Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sterling C]

Do you guys feel that certain bait will draw larger fish. If so,what baits do you guys typically hit your larger fish on (Steelhead). Just kinda curious.

 From my experiences tossing roe sacs usually yeilds the smallest average size, while fishing singles/jensen eggs seems to yield a larger average sized fish. I've also found that fish caught on pink worms and blades seem to be on the smaller side too, but I don't really fish either of them enough to be able to draw conclusions. Recently, I've been fishing jigs a lot more and have found them to draw in larger fish as well but again, I wouldn't really say that I've caught enough fish with them to draw any solid conclusions.

I've got several theories behind my roe sacs taking smaller fish. First off, many of the larger fish are on their second or more spawning run. This means that on their prior runs they would have had to be either not tempted by the ever popular roe sacs being constantly drifted by them. Or they were caught and released and are now wiser. Any fish so easily tempted would have gotten the rock shampoo long before they could go back out to sea and grow more. Of course this doesn't explain it all, as some large fish are on their first spawning run, or some fish just never end up seeing a roe sac drift by them in their travels.

Another more likley theory I have explaining the parity between roe sac and sigles/jensen is a little more biological. It's been proven that larger smolts are more likley to return as smaller fish. Similar to humans, larger individuals are prone to hitting sexual maturity sooner. Larger smolts out in the ocean will mature faster and therefor come back to spawn sooner. Conversly, the smaller fish will mature much slower and spend more time out at sea which will in the end lead to larger returning sizes. Now how does a smolt become larger than its peers in fresh water. Part of it has to do with being a more agressive feeder and simply consuming more and larger foods. If these fish (large smolts, small adults) are programmmed to seek out larger food items/be more agressive then surley that must be engrained in them somewhere to be more agressive towards the large roe sac drifting over head.

I can't prove either of these theories because thats all they are is theories to explain the results that I have seen over the years. I'm just wondering what experiences other people have had and what theories they have to explain them.

[TrophyHunter]

A very well thought out post ... definatley something to think about , in the years I have been fishing for Steelhead I have almost always caught fish in the 10-13 lb range, not many bigger nor smaller than that and I have caught them using a variety of different lures, so I cannot shine any light on the topic...
TR

[Xgolfman]

I've seen some of the biggest steelhead ever caught on spoons..Which I believe triggers an aggressive response versus a food one...
I know Milo had some pic's last year of some beauties and I think he said it was on wool and Jensen?? and the old guys tell me they have caught more fish on Jensen then anything..but I wonder if water color and temp. have more to do with it then size??
Dirty or limited vis. water would dictate bigger, brighter presentations wouldn't it?? conversely, clear , low water would be better fished with small Jensen egg etc. baits???

[allwaysfishin]

interesting... indeed.
I fish large prawns with the average size being 3 and sometimetimes 4 inches. I haven't noticed any correlation between this bait and fish size as i have landed from 6lbs steelhead right up to say 15lbs on the same bait. Prawn tails are by far my most productive bait on the chilliwack system, with blades running a close second. I also fish a lot of blades and pretty much the same result. My biggest landed steelhead to date in the vedder system was a 17 3/4 lbs doe which was taken on jensen egg with white and peach wool.

I wonder though, with repeat spawners that were caught and released on previous spawn runs.... if there memory is long enough to remember being caught from one spawn cycle to the next..... this thread is a good one.... some good food for thought.

[frenchy]

I believe I read somewhere that the steelhead coming to spawn for the second time are not bigger than when they came the first time. when they go back to the sea, they just gain the weight they lose in the rivers and sexually mature again.

[mastercaster]

That theory of not sizing up is more do do with rainbow trout in lakes. After they spawn they mend to their original weight and won't size up to any degee at all.

I spoke to my brother-in-law who's a fishery biologist to confirm what I believed to be true as to why the size of smolts going to the ocean differs.  It  all depends on whether they stay in the fresh water for one or two years.  On the average the two year olds are going to be larger.

