STEELHEAD?
Since we have some people on this board cliaming that steelhead dont fight or are not the best fish on our local rivers I'd like to hear some of your input...
There are many things to consider when rating the "fight" in a fish. First of all it's not fighting, its just trying to get away. Depending on the strength of the current, the temperature of the water,the gear you are using and the "freshness" of the fish, you will get varying degrees of sport. Summerruns are usually the most acrobatic. I've never caught one so I can't say what it feels like. The winterruns I've caught have ranged all over the map as far as "fight" is concerned. I do not hold them in as high esteem as you do, I prefer a 3 pound rainbow on a 5 weight flyrod anyday.

STEELHEAD KICK ASS,Every steelhead i ve caught has had an excellent fight.Last week i battled a pig for 20 mins,turned out to be a 15 pound hatchery,was released to be caught by another,As far as i am concerned steelhead fight like hell for their size.Theese people that say they dont fight and are an over rated game fish just dont have any clue!!!!Ill probably get flack for that last comment

heres an idea for the people who say they dont fight try using smaller gear i.e rods line ect.how do we know that your not using a 12foot rod with 20lb line? just an idea!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is an example. When bar fishing early in the season we often catch springs and steelhead on the same day with the same rig. My bar rig consists of an 11.5' rod rated for 15-30 lb test capable of throwing up to 16 oz of weight. I run a abu 7000 C3 loaded with 30 lb early in the year and 40 lb later in the year. Early in the year a typical rig will consist of an 8 oz weight and a spin n glow with roe. A 12 lb steely hits the rig and all you get is some splashing and a line roll and it tries to pull some line off the 7000 but to no avail. Drag that baby up on the beach and bang it on the head. A chinook of similar size hits that rig and the line comes screaming off the rod. It feels like you have a big one until you clamp down on her then she too comes skidding up on the beach to be banged on the head. Conclusion: Chinook are more powerful than steelhead. They tend to run where steelhead tend to roll. If you have heavy enough line test you won't be fooled by the current when the steelhead rolls up in the line. Swimming speed means nothing unless there is some power behind it. A Porshe can be fast but when it comes to pulling a trailer up a steep grade nothing beats a diesel.

Final point: Anyone who has fished for chinook will know that they are the kings on the coast.

Finally,someone that knows the score.Rob,you and I both know that the steelies are nice to look at and make great pics,but the real task is finding them,not fighting them.Once you find them,there can be all kinds of fun,but there are other fish that will test you and your gear,thats for sure.Too bad the beeks dont know that.

Dan

Everyone sets their own limitations on their fishing experiences so everyone will have differing views of what defines those experiences. Someone who has spent three years chasing Permit on the flats with a fly rod will unquestionably have a different view of fishing than the person who chases only stillwater Trout.

I first bounced bottom with lead-laden bait but found the catching of Steelhead to be lacking in challenge. The books of Roderick Haig-Brown, Bob Arnold and Steve Raymond turned me to the Fly and since then the chase of the fish, not the capture, has come to define my experience.

When I finally hook-up now with the fly rod I find myself always behind these big Trout. Their quickness is immediate rarely telegraphing their next move. The few short minutes I spend connected to these fish are amplified by the incredible number of days it took to hook one at all; thus, the time with the fish become self-legendary. Each turn toward a snag...each showering jump...each spool-threatening downstream run represents the last one I will likely experience for a time that often comes to feel like forever.

I know too well they cannot be the ultimate game fish. There are too many fish of greater size or more impressive speed, stamina or quickness or others that take more concerted logistical efforts to hook...but a fish we call the Steelhead swims in a river near my home...my meagre resources allow me no other option...and with a five-weight rod in hand...six-pound tippet at the end of my line...even a meium sized Steelhead rocks, rolls and bangs the head of my soul like music of the spheres pounding on the dance-foor of my heart.

I define my Steelhead experiences in such a way that they are mine alone, rendering further debate a waste of valuable fishing time. Even now I feel the river calling so I must go.

Keep em wet!

>
The ultimate is:

... realizing there is no ultimate.

The point is getting out on the water and loosing oneself in the movement of the water and the waxing and waning of light and tide. Fish on the line are punctuation marks in the flowing verse of being on the water.

I've never committed myself fully to catching steelhead but I have taken some on a fly - all on
rods of 8 weight or less. Some of those fish were
undeniably hot. As good as it gets for the way I was fishing. Others were push overs. Are summer runs the best? Measured by the yardstick of floating line and a swirl on the surface, definately. in terms of sheer fight - the run and jump - I'd say spring fish on the Squamish gave me the best.

