This place needs some livening up. I mean, seriously. (Fish Pron)

[Jed Peters]

Like in the form of Fish Porn!

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/jedpeters/IMG_0517.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e38/jedpeters/IMG_0516.jpg

Big old blueback on a "local" river....

Good stuff!

[aaron]

Nice one Jed, Keith was telling me about that fish the other day. Glad to finally see a photo.

[Scott V]

That is one hell of a fish Jed, good going.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Very 'studily' fish Jed..............thanks

[FlyReelFisher]

Nice to see a hearty wild fish like that!

[BillB]

Well I'm livened up! Nice fish.

[kabah088]

why not tell us what you were using?

[Fish Guru]

Nice fish, gotta love those Natomas escapees! I've gotten a few in the 6-10 lb range over the last couple of years, talk about some shoulders!

[Mark Kranhold]

Are you talkin about the Folsom breakouts. You would need some shoulders after scaling those fences!:grin:

[Jed Peters]

why not tell us what you were using?

Powerbait with worms, smothered overnight in cheetos paste.

[Jaybinder]

Powerbait with worms, smothered overnight in cheetos paste.

Is that one of those traditional English Patterns? Those are realy hard to tie>>>:unibrow:

[bclem81]

Thats not an escapie from folsom or natomas. That is a true American River Blueback. Wild and Fresh. Nice fish. Theres quite a few of those in the river now. And with this rain with will just bring more.

[Fish Guru]

Thats not an escapie from folsom or natomas. That is a true American River Blueback. Wild and Fresh. Nice fish. Theres quite a few of those in the river now. And with this rain with will just bring more.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you here bclem, that fish is without a doubt a Natomas escapee. True bluebacks don't have shoulders like that fish, that fish got that big somewhere where it had access to massive amounts of food quite often, somewhere like Lake Natomas maybe...
It's not a coincidence that there's quite a few of those in the river this year considering how many gates were open a few months ago. Take a closer look at the tail, dorsal and pretty hefty overbite, clearly all signs of this fish's origins.

[bclem81]

We will have to agree to disagree. I have found a few of these Bluebacks, looking just like that very far down river. I have caught some of those escapies, and they are ugly, fins are very well chopped up, flattened and just mutant looking.

This fish is nothing like that. It is a great blueback specimen. But again agree to disagree, not gonna ruin a great post.

Here is a pic of those ugly escapies.
It was caught a few yrs back.
Second pic is of a Blueback caught a few yrs back in March. Not as big, but definitely had some shoulders for its size.

[Mike R]

Powerbait with worms, smothered overnight in cheetos paste.

We should be less concerned with where the fish was from and more concerned if the fish was caught via fly fishing. Was the powerbait described above used with and indicator or was it swung?

And, more importantly, was that Original Cheetos or Hot 'n' Spicy (I find the red color works a little better later in the season)?

Mike

[BillB]

I find the hot and spicy Cheetos work best on the more southern variety, say from about the Sur and south. I have not had much luck with generic brand of "cheese snacks" myself. Maybe someone can elaborate on the difference between branded and generic snacks. I just conditioned a nice batch of stout I brewed and am thinking about saving the bits of debris in the bottom of the bottle to soak my "flys" in.

[Dustin Revel]

We will have to agree to disagree. I have found a few of these Bluebacks, looking just like that very far down river. I have caught some of those escapies, and they are ugly, fins are very well chopped up, flattened and just mutant looking.

This fish is nothing like that. It is a great blueback specimen. But again agree to disagree, not gonna ruin a great post.

Here is a pic of those ugly escapies.
It was caught a few yrs back.
Second pic is of a Blueback caught a few yrs back in March. Not as big, but definitely had some shoulders for its size.

I'd say the original picture is probably a nice plump adult steelhead. Anadromous fish this year are extremely fat!

They should lock up the ugly escapee... that thing is hideous!!! your example of a blue back is a half pounder at best... maybe a trout

[Jed Peters]

The picture posted above is an adult steelhead, american river blueback.

I don't see why there's any debate on this......

At all.

Now, if the trouts only fought like this fish did.....

[dpentoney]

The fish certainly appears to be a wild steelhead. I don't know why you all are calling it a blueback, though. Bluebacks that I've known are late winter/Spring migrants, (like March to May) 3-6 lbs, silvery bright with a pronounced blueness on their backs. I used to take lots of them on the lower Eel and Van Duzen. I took one fish I would call a blueback on the American last year in early May, 21" long, slivery bright, dark blue back, very few spots to be seen......The fish in the picture has been in the river for a time, probably entered the system in January. I'd call it a nice winter steelhead.

[mr. 3 wt.]

I agree, it doesn't look like a blueback. But a nice fish none the less.

[Sammy]

what the heck is a blueback?

[Mark Kranhold]

Sammy, Talking to some oldtimers that have fished the American river for some time and some DFG staff. The bluebacks as i understand are the true native American river strain. Unlike our winter run steelhead [Eel river strain] that were introduced to the American .These bluebacks are a spring run steelhead in the 2-6lb class. They are scrapy fighters and usually show up sometime in March. These fish love a swung olive color soft hackle:fish::fish::fish::fish::fish::fish::fish:

[Sammy]

ah... sweet, good to know