One thing that he told me that I found interesting was that the smolts stick around for that second year for different reasons. One is to get to a certain size if food supply is poor before going to the salt, the second is there's no rush to get to the ocean for a greater supply of food because the groceries are already so abundant where they are, and the last is more of a genetic coding that tells some to stay and others to go to reduce the risk factor in order to increase actual numbers that may come back to spawn...to get away from the perverbial "putting all your eggs into one basket idea"

Sockeye do the same thing in the lakes before heading down to the ocean. 

[steelieman]

I do not think a correlationship exist on what size bait you use. Based on my experience, my small size roebag seems to catch all kind of sizes. I was using a smaller roebag today because of the water level and clarity and I hooked into a nice size fish of about 16.8lbs. It also produced a smaller wild fish.

My buddy was using a single jensen egg with yarn and he got a small wild doe and a fairly large 12lbs doe.

[frenchy]

That theory of not sizing up is more do do with rainbow trout in lakes. After they spawn they mend to their original weight and won't size up to any degee at all.

That is wrong, Fish grow during all their live. It is just that they grow much faster before being mature because they invest almost all their energy to grow. After being mature, they invest a lot to produce the gametes, but they continue to grow, slowly.

I suppose it is also true for steelhead. But the size increase may be negligible as they need a lot of energy to recover from the freshwater trip.

[Gooey]

Maybe winter steel will have something more detailed to say, he and I discussed this about a week ago. 

When he was floating with the murphy's, his guide told him that the most critical factor in determining a steelheads size is the first journey out to sea,  how long it is, and how much weight they pack on then.  After they hit sexual maturity and return to spawn, the guide's claim was that they increase their body mass only marginally after that.  He said that much like humans, after an individual goes through puberty, a majority of their physical development is complete.

I am unsure but it does seem to make sense. 

[mastercaster]

That theory of not sizing up is more do do with rainbow trout in lakes. After they spawn they mend to their original weight and won't size up to any degee at all.

That is wrong, Fish grow during all their live. It is just that they grow much faster before being mature because they invest almost all their energy to grow. After being mature, they invest a lot to produce the gametes, but they continue to grow, slowly.

I suppose it is also true for steelhead. But the size increase may be negligible as they need a lot of energy to recover from the freshwater trip.

You were right ,Frenchy.  I was talking to Brian Chan, a reknown B.C. fisheries biologist, last night and we got to talking about the subject of mending.  He said that there are three possible scenarios:
 
 a) if the fish doesn't spawn the following year he will grow in length and girth
 b) if the lake is very fertile the fish will mend quickly and even if spawning the following year will
      show an increase in growth
c) If the lake isn't very fertile will more than likely  regrow to sexual maturity and it's original girth
    before spawning again ( small increase in length).  (this was what I thought happened  most
    often)

[younggun]

Blades/worms = i haven't caught to many large fish
Roe/roebags = mid sized fish usually hit my roe
Ghost Shrimp = Big fish, all my large fish hit bugs
Spin'n glows = big fish

[Nicole]

I think water type has alot to do with intercepting the bigger fish... You have to fish the deeper slightly heavier stuff, with good choppy cover for the big guys (unless there is none of that water type available, such as in the canal).

I read in that book I'm reading by herzog that spoons are very effective for big fish as well. I find the jensen egg works just fine for me...

Cheers,
Nicole

[norm_2]

Your post sounds a little scientific so here is what I can add to your collection of facts.  I guess I have been a little lucky and have caught 2 larger males.  One was taken on a blade years ago.  The second was taken on a jig, that I made, maybe 2 years ago.

[cohokid]

form young gun
Ghost Shrimp = Big fish, all my large fish hit bugs

Ive seen trout taken on bugs, and steel about 4-5pounds on bugs. as well as larger steel.

[younggun]

yah they do hit bugs too but my biggest fish 15lbs hit a bug and the 12 and 13 hit bugs as well so i figured that big fish hit bugs