Print

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

[SpringMaster]

Hello to all of my west coast friends.
As I promised on my earlier posting, I got out last Sunday and hit my favorite river outside the town.  It was a nice warm day (5oC) no wind, no snow or rain.  Just perfect for some winter fishing.

Stealhead are being targeted in many tributaries around this region with good success rate.
The river I was at, which you can see in photos below, is a tributary of the Lake Ontario.
I got to the parking lot around 10:30am despite the plans I had made all week to be there at 6am, but the late party on Saturday night threw a wrench in my plans.

It still turned out to be a successful day - as I believe any day that you spent on the river is a success by itself regardless of catching a fish or no.

After about one hour of casting in my favorite spot, I decided to move up to wards the dam.  Half way there, I stopped at a pool that looked promising.  Half an hour into it, I saw a guy upstream from me landed a nice stealhead, took photos and released the fish.  I thought to myself that there must be at least ONE fish in the river now
About ten minutes after that, I hooked into a nice silver which I fought for 30 seconds before the hook came flying out my way and tangling on the branches behind me.  I could clearly hear the chuckles from the guys around me 
I untangled my line and hook patiently, inspected the line and cast back in the same spot. Nothing!
I decided to move down about 5 steps and target a small pool behind a rock in the river; and guess what?
My rod got bent and my heart started to pump and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face
I could hear the murmur around me...."he's fighting another one!!"...that felt Gooood!
The beautiful stealhead fought a good fight for about 10 minutes, manuvering up and down the river, zig zaging, launching out of the water like a rocket etc.  Finally she gave up and came right to the shore and I picked her up for a photo opportunity before I gently released her back into her playgrounds
She was around 11lbs female.
Enjoy the photos.

[HOOK]

nice picturesque setting your fishing in there 


little hint though - no fingers inside the gill plate if your releasing please  not ragging on ya just a heads up for fish survival is all

[kosanin kosher salt]

i like your story , i like your photos , its something a little different than the west coast . good report

[joska]

 great post springmaster... that looks to be a beautiful system you are fishing out there.  i made the mistake of poor fish handling when i caught my first steelhead.

[brownmancheng]

Lol is that stache a photoshop disguise??

[bigblue]

Thanks for the report and photos!

Interesting that the steelhead in Great Lakes area seems to have slightly different physical appearance from the ones caught here in the west coast.

[SpringMaster]

Thanks "Hook" for the tip on the safe handling of the fish.  I will add that to my list for next time    I hope this one survived okay; as soon as I put her in the river, she dove to the bottom like a bullet.

I noticed the females have a red strip along their sides, but males are just shinny silver colour.  I never caught Steelhead on the west coast, but I've seen the pictures on this forum...they do look a bit different 

LOL I see that the stache has caught some attention   I added it in MS Paint, so apologies for the poor quality 

[Every Day]

I noticed the females have a red strip along their sides, but males are just shinny silver colour.  I never caught Steelhead on the west coast, but I've seen the pictures on this forum...they do look a bit different 

They look different because they are.
They technically aren't Steelhead.... they don't go to the ocean. They are rainbows which all Steelhead are though.
Take a look at a large lake caught rainbow from Tunkwa or other lakes and they have the same physical appearance as his does.
All rainbows that come from lakes have a more football shape than actual Steelhead (which are long and skinny).

[SpringMaster]

Just want to add that none of the salmon or Steelhead in the great lakes go to the ocean.  They swim to the lakes to feed similar to them going to the Pacific, and then swim back to the streams to spawn.  We have all species of the salmon available in these lakes (except for Sockeye I think).  For those who haven't been to any of these lakes, they are quite large and when you are on a boat in Lake Erie or Ontario, you think you're in the ocean...large waves and vast body of water except they're not salty like the Pacific

Cheers!

[joska]

 how do the salmon live the the great lakes? are they a strain of the pacific salmon?  i'm terribly lost here, and to my knowledge there is a huge population of bass in both lakes?

[purplehelmet]

They were transplanted, I think to wipe-out some other invading species...  Alewives?

[bigblue]

how do the salmon live the the great lakes? are they a strain of the pacific salmon?  i'm terribly lost here, and to my knowledge there is a huge population of bass in both lakes?

Salmon sports fishing is a multi billion dollar industry in the Great Lakes region and all high value sports fish like Chinook, Coho, Steelhead and even Atlantic salmon have been introduced into the great lakes region via extensive state funded hatchery programs in support of this industry. Something like one third of all fishing licenses sold in the US are sold in the Great Lakes region. It is big business there.

[clarki]

Salmon sports fishing is a multi billion dollar industry in the Great Lakes region and all high value sports fish like Chinook, Coho, Steelhead and even Atlantic salmon have been introduced into the great lakes region via extensive state funded hatchery programs in support of this industry. Something like one third of all fishing licenses sold in the US are sold in the Great Lakes region. It is big business there.

I grew up on the shores of Lake Huron for the first 22 years of my life. Many fond memories of being on, and in, the water.

I agree that salmon sport fishing is big business, but multi billion dollar? And a third of all US fishing licenses? 

Curious if you can provide a reputable source for those statements. In my experience, they seem to be exaggerated.

[newsman]

how do the salmon live the the great lakes? are they a strain of the pacific salmon?  i'm terribly lost here, and to my knowledge there is a huge population of bass in both lakes?

The salmon there are no different that a land locked salmon here. As for all the bass in those lakes you are right. There are also crappie, perch, walleye, pike, and musky, which is why I don't by the propaganda pitched locally by the anti bass community.

[newsman]

Just want to add that none of the salmon or Steelhead in the great lakes go to the ocean.  They swim to the lakes to feed similar to them going to the Pacific, and then swim back to the streams to spawn.  We have all species of the salmon available in these lakes (except for Sockeye I think).  For those who haven't been to any of these lakes, they are quite large and when you are on a boat in Lake Erie or Ontario, you think you're in the ocean...large waves and vast body of water except they're not salty like the Pacific

Cheers!

They have tides too! Wait until you get stuck 20 miles out in a storm and have to ride it out; it is the kind of adventure you tell your grandchildren about.