However I find as much in a nice sized cutt on a minnow pattern as I do on a good sized steelhead or even a spring and there is much in the fishing as there is in the catching, as long as I can do both in the same day.

I must agree with those who think chinook is the strongest fish in the rivers. I think chum might come in 2nd. But I also think that Steelhead is the nicest and maybe more fun to catch. It all depends on what you enjoy best, the strong pulling power of chinook/cum or the strong/acrobatic of a steelhead. We might get a chinook that likes to run and come out of the bottom but not as much as the Steely. I caugh a 44Lb chinook in the Kitimat river that stood in the bottom the whole time and never tried to run. But the 20-25Lb chinook I caugh like to run and come out of the water. Chum on the other hand do both most of the time. They are ugly looking but fun to land. Anyways, just fish for all of them and enjoy the difference of each one.

I too must concur. Whenever I've caught rainbows/steelhead they always just sort of seem to come in with a flop. No holding power ya know. Those triple gainers, head shaking etc., just make me mad. Wish they'd sulk more! Why go out and Throw a dry to Jaws when I can go drag the bottom with a weighted fly, wait for the bump and set the hook. Sarcastic of course. An 8 wt. rod on the Thompson would be the very, very minimum. Can you say spooled!!! But to each his own, of course.

Here is some food for thought. People are amazed at how when they hook a sockeye in the Fraser, at how it takes off like a flash. Some say they fight better than Steelhead. Well the reason is because they are flossed, and it kind of stings them. They go crazy for 30 seconds or so. Kind of like when a fish gets partly hooked, he's there for a second then he's off. 2 seconds later theres a fish jumping like mad 5 feet downstream of where you hooked him. He got stung too, and it makes fish react differently.

When I hook a Sockeye in the Harrison float fishing with krill, they never act like they do in the Fraser, even the pure chrome ones. They just usually run a bit maybe jump once or twice, then come in. Flossing or badly hooking will sting a fish, and cause it to react differently. Therefore, accounting why sometimes a Sockeye in the Fraser will run 150 feet downstream before calming down.

Robert, so you're saying that a fish hooked by flossing is more distressed than a fish hooked by biting? Do you really think that they differentiate between the two? Any possibility that the difference you say there is in the fight between the sockeye from the Fraser and the Harrison could be related to the difference in the current in these two rivers?

Dewey,

A fish tends to get pretty excited when a 2/0 just ripped into its guts. They tend to have quite a bit of drag when you aren't pulling them upstream head first.

Yeah, I think Cat pretty much summed that up.

While there may be fish that are stronger than steelhead, I would have to say there a few that are as hard to catch because of their penchant for acrobatics.

I have fished for many years and I would have to say that I have lost more steelhead that any other fish. When hooking into a chinook or a chum, it is almost a certainty that I will land it (unless the line breaks). When hooking steelhead, however, the wily buggers pull some pretty good tricks to try and shake the hook (dive, roll, jump, swim toward, swim away, upstream, downstream, around rocks, etc...) and, in my opinion, they are more successful than any other species at doing so. Therefore, I find fishing for them to be a greater challenge.

Mid-last-week produced my first 2 steelhead hookups ever. The first fish immediately boiled the surface with a twisting/rolling action (similar to cutthroats), but it didn't show the "increadible" fighting action I imagined prior. It managed to unhook itself after a dozen seconds. However, the second fish immediately screamed-off my line while bulleting across the surface of the run until it took my hook from me due to a possible nicked line. It was what I have read about for years. Another fellow landed a fish that just dogged with a couple of short runs. These three fish has considerably different performances on a day of very cold weather.

I've now caught all the different salmon types in rivers (warmer weather). They were consistant in their fighting characteristics (per species) which outperformed my first steelhead, but didn't come close to my second. Maybe, some fish are exhausted from C&R or escaping from seals and eagles. I heard many inconsistancies on steelhead fighting strength and have finally witnessed it first hand.

I think that what changes a fishes fighting abilities is mostly dependant on how long it's been in that particular run or pool. I've hooked steelies that have just come into the pool/run (I've watched them come in and cast to them) and they don't have much fight. Hook into one that's been there awhile and rested, totally a different fight! It's all about how long and how 'rested' they are that makes the difference in the fighting ability.

Back to Articles page