American Steelhead?

[ripdlip]

I know this is a FF board but I had a question. I caugt this " Steelhead?" last night while throwing plugs for striper in the American but I'm not sure if it is a Steelhead or a big native rainbow. I only ask because it was so thick and wide...I am not used to steelhead being thick. It had its Adipose Fin which I guess could mean they missed it at the hatchery or it is a wild fish. Are there native rainbows in the American and do they grow this large? P.S. I released it after this brief photo...

[Adam Grace]

Awsome fish there Ripdlip! Way to go!

That looks like a Fatty Steelhead, enourmmous belly on that fish.

How did it fight

The whole board would like to know!

[David Lee]

Summer run Steelhead -

A rare creature , hope it did ok on the release .

( a PLUG rod ??!? What were ya thinkin' ??) :P

David

[ripdlip]

Well, I thought I had hooked into a jet boat heading downriver! Really had a good time throwing the old plugs around..sometimes you just have to, right David? I did manage to catch one other steelhead and several nice stripers...alot of fun.



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[David Lee]

I hear ya , Rip ...

I almost broke down and got out the surf gear when the flows were at 12,000 CFS . I still keep all of my spinning gear and Rapalas , etc. , in working order .

But .... I'm afraid of what would happen to me if one of the board members saw me ... , given the amount of raggin' I've shared w/ my fellow flyrodders

It's ALL good (nice Stripe , by the way !) . David

[Jasonh]

Nice catch. That looks like a native steelie. There really is no torout population in the American just half pound steelies throughout the year. Not atypical to catch a summer run fish like that. They are few and far between. Two years ago i floated from sunrise to goethe and landed three fish over 22" in augustand they were all wild fish. Definately not half pounders in my opinion. The largest fish i taped at 27" and about 8 lbs. Nice and fat like yours. They are in there but just hard to target this time of your because there are not a lot of them.

Any guess on how long it was? Looked really heavy and i'm sure put up a great fight.

Jason Hartwick

[Jasonh]

ripdlip, i was just curious where on the river you caught those steelies. They seem to occupy certain areas and water in teh summer. At least from what i have experienced.

Jason Hartwick

[ripdlip]

Well, I would guess her lenght at 25" to 26" and her weight to be around 6lbs to 7lbs. I can tell you that she was very aggresive, I was rippin that plug through the water very fast. I caught her in the Sunrise area. This is a picture of the other steelie I caught doing the same thing on the same day. By the way, all these fish were released unharmed and in good, no, great condition.

[Jasonh]

Thanks ripdlip. Must have been fun. Just shows you that those steelies are aggressive and chasing smolts. I cant wait to get back and hopefully hook into a few.

Jason Hartwick

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Where were you?

That is the fastest Steelhead/Rainbow I have ever seen in 40 years out of the Lower American River.

Could be a Rainbow Trout that came over the Nimbus Dam?


And thanks for the great photos.