Anyone know of a book that details steelhead/salmon?!

[LivinItUpCO]

I'm going to be moving to Oregon in a few years. I'm looking for a book that explains the science/habits/differences of nates and hatchery fish/how they run/patterns/the complete life cycle of steelhead and salmon. This site has given me tons of ideas as far as angling techniques, but i want to know the science of it all. Is this book out there?

 

[jrbecca]

May sound like an odd suggestion, but what about contacting a fish and wildlife specialist for recommendations?

 

[troutdude]

May sound like an odd suggestion, but what about contacting a fish and wildlife specialist for recommendations?

That's a very SMART suggestion my friend! Calling/emailing an ODFW fisheries biologist, is your best bet.

Here's a list:

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/directory/fish_division.asp

 

[Raincatcher]

Found this list...borrowed it from iFish.com. It was featured in Salmon and Steelhead Journal in 2010:

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Salmon & Steelhead Journal just came out with a list of the best 5 Steelhead Books ever published. Their list includes:

1. Steelhead Fly Fishing (Trey Combs)
2. Color Guide to Steelhead Drift Fishing (Bill Herzog)
3. A Passion for Steelhead (Dec Hogan)
4. Steelhead Country (Steve Raymond)
5. Mist on the River: An Angler's Quest For Steelhead (Michael Cheechio)
Don't overlook steelheaduniversity.com

 

[Raincatcher]

Aha! Just found another list of books at a terrific book store in Portland.
http://www.powells.com/section/outdoors/steelhead-fishing/

 

[LivinItUpCO]

Thanks! I did find this, looks perfect but a little pricey....need to find a used one!https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai...vice=m&icep_cbt=n&icep_msku_flag=n&adtype=pla

 

[randomschmoejoe]

Odfw fisheries biologists have always been very helpful and even down right friendly in my experience. As far as books go, frank amato publications (out of Portland oregon) has a book covering just about everything salmon and steelhead. You might also want to look into the nafc (North American Fishing Club) fishing and hunting library. It's been a long time, I'm not ss re if it's still in print, but there was a full book on each major gamefish species we go after. They really got down to the nitty gritty. Habitat requirements from season to season and associated behaviors along with basic biology and equipment and tactics to match... now that i think about it my next project is going to be to try and rebuild that book set.

 

[grampa ron]

I doubt that there is enough difference between nates and hatchery fish to make it worth writing a book.

 

[ChezJfrey]

I doubt that there is enough difference between nates and hatchery fish to make it worth writing a book.

Not only that, but my understanding is that some hatchery stocks were selected from different basins for their particular run timing (e.g. summer steelhead) in order to either augment or avoid conflicting with the timing of the native resident fish. So, since the strains can have multitudes of slightly different traits, and some stocks selected for those different traits, depending on the wish of management for a particular river/basin, they're all over the map, so to speak, and writing a book to describe them all would either be extremely daunting with thousands of different and conflicting facts, or mostly useless.

I think a better way to go about it is to select the rivers one wishes to know about and either contact the agencies responsible for their management, or find the specific info for that particular river that is available online like the PGE sources and the ODFW hatchery count statistics to narrow down run timing.

 

[LivinItUpCO]

Thanks again, looking forward to contributing to the site in a couple years after the big move.

 

[halibuthitman]

there are a few small differences between high and low finners ive noticed over time, natives are much more prone to hit hardware, and they respond to the tide more.. they also seem to get further up the river faster. the color green in the winter is a buck native favorite and they also respond to natural earth tones, green, black, bronze better than frankenfish. when I fish beads later in the spring my catch rate of natives goes through the roof, and simply by switching to an orange or peach glo bug can turn it into a hatchery show. There is not really any science to what im saying but I have kept records for 9 years on what and where and water temp at time of capture and these are the differences that pop out, so this is all my own opinion.

 

[halibuthitman]

another interesting thing, ive caught my first winter steelhead in the 1st or second week of November for 6 years, all six were buck natives, an though ive caught 31 fish before thanksgiving in that 6 year period ( combined not in the same year ) only 1 of those fish was a hatchery fish, and 28 of them were bucks...:think: 11 of these fish could have been Fall run fish due to the river system they were in, and a handful could have been late summer runs due to the systems they were in... any fish in western Oregon I catch after Nov 1st is a winter in my record keeping system.

 

[bigboy70]

see guys im actually starting to learn how to use the search thing. so my question are these still the best books to buy? has anyone read jig fishing for salmon and steelhead?

trying to get some reading material to learn up on my own instead of question after question

 

[HereFishy]

Not AS useful this time of year. But "Summer Steelhead Fishing Techniques" is an incredible resource. Written by Scott Haugen, an Oregon native who fishes Oregon rivers and streams 200 days a year. It'll answer pretty much any question you have about Steelhead in these parts. I got mine at Bi-Mart for 15 bucks.

Happy Fishing,
Kyle

 

[halibuthitman]

one very important thing to remember when using ANY of Hertzogs or Haugen is the run timing and size and often the "fishy" information provided is so outdated that it is completely useless, when these guys publish a current issue they never up date the river/run info-

 

[bigboy70]

one very important thing to remember when using ANY of Hertzogs or Haugen is the run timing and size and often the "fishy" information provided is so outdated that it is completely useless, when these guys publish a current issue they never up date the river/run info-

noted HHM thank you as always

 

[eugene1]

If you want to go down the rabbit hole about these fish:

 

[DrTheopolis]

has anyone read jig fishing for salmon and steelhead?

If you're refering to the one by Jim Bradbury, then yes... 20 years ago. Dude has some whack theories (but then again, so so I), but he did "write thebook," and pretty much pioneered the technique. For us Portland area people, it has a lot of Clack-specific stuff (much of which has changed, since they don't allow free passage over the dams any more, and the upper river is closed to steelies).

Definitely worth a read.

But the pinned bobberstop setup he writes of is generally only useful on low, clear coastal rivers where you rarely fish more than 4 feet deep. A sliding setup is better. Casting 8-10 feet of leader can cause some medical issues.

 

[Irishrover]

I have an old vhs video tap of Jim Bradbury teaching his jig fishing. If I can get my vcr to working I'll have to watch it again. A lot of it was filmed on the Clackamas. He sure did catch some fish.

 

[HereFishy]

one very important thing to remember when using ANY of Hertzogs or Haugen is the run timing and size and often the "fishy" information provided is so outdated that it is completely useless, when these guys publish a current issue they never up date the river/run info-

Completely useless? Seeing as I didn't know anything about Steelhead, had never heard of a corky, had never heard of using yarn as an attractant, and knew nothing about drifting eggs. I'd say it was a little more than "useless". Useless is relative term. If you know more than those guys, don't read their books. Simple as that. The book helped me tremendously when I was first starting out. So don't crap on my advice. Especially if it wasn't intended for you.