury a hook point in you. I got these on a 7-wt. 2-hander, which is a little undergunned, but super fun. Another prevailing theory is that when these fish enter freshwater to migrate up, they stop feeding and 99% of strikes are anger/aggression-related, which makes for some amazing, vicious hits.


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Klickitat is in Washington State, isn't it. 

I did three different projects in the area around Portland and used to go up and camp, fish and ride horses on the Deschutes River around Bend, Oregon. Again, if I'm not mistaken, I think they made the Deschutes 'barbless' after I was there. I loved it up there. I remember waking up on the river one morning and building a fire while it was still foggy. I saw a big bunch of what I thought was geese swimming the river but as they moved through the fog, I finally realized that it was a herd of mule deer swimming off an island in the middle of the river where they had spent the night. Their ears were so big that the heads and ears looked like geese. I also remember that it was cold that morning but by the time we got the horses saddled and got started up to Little Lava Lake, I had stripped to a tee shirt and I was sweating and when we made it up to the lake, it was still frozen over thick from the winter. I think it was May and we had been skiing on Mt. Bachelor the day before. What a fantastic area. I lived in Beaverton and I remember that it was forty miles to the ocean and there were Elk and Blacktail deer all the way out there and to the east, it was forty miles to the peak of Mt. Hood. All this and the Columbia River, loaded with ducks, salmon and Steelhead. 

Just a dang paradise.


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## FurBurger (May 27, 2014)

panhandleslim said:


> Klickitat is in Washington State, isn't it.
> 
> I did three different projects in the area around Portland and used to go up and camp, fish and ride horses on the Deschutes River around Bend, Oregon. Again, if I'm not mistaken, I think they made the Deschutes 'barbless' after I was there. I loved it up there. I remember waking up on the river one morning and building a fire while it was still foggy. I saw a big bunch of what I thought was geese swimming the river but as they moved through the fog, I finally realized that it was a herd of mule deer swimming off an island in the middle of the river where they had spent the night. Their ears were so big that the heads and ears looked like geese. I also remember that it was cold that morning but by the time we got the horses saddled and got started up to Little Lava Lake, I had stripped to a tee shirt and I was sweating and when we made it up to the lake, it was still frozen over thick from the winter. I think it was May and we had been skiing on Mt. Bachelor the day before. What a fantastic area. I lived in Beaverton and I remember that it was forty miles to the ocean and there were Elk and Blacktail deer all the way out there and to the east, it was forty miles to the peak of Mt. Hood. All this and the Columbia River, loaded with ducks, salmon and Steelhead.
> 
> Just a dang paradise.


Yep, the Klick is about 10 miles east of where I live. The Deschutes is downright world class. I know it's barbless on the upper 60 miles or so, but in the lower section (closer to the Columbia) it's barb-ok. Again, I'd rather tug a barbless hook out than have to quit fishing and go to the ER. Fishing is about to get really good up here. I'll be slinging flies to reds in Pensacola for Thanksgiving, and that's hard to beat.


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