Weird Steelhead question

B
beaverfan
So I was reading ODFW's weekly recreation report and noticed a picture of this Steelhead. Anyone have any idea what would cause the color change like that? I've seen fish that look either like the front half or the back half but have never seen a fish with a line where the color changes like that.

I've seen odd color patterns on Rainbow's that have been dead for a while, maybe that's the case here?
 
J
justNorthofya
looks like the shadow of the person taking the picture
 
C
colbypearson
i dont think its a shadow or its dead but it sure is pretty weird:think:
 
M
metalmania
dead fish, especially those with some color, will turn much brighter when there skin rests against either a solid surface(rocks, metal etc.) or another dead fish for a period of time. It has something to do with there slime, atleast that's what I was told caused it. I put my dead fish in my truckbox when leaving the river, and normally the side that was laying on the aluminum bottom is much brighter then the other side.
 
B
beaverfan
Thanks, that makes sense and is pretty much what I was thinking after studying the picture a little more and thinking for a bit.
 
M
metalfisher76
metalmania said:
dead fish, especially those with some color, will turn much brighter when there skin rests against either a solid surface(rocks, metal etc.) or another dead fish for a period of time. It has something to do with there slime, atleast that's what I was told caused it. I put my dead fish in my truckbox when leaving the river, and normally the side that was laying on the aluminum bottom is much brighter then the other side.

I`ve seen salmon swim by with that marking up hi on the Clack. Like you put a bag over half of the body and painted the rest. 1 half black, the other chrome. Weird, for sure.
It`s true the fish turn when laying on something, but that looks to me like one of those weird "half breeds:lol:". Prolly why they put that pic up? To generate some discussion?, no?
 
F
fourgotten
metalmania said:
dead fish, especially those with some color, will turn much brighter when there skin rests against either a solid surface(rocks, metal etc.) or another dead fish for a period of time.

It's the damp. To avoid it you can wrap your fish in paper towels or some other absorbent substance (newspaper works, too... but you might wind up with Rex Morgan imprinted on the side of your beautiful chromer).

If allowed to dry, the fish keeps it's natural color... if kept damp, the color fades and turns light.
 
K
Kodiak
based on a couple of things in the pic we can deduce that the fish is alive (eye position) 2. marking is a shadow if you look at other objects (the guy holding the fish. just under the fish is a light spot on his jacket that carries in a strait line through the fish and upward at an angle)
 
F
fishnquest
I can see the shadow extending beyond the bottom of the fish. Sure is a pretty fish.
 
B
beaverfan
I don't know, I'm pretty sure it's not a shadow. The guys fingers aren't shadowed. In fact save the image and then blow it up a bit and you can tell that it isn't a shadow. The dark line on the guys jacket is just the markings of the jacket, his fingers aren't shadowed and the way the bottom half of the front of the fish is kind of blotchy and uneven. Pretty sure the fish is alive due to the eye placement so that rules out the dead fish theory.
 
F
fishnquest
I once tried to pick out colors to paint my house. Printing made different colors than the screen. Different screens made different colors, color chips looked dif than the screen and the prints, just all kinds of weird. Turns out, pictures can lie. You might be right, Bf, but I still think its a shadow. Thats my story and I'm sticking with it.;)
 
A
autofisher
It's a mutant.
 
O
osmosis
I have caught quite a few cold water winter steelhead that have that shade change mid body or 1/3, it isn't always the head/front half doing it either. Last year we got a big handfull of winter steel out of the willamette that had that going on.
I don't know what it is that causes it, but I've seen it a bunch.

my vote is not a shadow since I've seen it on a bunch of live fish in my own hands.
 
M
Mike123
My vote is shadow.
 
T
Troutier Bassier
Im guessing maybe it got a nerve injury that put the fishes color out of order...
 
H
halibuthitman
I think its one God made at around 11;52 p.m on the seventh day... we all know how those last five minutes of work can be!;)
 
M
metalfisher76
It is not a shadow .
 
F
Fishtopher
I say no shadow. Its obviously one of the dreaded "native that spawned with a hatchery" fish.:wall:
 
K
Kodiak
halibuthitman said:
I think its one God made at around 11;52 p.m on the seventh day... we all know how those last five minutes of work can be!;)

ROFLMFAO.....:lol::lol::lol:
 
A
autofisher
still a mutant
 

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