did i actually catch steelhead?

[ninja2010]

okay, this is a totally stoooopid question. but i had to be sure...

i caught two baby feeesh today banking the lower clack. they were about 8" long. looked like rainbow trout. fiesty little buggers. both hit spinners.

sorry, no pix, i wanted to get them back to the water lickety split.

anyway, were they rainbows, or baby steelheads? (i know steelheads are anadromous trout)

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Were they fish with red streaks on their flanks, and dark green tops, or fish that looked pretty bright? If they looked on the brighter side, they were Smolt. And they are happy you released them unharmed! The resident Rainbow population on the lower Clack is almost non-existent is all. So I bet they were Smolt of some sort, either Steelhead, Coho, or Chinook.

 

[just1nook]

Congrats on landing your first salmonid Ninja:lol:

 

[mgdguy]

I hooked a little smolt on the lower Clack today too So light and acrobatic I couldn't keep him on the line - a 'self releaser'

 

[Mike123]

The smolt are in rivers thick right now!
Been lots of talk about this and seen lots of people fishing for them lately.

 

[ninja2010]

Congrats on landing your first salmonid Ninja:lol:

thanks, j1n... 2 on the same outing too.. guess i limited, eh?

aa, they had some color but were quite bright. guess they were smolts.

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

You know, thinking about it, I would bet they were Chinook, or Coho smolt judging from the size. Could have been Summer Steel smolt though too, but I have not hooked a resident Rainbow on the lower Clack in a long time. But Ninja, you found water that some fish are holding in. Remember that spot, and try it more often, and at other times during the year as well.

 

[ninja2010]

yeah... i'll do that. definitely going back.

i've fished there a few times, but i think i just found the seam this weekend. that's where they are... not too far off the bank where the current is raging.

 

[FishSchooler]

Now what were you doing at riverside again...? Was it at riverside? Next time... I'll stop by and fish. Almost did last time.

 

[ninja2010]

it wasn't riverside...

 

[fishnquest]

Ninja, I saw the headline and my heart stopped beating for a minute. limited out, :lol:, thats a good one. Good for you anyway. I'm glad to hear you're still out there. I kinda hijacked your thread earlier, sorry, and thanks barb, for the help.

 

[FishSchooler]

it wasn't riverside...

Well tell us, where was it?

 

[ninja2010]

Ninja, I saw the headline and my heart stopped beating for a minute. limited out, :lol:, thats a good one. Good for you anyway. I'm glad to hear you're still out there. I kinda hijacked your thread earlier, sorry, and thanks barb, for the help.

it's all good dale... no worries. i'm guilty of that from time to time...

anyhow, figured the fish gods are giving me taste of steelhead fishing, starting me out reeeaaallll easy like, with a coupla little smolts. then, before too long, i will move to the grownup-sized steelies...

 

[ninja2010]

Well tell us, where was it?

it's a little downriver... i think it's cross or high rocks. but that all i'm gonna say, not telling the exact spot where i was standing.