jhop111
The fish in now are hot and good table quality.
My streams on the south coast are low end of perfect today, by the time I can fish on wed or thur they will be low and clear. Alas this dang work thing getting in the way of fishing time.
It was a silver bc spoon.
100% female Coho. Steelhead do not have a hooked top jaw. I have seen plenty of Coho this time of year with a green back.
100% female Coho. Steelhead do not have a hooked top jaw. I have seen plenty of Coho this time of year with a green back.
yep me too, I caught several while steelhead fishing this year. The coloration is also coho, just starting to get that red sheen. A steelhead would have a different two tone color pattern. That said the easiest way for me to be 100% is to simply look at the tail. Flat=steel and a slight to moderate fork is going to make it coho. Doesn't really matter though it is a very nice wild fish. I'd certainly be proud of catching it either way...
Likely we've all seen worse handling of fish, but if we want the wild ones to have the best chance to breed and make more fish, we've got to try to handle them the best we can.
I agree, and likely if this wasn't my first winter fish, I wouldn't have even bothered with a picture. After telling a few people about it I am in disbelief with how many of them said who cares about the fin, I would have grilled it anyways. At least I know to release all wild fish.